Solar Imaging Session - December 22, 2011 (Numerous Huge Long Dark Filaments & Large Prominences !!!)

The sky this morning is clear and I was able to do some solar imaging both in Ha and white light. Seeing condition though is not good though :( In Ha wavelength, AR11377/76 Sunspot Group is nearing the NW limb and still very active in its core and is also close to a large group of eruptive prominences! AR11382/81 Sunspot Group, on the other hand, is also getting longer in length but show only some solar activity inside its core. AR11384 Sunspot Group is growing rapidly in structure as well as size so this will probably be the center of attention in the days to come. Small AR11383 Sunspot Group is very silent :(

In white light wavelength, AR11384 Sunspot Group is a joy to look at but the seeing condition prevented me from getting a very good shot of the sunspot groups at high resolution. AR11382/81 Sunspot Group is very long but has a nice main core as well as several small umbral core structures. Departing AR11377/76 Sunspot Group is also very nice to look at as well.

Solar Imaging Session - December 21, 2011 (Huge Long Dark Filament & Large Hedgerow Prominence !!!)

The sky this morning is hazy and partly cloudy as I unload my luggage from my trip from Laoag and Baguio work trip. I saw a small window of sunlight peeping out from the clouds so I didn't waste any time to snap a few shots before I head back again to my Tarlac work trip again.

Both AR11382/81 & AR11377/76 Sunspot Group are very active in its core while AR11384 Sunspot Group in the NE limb is also starting to get active as well as small AR11383 Sunspot Group developing below it. There is also a huge long dark filament visible in the NE quadrant as well as numerous smaller dark filaments in the NW quadrant. A large hedgerow prominence dominate the NW limb :0

Total Lunar Eclipse Imaging Session - December 10-11, 2011

The sky in the afternoon was raining and very cloudy, But we were fortunate later in the evening to be able to observe the eclipse almost on its entirely :) Since the Moon glides near the southernmost umbral shadow, the bright southern limb is visible and not quite red like that of last June 16th total lunar eclipse :0 Since the weather was slightly cloudy with haze, I opted to use the Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 set at 400mm f/5.6 instead of adding a EF 1.4x extender so I will have a faster f/ratio just in case weather gone cloudy during totality :0 I also use my portable mount for this session in Kenko Sky Memo-R tracker instead of the Vixen GP-DX mount which I used last June 16th total lunar eclipse session.

I was observing the eclipse with fellow members of the Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP) at AstroCamp Observatory Services in SM Mall of Asia San Miguel by the Bay. It was a great astro event as we were also able to share the eclipse view to the crowd as well!

Solar Imaging Session - December 6, 2011 (Numerous Dark Filaments & Large Eruptive Prominences ! )

The sky this morning is very cloudy thus another frustrating day for me to image the Sun :( Nevertheless, I was still able to get some short clips of how AR11363 Sunspot Group is doing and it indeed has grown in length compared to my last observation on December 3.

I was able to also able to scan the Sun's disk and see lots of dark filaments in the NW and NE quadrants as well as a nice group of large eruptive prominences in the NE quadrant and manage to shoot them between passing clouds :(

With unending clouds passing in front of the Sun's disk, I was able to image AR11363 Sunspot Group in white light as well as full disk shot of the Sun only this morning.

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Solar Imaging Session - December 3, 2011 (Large NW Wide Eruptive Prominence !)

The sky this morning is partly hazy and seeing condition is fair though. The huge SW eruptive prominence is gone but the NW wide large eruptive prominence is still visible.There is a new AR11365 visible above AR11362 Sunspot Group and is growing fast. Another new sunspot group probably will be designated AR11366 is visible in the NE limb. Lots of dark filaments are visible in the NE quadrant.

In white light, AR11363 and AR11362 Sunspot Groups are the must see groups even in low or high power observations.

Solar Imaging Session - December 2, 2011 (Large SW Eruptive Prominence !!!)

The sky this morning is clear and seeing condition is also very good. There is a huge eruptive prominence visible in the SW limb that spiced up a boring solar session yesterday. Numerous group of dark filaments are also present in the NE quadrant. AR11363 Sunspot Group looks active in its core and might show some actions in the days to come. The rest of the sunspot groups are quiet.

Solar Imaging Session - December 1, 2011

The sky this morning is very hazy and seeing condition is poor. The huge eruptive prominences visible yesterday is already gone and the huge dark filaments in the NW quadrant is nearing the limb and probably will be halfway gone by tomorrow :( With this, the Sun again become calm and quiet again in solar activities. But there are still 6 sunspot groups that are visible on the Sun's disk and most remain stable and constant more or less in size. Hope to see some action on the Sun tomorrow.........