Jupiter Imaging Session - February 9, 2015

The sky this evening is clear but seeing is once again poor. I can see Ganymede transit and casting shadow while Great Red Spot is about to exit the disk. As I'm experimenting on doing monochrome RGB planetary imaging, I got to learn that if there is a Jovian satellite transiting the disk, the exposure should be cut short so that one won't be dealing with a blurry satellite disk caused by RGB misalignment on the satellite disk as it is moving either faster or slower than Jupiter's rotation :( Since I'm pretty new in doing planetary monochrome RGB imaging, I hope to get improvements as more and more shots are taken.

Jupiter Imaging Session - February 8, 2015

I finally force myself to haul down my scope and mount from 3rd floor to out ground floor laundry area where I setup the Meade 8" f/10 SCT on Vixen GP-DX mount. I let the scope cool down for about an hour before I started to take some shots of Jupiter with ZWO ASI120MM webcam with RGB filters and 2x barlow lens. Seeing condition is not that good. I'm not an expert planetary imager but I'm still pleased with what I captured. This is my first Jupiter image since January 7, 2012!!! Oh my God! I hope to do some further Jupiter works hopefully if I'm not yet tired in the evening after work. Sigh!

Solar Imaging Session - February 8, 2015 (Huge Dark Filament !!!)

The sky this morning is clear but I had to wait till around 9:10am before I could start any shot due to the tall darn building in front of my eastern horizon! It's been more than a week since I did any solar imaging session and this will continue to get worst as the days pass and eventually will get obstructed and resume again maybe after 2 months except on weekend imaging at the laundry area :( === Anyway, as I turn on my imaging capture software, I was almost blown out of my seat by seeing such a super huge long dark filament that stretches almost half disk of the Sun!!! Numerous group of eruptive prominences as well as smaller dark filaments are also visible on the surface of the Sun! I wasn't able to do any white light imaging anymore as observing window time is less than 30 minutes :( Nevertheless, I'm still happy with the results.

Lunar Imaging Session - February 7, 2015

I was planning to image Jupiter tonight but unfortunately, my observing window is blocked from seeing Jupiter so try to image the Waning Gibbous Moon instead. I once again use the Meade 8" f/10 SCT at prime focus with ZWO ASI120MM webcam to image Janssen crater region before I got obstructed again by the tall darn building :( Sigh!

Lunar Imaging Session - February 6, 2015

The sky this evening is partly cloudy and seeing initially was unstable as I had to cool down the Meade 8" f/10 SCT corrector for about an hour. Afterwards, I started to check on the seeing condition which improves a bit but still not that great. I only shot some crater regions like Janssen, Cleomedes and Edymion crater region at prime focus of the Meade 8" f/10 SCT using ZWO ASI120MM webcam .

Lunar Imaging Session - February 5, 2015

The sky this evening is partly cloudy but seeing is fair. I setup my WO Megrez 90FD refractor on Vixen GP-DX mount with Canon EOS 500D DSLR to image the Waning Gibbous Moon. I was also able to do some close up shots of craters such as Petavius, Langrenus, Copernicus, Edymion craters as well as Mare Serenitatis , Tycho and Crisium region using same scope but with TV 5x powermate as well as 2x barlow and double stacked 2x barlow lens with ZWO ASI120MM webcam.

Lunar Imaging Session - February 3, 2015

As I was returning from work, I saw a beautiful Full Mon rising up from the eastern horizon. So when I get home, I set up my WO Megrez 90FD refractor on Vixen GP-DX mount to do some prime focus shot with Canon EOS 500D DSLR as well as moderate shots of the Mare Serenitatis region and Tycho region using ZWO ASI120MM webcam with 2x barlow lens. Seeing condition is not that good, so I didn't attempt high resolution shots.