Solar Imaging Session - January 26, 2026

The sky this afternoon is very cloudy and I was only able to capture the Sun through passing clouds using my trusty Dwarf 3 Smart Scope and the Sun is pestered with small sunspot groups only. Only AR4349 Region has the largest sunspot (honestly still a small one) on the Sun's disk.

Deep Sky Imaging Session - January 24-25, 2026

The sky this afternoon is very cloudy in Manila but weather prediction in Tanay is a tad better so Joaquin and I proceeded to Tanay at Viewscape Nature Park to do some DSO imaging under a darker sky we arrive at the site, the sky is almost 75% covered but rest are blue skies so after some rest, we started to setup our gears to prepare our imaging session. We were also able to meet fellow astrophotographer Dionisio Bogtae at the site as he was already there for several nights unlike us which is just an overnight session only. At around 7:00pm, sky started to open up near Orion as well as western skies for us to start imaging beautiful M45 Pleiades star cluster which we were able to image in the city but doesnt give justice for M45 to show its majestic beauty under darker skies. For me, I use my trusty Borg 76ED Refractor with ZWO ASI294MC PRO Astro Camera mounted on ZWO AM5 mount to image M45 Pleiades star cluster. I got into some tracking problems early in the evening which was caused by the hand controller getting slightly snag on the cables so giving me erratic crazy behavior before I found out the culprit! Nevertheless, I was still able to get some decent integration time to capture her with its beauty! Afterwards, around 11:00pm, clouds started rolling in as well as some drizzle thus forcing us to coverup our setups and get some rest and at around 2:00am, sky started to open up again but with slight haze and cool 16.5 deg C so I only capture the trio galaxy pair of M81/M82 Bode's and Cigar Galaxies together with small galaxy NGC 3077 in one field of view. I'm still quite happy with the results despite the erratic weather pattern that we encountered at the site as well as the tracking gremlin that pestered me :) Also, despite strong winds, I still manage to get some decent frames from my Dwarf 3 Smart Scope on M51 Whirpool Galaxy as well. But lots of wasted frames :( We left the campsite at around 7:30am after our traditional group shot and went to Mang Vic Original Bulaluhan to have a delicious hot Bulalo meal to fill our hungry stomach before we head home and hoping to return again next month.

Jupiter Imaging Session - January 9, 2026

The sky this evening is partly cloudy so I opted to image gas giant Jupiter instead of deep sky object. It's been a while since I do planetary imaging again as I mostly image the Sun, Moon and deep sky objects. I capture Jupiter this evening with the Great Red Spot as well as Io Transit using ZWO ASI294MC Pro Astro Camera on Meade 8" f/10 SCT with TV 2.5x Powermate on ZWO AM5 mount. Seeing is fair but I'm still happy with the result as I can rate myself a newbie in term of planetary imaging.

Lunar Imaging Session - January 3, 2026

The sky this evening is partly cloudy but I still proceeded to capture 1st Full Moon of 2026, the Supermoon or Wolf Moon using my Dwarf 3 Smart Scope using Astro Mode with VIS Filter at AZ Mode. 20 stacked images of 1/500 sec exposure at Gain 0.

Lunar Imaging Session - December 31, 2025

The sky this evening is hazy but nevertheless, I proceeded to capture the last Moon imaging session for me for 2025. I capture the Waxing Gibbous Moon using my Dwarf 3 Smart Scope Astro Mode with VIS Filter at AZ Mode. Stacked of 20 images at 1/400 sec exposure at Gain 0.

Solar Imaging Session - December 30, 2025

The sky this late afternoon is very hazy and seeing condition is not that good. AR4325 and AR4324 Regions are the larger sunspot groups on the Sun's disk while AR4321 Region is near the western limb already with AR4317 Region also nearing the NW limb as well. There is also a huge collapsed eruptive prominence visible in the SE limb.

Solar Imaging Session - December 28, 2025

The sky this afternoon is clear but hazy and seeing condition is very good. AR4317 and AR4321 are the main large sunspot groups on the solar disk while new AR4324 and AR4323 and AR4325 Region are showing active flaring activities on its regions. 2 nice large solar prominences can also be seen in the SE limb.