The sky this afternoon is mostly cloudy but I was able to get a few shots of AR2812 and remnant of AR2811 Sunspot Groups in Ha wavelength late in the afternoon. Both of the groups shows flaring activity inside their core. Very small prominences can be seen around the limb of the Sun . I didn't image in white light wavelength.
The sky this evening is clear but seeing is not that good. I tested the focusing ring made by my fellow ALPer Raymund Sarmiento for me on my Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS lens on the Waxing Gibbous Moon with my ZWO ASI120MM webcam on Vixen GP-DX mount. I got to image the full disk as well as Tycho Crater Region and Mare Serenitatis Region with TV 2.5x Powermate.
The sky this morning is clear and seeing is fair. There are 2 small sunspot groups on the Sun right now AR2806 which is a little bigger of the 2 groups while the other one is very very small AR 2807 Sunspot Group. AR2806 Sunspot Group is very active with flaring activity while 2807 Sunspot Group is very silent. I use my Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens set at 400mm this morning to do a test run on Daystar Quark Chromosphere Ha Filter using my regular 2" UV-IR Filter against a Daystar 63mm ERF (Energy Rejection Filter) on loan to me for testing by my astro friend. The ERF is mounted on the front of the Canon lens while the UV-IR filter is located inside and on the front of the Quark.
I use the Canon lens for this test because it has a 77mm lens while the ERF is 63mm diameter. I dont want to use the TV-101 refractor whih is a 101mm refractor as the difference in size will be biased in resolution. With 63mm aperture, one should expect a little lose in terms of resolution but the lesser heat factor might compensate. After I got the results, the difference between the 2 is very minimal. So I guess the factor here if you are wiling to spend a little more on the ERF to avoid heating up the scope internal tube, one ould expect to spend more or less around US$500 for one in that diameter. But I would say of you are using a much bigger scope in the 6 inch above, then the necessity of the ERF will be greatly valued. For scopes that are 4 inch or less in diameter, the UV-IR filter will suffice IMHO.
Aside from the 2 groups, there is also a nice large group of eruptive prominences in the SE limb. I was alos able to image the small AR2896 Sunspot Group in white light but seeing gone worst as well as roof obstruction ended my imaging session.
Below are Ha images taken with the 2" UV-IR filter installed on the front of Quark Chromosphere Ha filter.
Below are Ha images taken with the Daystar 63mm ERF filter in front of the Canon EF100-400mm L lens 77mm lens so the Sun light is reduced before it enters the lens tube toward the Quark Chromosphere Ha Filter,
Below are white light image of AR2806 Sunspot Group,
The sky this morning is partly clear. I had no plans to image this morning as we have work even on Saturday.. But after seeing that the super huge looped prominence that I captured last February 25, 2021 is still visible and has detached and looks like it is ejecting outward, I didn't waste any more time and quickly setup using a modest Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5 6 IS L lens to capture the prominence before I packed up and go to office asap. I only image in Ha wavelength this morning as I lack time to image anymore white light wavelength :(. In Ha, AR2804 Sunspot Group is still quite active and is now nearing the NW limb. AR2805 Sunspot Group is silent and is also nearing the SW limb as well.
The sky this morning is clear and I started early and yesterday's huge hedgerow prominence has expanded into a super huge looped prominence! First time I saw and image such a huge monster prominence! I had a hard time framing the super huge prom on my ZWO ASI120MM webcam / Borg 76ED refractor setup that I had to use my Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens set at 300mm to frame the entire super huge looped prominence into the image frame!
Aside from this beautiful feature on the Sun surface, AR2804 Sunspot Group is also very active as it shows bright flaring activity across the region. AR2805 Sunspot Group shows slight flaring activity but supports a nice twirling dark filament. Remnant of AR2803 Sunspot Group can still be seen in Ha wavelength but is not visible in white light wavelength. Only large AR2804 and small AR2805 Sunspot Groups are visible in white light.
I wasn't able to test compare the advantage of using an Energy Rejection Filter (ERF) on loan from a friend of mine to compare against using just UV-IR filter only as too much solar activities on the Sun kept me all tied up and I run out of time to be able to compare the 2. Hopefully I would be able to test them this coming Sunday solar Imaging session.
The sky this morning is partly clear and I was only able to image the huge SW hedgerow prominence as the clouds keep on pestering my imaging session until I have to packup to go to work.. Nevertheless still happy with the results. Hopefully tomorrow I would be able to get more images as the Sun has lots of solar activities on the disk right now.
The sky this evening was surprisingly clear as I as expecting the weather to be overcast due to the impending typhoon coming in the country. So I quickly setup my scope to do a FB live webcast of the First Quarter Moon to conclude the National Astronomy Week 2021 as well as take a snap shot of it as well. With the clear sky, I was also tempted to share the vie of the bright star Sirius as well as the Great Orion Nebula (M42). Of course the Orion Nebula is washed out due to close proximity of the Moon but nevertheless, I'm still happy with the result.. I use WZO ASI294 MC PRO astro camera on Borg 76ED refractor mounted on Celestron Nexstar mount to do the webcast as well as image the Moon and M42.
