Saturday 30 April 2016

Sun, Full Disk Ha - 30-04-2016

Sun, Full Disk Hydrogen Alpha. (click images for full size).  A couple of interesting plages today - the white areas to the lower centre and at the 8-O'Clock position.



Scope: Lunt LS60THa/B1200CPT
Camera: ZWO ASI174MM, FireCapture
Mount: Sky-Watcher NEQ6, EQMod
Processing: AutoStakkert! 2, PixInsight 1.8, Gimp 2.8
Date: 30th April 2016, 08:30BST (07:30UT)
Frames: Best 25% of 1,000 Frames

Sunday 24 April 2016

DIY Laptop Shade / Dew Shield

In this post, I will explain how to build a dual-purpose laptop shade / dew shield for a cost of approximately £20 (GBP). As explained in Dew Formation and Prevention, the simplest way to prevent dew forming on equipment is to shield it from direct exposure to the night sky.

Using this shield will help to extend the life of your equipment and avoid invalidating the warranty, though to be honest I've used my trusty laptop for years without a shield and it is still going strong. This shield is also helpful for solar imaging, making it much easier to see the screen in bright sunlight. Read on for full instructions and plans.

Sunday 17 April 2016

Sunspot Animation (AR2529) in Ha 17th April 2016

A week on, AR2529 is still going strong, but about to disappear behind the solar limb. (Click image for full-sized version).


Scope: Lunt LS60THa/B1200CPT, Meade 2x Barlow
Camera: ZWO ASI174MM, FireCapture
Mount: Sky-Watcher NEQ6, EQMod
Processing: AutoStakkert! 2, IMPPG, PixInsight 1.8, Gimp 2.8
Date: 17th April 2016
Frames: Best 25% of 500 Frames, 30 seond intervals

Full Disk Ha 17 April 2016

Sun, Full Disk Hydrogen Alpha. (click images for full size).



Scope: Lunt LS60THa/B1200CPT
Camera: ZWO ASI174MM, FireCapture
Mount: Sky-Watcher NEQ6, EQMod
Processing: AutoStakkert! 2, PixInsight 1.8, Gimp 2.8
Date: 17th April 2016, 08:44BST (07:44UT)
Frames: Best 10% of 1,000 Frames

Sunday 10 April 2016

Large Sunspot Animation (AR2529) in Ha 10-04-2016

Another animation of AR2529 (a sunspot), taken in Hydrogen Alpha. This is a different set of images from the previous post and shown in the normal (not inverted) colour scheme. Click the image below for the full-sized view (you might have to wait a few moments for it to load).




Scope: Lunt LS60THa/B1200CPT, Meade 2x Barlow
Camera: ZWO ASI174MM, FireCapture
Mount: Sky-Watcher NEQ6, EQMod
Processing: AutoStakkert! 2, IMPPG, PixInsight 1.8, Gimp 2.8
Date: 3rd April 2016
Frames: Best 50% of 500 Frames, 30 seond intervals

Sunspot Animation (AR2529) in Ha 10-04-2016

Animation of AR2529 (a sunspot), taken in Hydrogen Alpha. The image is inverted so the sunspot appears white against a dark background, as this allows much more of the image detail to be seen.








Scope: Lunt LS60THa/B1200CPT, Meade 2x Barlow
Camera: ZWO ASI174MM, FireCapture
Mount: Sky-Watcher NEQ6, EQMod
Processing: AutoStakkert! 2, IMPPG, PixInsight 1.8, Gimp 2.8
Date: 3rd April 2016
Frames: Best 50% of 500 Frames, 30 seond intervals

Saturday 9 April 2016

Solar Prominence Animation in Ha, 3rd April 2016

A solar prominence animation in Hydrogen Alpha (with the Earth shown approximately to scale). This is my first attempt, as a bit challenging to create as there were a lot of high clouds drifting through.  This has created  some long gaps between frames and a few odd artefacts around the prominences and disk where I had to try to get an even sky background.  Nonetheless you can clearly see the rotation of the solar disk and rapid changes in the prominences over a period of about two hours and forty minutes.



Scope: Lunt LS60THa/B1200CPT, Meade 2x Barlow
Camera: ZWO ASI174MM, FireCapture
Mount: Sky-Watcher NEQ6, EQMod
Processing: AutoStakkert! 2, IMPPG, PixInsight 1.8, Gimp 2.8
Date: 3rd April 2016
Frames: Best 10% of 1,000 Frames, 2 minute intervals