Monday 9 May 2016

Transit of Mercury, 9th May 2016

Mercury begins its transit across the face of the sun.


Scope: Lunt LS60THa/B1200CPT
Camera: ZWO ASI174MM, FireCapture
Mount: Sky-Watcher NEQ6, EQMod
Processing: AutoStakkert! 2, PixInsight 1.8, best 25% of 500 frames
Date: 9th May 2016, 12:14BST (11:14UT)

AR12541/42/43 Ha 8th May 2016

Detail from yesterday.





Scope: Lunt LS60THa/B1200CPT, 2x Barlow
Camera: ZWO ASI174MM, FireCapture
Mount: Sky-Watcher NEQ6, EQMod
Processing: AutoStakkert! 2, PixInsight 1.8, best 25% of 1,000 frames
Date: 8th May 2016, 09:31BST (08:31UT)

Monday 2 May 2016

Solar UFO (Or maybe just a balloon!)

I caught a UFO crossing the sun on Saturday. Taken at 08:38BST, 30th April 2016.  It was moving fairly fast so I had trouble tracking it as it took me by surprise.


No satellites were predicted to transit the Sun from my location at that time.  Sadly upon aligning, stacking and processing multiple frames from the video, it looks very much like a party balloon:


Scope: Lunt LS60THa/B1200CPT, 2x Barlow
Camera: ZWO ASI174MM, FireCapture
Mount: Sky-Watcher NEQ6, EQMod
Processing: AutoStakkert! 2, PixInsight 1.8
Date: 30th April 2016, 08:38BST (07:38UT)

Sun - AR12535/36/38 Ha 30-05-2016

A close up from Saturday.  Looks like I am getting some banding with the 2x Barlow so may need to start taking flats.





Scope: Lunt LS60THa/B1200CPT, 2x Barlow
Camera: ZWO ASI174MM, FireCapture
Mount: Sky-Watcher NEQ6, EQMod
Processing: AutoStakkert! 2, PixInsight 1.8
Date: 30th April 2016, 08:41BST (07:41UT)
Frames: Best 15% of 1,000 Frames