Even more sunspots on display yesterday!
Mouseover the full-disc pic for the labelled version, click it for a bigger pic:
Sunspots in Active Regions 1093, 1095, 1096, 1097 and 1098 (11/08/2010).
D50 on the C80ED-R.
Just for comparison, here's the equivalent pic taken by the SOHO satellite:
Managed a few hours in the sunshine yesterday morning, there were plenty of sunspots on display.
Mouseover the full-disc pic for the labelled version, the (poor-quality) close-ups are a bit further down:
Sunspots in Active Regions 1092, 1093 and 1095 (08/08/2010).
D50 on the C80ED-R.
Sunspot in AR1092 (08/08/2010).
50/1000 stacked frames.
DMK mono CCD camera on the C80ED-R.
Sunspots in AR1093 (08/08/2010).
50/1000 stacked frames.
DMK mono CCD camera on the C80ED-R.
Sunspots in AR1095 (08/08/2010).
50/1000 stacked frames.
DMK mono CCD camera on the C80ED-R.
Unexpected clear sky last night was the cue for another look at the heavens. Jupiter was the main target, no shadow-transits this time but good views of the Great Red Spot. There'll be pics later when I've had time to clear the backlog of image data (yes, I'm still trying to find time to process the lunar data from the previous session).
Until then, you'll have to make do with my first ever lunar mosaic - 12 stitched images from the same camera/scope combo that I usually poke skywards. The image alignment is a bit off in places, I'll do it better next time. Click it to see the BIG version:
The Moon (05/08/2010 @ 05:10).
12 stitched images, each 50/500 stacked frames.
DMK mono CCD camera on the C8N.
The was a short period of clearish sky here last night, it was the first reasonable observing opportunity for a long time so I took the chance and got set up in the obsy. The Moon was up which meant that doing any deep-sky observing was a no-no, so I had to be content with Jupiter and viewing some lunar craters.
I couldn't get any good high-resolution data for Jupiter, as the seeing was quite bad, so I went for a slightly wider field of view than usual and managed to catch a few moons and a transit as well. Here's the first edit, run yer mouse over it to see what's what:
The processing of the lunar data will take quite some time, so I'll put the results in a separate post.
Just to prove that my first sunspots pic wasn't a fluke, here's another from this morning:
Sunspots in AR1089 (24/07/2010).
50/1000 stacked frames.
DMK mono CCD camera on the C80ED-R.
As you can see, this active region has changed quite a bit since the previous pic, and will probably change even more over the next few days. Hopefully the weather will permit more observing sessions.
Using some black plastic sheet, some Meccano fasteners, some Superglue, some sticky-tape, a Cornflakes box, a cardboard tube and a pair of Val's old knickers, I constructed a safe solar filter using the some of the Baader AstroSolar Safety Film that I got for my birthday. It fits securely over the front of the C80 refractor:
OK, so I lied about the box, the cardboard tube and the knickers, it turned out that I didn't really need them 
Anyway, it needed testing properly so I nipped up to the obsy and grabbed some .avi footage of Active Region 1089, where there is an impressive array of sunspots. After processing in K3CCDTools3, Registax and PSCS3, I've ended up with the following two images which are essentially the same except for the application of a little equalization in the second image:
Sunspots in AR1089 (21/07/2010).
100/1000 stacked frames.
DMK mono CCD camera on the C80ED-R.
As previous but equalized in PSCS3
I'll try to get more footage of this thing over the next few days to see how it changes. I'll probably use a bit of the leftover solar film to make filters for the D50's lenses, and then get some full-disc shots.
BE WARNED: Never view the Sun without a suitable Solar Filter! Solar observing is dangerous and can be hazardous to eyesight and equipment. Don't moan at me when you've burned holes in your retinas, set fire to your person/possessions and/or fried the chip in your camera. Proper solar-observing kit comes with serious safety advice - ignore it at your own peril!
