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The personal blog of me, Tim Trott. What I get up to, photography, news and so on.
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Wednesday 11th July 2007
Today is was the first chance I have had to use my new StarTravel 102 and Thousand Oaks filter on a decent Sunspot (I have only previously tried once with a little sunspot). This image was photographed with my Canon 350d at prime focus, 40 of the best images were processed with Registax to create the final.
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This post is filed under Solar Observations by Lonewolf at 4:00pm
First photographs with Skywatcher StarTravel 102
Sunday 10th June 2007
Yesterday I tried my first solar image using my new telescope and my Thousand Oaks filter. Sky was very hazy and there was a lot of turbulence, I could see the edge of the Sun “wobbling” as the atmosphere distorted the Suns disc. I was surprised at how dim the image was through the eyepiece; I have previously used Baadar film and this results in a brightness comparable with the Moon.
Despite the poor seeing and visibility, I did manage to capture this image of Sunspot 960 as it makes its way towards the edge of the Sun.
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This post is filed under Solar Observations by Lonewolf at 12:38pm
Finally some clear skies when I’m not in work!
Sunday 3rd June 2007
Sunny during the day while I’m stuck in the office, get home and the skies cloud over. Bank holiday weekend was cloudy and rainy, but finally Saturday was reasonably clear (until it got dark!). I managed to get a shot of new sunspot 960 as it emerged over the Suns eastern limb. This complex of sunspots is over 140,000km long so it makes for an easy target with the camera. I will try and get a lot more as it moves around the Sun.
Last night was also a conjunction of Venus with Castor and Pollux in Gemini. All three line up with Venus in the lower left, then Pollux in the middle and Castor at the top right. Saturn also tries to make an appearance in the left of the picture. M44, although not visible in this picture due to clouds on the horizon, is located about half way between Saturn and Venus.
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This post is filed under Astrophotography, Solar Observations by Lonewolf at 11:56am
Saturday 28th April 2007
A new sunspot has developed on the surface of the Sun. Designated AR953, this sunspot is approximately three times the size of our little planet. This sunspot is teeming with activity and observers with solar telescopes have witnessed “Ellerman Bombs” going off on the surface. These bombs are explosions about one-millionth as powerful as a true solar flare and appear as white specs around the visible sunspot.
Sunspot AR953 is growing ever more complex and now harbors energy for X-class solar flares. X-class flares are the largest in the solar flare categorisation. These flares are major events that can trigger planet-wide radio blackouts and long-lasting radiation storms, but don’t worry - they pose no threat to us here on Earth!
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This post is filed under Solar Observations by Lonewolf at 5:30pm
