Kelling 2014

A few images from the Kelling Equinox Starparty taken on 27th Sep. The previous night was the clearest, which unfortunately I missed, but the Saturday night was still clearer than I get back home, and it was great to spend time with good friends.

Some nice sunspots. Like the forgetful person that I am, I went and left my solar filter at home, so had to borrow an oversized filter from my good pal Dave. Lashings of sticky tape did the trick at securing it to the front of my DSLR lens, to enable me to shoot the 30 or so images needed to make this Registax processed final image, with final tweaking in Photoshop.

I'm not very experienced at deep sky imaging, but thought I'd try some unguided wide field constellation images.

Andromeda. 20 x 15 sec stack. 50mm f2.8. Processed in Deep Sky Stacker, with further tweaking in PS. Not the greatest image, but pleased to capture M31. M32 and M110 are also just visible.

Pleiades and Hyades. 8 x 10 sec stack using 50mm f2.8

Winter Sun - 11th Jan

AR1944 is one the largest sunspots of this solar cycle, and was responsible for a large CME a few days ago that brought impressive aurora displays in the arctic. It was hoped that the storm would be powerful enough to produce more southerly displays of the northern lights, but sadly this wasn't to be. Never the less, the sunspot is pretty impressive on it's own.

This is the first solar image I've taken for over a year and it was tricky to remember what settings I normally use, and how I usually process the final images.

This was a stack of 20 images taken at ISO 200, 1/2000, f8, through Baader solar film using my trusty Nikon D300 with 300mm telephoto and 1.4 converter, giving a total focal length of 420mm.

Images stacked in Registax 6 and processed in Photoshop CS2.

Activity on the increase

Sun-spot activity continues to increase towards solar maximum next year.

In a rare gap in the torrential rain and total cloud cover that seems to be the British Summer this year, I couldn't miss the opportunity to try and get a few images last Sunday. Fortunately, active region 1520 was still putting on a show, following the CME that smashed into earth's magnetic field on the 14th.

I was pleased that, following my failure to get the camera settings right during my last imaging session, this time things seemed to go a little better, remembering to set the ISO below 200.

Processing was my usual routine - 20 RAW images, stacked in Registax 5 with tweaks to the wavelets and de-ringing (more by trial and error as I'm far from mastering the various options). In Photoshop CS3 though, I thought I'd be bold and experiment a little. The two images are processed in largely the same manner, differing only in the blend mode applied to a copy of the background layer as output from Registax. I'm not sure which one I prefer.

Blend mode "Lighten"

Blend mode "Multiply"

What a whopper!

Sunspot active region 1476 that is. A rare spell of sunny weather over the weekend allowed me to try and capture AR1476, which is the largest active region so far this solar cycle.

Unfortunately, it's been a while since I've used my camera and I must've been a bit rusty in it's basic operation, leaving the ISO setting on it's previous value of 800. As if I needed that extra bit of sensitivity to record the solar disk! I should've realised things were not right when I found I needed an exposure of 1/5000 to prevent over-exposure, but this clue clearly escaped my attention, so ISO800 it remained. I only realised my mistake when processing the stack of 20 exposures later on Saturday evening.

Considering the noisy settings, the final result is actually not too bad. I presume the stacking in Registax has helped remove much of it, but I still wish I'd had opportunity to repeat the shots at my usual ISO200.

Back to the Sun

Sunspot AR1429 has been responsible for recent coronal mass ejections (CME's) which have been battering Earth today, with another geomagnetic storm due to reach Earth tomorrow. Watchers in northern regions have been enjoying some marvellous aurorae, but sadly few have been visible from Bedfordshire. Hopefully chances of seeing the lights from Britain will increase as activity continues to increase towards solar maximum next year.

A while since I've imaged sunspots, so today I thought it was high time I went back to the Sun.

Cracking Sunspots

Some of the best sunspots of the new solar cycle so far, taken this morning, 31st July.

Imaged through my normal set-up of D300, 420mm telephoto (300 + 1.4 TC) and Baader solar film. 20 images stacked in Registax and colourized in Photoshop CS3.

Forgot to label the image whilst processing, so - the 3 main spot groups (from bottom to top) are active regions AR1263, 1261 and AR1260. AR1265 is the small single spot to the upper right of AR1260.



AR1263, 1261, 1260 (bottom to top)



More Shadow Chasing

It's only a few days before Endeavour undocks from the ISS and returns to Earth. Unfortunately, there are no solar transits visible from the UK after undocking, so this imaging session was to try and improve on my previous "docked" image. Endeavour is the dark blob situated between the solar panels, which are also better presented compared to my last post. I was chuffed to get 4 images so, overall, I think this is a more pleasing composite than my last effort. Images taken at Maple Cross, Herts. on 24th May.

Due to the resolution limitations of my camera and lens (420mm), I think this is the best I can achieve with my current set-up. In the raw images, the ISS is only about 25 pixels across, so there's not much data to play with! I need to increase the image scale which means getting one of my scopes set-up for solar imaging. Another project to add to the growing list.

ISS/Endeavour at 10h55m and the all important 24seconds.... (and sunspot 1216)

A very fuzzy Endeavour

Shadow Chasing - Endeavour crosses the Sun

After yesterdays disappointment, the weather today was forecast to be worse, but I checked out a favourable spot anyway to try and image the ISS and Endeavour transit, predicted for this morning at 11.43 and 38 seconds. I've only got 3 attempts left to try and image Endeavour before it's pensioned-off, so I had to try and hope for better luck than we had yesterday.

When I arrived at my chosen site near Pulloxhill, Beds, I parked up in a convenient field ......and it started to rain. "What am I doing here?" I asked myself. As the wind was blowing the cloud along at a fair pace I thought I'd stick it out and hope for the best. Fortunately, 10 minutes before the transit started a big patch of blue blew across the sun and everything was looking good.

No other mishaps, and I started my 100 exposure sequence 10 seconds before the predicted start, at a rate of 5 fps, using my laptop on the car seat to get an accurate time fix.

Back home, I was delighted to have captured 3 images which are composited here. The other dot on the sun is the sunspot AR 1216. The enlargements show some detail - one of the sets of solar panels is very clear, though I'm not 100% sure which bit is Endeavour. I suspect it's the dark blob near the centre.

Duration of transit only 0.57 secs. Shadow ground speed 7.5 km/s

Diameter of ISS = approx 65.4 arc seconds

In a field somewhere, with my DSLR and 420mm lens



Nice cuppa, shame about the cloud

Would you believe it.

My pal Dave and I set-up our gear in his garden, in glorious sunshine, and awaited the ISS transit predicted for 9.45 this morning, with DSLR's and webcams at the ready. With about 1 minute to go, the only cloud to cover the sun during the whole morning slowly moved across the solar disk and we were plunged into shadow. I started exposures as I'd planned anyway - starting 10 seconds before the transit - in the hope that a break in the cloud at the crucial second of transit might appear. Sadly, no such luck and, as if to poke fun at us, the cloud slowly moved away from the disk 10 seconds after the end of the transit! The sun appeared on only the last few frames of my 100 exposure sequence. "Oh dear, never mind" we said to ourselves!

Oh well, the cuppa helped calm the stress and frustration at having missed the event.

Dave's superb observatory with my modest DSLR in front

The offending fluffy stuff

Peekaboo - 10 seconds after the end of the transit!



The one that got away...

Motivated by my previous ISS transit success, I thought I'd have another try today. The centreline was predicted to pass through a local nature reserve (Paxton Pits for those that know it) so if I was clouded out at least I could try and photograph some interesting wildlife.

With 30 minutes to go, things began to look dodgy. I rattled off 15 images to check my exposure settings and then waited impatiently. To my dismay, the clouds won the day and with 15 minutes to go there wasn't a patch of blue anywhere to be seen.

This image was taken from the 15 test images and shows some minor sunspot activity and a bit of faculae, so all was not lost.

Oh, and I didn't get any bird pictures either. Some days are like that, aren't they? Anyway, trying again tomorrow, as there should be an ISS transit visible from my friends back garden....weather permitting. At least we can have a cuppa while we watch the clouds roll in!



No, not the ISS - just a few sunspots.



ISS Transit ID

Following some searching on the web, I've tried to identify the different parts of the ISS that (with a small stretch of the imagination!) can be seen in my image of a few days ago. The solar panels can be rotated to suit the sun's position relative to the station, and are shown at a slightly different angle between the two dates.

As a rough guide to image scale, the area covered by the four sets of solar panels is 361 ft wide x 240 ft long.  The station was imaged at a distance of around 250 miles. As best as I can estimate it, the theoretical resolution on the original image works out at roughly10ft per pixel.

ISS Solar Transit - 13th May 2011

First time I've tried to image the ISS crossing the sun. Seen lots of great images on the web, but naiively thought I'd need more sophisticated gear than I currently have.  Anyway, while browsing the web last night, I happened to check the ISS transit programme on CalSky just for interest. I was surprised to see that the centreline of the next transit was today, a mere 3km from my house. Too good to be true I thought, so I decided to give it a go and hope for the best. The total transit duration was predicted to last only 0.5 secs, so my timing needed to be pretty accurate.
Anyway, here's the result. I have to say I was dead chuffed. The close-up clearly shows the solar panels, with the station modules lying between, at an orientation of what looks like approaching end-on.

Details - 420mm telephoto with Baader solar film. 1/1250s at f8. 100 images taken at 5fps starting 10 seconds before the predicted start of transit.



Composite of 3 images taken 0.2 seconds apart





AR 1176

Following my last post, I was hoping the fine weather would last long enough to allow me to capture the developing active region 1176 as it moved across the disk.  How optimistic was I?!

So, with the attempt aborted after only 3 days, here's another post showing the developing sunspot group as it moved away from the limb.

Unfortunately, the sky today was a bit hazier due to the approaching front, which messed up the image clarity slightly compared to the earlier shots, but I've done my best to get the contrast and hue the same for all 3 images.  The result, whilst not as good as I'd hoped, is quite pleasing and shows the changing aspect of the spot group reasonably well. A larger image scale on the camera sensor would allow me to capture more detail. When I eventually get my scope out of hibernation, I must try and hook the DSLR up, giving me a focal length of 1600mm, instead of the current 420mm. That should hopefully spice things up a bit!

Sun - 23rd March 2011

A while since I've taken any images of our nearest star so, blessed with some decent weather, I thought I'd capture a few images.
This shot is a 10 image stack taken with my trusty D300 and 420mm telephoto.

Active region 1175 is starting to creep behind the limb; no discernible sunspots are visible, but there is some nice faculae. Meanwhile, AR1176 is beginning to show itself on the opposite side of the disk, with some interesting spot development amidst the faculae. This group has the potential to grow into something quite large, so will be interesting to track it's progress as it crosses the solar disk. Hopefully we'll be granted a few days continued clear skies before the cloud rolls in.

23rd March. AR1175 & AR1176

Crescent Sun

With the predominantly cloudy weather of late, I missed the Quadrantid meteor shower, despite staying up until after 3.00am this morning. So, after only 4 hours sleep, I amazed myself by waking in time to try and catch the partial solar eclipse. Venus blazed away in the South as I peeped through the curtains, which shocked me into hurriedly getting dressed and collecting my camera gear.

I wasn't sure what time the sun would manage to creep over Shearhatch Wood, so was lucky to arrive just before it showed it's face. The hazy clouds near the horizon made for patchy viewing, but I think gave the scene a little more atmosphere. These are a few of the images I managed to take before the sun disappeared permanently behind the growing cloud. I think I was lucky to see it at all!

Images taken with DSLR at 420mm through Baader solar-film.

Sunrise over Shearhatch - 08.26 UT

08.33 UT

08.36 UT

08.52 UT

Return to the Sun

With a few rare sightings of the Sun lately, I decided to try and image the large sunspot AR 1131.  Separated by 2 days, the images clearly show the Sun's rotation (synodic period is a little over 26 days). One day I'll capture daily images to create a time lapse movie, but sadly not much chance of that at this time of year!
Images were colourised in CS3 but I still can't decide what hue and saturation looks most pleasing to the eye.


7th Dec



9th Dec

Sun - 30th October

Sunny days are likely to be few and far between as we head towards Winter, so I thought I'd capture another solar white light image while I could.
The large sunspot group AR1117 is nearing the limb and will soon leave the visible disk. Another spot is creeping around the edge of the disk opposite AR1117. It will be interesting to see how this develops. The umbral region is just visible in the area of faculae, which themselves are enhanced by their contrast against the slightly darker limb region.


AR1117 nears the edge of the disk.



Solar Rotation

Amazingly, another clear day today. Having taken another image of the solar disk, I thought it would be interesting to composite the images from the last few days to show more clearly the rotation of the sun.
Ideally, as a future project, I must try and take a consistent run of images at regular and shorter time intervals. It would be interesting to then combine these and produce a short movie to show the rotation.



Solar rotation



The Sun continues to shine

Blessed with more sunshine over the last few days, I've been capturing a few more images, to try and improve my image processing workflow.

Here are a couple of shots from the 20th and 21st October. The rotation of the Sun over the 24 hour time difference is clear.
 

20th Oct



21st Oct



Sun 17th October 2010

Sun was shining today, so decided to try and take some images.

This shot was produced from 18 images stacked in Registax with a bit of processing in Photoshop CS3 and final colorising to make it more pleasing on the eye.

Original sub's taken with Nikon D300, 300mm prime with 1.4 converter (=420mm), 1/3200s at f8, through Baader solar film.

Main sunspots on show are numbered 1113 (top), 1115 (bottom) and 1112 (the group of small spots at right). Faculae can also be seen near the limb adjacent to the spots. Two smaller spots (un-numbered) can also be seen just above the centre of the disk.

Warning to non-astronomers - never look directly at the sun without proper filters designed for the purpose. Failure to do so risks ruining your camera and, more importantly, your eyes!

Our nearest star - 17th Oct 2010