20091011 Sun

AR1010 is still fine, but that smaller active region is nearly totally disappeared. Seeing 3/10, transparency 7/10.

Borg 45ED II, Solarmax 40 with BF10, DMK 31AF03 for the first two shots, Tele Vue 2x barlows added for the close up.

1515 (GMT+8), full disc:-


1516 (GMT+8), full disc with exposure pushed to better show the prominences:-


1517 (GMT+8), with 2x barlows, AR1010 closeup:-


1519 (GMT+8), with 2x barlows:-


1520 (GMT+8), with 2x barlows:-


C5 + Cheapy-ERF + PST etalon + BF10 for the rest of the close up shots:-

1526 (GMT+8), more aperture shows more detail:-


1527 (GMT+8):-


1531 (GMT+8), AR1010:-


1532 (GMT+8), another shot of AR1010:-

20090110 Sun

We have two active regions today! Seeing is 2/10, transparency 8/10.

Borg 45ED II, Coronado Solarmax 40 with BF10, DMK 31AF03 all on Meade LXD55.

1337 (GMT+8), full disc showing both active regions:-


1338 (GMT+8), overexposing the disk to show the prominences completely:-


1340 (GMT+8) with 2x barlows, the lower bigger one, i.e. AR1010 (this is the real 1010, the older one is not numbered officially):-


1342 (GMT+8) with 2x barlows, the upper smaller un-numbered active region:-

20090109 Sun

We have another active region and this one even more well formed and bigger! Seeing 3/10, transparency 5-6/10.

Telescope: Borg 45ED II
Camera: DMK 31AF03
Mount: Meade LXD55
Filter: Coronado Solarmax 40 with BF10

1430 (GMT+8):-


1432 (GMT+8):-


1434 (GMT+8), with 3x barlows:-


1437 (GMT+8), with 3x barlows:-


1439 (GMT+8), with 3x barlows:-


1441 (GMT+8), with 3x barlows:-

20090108 Sun

Telescope: Borg 45ED II
Filter: Coronado Solarmax 40 with BF10
Camera: DMK31AF03
Mount: Meade LXD55

AR1010 is still around or not? It's not very noticeable at low power, and until the image processing is done, we shall know. Seeing is 4/10, transparency is 4/10.

1432 (GMT+8):-


1433 (GMT+8):-


1436 (GMT+8), with 3x barlows:-


1440 (GMT+8), with 3x barlows, AR1010 closeup:-

Stuff for sales

OEM Canon Eyepiece Extender EC-2, 5" heat absorbing glass:-


Aluminium platform plate, holes for Takahashi and 3/8":-

Tripod hubs for LXD55 or similar, C5 dovetail plate (Vixen GP compatible):-

PST without etalon and the visual back (that PST-BF5 is available separately, please ask), rusted objective, suitable to make a white light solar scope with built-in solar finder:-

52mm red filters, suitable as ERF:-

Meade Prism diagonal 1.25":-

Kenko 2x (SOLD):-

Meade DSX mount without autostar, this is the model which comes with a battery to store time so that you won't need to enter everytime. (SOLD)

77mm red filter, again suitable as ERF (SOLD):-

Konica Minolta Z3/Z5 adapter tube, 52mm -> 43mm ring, 43mm eyepiece clamp:-

If you're interested, contact me.

20090107 Sun

We got a new active region (AR1010)! Yes, it's terribly small, but it's a good sign! Seeing 5/10, transparency dropped to 5/10.

First four are taken with my Borg 45ED/SM40/BF10 setup.

1443 (GMT+8):-


1444 (GMT+8):-


1448 (GMT+8), 3x barlows:-


1450 (GMT+8), 3x barlows, AR1010 is here:-


I spend sometime to watch with a 13mm Nagler, but since the sun was so silent, I saw virtually nothing except that prominence. Then, I treated myself with some binoviewing time using two 20mm Tele Vue Plossl, hey man... Binoviewing is magical in terms of H-alpha observation, every little detail came out so nicely! Encouraged by the view, I pulled out my C5/Cheapy-ERF setup out for a closer snapshot!

1501 (GMT+8):-

20090107 Orion

DMK 21AU04.AS, Computar 2.3-6mm f/1.2 at 2.3mm f/1.2, exposure 2.872s single frame, zero gain.



Just for fun.

20090106 Sun

We have plenty of sunshine again, transparency 6/10, seeing 2/10.

Telescope: Borg 45ED II
Filter: Coronado Solarmax 40 with BF10
Camera: DMK31AF03
Mount: Meade LXD55

1556 (GMT+8):-


1557 (GMT+8):-


1600 (GMT+8), with 3x barlows:-


Very poor seeing, so no detail even with higher magnification.

20090105 Venus

Telescope: Tele Vue Ranger
Camera: DMK 31AF03
Mount: Meade LXD55
Other: Tele Vue 1.25" diagonal, Tele Vue 3x barlows

1835 (GMT+8), 1/1000s exposure, medium to high gain:-


1837 (GMT+8), 1/130s exposure, zero gain:-


Seeing extremely poor, the chromatic abberation of the Ranger is dancing around with the distorted semi-circle. Crazy indeed.

I let my 6 years old daughter Alby to have a look into my 13mm Nagler Type 6, she's quite happy with the view!

20090105 Sun

The sky is very blue today, I would rate it a 8/10 but the seeing is very bad like 1-2/10 at best.

Telescope: Borg 45ED II
Filter: Coronado Solarmax 40 with BF10
Camera: DMK31AF03
Mount: Meade LXD55

1454 (GMT+8):-


1455 (GMT+8):-

20090104 Sun

Seeing 5/10, transparency 6/10.

Telescope: Borg 45ED II
Filter: Coronado Solarmax 40 with BF10
Camera: DMK31AF03
Mount: Meade LXD55

1616 (GMT+8):-


1617 (GMT+8):-


very silent again.

20090103 Sun

Cloudy! But we got thinner cloud at some moment. Cloud are moving fast and thus it's impossible to capture any surface detail, but the prominence could be acquired by overexposure. No good result can be obtained, but at least it serves as a record.

The video merged together:-



Tried to stack and process, 1308 (GMT+8):-

Overnight monitoring

The Quadrantid meteor shower might peak tomorrow morning, so I've setup my simple gear from inside my home:

Tripod: Gitzo G106 without tracking
Mount: Manfrotto 410 head with a combination of plates and another ball head
Camera: DMK 21AU04.AS
Lens: Computar 2.3-6mm f/1.2 wide open
Exposure: 1s each frame, pushed to 2.4s after 28 minutes, from 20090102-2300 (GMT+8) to 20090103-0600 (GMT+8).

Moving cloud (big pieces, also some more small closely packed pieces with narrow gaps), transparency like 6/10, seeing rather poor.



I guess I shall try higher power with smaller field under this kind of environment.

20090102 Moon

Telescope: Borg 45ED II
Camera: DMK 31AF03
Mount: Meade LXD55

1848 (GMT+8), normal exposure:-


1849 (GMT+8), overexposure, close to 1s per frame:-

20090102 Sun

The sky is still good, the QRF is still here and that prominence develops further. Seeing like 2/10, transparency 6/10.

Camera: DMK 31AF03
Mount: Meade LXD55

First set is taken with:-

Telescope: Borg 45ED II
Filter: Coronado Solarmax 40 with BF10

1438 (GMT+8):-


1439 (GMT+8):-


1441 (GMT+8), with 2x barlows:-


Second set is taken with:-

Telescope: Celestron C5
Filter: Cheapy-ERF, PST etalon module, BF10

1452 (GMT+8):-


1455 (GMT+8):-

20090101 Sun

Happy new year! Just back home from a camp with youngsters in the church and we have a very great sky today! Transparency 7/10, seeing not bad at 4/10 for day time.

Telescope: Borg 45ED II
Filter: Coronado Solarmax 40 with BF10
Camera: DMK 31AF03
Mount: Meade LXD55

1520 (GMT+8):-


1521 (GMT+8):-

20081231 to 20090101

I am having camping with the youngsters in the church. I bought nothing but my Canon 10x30 IS with me since the weather was so bad.

Luckily, we got a few cloud breaks and with a green laser point, I introduced a couple of winter constellations to them.

And a few of them was lucky enough to be able to use that 10x30 to look at the starry sky as well as the Orion Nebula. Cloudy came back really quick before we counted down to 2009.