2022 Aug 25 Sun - first in Scotland

I rather took images during my stay in Leeds, and I have recently relocated to Scotland, and we have bought a small home and so it's now to resume imaging!

The small foldable table is for placing my computer, a cardbox was used as a sunshield.  The trusty Nextar mount was dead while in Leeds, it's now placed by a az-gti mount.

The sun has been active, and we have aurora alerts at night.  My backyard was not dark enough probably.

This is my first solar shot in Scotland, less than desirable but absolutely a new start.

Two frames merged together 1519 and 1523 (GMT), captured with ASI190mm without reducer, prime focus of my trusty Ranger.

2022 April 30

Two frame mosaic without reducer, slightly downsized to reduce artifacts, colorized.

 

1059 and 1104 (GMT+1)

Thin cloud floating around. 

I'm closer to getting back to normal imaging.

2022 April 20 Another attempt on solar imaging

 

I have decided to use my macbook for imaging, it has a brighter screen which should be helpful.  

After capturing, the AVIs were transferred to my PC for processing.  Maybe I shall try installing Windows on my macbook?  Anyway.

Now I've a little bit more experience with my azgti, and it's up and tracking very quickly.  I've used my iPad air as the control.  My old ipad mini has very little power left, I mean the battery.

First up is a failed full disc shot with the reducer, it's taken at 1004 UT.  It's 1104 for the local time, but we are not in day light saving mode.

Tuning the T-max and Richfield still requires some more practice, it's so far away from the laptop screen.  Pulling the laptop screen closer but the sunshine prevents that.

Next up is taken with reducer off, cropped:

Close up is less demanding to T-max and Richfield combination, taken just 4 minutes later, i.e. 1008 UT.

18th of March, second real trial on the Sun

 

I couldn't really tune the T-max and Richfield due to the limitation of the DIY notebook screen shade.

I just tilted the T-max according to my memory, and Richfield on its two ends.  I shall find better way for image capturing.  

Maybe I shall set the tripod lower, sit on the ground, and make a bigger notebook screen shade.

Relocated to UK, 15th of March 2022

My family relocated to the UK, and now I got a small garden or a backyard.

I did some simple imaging before but the freezing temperature and a nearby street light stopped me from doing something more serious.  My Nexstar mount was found dead soon after arrival, it worked once or twice, but then I found a nylon gear was totally stripped afterward.

I got a az-gti mount as a replacement.  I tried to take image of the sun for two consecutive days, but I found imaging in front of a simple window platform is actually much easier.  The very bright sunshine is making the notebook screen less than readible.

After much struggling, I got this silly image but at least I know the az-gti is working, and the Solarmax 60 is still alright after travelling over 9600km across the ocean.

2021/1/31 Sun

 

0615 UT with reducer, ASI290mm

2021/1/21 Moon

Just tried out YouTube live by using screen capture of OBS on Sharpcap.

Here is the only shot taken and stacked:

Ranger with 5x Powermate, ASI 290mm

20210103 Sun

0700UT with 2x barlows

0658UT with 2x barlows

0655 UT with reducer

Moderate seeing, good transparency.

20201229 Sun

Seeing moderate, transparency a bit low.

0713 UT with reducer: 

0721 UT with 2x barlows:

20201227 Sun

 Moderate seeing, poor transparency, I failed to tune the Tmax and Richview properly still....

With reducer 0642 (UT)

With 2x barlows, 0646, 0649 (UT).

20201221 Winter Solstice Sun

 Very poor seeing, nearly zero detail, very hard even to focus, this is a shot with reducer:

0646 (UT).

20201204 Sun

 On leave at home doing some solar imaging, seeing becomes slightly better, transparency similar.

0722 (UT), I managed to get full disc with the reducer at a longer distance from the camera.  Rich view and T-max was not tuned well so that the bright spot was apparent.

0730 (UT), taken with a 2x barlows.  Seems like the low transparency was killing detail.

I have conducted experience to use MONO16 instead of MONO8 but the frame rate was reduced to less than 10 fps with my slow notebook.  The SER file was not well processed as well, AS! support was less than perfect.

20201203 Sun

 Poor seeing, I guess 3/10 at best, transparency 5/10.

Better not to colorize it.

2020/11/30 Sun again

 Working with my new monochromatic camera again.

0646 (UT):-

0650 (UT) with 2x barlows:

AR2786 is the biggest one.

20201127 Sun with new ASI 290mm

My new ASI 290mm arrived a couple of days ago, and this is the officially first light!

AR2785 and AR2786 come out on time to test my new gear, I have been doubting about my Solarmax filters, whether it's dying or rusting or not.  Before I sold them, I managed to capture this shot with the aperture partially blocked my the window frame.  

Not bad it seems.

The ASI 290mm has a smaller chip than that of the 120mm, even with the reducer in place, I could no longer capture full disc in a single shot, so I simply removed that reducer lens!

The visual view was stunning as well.

A few more shots pending, time to get back to work.

20201102 Solar session?

My ASI 120mm seems dying.

On plugging in, nothing shows up with only dropped frames.

Trying to plug in another computer, same thing.

Trying to plug in my ASI 120mc, everything works.... Going back to the first computer, no problem too.

Going back to an old monochromatic camera, Sharpcap no longer works with it.

Going back to the ASI 120mm, it works suddenly however the image quality was a bit strange.  Extremely poor seeing?  I dunno.

Shall try again next time.

Luckily,  nothing worth to record after checking visually.

20201019 Home Solar imaging season again

Last switched on time was late March.

Failed to detect my ASI 120mm for the first time, have to re-install the device driver.  And then upgrade Sharpcap thinking every will be fine.  But then cloud rolled in!

Waited for half an hour or so?  Finally managed to take a brief video clip, super poor seeing as below.

An interesting prominence on top, and a tiny active region a bit off the center.

Sun Rise

Camping trip shots:

Comet C/2020 F3 Neowise

I got it finally, after one more un-recorded failed attempt, so after four failed attempts, I got it.

200mm f2.8 ISO 800 8s cropped, 23 frames stacked.

This is the first time I really took an image of a comet, and this is also the first time I really process the image of a comet.

Another version: 105mm f4 ISO1600 6s slightly cropped, 8 frames stacked.

**************************************************

****************** Some more results pending..........

**************************************************

Waiting for the sky to get darker.

Got it with my Canon 24-100mm f4.

And then I pulled out my Canon 200mm f2.8 to capture some more close up, while waiting, I took this selfie with my setup, 8kg total which includes:

Canon 70D
Canon 24-105mm f4
Canon 200mm f2.8
Velbon tripod
Sky adventurer
Canon 10x30 IS for visual observation

The comet tail was apparent with my Canon 10x30 IS, the site was very bright as shown in the above picture, and so I couldn't see the comet with naked eyes.  Actually, only a few stars could be seen with naked eyes.  But once it's located with the binoculars, it's easy to point at it.

Failed evening attempt on C/2020 F3 NEOWISE

We might see this comet in the evening sky, so I went to a nearby location to try.

The moment just before the sun went down behind a small hill top nearby, it was a bit cloudy.