Saturn: 10 days before opposition

Capturing Saturn, 10 days before opposition. Seeing was fair, transparancy good. It was until midnight that seeing became little better. Saturn was about 24° above the horizon. Saturn will be at a max. altitude of  31° at local time 2h16, so two hours later. 

Setting: TAL200K f/8.5 with ASI224MC

ADC and Barlow x2; getting to f/22

Software: SharpCap 4, Astrosurface, CS4, Winjupos

Sun in CaIIH &H1v, CaIIK & K1v

Imaging the Sun in CaIIH &H1v, CaIIK3 & K1v using my Sol'Ex pro.

Setting: TLAPO60/360 with Sol'Ex Pro and ASI290MM

Herschel Wedge

Software:  SharpCap4, Inti, CS4

The Sun in H-alpha, beta, gamma, delta, CaIIK and H using Sol'Ex pro

This morning I took some time to image the Sun in different wavelengths using my Sol'Ex Pro. It was windy and seeing was bad. So images are far from perfect.

Setting: TLAPO60/360 with Sol'Ex Pro and ASI290MM

Herschel Wedge

Software: SharpCap4, Inti, JSolex and CS4

PC and SSD 

The Sun in FeI(c) line with Sol'Ex

Imaging the Sun with Sol'Ex pro in FeI(c) line (495.761nm). Both traces of the photosphere and chromosphere are visible. 

Conditions were far from perfect with wind and bad seeing.

Setting: TLAPO 60/360 with Sol'Ex Pro and ASI290MM

Herschel Wedge

Software : Sharpcap 4, Inti, JSolex and CS4

Lunar Occultation of Saturn

This morning, August 2024 at 5h30, planeet Saturn disappeared behing the Moon. Almost an hour later, around 6h26, the planet return from behind the Moon.

The PC was not ready to capture the first moment of occultation and therefor I took some afocal pictures and followed the phenomen visuel. The second moment was imaged using ASI224MC.

Setting: Dobson OrionXT12 (300mm) f/4.9
Camera : ASI224MC

Software : SharpCap4, Astrosurface, CS4

Afocal : iPhone on 9mm ocular.

Red "Super Blue" Moon due to forest fire in Canada

Image of the Super Blue Moon which is currently red due to forest fire in Canada.

Saturn Triple Ring Plane Crossing 2039

I know, still 15 years to go but, you can already start planning for the triple Saturn Ring Plan Crossing in 2039. One is not visible due to the Saturn - Sun Conjunction. 

Credit : https://in-the-sky.org/news.php?id=20400328_12_100

Saturn Ring Plane Crossing

The Rings of Saturn are "closing" and they will dissapear on March 23, 2025 and November 24, 2025 (not really as tilt will be 0.22°).

But where to find the data of the day to day tilt of the rings? I found this via Stellarium. When Saturn is selected, phi "e" shows the information for the tilt of the rings in degrees. 

Below graph shows when to see the ring plane crossing from both "Earth" and "Sun". 

Credit : https://in-the-sky.org/news.php?id=20250921_12_100

I imaged Saturn on August 15, 2024 with following information :

Planet diameter : 19"

Planet with Ring diameter : 42.8"

Height of the ring : 2.6"

Tilt of the ring : 2.56°

Saturn August 15, 2024

Clouds disappeared last night with some good transparency but fair seeing. Good enough to capture Saturn. The rings are currently almost edge-on with axe of the little ring on 2.6°.

Sol'Ex Pro : AR3784 in H-alpha, H-Beta and CaII H&K line

After re-adjusting the collimator of my Sol'Ex Pro, I made some images of the Sun in H-alpha, H-beta, CaII-H and CaII-K.

Setting: Sol'Ex pro on TLAPO60/360 with Herschel Wedge

Camera : ASI290MM

Software : SharpCap 4, Inti 6.2, JSolex 2.6.4 and CS4

Central is Sunspot AR3784; prominences are visible in each wavelengths.

ROS 2024 Group Photo

I received the Group Photo of the Rencontres des Observateurs Solaires of June 22 & 23, 2024 in Serbannes (France). Both Walter and myself, together with many others...

Sol'Ex Pro : First Light

I bought the new Sol'Ex Pro version and replaced the optics from my Sol'Ex version 1. This morning I installed the Sol'Ex via a Herschel wedge to my refractor TLAPO60/360.
The camera ASI290MM operated with SharpCap4. After my first scans I found out that scanning happened out of center. 

To found out what 's going on, I used the website of Jerome Bastardie : https://espace-infini.fr/en/accueil-english/

Via the implementation chapter https://espace-infini.fr/en/first-implementation/  I could link the problem to problem 7 ... tilt issue. I check my tilt with Inti and it was 57°. After correcting the tilt, the issue was gone. 

Setting:

Sol'Ex Pro version on TLAPO60/360 and Herschel Wedge

Camera : ASI290MM

Software : SharpCap 4, Inti, JSolex and CS4

Sol'Ex: Imaging Hydrogen Balmer Series

The Balmer series is a set of spectral line emissions of the hydrogen atom that corresponds to transitions of an electron from higher energy levels down to the second energy level (n=2). These transitions occur when an electron loses energy and releases a photon, resulting in visible light. The wavelengths of the Balmer series fall within the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum, producing the colors typically associated with hydrogen gas. The first six lines of the Balmer series are known as H-alpha, H-beta, H-gamma, and H-delta, H-epsilon and H-zeta which correspond to different transitions. The Balmer series is significant in astronomy and spectroscopy for identifying hydrogen in our sun, stars and other celestial objects.

Images are made with my new Sol'Ex Pro and using a Herschel Wedge on TLAPO60/360 and ASI290MM.

Software: SharpCap 4, Inti, JSolex and CS4.

Sunspot AR3780

Sunspot AR3780, currently 1200MH big, was imaged this morning using:

TAL200K f/8.5 with ASI290MM

Filter: Solar filter ND3.8, OIII filter and IR/UV cut 

Software: Sharpcap, Astrosurface v1 Urania and CS4

Saturn: 1 month to opposition

 

One month to go for opposition of Saturn. It was also my first time this year imaging the planet.

After polar allignment  using SharpCap, imagting started :

TAL200K f/8.5 with ADC and Barlowx2 

ASI224MC with IR/UV cut

Software : SharpCap 4, Astrosurface U4 and CS4

Calcium blue wing image of the Sun with Sol'Ex (CaIIK1v & CaIIH1v)

Imaging the Sun with Sol'Ex version 1 in Calcium blue wing (CaIIK1v & CaIIH1v) and H-alpha blue wing; this is -1,5A from the central CaK/H line.
The calculate the number of pixels which correspondents with 1,5A I used following formula :

H-alpha = -24* 2,4/pixelsize camera or for my camera = -24*2.4/2.9 = -19,86 pixels counting from the central H-alpha line equals 1,5A
CaK/H = -19*2,4/ pixelsize camera or for my camera = -19*2.4/2.9=-15.72 pixels counting from the central CaK or CaH line equals 1,5A

Images show the lower photosphere; the central line is showing the chromospehere.

Inti was used to generate the images and editing was done using CS4.