DIY Spectroscope

Today I made a selfmade spectroscope using a Pringles can (inside is painted black and layered with black paper) and a CD for diffraction of the light. Pictures are taken using a iPhone6.

Some nice results with fluorescent and halogen light. More to come..

Venus 6,5% Illuminated

Venus is still very bright during sunset and is about 6,5% illuminated. Two months ago it was still 46%.

Weather Summary February

When we compare with Feb last year, average temperatures and air frost days are comparable. But this year's Feb was a rather dry month with 50% less rain then last year.

In Memoriam Jan Cuypers

Sterrenkijkdagen 4 Maart - Helios Averbode in Langdorp

Helios Averbode zal bij helder weer aanwezig zijn te Langdorp (Wolfs Café). Wat zal er te zien zijn?
De maan is voor 43% verlicht en zal voor een prachtig beeld zorgen in de telescopen.

In de vroege avond zijn Venus (verlichten sikkel van 13%), Mars en Uranus laag boven de horizon te zien. Later op de avond rond 23h00 komt Jupiter boven de horizon met haar 4 helderste manen. Ook planetoide Vesta is waarneembaar in het sterrenbeeld "tweelingen".

Daarnaast zijn er de pleiaden M45 een open sterrenhoop, M42 de Orionnevel en heel wat andere prachtige sterrenhopen zoals M36, M37, M79, .. te zien. Kijk mee naar Betelgeuze, een gigantische ster, die 1200x groter (1 680 000 000 km in diameter of 11 x de afstand aarde - zon ) is dan onze eigenste zon.
Kleurrijke dubbelsterren zorgen voor wat kleur in de telescoop.

Tot dan !

Zie ook sterrenkijkdagen VVS

Books & Website of the Sun

Our sun is the nearest star. How it works? What are sunspots? What is nuclear fusion? What are CME's? Many questions can be found in my reference list below. But the best books so far I found are :

15 Million Degrees,                Zon en Aarde - Een unieke relatie and          De zon.

For amazing sun video's, use NASA, SDO and ESA websites.

Boeken/Papers

15 Million Degrees, Lucie Green; 2016

An observational overview of solar flares, L. Fletcher; 2011

Astrophysics processes, Hale Bradt; 2008

Data analysis and mathematical modeling of the initiation of CME’s, F. Zuccarello; 2011

De Sterren, Jan Cuypers; 2001

De Wetenschap van de Kosmos, Christoffel Waelkens; 2012

De zon, David Whitehouse; 2006

De zon, Jan Janssens; 1995

De zon, Jan Van Gestel; 1990

Handboek Sterrenkunde, G. Schilling; 2015

Het zonnestelsel, Nico Hey; 2007

How stars work, P. Armitage; 2004

Nearest Star – The surprising science of our sun, Leon Golub; 2001

Stijn en de sterren, Stijn Meuris; 2009

Solar flares and particle accelaration, E. Kontar; 2012

The Sun as a Star, Roger Tayler; 1996

Zon en aarde, H. Friedman; 1986

Zon en aarde; een unieke relatie, Jan Janssens; 2003

Websites

VVS Website, Urania Website, MIRA, APOD, Space Weather, Poollicht.be, Potzdam University

NASA, ESA, Aeronomie, NOAA, SDO, Solar Physics, Google, Wikipedia, European Space Weather

Slideshare Website, Frank Deboosere, Stichting Universum, University of Glasgow

Thomson Higher Education, Max Planck Instituut Astrophysics, UCAR Heliophysics

Frank Deboosere - MIRA Observatory

It was my first time visiting the Observatory Mira at Grimbergen - Brussels. At the time I arrived it was not crowdy at all and I was guided personally around showing all the telescopes located on the roof of the building.  Great hospitality :)

The main purpose of the visit however was attending a lecture about the sun presented by Frank Deboosere. He provided the lecture twice as the room was to small to fit all attendees. The presentation gave a good overview about how the sun works, sunspots (with butterfly diagram and Maunder minumum), sunflares and what will happen with the sun in the future.

After the lecture Frank was very open to talk and we talked about some specifics like copyrights of his lectures.

In the library I found some interesting books of the sun which I could use to further complete my script of the sun. And by luck I was able to found the book "Zon en aarde" from Jan Janssens. As it was for sell, I did bought a copy of the book.