Saturn June 18

Some more experimenting with AutoStakkert! 2.6.8 in order to get more details of my Saturn observations. Frames were taken using ASI224MC on TAL200K f/10 with capture software Sharpcap 2.8 and editing with CS4. Saturn shows up with some minor details on the planet and the rings have clearly the Cassini division.

Spicules Explained

Scientists uncover the origins of the dynamic swirling jets called spicules on the sun's surface. The publication was made in Science and a summary can be read via this link here.

Spicules show up as "grass" above the sun's surface but are in reality 7500km long jet's with a speed up to 95 km/s and lasting only 10minutes. Scientist always believed that magnetic fields and charged particles in the sun's atmosphere are responsible for creation of spicules but the mechanism of creation was unclear. Adding neutral particles into the model provides a lot of answers and solves the question on how spicules are created. The magnetic fields move more freely and the neutral particles provide the neseccary buyancy the magnetic fields (fluxtubes) need to rise through the sun's convection zone up to the chromosphere. There they snap into spicules, releasing plasma and energy. The friction between the charged and neutral particles are responsable for heating up the plasma in and around the spicules which also could explain the increased tempature from the transition region (region between chromosphere and corona).

Zonnekijkdag 2 juli in Moment Averbode

Op zondag 2 juli kan je in Het Moment te Averbode terecht om naar de zon te kijken. Met speciale filters en telescopen kun je zelf de zon op een veilige manier ontdekken. Leer meer over zonnevlekken en wie weet zie je zelf wel een zonnevlam. Leden van sterrenclub Helios zullen in de namiddag aanwezig en zullen graag een woordje uitleg geven.
Klik hier voor link naar zonnekijkdag.

Start of Summer

At 6h24 start of the summer... enjoy it :)

Sunset at Motovun (Croatia) 

Sun Eclipse ... 2 months to go

Total Sun Eclips on August 21, 2017 in the US... still 2 months to go.

Occulation of Io

At exactly 20h30UT the moon Io entered occulation. Below two pictures taken afocal with iPhone 6 on Dobson 12" and 9mm oculair.

Solargraph ready?

It's almost summertime. This is the moment the sun reaches the highest altitude and from now on the sun will be each day lower at the sky untill the lowest point at december 21st. So a good time to install your pinhole camera for a nice solargraph. This year I will install two cans - one 50 cl and one 70cl. Both have Ilford non shining photopaper. If you want to make one yourself - see my blog DIY solargraph. Goodluck