104 Spotless Days & Limb Darkening

The picture of the Sun today shows again a Sun without any sunspots. So far this year, 104 spotless days are registrated; in 2017, it took a full year for those 104 spotless days. This means we are heading towards a solar minimum.

The picture also shows the Sun is more bright at the center and darker towards the edges. This phenomena is called Limb Darkening - which I will explain later (when I have time :)

Sun with SolarMax III and ASI224MC

The Sun today around UT08h45 observed with SolarMax III (f/5.7 70/400 DS BF15) and ASI224MC for 60s. This time true color stacking providing a red color instead of BGGR blue color (see my blog here). 

The Sun with SolarMax3 and ASI224MC

The Sun this morning; observation with SolarMax 3 (f/5.7 70/400; BS en BF15) and ASI224MC. Capturesoftware SharpCap for 60s and stacking using AutoStakkert in BGGR. This results in a (false) blue color, but the provides a nive and higher contrast. Located centrally on the Sun's disk you can see a white bright active region, but without sunspots. Also different prominences can be see at the limb of the Sun.

Nightscape Milky Way and Mars

Some nightscapes from my backyard. One with our own galaxy or Milky Way and one with part of the Milky Way and Mars.

Mars TAL200K ASI224MC - Record of 58.000 frames

Last night I was able to take some more pictures of Mars. Mars is currently very bright and getting bigger every night. Details are now visile on Mars's disk. A total of 58.000 frames were made due to the fact I was able to lower the capture area and the fact the scope was well positioned.

Pictures made with capture software SharpCap and stacking with AutoStakkert. Final editing by CS4.

Mars this morning

Mars is currently clearly the brightest object in the sky. This morning the sky was cloudfree (except the north-west part) and pictures were taken using TAL200K ASI224MC without barlow. Capture area was set to 400x480 resulting in more then 200fps. Total frames taken was 57.000 which are stacked with AutoStakkert. Limited editing using CS4.

Dark and light areas are good visible; also when observing visualy.

Fascinating Jupiter and the Great Red Spot

The Great Red Spot (GRS) captured on this picture is located centrally on Jupiter's Disk and measures the size of the Earth.
This is one of my most fascinating pictures of Jupiter with the GRS. I took the picture during twilight and reduced the capture area to 640x400 boosting up the maximum frames per second.