Sol'Ex second session

My second Sol'Ex session after adjustment of the slit and slit edge. The edge of the slit was sharpened by pulling out the collimator bloc. Important is to keep the lens fixed and only pull the collimator with the slit out. It's only a mm. After sharpening the lines you will see that both lines and edge are sharp.
My first time I captured prominences in Ca K wavelengt.

Some other learnings: 

1. allignment of the Sol'Ex; the plane of the Sol'Ex is parrallel with the equatorial plane
2. at start the tilt was about 4°; when slightly adjusted this was reduced to -0,4°
3. calculating the exposure time based on a speed of "8". this is about 8ms

Setting:

• TSAPO60/360 with ASI290MM
• Sol'Ex with Hoya 1,6
• Area: 1936x114 (CaK) and 1936x276 (H-Alpha)
• H-Alpha : 115fps, gain 0, 8,6ms, Mono 16, binning 1x1, Camera temperature 32°C
• Ca K: 70fps, gain 49, 14,2ms, Mono 16, binning 1x1, Camera temperature 34°C
• Software: SharpCap 4, Inti, CS4
• Use of false colours

What to see on Jupiter

 What to see on Jupiter..... 

Imaging Jupiter GRS and Moon transit

A visual observation of Jupiter with it's Great Red Spot (GRS) is already a beautiful view. Using Winjupos I simulated when Jupiter's GRS is showing up together with a Moon Transit. This combination is even more beautiful both visual as photographic.

See below images with dates of  GRS and Moon Transit combinations: 

Sept 29 UT1h

Oct 3 UT3h

Oct 6 UT2h

Oct 16 UT18h

Oct 20 UT21h

Oct 23 UT19h

Oct 27 UT23h

Oct 30 UT21h

Nov 5 UT5h

Reworked Jupiter with Calisto Sept 8, 2023

 

Reworked picture of Jupiter from Sept 8, 2023. Use of 500 out of 10.000 frames using AstroSurface U4.

Saturn Sept 8, 2023

 

Very good conditions on Sept 8, 2023. This results in my best Saturn picture this year with a lot of details.

TAL200K @f/22 with ASI224MC

ADC and UV/IRBlocker
Exposure : 48FPS
Capture Area=648x488

Software: SharpCap, AstroSurface U4, CS4

Jupiter and Callisto

My first images of Jupiter this year 2023. Condition were very good with good seeing and good transparency.

Setting: TAL200K @f/22 with ASI224MC

Filter: ADC and UV/IR blocker

Exposure 80,92 fps; 10.000 frames (10% stacked)

ROI 800x600

Software: SharpCap4, AstroSurface U4, CS4

Radio Astronomy Station of Humain (B)

Interferometers - Credit Pascal Hilkens

The date of september 9th was already marked for a long time. The radio astronomy station of Humain in Belgium will open its doors to the public for the first time. Together with my collegue Walter we left early in the morning to visit this once in a life time opportunity.  The weather was perfect with a clear sky to walk along the two north-south and east-west axes of the old interferometer. 

This radio astronomy station was founded in 1953 by the Royal Observatory of Belgium to house the very first Belgian radio telescopes dedicated to observing the Sun. In the 1960s, a solar interferometer of 44 radio telescopes was constructed and operated up until 2001. Today, the station continues to host radio and optical experiments to observe the sky, the Sun, the Earth’s space environment and its atmosphere.

Credit Pascal Hilkens

After a quick snack we walked into a demo with the Solar Explorer or Sol'ex. This was a nice surprise as we didn't expect that the Royal Observatorium would own an amateur Sol'Ex instrument. This gave us the chance to ask in depth questions to Sabrina Bechet from the Royal Observatory. She gave some tips on the position of the instrument with the mount.

From Left to Right: Pascal, Sabrina Bechet (Royal Observatory) and Walter