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...