Moon Venus Mercury

Nightscape of Venus, Moon and Mercury.

Sol'Ex CaIIK Line Stack

After re-adjusting my Sol'Ex time to test. Seeing was very poor but still, I made some images in CaIIK line. The 10 images were made using INTI and stacked uising AS4!.The result was edited in CS4.

Setting

Solex Pro version on TALAPO60/360 and ASI678MM

2nd Gen Slit

Herschel Wedge

SharpCap, INTI and CS4

Preparation of Magnetogram Fe I 6173A

 One of the conditions of making a magnetogram is finding the right spectrum line. Not that easy. So finding the Fe I 6173 A line (which has a g=2,5) was the objective this morning. Comparing with the solarspectrum and Christian Buil's spectrum, I can say that I found it. Next time, I can start making the images for the magnetogram. I'm not 100% sure but the line split is visible. 

The Sun in H-alpha and Ha2cb

This morning a couple of hours clear sky. But still very poor seeing and a lot of wind. As a consequence my PC fell from the table, luckely without further damage.

I was able to connect my synscan to my PC and sharpcap. This made it possible to move the gear using the buttons in sharpcap. Much easier then working with the synscan handcontroller. Unfortunately due to weak USB connections, i lost connection everytime there is a gust of wind.

Beside this I'm not satisfied about the sharpness of the lines; in this case the H-alpha line. Even though I try to sharpen, using the collimator screw, focusser as cameraposition. Hopefully I can blame this later on the bad seeing. Let's wait and see. 

All data was submitted to SOLAP.

Setting

TLAPO60/360 f/6 with Sol'Ex Pro version and ASI678MM

2nd Gen Slit

Herschel Wedge

Sx/Sy nearly 1

Tilt: 1,4°

SharpCap, Inti, CS4

ATT Essen 40 Years - May 10th

Background: On Saturday, May 10, 2025, the 40th "Astronomy and Technology Meeting" (ATT) will take place in Essen. 

Beside the exhibitors the agenda for lectures is available with a lecture on remote astrophotography and
Die aktive Sonne in Foto, Time-Lapse und radioastronomischer Beobachtung by Udo Siepmann.

I'm looking out to attend this annual event. 

SOLAP Report 2024 - Sol'Ex Pro-AM

Florence Cornu from observatoire de Meudon (Paris) send us the SOLAP annual report 2024. This report provides information about the cooperation between amateurs ujsing Sol'Ex (Solar Explorer) and the professional Meudon Observatory, so called Pro-Am, cooperation SOLAP Project.

Currently 37 amateurs are part of the SOLAP of which 30 French and 7 non French. So far, I'm the only Belgian. My contribution is limited as I only started in september of 2024. 

Contribution per person with Ha and Ha2cb images

Some interesting facts from the report :

- EQ6 and AZEQ6 is most used mount

- IMX178 is most used camera; I'm the only one using the IMX290; 

- 72mm telescopes are most used

- Sunscan can not be used due to quality of the images

- Sunchine hours over the last 3 years

Naming of the files changed last year

Halo, Sundogs, Circles and Arcs

The Sun this afternoon with a halo22°, two sundogs, parhelic circle, upper tangent and a circumzenithal arc.

Editing using CS4