Reworking 2017 Eclipse pictures using Larson-Sekanina

After attending the The Dark Day (DDD see https://pascalhilkensastropage.blogspot.com/2024/11/dr-sebastian-voltmer.html) I searched my 2017 Solar Eclipse images.

I found two sets: 1/15s and 1/50s. Each set was stacked and then treated with special Larson-Sekanina filter (low radius, low rotation) in Fitswork 4. The stacked image and the LS filter image are substracted; The results of the two sets are then stacked and edited. The final image shows the low and high corona.

Dr Sebastian Voltmer

Selfie with Dr Sebastian Voltmer

During the DDD (De Duistere Dag - The Dark Day) on Saterday November 16, 2024 a lecture was given by Dr. Sebastian Voltmer. Voltmer is beside a movie director, composer also an astrophotograph.

During his lecture he showed many images including eclipse pictures from Mexico (April 8, 2024). 

Some links : 

• Youtube Spacemovie : https://www.youtube.com/@spacemovie
• Wikipedia : https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_Voltmer
• Flickr : https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacemovie/
• Webpage : https://voltmer.de/

Some tips he gave:

• use of bracketing
• use two camera's for eclipse photography; one 135mm, the other 700mm in order to image the entire corona
• sort eclipse images by exposure time, stack and edit the result using Larsen-Sekanina filter Fitswork
• Finaly stack all edited images to one image; this image can be edited aswell

Below some images from Sebastian : eclips 2017 and Mercury with sodium tail.

New Weatherstation Levenhuk PRO LP500

I replaced my Oregon WMR200 and BAR928 with a new weatherstation Levenhuk Pro LP500. Both Oregon stations are >10 years old and the sensors did not work anymore. My preference for Levenhuk Pro LP500 was based on following criteria:

• Measuring in/outdoor temperature, humidity, rain, winddirection, windspeed and pressure
• Data capturing of all data in order to do analysis
• Samrtphone connection 

The Pro LP500 forfills all criteria and has following extra's:

• moon phases
• sunrise, sunset and sunpath
• UV index
• Solar radiation (Lux/W/m2)
• automatic time
• link to Ecowitt and WUnderground and thus linked to smartphone
• datacapturing via microSD or direct PC connection
• weather forecast

Using PWS Monitor app, you can find my weatherstation with ID = ISCHER75

First HDR image using bracketing - Moon Halo with Mars

To capture a halo around the Moon I applied bracketing using my Nikon D7500. Postprocessing was done using all 5 "bracketing" images with CS4 (Menu Automatic, Merge to HDR). Once the image is made, some minor editing and noise reduction was done. The final image has some more details using this HDR technic.

Moon Halo with Mars

Freezing temperatures and a Moon with a 360° Halo and Mars. Image taken with Nikon D7500 and bracketing setting. 

Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas reworked APP

I reworked my images of Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas using APP v2.0.0 beta 29 with MAD setting.

Settings APP:

Integrate : Median

Filter MAD rejection

Kappa Low: 8

Kappa High: 2

Comet C/2023 A3 as seen by the STEREO-A SECCHI HI-1 coronagraph.

Comet C/2023 A3 as seen by the STEREO-A SECCHI HI-1 coronagraph. Striations can be seen in the dust tail, and interactions between the faint ion tail and the solar wind can be observed.
The solar Corona was subtracted out to show the solar wind more clearly. The contrast of the comet tail and the solar wind was enhanced with local histogram equalization.
The vertical lines above Venus on the left and the comet are saturation artefacts from the CCD sensor.

Credit: NASA / STEREO-A / SECCHI HI-1 / Simeon Schmauß
processed from the raw data: secchi.nrl.navy.mil/postflight/hi_1/L0/a/img/20241004/

Click on picture to start video

My input: these images show aswell how to interpret the antitail of the comet.