Sun in arteficial colors

I used some arteficial colors to enhance the contrast of the three sunspots which currently are visible on the sun's disk - when it's not raining :)

Sunspots AR2681-2683

In between the clouds I could take some pictures of the sun with sunspots AR2681, AR2682 and AR2683.

Bailey Beads Sequence Solar Eclipse Aug 21

With some trial and error I made a sequence of the Bailey Beads contact C3 from the recent Solar Eclips on August 21, 2017. The results is just awesome with great detail.

The sequence consist of 25 images and the sequence was made using CS4.

Bailey Beads Solar Eclipse 2017

Bailey beads and prominences the moment the sun appears behind the Moon. Picture taken during Solar Eclipse 21 August, 2017 in Rexburg Idaho.

Occultation Zuben Elakrab by the Moon

The Moon is 20% illuminated and low above the south-west horizon. The star Zuben Elakrab can be seen on the picture, left near the dark side of the Moon. The occultation itself was not visible as the Moon was hidden by trees in my yard :( This pictures was taken 21 minutes before the occultation.

Moon 12% Stacking DNG Files

Picture shown of the Moon illuminated 12% is a result of stacking DNG files and edited using CS4.

Nikon D7500 TAL200K f/8.5 ISO800 1/80s (Stacked)

Moon 12%

Finally a clear sky and some time to take out the telescoop. The last time I did use my telescoop was on August 21. As I wanted to try my Nikon D7500, I took the moon as target. And yes, the power of pixels do make a difference. Very clear and bright pictures.

Nikon D7500 TAL200K f/8.5 ISO800 1/80s

Solar Eclipse 2017 Sequence

Sequence of the 2017 Solar Eclipse - Great American Eclipse. Pictures taken in Rexburg Idaho with Nikon D7500 and TS/TL APO80 480 f/6 with settings ISO100 and exposure time between 1/4000s and 1/15s using Solar Astrofilm from Baader ND5. Raw pictures are converted into DNG format using Adobe DNG converter and edited using CS4.

Meteor Crater Flagstaff

Meteor Crater 14km from Interstate 40 

When driving 60km east from Flagstaff on the Interstate 40 you have the chance to visit a real meteor impact crater. It's the famous and well preserved Meteor Crater (other common names are Canyon Diablo Crater and Barrington Crater).

Panorama of the Meteor Crater 

At the bottom of the crater previous mining activities are still visible aswell as a astronaut plaque

The crater is the result of an impact 50.000 years ago by an object (asteroid) of 50m, a weight of 300.000 tons and a speed of 12km/s.  The result is enormous : a crater 1,2 km in diameter and a depth of 170m. The rim around the crater is 45m above the ground level.

Holsinger Meteorite - 639kg - Visitor Center Meteor Crater

The biggest piece found of this Ni-Fe meteor is a meteorite called the Holsinger meteorite and has a weight of 639kg and can be seen in the Visitor Center of Meteor Crater.  Last year I visited Adler Planetarium in Chicago which shows a smaller fragment of 460kg of the same meteorite.

Fragment of Meteorite - Meteor Crater - presented in Chicago Adler Planetarium

Removing Nikon D60 CCD sensor

Removing CCD (10MP) sensor from Nikon D60 (left) - and IR blocking filter (right)

I always wanted to remove the IR blocking filter to get a full IR spectrum (700-1200nm) for astropictures. Since my Nikon D60 can not be repeared it was now time to exercise. If this can be done succesfully I could decide bying a second hand Nikon D60.
Unfortunately, it's not that easy. And after removing the first set of screws, I already damaged the card connections. Anyway, I continued and got the CCD sensor out together with the IR blocking filter.
It's still very impressive even when you compare with my new Nikon D7500 IMX321 CMOS sensor from Sony.

Fast movement of Venus

Observing Venus each morning it's clear the planet "moves" fast across the sky. The star Regulus is now a couple of degreed north of Venus.

Start of Astronomical Autumn

Today, September 22, at 20h02 (UT) or 22h02 locat time, the astronomical autumn starts. It's the moment the plane of the Earth's equator passes through the center of the Sun's disc. It's also the moment the Sun's apparent geocentric longitude is exactly 180°00'00" and this is called Equinox. Equinox meaning Equi Nox, equal day and night. The autumn period will last 89days and 10hours.

Venus south of Regulus

This morning with a clear sky, Venus shining bright south of Regulus star.

Double Rainbow

Very bright and beautiful double rainbow above Averbode.

Venus and Regulus

Too much clouds and my horizon is blocked for the Moon, Mars and Mercury. Venus and Regulus made it!

Moon Venus

Moon near Venus and star Regulus during a short moment the clouds dissapeared.

Zimmer Tower in Lier

Last week I visited the town Lier near Antwerp. In front of the Zimmer Tower a very impressive clock is build in. This clock is build by Louis Zimmer (1888-1970) and consist of one central clock with around 12 smaller once.

From top right (1 o'clock) to the left the smaller clocks show :

- the Metonic cycle, this is a 19 year cycle after which the different phases of the moon fall on the same date in the year

- the Equation of time, showing the difference in minutes between mean solar time and apparent solar time

- the Zodiac

- the Solar Cycle, this is a 28 year cycle after which the dates show up in the same order, the clock shows the current year of the cycle

- the dial shows the day of the week

- Globe with the rotation of the Earth

- the dial shows the month 

- Calender date

- the Seasons and this dial shows also the length of each season in days and hours

- the Tides by location in Lier

- the age of the moon since new moon 

- the real time phase of the moon 

On a other side of the Tower you can see a Sundial with the inscription "Ultima (hora) Latet", meaning "The last hour is hidden".

EISA Award for Nikon D7500

Great to see that my new Nikon D7500 received the Best Product 2017-2018 award from EISA (European Imaging and Sound Association).

Raw Solar Eclipse Pictures

Solar Eclipse pictures were taken using my new Nikon D7500. Unfortunately raw pictures from Nikon D7500 can not be used by Photoshop CS4. Therefor I downloaded the free version from Nikon Capture NX D to edite raw Nikon D7500 pictures.
As an example I edited solar eclipse pictures taken in Rexburg (ID).

Cassini Spacecraft Grand Finale

Cassini spacecraft makes its final approach to planet Saturn and will dive with a speed of 117.000 km/h  into Saturn's atmosphere on Friday September 15, 2017.

Sagittarius Area in Arches National Park

Milky Way in Sagittarius area in Arches National Park. Picture taken at Balanced Rock. At the horizon city lights from Moab are visible.

International Dark Sky Parks

Startrail with meteor in Arches National Park - Balanced Rock

Last month I visited some International dark sky parks and in one word, it was fantastic. Now I understand why we call our galaxy the Milky Way and how much one light/lamp can influence an entire dark sky.

Some of the dark sky parks and communities I visited are :

* Death Valley National Park

* Grand Canyon both North and South Rim

* Walnut Canyon National Park

* Canyonsland Park

* Dark Sky Communities Flagstaff 

* Dark Sky Communities Kaibab

As these visits were part of my trip in the West of the US, I was looking for dark sky parks in Europe. Currently the International Dark Sky Association (IDA) approved places in the Netherlands, Hungary, Denmark, UK and one in Germany (Eifel National Park). I'm wondering of those have the same "dark skies".

Flare X9.3 X10.0 generating blackout and CME

Today a major flare was produced on the sun by active sunspot AR2673. For sure this was the most powerfull one since the last 15 years. According the SIDC the X-ray flare Is classified as class X9.3 up to class X10.0. Earlier today, this region was responsable for a strong flare class X2.2
The strongest class X9.3 (X10.0) flare also generated a short blackout (region short wave and within Europe, Asia and Africa) and generated a CME which is heading Earth.

Sunspots

Currently many different and big sunspots are visible on the sun's "surface".

Scorpius area with Milky Way

Dark Sky picture taken at Valle (Grand Canyon South Rim, Arizona). The picture shows the area of Corona Australis and Scorpius with a very bright Milky Way. A couple of  Messier deep sky objects can be observed.

Arches National Park Dark Sky with Meteor

I had the chance to see a real, real dark sky. The first one was in Valle (south of the South Rim Grand Canyon) and the second one in Arches National Park. I could make some beautifull pictures and the one below shows a part of the Milky Way above Balanced Rock together with a meteor. Myfirst meteor ever ever I could catch in a picture. I was astonished on how bright the Milky Way was the way it was expanding the entire sky... awesome.

Error Press Shutter Release Button Again

Two days before the Solar Eclipse @ Rexburg (ID) my Nikon D60 gave the error "Press Shutter Release Button Again". I tried everything to fix the problem but unfortunately the error did not go away. Via Youtube the problem could be fixed by greasing the gear of the shutter motor. But I had no tools and even if this would work, was it reliable in view of the upcoming solar eclipse.

It was decided to buy a new camera and as we were heading from Moab to Salt Lake City I was luckily and found a Nikon Store "Pictureline" in Salt Lake City. I managed to get there on time (closing 14h30) and after a good discussion with the salesman and the Denish owner I bought a Nikon D7500 including a spare battery. I got a fair deal and a quick training on the most important features. Specific those aspects I needed for the solar eclipse.

Today I was able to open my Nikon D60 and to grease the gear of the shutter motor. However this did not solve the problem. My understanding is that the either the motor life span is over and/or the gearbox itself is weared out. With 50468 shutter counts and a lifetime of 11 years, I'm questioning if I should be dissapointed or not? Hopefully my new Nikon D7500 will last more then 10 years :)

Halo around the Sun @ Averbode

For those who looked up at the sky in Averbode, this afternoon, it was possoble to see halo's around the sun. Two sun dogs, left and right of the sun. And high above the sun, in the zenith, a circumzenithal arc showed up.

Prominences during Solar Eclipse Rexburg §ID)

Some more pictures of the Solar Eclipse in Rexburg (ID). The first one shows the beautiful corona around the sun and the second pictures shows three bright prominences at the end of the totality.

Solar Eclipse Rexburg (ID)

A first picture of the August 21, 2017 solar eclips taken in Rexburg, Idaho (Porter Park). The corona is very bright and easy to recognize.