Venus and Jupiter in the morning sky

Temperatures as low as -6°C but with a clear sky. So you would think ideal to see Mercurius, Venus and Jupiter in the morning sky. This is a yes for Venus and Jupiter but I was unable to locate Mercurius. It must be there...

Astromical Highlights 2018

Some of my Astronomical Highlights of 2018 are summarized below :

- Nighscape Startrail Picture
- Comet 21P Giacobini-Zinner and M35 Open Starcluster
- Planets Saturn, Mars and Jupiter with GRS
- The Russian Space Shuttle Buran in Germany
- The Quit Sun with SolarMax3 DS and an unique circumscribed Halo
- Pictures of M45 Pleiades and M31 Andromeda Galaxy


Beginning of 2018 I successfully completed a workshop Nighscapes and took the time to make some startrails.

A couple of Comets crossed the sky with 21P Giacobine-Zinner "close" to M35 :

The planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturnus 

The Sun was quit in 2018 but I could make some nice picture with my new SolarMax3 Double Stacked and of course some halo's :

Visiting the Technic Museum Spyer in Germany with Buran and Soyuz TM-19

And being proud of a couple of deepsky pictures M31 and M45 :

Right hand Sundog

Today I was working in my garden and could observe a couple op Sundogs. Due to fast changing circumstances the Sundogs did not last long. This is one picture I could make during noon time with a right hand Sundog. 

Happy Birthday - 6 Years Blogging

My first blog was published on December 23, 2012. So, today, time to celebrate 6 years of blogging.
Congratulations :)

The Solar System Barycenter

The Barycenter of our Solar System is the mutual center of mass of the total Solar System with the Sun and all it's Planets. 

So the Sun and the Planets orbit this mutual center. This center or Barycenter of our Solar System moves depending the position of the planets. The location of the Barycenter is mainly driven by Jupiter and next by Saturnus, Uranus, ...

Sometimes the Barycenter is located within "the Sun" but as it is currently, the Narycenter is located outise the photosphere of the Sun. See picture above - the Sun is drawn in Yellow.

For more information see this website.

WOW Double Pinhole Solargraph June-December 2018

Today I opened my DIY Pinhole Camera after being outside for exactly 6 months. This time I made two holes in my pinhole camera making it a bit more creative. I'm really satisfied of  my result. The solargraph is very sharp and the double hole makes it even more special. I think this Solargraph is one of a kind :)
The pinhole camera was installaed in my garden with a southview on my tree.

Time to install your pinhole camera for a Solargraph - DIY Solargraphy

Last day to prepare for your Solargraph. This date is perfect to install your Solargraph and keep it outside untill June 21, 2019.

How to make a pinhole camera for a Solargraph? See instruction noted in my blogpage, both English as Dutch.

Start Astronomical Winter

In the northern hemisphere the astronomical winter will start at exactly 23h23 local time (UT22h23).

Fix the date 23 january 2019 : Sir Roger Penrose

On Jan 23, 2019, Sir Roger Penrose will give a lecture as part of Studium Generale at Maastricht University. I made already a big circle in my agenda for this unique event.

Bathtinov Mask

For the first time I used a Bathinov Mask (in loan from Walter) to focus my telescope accurately. Putting the mask in front of my telescope and then pointing the scope on a bright star will show spikes. When the central spike is centred between the two outer ones, the system is focus.

Orion Nebula M42 - 9min exposure

The below picture is the result of 9 minutes exposure of the Orion Nebula or Messier M42.
Equipment : TAL200K with Nikon D7500. In total 18 pictures, each 30s, ISO6400 are stacked using DeepSkyStacker. The tiff32 file was edited using CS4.

NGC Objects 1647 2024 2129 2323

I made some pictures of a couple of NGC objects during the evening of december 13, 2018 :

NGC 1647 : Open Star Cluster
NGC 2024 : Flame Nebula
NGC 2129 : Open Star Cluster
NGC 2323 : Open Star Cluster - Messier M50

All pictures taken on TAL200K and stacking with DeepSkyStacker. No usage of darks. Editing from Tiff32bit using CS4 by modification of curves and levels on each RGB channel.

Flame Nebula NGC2024

First trials to capture the flame nebula or NGC2024. East of Alnitak (the most "left" star of the belt of Orion) the emission nebula NGC2024 can be found.
Picture was taken on TAL200K and stacking with DeepSkyStacker. Editing using CS4.

46P Wirtanen and Geminid Meteor

Two pictures of comet 46P Wirtanen with Geminid Meteors. Nighscape picture taken with Nikon D7500 and Tamron 10-24mm. Insert was taken using Nikon D7500 with TAL200K f/8.5.

Startrail with 11mm lens

The idea was to take pictures of the Geminid meteor shower but at the time the shutter went open only a few showed up. In stead of deleting the pictures I stacked the pack using startrails.de
The pictures are taken with a Nikon D7500 and Tamron 11mm lens. A total of 72 pictures, each ISO1600 15s. The view is towards the south-eastern horizon,

Orion Nebula M42

A single shot of the Orion Nebula M42 taken with Nikon D7500 on TAL200K. Very limited editing using CS4. Some high clouds, temperatur -4°C and 95% humitidy.

Perihelion Comet 46P Wirtanen

I took some picture of Comet 46P Wirtanen, currently located in constellation Taurus and it was a couple of minutes after perihelion.
Conditions : Temperature -1,3°C, no clouds and 100% humidity. This time I was not able to see the comet with the naked eye. I did see the comet with my bino 10x25.
Pictures are taken with TAL200K f/8.5 using Nikon D7500. Limited editing with CS4.

Comet 46P Wirtanen

Another picture of comet 46P Wirtanen. No louds, humidity 100% and light pollution in the south direction. Picture taken with exposure of 30s, ISO3200 and very limited editing.

Comet 46P Wirtanen

In between the clouds I was able to make some pictures of comet 46P Wirtanen. Humidity was 100% and moderate seeing.

Comet 46P/Wirtanen

Wield field picture of the South-East horizon during evening sky and showing Comet 46P/Wirtanen. Maybe a couple of days more waiting before it the comet can be seen by the naked eye. In the mean time, the picture provides a nice overview where to look.

Waarnemen van Zonnevlekken : een kleine geschiedenis

Tijdens het actualiseren van mijn werkje rond Onze Zon las ik een en ander over de geschiedenis van de eerste waarnemingen van zonnevlekken. Het hoofdstuk "zonnevlekken" werd dan ook opnieuw ingeleid : 

"Op het oppervlak van de fotosfeer (500km) zien we regelmatig zwarte plekken opduiken. 

In de Westerse wereld wordt de oudste melding van vlekken op de Zon toegeschreven aan de Griekse filosoof Theophrastus van Eresos uit de 4^de eeuw v.Chr.  

Blote oog waarnemingen van Chinese astronomen zijn ook teruggevonden in geschriften en dateren uit het jaar 185 v.Chr. 

Een eerste echte Westerse tekening van zonnevlekken is de beroemde Engelse schets dat als de Kroniek van Jan van Worcester gekend is. Deze observatie gebeurde op 8 december 1128.  

Naast blote oog waarnemingen was het wachten tot 8 december 1610. Die dag richtte Thomas Harriot zijn telescoop op de zon waarna hij duidelijk 3 vlekken zag. 

Enkele maanden later, op 9 maart 1611, zagen ook vader en zoon Fabricius zonnevlekken doorheen hun telescoop en publiceerden dit in hun werk “Maculis in Sole Observa”.  

Galileo Galilei startte daarna in 1612 met het systematisch observeren van zonnevlekken of Maculae Solares met behulp van zijn telescopen".

Eerste Westerse tekening van zonnevlek door Jan van Worcester - Corpus Christi College Oxford p394

Weather Summary November 2018

November was rather normal regarding temperature, wind, rain and air frost days. The only difference with previous years are the total amount of rain days, only 9 this month against 14-16 days average for previous years.

Sun H-Alpha Sunspot 2727

Picture of the Sun today with Sunspot AR2727. This picture was taken using Nikon D7500 on Coronado SolarMax 3 70/400 f/5.7 DS/BF15 with setting ISO3200 and 1/100s. Final editing using CS4.

The Pleiades Messier M45

A total of 40 minutes exposure from the Pleiades Messier M45 Open Star Cluster. The 80 pictures, each 30s and a mixture of ISO setting between ISO800 and ISO6400 are stacked using Astro Pixel Processor. The result was saved as a Tiff32bit file and edited using CS4. Depending the gamma setting the dustclouds appear nicely and bright.
Pictures are taken with Nikon D7500 on TLAPO 80/480 f/6 on EQAZ6 GT mount.

Andromeda Galaxy M31, M32 and M110

For stacking my pictures (40 pictures ISO6400 each 30s) I did not use DeepSkyStakker but Astro Pixel Processor.  The outcome is a fits file which is converted to Tiff 32bit and edited with CS4. The final results shows the Andromeda Galaxy M31 and both M32 en M110.

Studium Generale Quantum Computers

Lecture on Quantum Computers at the University of Maastricht as part of Studium Generale dd November 27, 2018.

Messier M52 en Bubble Nebula

Renewed editing of Messier M52 and the Bubble Nebula. Total exposure of 300s and including darks. Initial stacking results in Fits 32bit file. Using DeepSkyStakker to convert into Tiff32bit  rational file which is edited in CS4.

Spiral Galaxy NGC891 New Edit

I used a different way of editing my pictures; mainly converting is changed. I converted the fts files to tiff32 rational using DeepSkyStakker and made editing possible into CS4.
The result is much better then starting within tiff16.

Starting from Tiff32 rational

Open Star Cluster NGC7686

Open Star Cluster NGC7686 in constellation Andromeda. Picture taken on Sept. 26 using TLAPO80/480 f/6 with Nikon D7500. Stacking with DeepSkyStakker using darks, final editing with CS4.

Onze Zon - De meest nabije ster (nieuwe update v2.5)

Afgelopen dagen heb ik tijd genomen om mijn werkje rond "Onze Zon - De meest nabije ster) te actualiseren. Het was al weer een tijdje geleden (dec 2017) en ik voldoende materiaal voor een nieuwe update.
De actualisatie betreft ondermeer :

- Update resultaten Ulysses
- Voyager 2 en Heliosfeer
- Parker Solar Probe en Corona heating problem
- Differentiële rotatie
- ...

Veel leesplezier - en hierbij de link.

Weather Summary October 2018

Temperature and rainfall last month October are comparable with last year.

Solar Wind and Corona Timeline

Some of the key discoveries and ideas that led to our current understanding of the corona and the solar wind which result into to the Parker Solar Probe Mission by NASA.

Credit NASA

Parker Solar Probe Breaks Record and Becomes Closest Spacecraft to Sun

After the first gravity assist on October 3rd, 2018, between Parker Solar Probe and Venus, the Parker Solar Probe now holds the record for closest approach to the Sun by a human-made object. Parker Solar Probe passed the current record of 42.72 million km from the Sun's surface on Oct. 29, 2018, at about UT17:04, as calculated by the Parker Solar Probe team.

Over the next years the probe will continue to break it's own records as it will fly closer and closer to the Sun.

Credit NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Mary Pat Hrybyk-Keith