Horsehead Nebula IC434

The famous Horsehead Nebula IC434 located in constellation Orion and about 1375 ly from Earth.
Setting : Nikon D7500 on TAL200K f/8.5, ISO3200 with darks and total exposure of 42 minutes, each picture 30s/ Raw data converted to DNG format and stacking using DeepSkyStacker with final editing using CS4.

The Orion Nebula M42

The Orion Nebula or Messier M42. Setting : Nikon D7500 on TAL200K f/8.5 ISO3200 and total exposure of 16minutes, each picture 30s. Darks are included. Raw pictures converted to DNG and stacked using DeepSkyStacker with final editing using CS4.

NGC2261 Hubble's Variable Nebula

NGC2261, Hubble's Variable Nebula or Caldwell46 is located in the constellation Monoceros at a distance of 2500 ly from Earth.

Setting : Nikon D7500 in TAL200K f/8.5 and ISO3200 and total exposure of 14 minutes each picture 30s. Raw data converted to DNG and stacked using DeepSkyStaker; final editing in CS4.

Star Wars Episode IX : Great movie

Last evening I saw the new Star Wars movie : The Rise of Skywalker also known as Episode IX. The reviews were not that great but I'm favourite. Great links to previous Star Wars movies. I liked the plot and still like all the special effects. Mainly the Death Star scene I found absolute the max. Will I go to a next Star Wars movie ... absolutely YES.

Moon and Venus in evening sky

This evening, both the Moon as Venus, low above the south western horizon.

Lecture by Jan Janssens @ Mira

Selfie with Jan Janssens 

Attending a dutch lecture with the title "New glasses for a new solarcycle" by Jan Janssens from SIDC (Belgium) at the Public Observatory Mira in Grimbergen.
Topics were solar cycle #24 and predicting minimum for april 2020 +/- 6 months; space weather basics and major historic space weather events. At the end of the presentation an overview was provided on current active satellites and future satellites: Solar Orbiter, Proba-3 and Lagrange.

College : Trillingen van ruimte en tijd; Maastricht University

Aan de Universiteit van Maastricht vindt een college plaats dat zal handelen over Trillingen van ruimte en tijd. 

Dit zal telkens plaatsvinden op maandagavond en anaf maandagavond 13 januari tot en met maandagavond 10 februari. De lezingen worden verzorgd door Gerard Bodifee.

Earthshine

Eartshine - Moon is 10% illuminated.

Moon 10% Illuminated

In between the clouds I was able to capture the Moon which was 10% illuminated.

Congratulations : 7 year astro blogging

I started my blog in 2012.... so 7 years of astro blogging!!

Astronomical Highlights 2019

I want to summarize some of my astronomical highlights from 2019 :

- Impressive Noctilucent clouds up to zenith
- Lunar Eclipse
- Lecture of Sir Roger Penrose
- Milkyway widefield in Thailand
- Comet Iwamoto with open star cluster M36 and M38
- Transit of Mercury in Dresden (Germany) with SolarMaxIII (H-Alpha)
- Deepskyobjects : Andromeda Galaxy M31, Dumbbell Nebula M27, Omega Nebula M17
- Very bright halo's around the Sun at home, Portugal and Thailand
- Stephan's Quintet
- Solargraph with 50cl can

Nocitlucent clouds across the north-western horizon and reaching towards zenith

Full coverage of Lunar eclipse

Lecture by the famous Sir Roger Penrose

The bright Milky Way in Thailand with Jupiter, Saturn and of course constellation Scorpius

Comet Iwamoto together with open star cluster M36 and M38

Mercury transit in Dresden (Germany) in H-Alpha with SolarMaxIII

Deepskyobjects : Omega Nebula M17, Dumbbell Nebula M27 and Andromeda Galaxy M31

This year I could take some picture of very bright Halo's, one at home, Portugal (Viego) and Thailand (Kanchanaburi)

Distant Deepsky object Stephan's quintet : more then 200million lightyears from earth

Solargraph with 50cl can

Start of Winter

Start of Winter at 5h19, december 22nd.

Solargraphy results

Solargraph with 72cl can

After 6 months exposure I opened this morning my two pinhole cans.  One 50cl can, the other 72cl. After drying and scanning of the paper, the pictures are inverted and edited using CS4.

Solargraph with 50cl can

Earthshine

Picture of waning crescent Moon (27% illuminated) and earthshine.

Mars with Meteor?

This morning, Mars low above the south eastern horizon. When opening my pictures, one shows a meteor or satellite flare. Not sure what it is but still an impressive picture.

Moon 27% Illuminated

Weather forecast changed overnight resulting in a clear sky this morning. The waning crescent moon was 27% illuminated. Picture taken with NikonD7500 on TLAPO80/480 f/6/ Raw picture converted to DNG and editing using CS4.

Moon 48%

This morning a waning crescent moon (48%). Central located : Crater Ptolemaeus, 153km in diameter

The Pleiades Messier M45

The open star cluster Pleiades Messier M45 last night when seeing was very poor. Picture was taken with Nikon D7500 on TLAPO80/480 f/6 and setting : ISO1600 and total exposure time of 38min, eacht picture 30s. Raw pictures converted to DNG and stacked using DeepSkyStacker including darks. Final editing using CS4.

Are you ready for your Solargraph Pin Hole Camera?

Within a couple of days winter season is started. This is the period that the sun's orbit at the sky is increasing again untill mid june. A way to capture this daily increase of the sun's orbit is by installing a pin hole camera with photopaper. The result you will get after 6 months is a solargraph. You can make this yourself by installing a regular 50 or 72cl can with photopaper outside for this period of six months.

DIY Solargraph and results can be seen on these pages of my blog. Good luck!

Sun in H-alpha with SolarMaxIII

A spotless Sun on December 15th with a couple of prominences. Picture was taken with Nikon D7500 and SolarMaxIII 70/400, afocal 10mm. Setting was ISO2000 and 1/6s exposure time. Raw picture converted to DNG and edited using CS4.

Solar Minimum

Already for a month no sunspots seen on the Sun. It seems the Sun is getting into a very low minimum as the days/year without a sunspot are record breaken over a period of 100 years.

Sketching the Moon - Workshop @Helios by Jef De Wit

Astronomy club Helios organised a workshop on sketching craters of the Moon. The workshop was presented by Jef De Wit who explained in detail how to sketch craters of the Moon.

Selfie with Jef De Wit

 With a set of white, grey and black pencils and using black paper the work started to sketch craters from a picture a meade earlier in 2017.

Picture with Nikon D60 on Dobson 12" (Pascal Hilkens) and sketch on the right

The Making of the shetch

Moon 43% Illuminated - Rework

I did some rework of my earlier picture of the Moon (43% Illuminated).

Moon 43% illuminated

This evening I put my scope outside, my first time since November 11th. The Moon is low above the southern horizon and 43% illuminated.

Picture is taken with Nikon D7500 on TLAPO80/480 f/6, ISO100 and shuttertime 1/100s. Raw picture converted to DNG and edited using CS4.

Mercury Transit : Second contact

The Mercury Transit of November 11th 2019 was observed in H-Alpha with SolarMaxIII DS BF15 70/400 f/5.7 and photographed using Nikon D7500.
The picture shows the moment of the second contact of planet Mercury with the solar disk.

Mercury Transit with TAL200K

Compilation from Mercury Transit with Nikon D7500 on TAL200K. Pictures are converted to DNG and editing using CS4 and "darken". The transit was followed with TAL200K from UT12h35 for one hour. The I switched to my TLAPO80 and SolarMaxIII for further observations.

Mercury Transit in H-Alpha

The Mercury Transit of November 11th, 2019 was observed and photographed in Germany near Dresden. In a small city Klipphausen and with an open view on the church of Sora, the sun was shining the entire day. So, perfect conditions to follow the transit of Mercury in front of the Sun. Together with my Helios collegue, Walter, we set up our equipment : both visual as H-alpha equipment was used.

The transit started at local time 13h35 and the observation ended around 16h00,  as the sun was low above the horizon and some clouds did appeare. When looking now at the pictures the seeing was not that good. However, the view, the observations and the pictures were quit an experience. In May 2016 I already say a Mercury transit. But this time it was more special as I could follow the transit in H-Alpha.
Above and below is a picture sequence of the transit of Mercury. The first row is showing the second contact of Mercury with the limb or edge of the Sun. The next row is the transit over the sun's disk itself.