Jupiter

Last night I made some pictures of Jupiter. Unfortunately the seeing was bad. Again I used my setup with ADC and Barlow x2 on TAL200K. Pictures were taken with ASI224MC and capturing software SharpCap. Pictures are stacked using AutoStakker!2 and final editing with CS4.
The Great Red Spot (GRS) is seen at the side of the planet.

Livestream South America Total Solar Eclipse

On July 2nd, NASA will Livestream the Total Solar Eclipse via NASA TV. Totality @ La Serena (Chile) begins at 22h38 (Local Time) and ends at 22h40. For live coverage see this link.

Jupiter with ADC

This evening I set up my telescope with TAL200K and ASI224MC camera. A barlow x2 was used including my new ADC. Stacking was done with AutoStakkert! and final editing using CS4.

Pictures of NLC of June 21, 2019

A selection of pictures made on Friday June 21, 2019 during impressive outbreak of noctilucent clouds.

Nikon D7500 Lens 10-24mm f/3.5 – Setting f/6.3 14mm ISO400 3s   UT:22h23 

Nikon D7500 Lens 10-24mm f/3.5 – Setting f/6.3 14mm ISO320 3s   UT:22h25 

Nikon D7500 Lens 10-24mm f/3.5 – Setting f/6.3 18mm ISO1250 8s UT:23h30 

Noctilucent clouds this morning

This morning around UT2h50, some faint NLC's above the north-eastern horizon. Pictures taken with Nikon D7500 on tripod; setting 12mm f/3.5 ISO1250 2s/3s.

Noctilucent Clouds Outbreak

During the night of June 21, an outbreak of noctilucent clouds could be observed. This was my third time I coudl obserse NLC's. Both of those observations were done a couple of years ago. However this year I believe I saw some but was not sure as they were very faint. Yesterday, it was very clear that I saw NLC's. They were very bright and NLC's even came as far as the zenith.

I made different pictures and made some timelapses. One hour later most NLC were gone and I moved to another location with a better view on the horizon. The second picture was taken from this location, one hour later. As you see, the NLC's are only above the horizon and the outbreak was done.

European SpaceTalks with Frank De Winne

For the celebration of the 10th anniversary of their flight to the ISS, Belgian Astronaut Frank De Winne and his crewmates Roman Romanenko (Russia) and Robert Thirsk (Canada) came yesterday together at the Planetarium in Brussels to look back at their ISS mission and to look forward to the future of human spaceflight and robotic exploration.

Frank De Winne

About 70 people listened how ISS expedition crew 20 experienced their space trip starting from the training, launch with Soyuz TMA-15, the life on board the spacestation and the safe landing. All stayed for 6 months (186 days) in space.

The audience had the chance to ask all kind of questions which were full energizend answerred by the astronauts. 

Fltr: Astronauts Frank De Winne, Bob Thirks, Roman Romanenko and Myself

Frank De Winne discussed in the second presentation the 3 year outlook of ESA (Space 19+) with focus on getting to the Moon by 2024. A little was talked about getting to Mars as there is still a lot work to be done. He gave the example of the very complex program of sampling 300grams of Mars soil and bringing it to Earth.  The Space19+ enveloppe program will be discussed end of 2019 by the EU in order to get approval.

ISS Expedition 20 Crew Signed Postcard

The event took about 2,5 hours and was well received... mission completed. 

NLC Timelapse

I made a timelapse of the NLC burst of the evening of June 21, 2019 UT22h50. To start the timelapse video, click this link.

Start of Summer

It's June 21 and start of the Summer. At exactly 17h54 the Summer 2019 will be kicked off :)

Camino Portugues De La Costa - Credit Pascal Hilkens

Eclipse 2017 - Rexburg

When searching in my archive I opened my 2017 eclipse files. I reworked some of the pictures and this is one of my favorites.

Noctilucent Clouds?

Not sure if the faint "clouds" are NLC's. It was for sure not visible with the naked eye. After looking at my pictures I could recognize a white blur. It could be some high clouds but still...

Sun in H-Aplha SolarMax3 DS

The Sun this morning in H-Alpha. Seeing was low due to clouds. In fact I was too late this morning. As from 6AM untill 8AM the sky was blue :)

Picture taken with Nikon D7500 on SolarMax3 70/400 f/5.7 DS and barlow x2; ISO1000 and exposure time of 1/5s.

The picture shows different prominences.

Noctilucent Clouds - OSWIN Radar showing huge peaks as from 3AM

I stayed awake untill 1AM local time but it wad too cloudy at the north-western horizon. Also the VHF radar in Kuhlungsborn did not move. This morning however, I saw the same radar showing huge peaks from 3AM onwards. Not sure of this resulted in NLC at 51° but still very impressive readings. .

For NLC radars - see link to my blogpage Usefull links 

Solargraph Ready - 6 days to go!

Left : 50cl can - Right : 71 cl can

Only 6 six days to go to get your Solargraph ready. This year I will install two DIY pinhole camera's. One made of a 50cl Leffe can, the other of 71cl (24oz) Miller can. The 24oz can was specially purchased in the US :) Both will start capturing the Sun's orbit as from June 21, until December 21.

One of the pinhale camera's installed with view on the South

Do you want to make your own Pinhole camera capturing the Sun's orbit. See this link with how to make it step by step en showing last years solargraph results.

Bright Sundog

Sunset with bright sundog.

Robbert Dijkgraaf - Video Available on String Theory and the End of Space & Time

The lecture from Robbert Dijkgraaf  "String Theory and the End of Space and Time" is now online. 

What is string theory? What happens to stuff that fall inside a black hole? What are the fundamental building blocks of space and time? Did Nature have any choice in picking the fundamental laws of physics? What is the role of mathematics in physics?

See Youtube video of his lecture https://youtu.be/BuJ5JX1-n4Q

The lecture will also being given on July 13 in Brussels - see this link 

Noctilucent Clouds above Averbode

Last night I walked outside and saw low above the northern horizon Noctilucent clouds. They were very bright but unfortunately very low above my horizon; which is blocked by trees and houses. Still the contrast with other clouds was clearly vissible. When finally getting my camera, the clouds were almost gone. Below some pictures of those "last" moments with low above the horizon the NLC's.
Observation was done after UT 23h30 and pictures taken around UT 23h45. Camera setting up to 6s on ISO1600.

Halo Around the Sun

Too much clouds to observe the Sun in H-Alpha but these are perfect condition for Halo's. Above picture was taken around midtime.

Solargraphy

Two weeks to go to get your pinhole camera ready for Solargraphy.

Sun in H-Alpha with SolarMax3

This morning I was able to take some pictures of the Sun in H-Alpha with Nikon D7500 and SolarMax3 70/400 f/5.7 DS BF15. This time I used barlow x2 and editing was done using CS4.
Pictures shows some filaments (central) and a couple of prominences.

My picture of sunbeams on the cover page

My picture of Sunbeams, taken earlier this week, was choosen to be on the cover of the facebook page "Passie voor Fotografie". Nice recognition.

Astronomie en hemelverschijnselen tijdens mijn Camino's

Tijdens mijn twee onvergetelijke wandeltochten naar Santiago de Compostella – Camino Francés (500km) en Camino Portugués de la costa por litoral (300km) – heb ik heel wat meegemaakt en kwam ik ook het een en ander tegen. Ik ga het in dit artikel enkel maar hebben over astronomie en hemelverschijnselen die ik onderweg ben tegengekomen.

Gonzar

Het weer zat tijdens mijn tochten niet altijd mee met afwisselend regen en zonneschijn. Niet altijd leuk maar wel garant voor de ontelbare regenbogen, de ene al wat helderder dan de andere. In Portugal zag ik zelfs een regenboog die enkel ontstond door waterdruppels afkomstig van de onstuimige oceaangolven.

Povoa de Vazim

De dag dat ik Vigo verliet was het vrijwel helemaal helder maar zat er toch voldoende ijs in de lucht om een volledige 360° Halo rondom de zon te vormen. Niet alleen was deze super helder maar de halo was de ganse dag zichtbaar; nooit meegemaakt!

Viego

Regenbogen, halo’s maar ook bijzonnen en bovenraakbogen waren van de partij. De foto met de bovenraakboog werd genomen in het Spaanse A Guarda.

Onverwachte ontmoetingen met mens en dier zijn op zich al speciaal maar als je dan in een super klein dorpje (Reliegos) een bordje “Meteorite” boven de weg ziet hangen, dan is dit wel heel speciaal. Op de aangeduide plaats kwam 1947 in een meteoriet neer die onder de plaatselijke bevolking voor heel wat paniek zorgde.

Reliegos

Waarschijnlijk zal ik heel wat zonnewijzers hebben gemist maar er waren er toch enkele originele. De waterzonnewijzer in Astorga bijvoorbeeld en de stenenzonnewijzer in Padron, op de plaats waar Apostel Jacobus volgens de legende zou hebben gepredikt.

Padron

Villafranco del Bierzo

Astorga

En dan is er natuurlijk Santiago de Compostella, de naam zegt het al zelf, Campus Stellae, of de ster verwijst volgens de legende naar het graf van Apostel Jacobus in de 9de eeuw na Christus. De moderne universiteitsstad telt meer dan 40.000 studenten en dan mag een observatorium niet ontbreken.

University Santiago

From Sunny to Thunderstorm

Jupiter Ceres and constellations

Jupiter is currently seen low above the South-Eastern Horizon. A wide field picture was taken and uploaded in Astrometry.net providing the constellations.

My Picture in Astrometry.net (Credit Astrometry.net)

Jupiter and Ceres

South-East sky with Jupiter low above the horizon. Ceres is located above Scorpius. I made also a selection of Messier objects. Picture was taken with Nikon D7500 18mm f/4 for 10s and ISO3200. Editing with CS4.