NGC3226 & 3227 (ARP94)

Galaxy NGC3227 is interacting with dwarf galaxy NGC3226, both are located in constellation Leo and more then 50 million ly away from Earth. Galaxy NGC3227 has an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) and contains a supermassive blackhole (14 million solarmasses). The interacting galaxies are also categorised as ARP 94.

Setting : ASI2600MC with TAL200K f/8.5, guidescope ZWO30/120 with ASI224MC; lights 11x300s, darks, flats, darkflats and bias.

Software : N.I.N.A, APP, Stellarium, PHD2, CS4.

Seeing : moderate with hig clouds.

NGC2362 Tau Canis Majoris Cluster

NGC2362 (Tau Canis Majoris Cluster) is located in constellation Canis Major and about 5000 ly away from Earth.

Setting : ASI2600MC with TAL200K f/8.5 and Guidescope ZWO 30/120 with ASI224MC; lights 6x300s, darks, flats, darkflats, bias

Software : N.I.N.A, PHD2, Stellarium, APP, CS4, DeNoise AI.

Seeing : moderate with high clouds. 

Startrail

A startrail was made by taking 219 pictures of the winter constellations Orion, Gemini, Canis Major & Minor, Auriga and Taurus. 

Setting: Nikon D7500 10mm f/4.5 ISO400 219x30s. Startrails v2.3 was used to combine all pictures and CS4 for final editing. 

Filaments in H-Alpha ARF & QRF

Filaments in H-Alpha:

ARF : Active Region Filaments or Prominence

QRF : Quiescent Region Filament or Prominence - also Quit Region Filament.

The Sun in H-Alpha

Clear sky this morning and aperfect moment to test my new ASI290MM camera. My First Light test was done using SolarMaxIII DS 70/400 f/5.7.

Imaging was done with ASIStudio and stacking using AutoStakkert!3, final editing with CS4. The solar disk is not fully captured, not fitting in the field of view.

Solar Eruption captured by Solar Orbiter

 

First ARISS special digital SSTV experiment testing KG-STV

The first digital SSTV experiment using KG-STV is planned for 20 February 2022 between 05h12 UT and 11h51 UT. This timewindow is for five ISS passes over Europe. 

The ISS crossband repeater operates on a downlink of 437.800 MHz. Each transmission sequence will consist of 1m40s transmission, followed by 1m20s pause and will be repeated several times within an ISS pass over Europe.

The used modulation is MSK without error correction. For the decoding of the 320 x 240 pixel image, the software KG-STV is required. The KG-STV software can be downloaded from the following link: "http://amsat-nl.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/kgstv_ISS.zip"

The ZIP file contains the KG-STV program, an installation and setup manual, some images and MP3 audio samples for your first tests as well as links for additional technical information about the KG-STV use.

After downloading I was able to test the set up using the embedded MP3 file with below result.

Via Sigidwiki.com:

KG-STV is an image transmission mode developed by JJ0OBZ in Japan. The mode transmits one 16x16 compressed jpeg block at a time, so that partial transmissions can still reveal the image with missing holes. You can see each block as it's received being reconstructed. The software allows the receiver to send a repeat request in case there are received blocks that have errors. In addition to images, users can send and receive short text messages to each other with this mode.

KG-STV has two modulation modes. MSK (Minimum Shift-Keying) and 4LFSK (4-Level Frequency-Shift Keying). The 4LFSK mode transmits twice as fast as MSK, but is more prone to being affected significantly by propagation effects. Most transmissions are done in MSK mode. Each mode has a choice of convolution encoding or no encoding. The error correction used is Viterbi Encoding (NASA standard K=7 mode)

MSK uses two frequencies, 1800 Hz for 1 and 1200 Hz for 0. For 4L-FSK, '00' 1200 Hz; '01' 1400 Hz; '10' 1600 Hz; '11' 1800 Hz.

All signals operate at 1200 Bd, and occupy a bandwidth of between 500 Hz to 2500 Hz, depending on signal quality.

Moon Halo or Lunar Halo

This evening the moon is surrounded by a ring, a so called moon halo or lunar halo. The halo is located at a distance of 22° from the center. Image taken with Nikon D7500 10mm f/4.5 ISO400 and exposure time of 8s. 

Expedition 66 MAI75 Feb 2022 - Certificates

Receiving certificates from SSTV event (Expedition 66 MAI75 Feb 2022). See also SSTV images received via this link. 

Golden Handle with ASI2600MC and Nikon D7500

This evening the "Golden Handle" or "Jewelled Handle according Patrick Moore" is visible on the Moon's disk. The “Golden Handle” effect is produced by way the sun strikes the curved Montes Jura mountain range surrounding Sinus Iridum on the north and west. 

Following set up used : TAL200K f/8.5 with Nikon D7500 and TAL 200K f/8.5 with ASI2600MC.

Nikon D7500: ISO100 and exposure time 1/100s. Editing done using CS4.

ASI2600MC: imaging using ASIStudio. Both AVI files and png pictures captured. 

- AVI files too large to stack using AutoStakkert!2. Version 3 was downloaden and memory optimized using adaptive buffering. I choose only to stack 5 frames. It took 33 minutes to have a saved result. Stacking was done again without drizzle,  resulting in a working time of 20minutes. 

- png files are stacked with APP and final editing using CS4. In total 10 pictures, each 52ms, are stacked. This provided the best result. 

ARISS SSTV – Expedition 66 – MAI-75 February 2022

On Feb 7 & 8, 2022, the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI) conducted a routine SSTV (Expedition 66-MAI75 Feb 7&8 2022) experiment during orbits that pass within range of Europe and Russia. They typically operate PD120 on a downlink frequency of 145.800 MHz using the Kenwood D710E located in the ISS Service Module. I could download 4 images during 3 ISS passes.

The quality was good but not the synchronisation. I used websdr from Nürnberg http://nbgsdr.ddns.net/

and MMSSTV software. 

Moon-Uranus

This evening, both the Moon and planet Uranus within 2° field of view.
Setting : Nikon D7500 with TLAPO80/480 f/6, ISO100 and exposure time of 3s. This capture was more difficult then I expected.

Alexander's Beaded Rim

A couple of hours before quarter Moon, the dark side of the Terminator shows Alexander's Beaded Rim. The moon is 42% illuminated (Feb 7, 2022).

Setting : Nikon D7500 and TALPO80/480 f/6, ISO100 and exposure time of 1/160s. Editing using CS4.

The Sun in CaK and OIII feb 5, 2022

Pictures of the Sun on Feb 5, 2022 both in OIII as in CaK.

Setting : Nikon D7500 & TAL200K f/8.5 Filter ND3.8 and OIII. Editing using CS4 and P, B0 set with Helioviewer.

Central sunspot AR2939 was special as a Faint Light Bridge (FLB) was observed.

Setting : ASI224MC with TAL200K f/8.5 and Filter ND3.8 and CaK. Stacking using AutoStakkert! and final editing with CS4. 

Faint Light Bridge on Sunspot AR2939

 

Sunspot AR2939 was observed on Feb 5, 2022 using a solarfilter ND3.8 and OIII filter with Nikon D7500 and TAL200K f/8.5. The picture is cropped and show the sunspot together with pores and the faint light bridge inside the umbra. This is the first time I made this observation. 

Positional Astronomy by Prof Claude Doom

Attending the first (1/5) lesson of the positional astronomy course provided by Prof. Claude Doom. At the end of this training I should be able to calculate the location of the sun, moon, planets, satellites aswell as eclipses and occultations. 

Venus 19% illuminated

A bright Venus 90 minutes before sunrise. Venus is currently 19% illuminated. 

 

MAI SSTV Experiment on Feb 7 & 8

The Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI) is organizing a SSTV experiment on February 7 and 8. According information the SSTV images are sent with about 3 minute gaps between transmissions.

Feb. 7 - Start about 08:35 UT, stopping about 15:05 UT.
Feb. 8 - Start about 10:40 UT, stopping about 14:30 UT

See also previous experiment by MAI via this link.