Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks

It's been a while since I set up my telescope for DSO. This evening I took my chance and made some images of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks. Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is a Halley-type periodic comet that was first discovered by Jean-Louis Pons on July 12, 1812 and then independently rediscovered by William Robert Brooks in 1883. It's period is about 71.3 years. Maximum brightness is foreseen during the month of April with the potential to see the comet during the solar eclips of April 8th 2024.

Setting: 

TLAPO80/480 f/6 with ASI2600MC

Filter Optolong L-Pro

Exposure: 5x60s & 2x180s

Software : SharpCap4, APP, CS4, Denoise AI

Cardinal Librarian de Zelada @ Vatican Museum - Time the Sun takes to pass across the Sundial

Pair of shutters in Vatican Museum (Pascal Hilkens)

This pair of painted shutters pertaining to the original windows of the "Sundial Gabinet" show a list of days, months,sun diameter and the time the sun takes to pass across the sundial in seconds and minutes.

This of course took my interest and I started to make my own calculations in order to compare with the data on the shutters. The easiest formula I found :

Time (seconds)  to pass across the meridan line = 128 / cos(delta)
    delta = declination of the sun at a specific day = cos ((360/365)*(N+10))*-23.7333
    N = day of the year starting at january 1

The results of both my calculation as of the shutters are shown in the graph below and are quit comparable.

The below marble sundial with bronze inlays was originally embedded in the pavement of the Vatican "Sundial Gabinet" which was the apartment of Cardinal Librarian Francesco Saverio de Zelada (1717-1801) who live here from 1780 till 1798. Only this piece did survive.

Marble Sundial Vatican Museum (Pascal Hilkens)

Cardinal de Zelada by Anton Raphael Mengs (source wikipedia)

My name with Europa Clipper to Jupiter's Icy moon Europa

My name will fly on the Europa Clipper spacecraft as it travels 2.89 billion km on its voyage to Jupiter’s exploring the Icy moon.

See also https://europa.nasa.gov/

Sun H-alpha Sol'Ex

Image of the Sun in H-alpha using my Sol'Ex. Conditions were not good due to clouds, wind and some issues with stability. My tilt was very good with a value of 0.5°

Setting: TLAPO860/360 with ASI290MM and Sol'Ex

Area : 1936x276; Gain 118; 4.07ms;mono16; binning 1x1

Hoya 16

Actual fps = 244

Software : SharpCap 4, SHG-Main, CS4

Jupiter

 

Jupiter 10days after opposition. Conditions were good which resulted in fine details.

Setting
TAL200K @f/22 with ASI224MC
ADC and IR/UV blocker
14,5ms - 3000frames
SharpCap4, AstroSurface U4 (Best 300), CS4

Jupiter 10 days after opposition

I didn't got the chance to capture Jupiter during opposition. So, this picture is made 10 days after opposition. Some wind made it difficult to capture the images.

Setting

TAL200K @f/22 with ASI224MC

ADC and IR/UV blocker

14,5ms - 3000frames 

SharpCap4, AstroSurface U4 (Best 300), CS4

JSol'Ex 1.8.1. reworked HeI(D3) solar picture

JSol'Ex 1.8.1. was released and I took the opportunity to rework my solar HeI(D3) image. Using the Mathscript I made following script :

Helium_foto=img(-171)-max(range(-145;-135))

Helium_band=fix_banding(Helium_foto,25;8)

Helium_zonderbackground=autocrop(remove_bg(Helium_band))

[outputs]

Helium_Clahe=adjust_contrast(CLAHE(Helium_zonderbackground, 1);0;200)

Helium_Decon=linear_stretch(rl_decon(Helium_Clahe;10.5;4.5;10))

Helium_gekleurd=colorize(Helium_Decon; "Helium (D3)")

I got feedback from Cedric Champeau to remove the background script remove_bg

Below is my result, which is much better then my previous (see link) processing. 

Link to JSol'Ex 1.8.1. download

Link to further Java instructions

Link to Youtube instructions

Hydrogen Epsilon and Helium D3 line

I'm very proud about finding the Hydrogen Epsilon line (397,0 nm) near CaII H line and HeI D3 line (587.572nm) near Sodium D1 and D2. The lines were found using JSolex and boosting contrast which made the prominences of the lines visible.

Spectrum are captured using TLAPO60/360 with ASI290MM and Sol'Ex. 

JSolex Software

 

My earlier recordings of October 14, 2023 are reworked using JSolex software. See this link.

After downloading the exe file will start immediately. Opening the ser files and "full" run the program. the resuls are comparable with Inti and SHG_Main. The colorcoding is a nice option. The protus of Inti and SHG-Main perform better. Overal this software can compete with Inti.

Image : TSAPO60/360 ASI290MM with Sol'Ex, CaH line.

Comparison between First Solar Picture by Fizeau and Foucault and mine 179 years later

F. Arago, Popular Astronomy, Volume 2, Book XIV, Chapter XXVII, p176 (1855)

The first successful photograph of the Sun was taken by the French physicists Louis Fizeau and Léon Foucault on April 2, 1845.For this, the solar light was reflected horizontally by a heliostat to a lens, at the focus of which a daguerreotype was placed. But the Sun is so bright that the exposure time was to be between 1/60 and 1/100 of a second: it was not possible to use the usual method of a cover removed and replaced manually on the lens. Fizeau and Foucault imagined an “original enough” shutter consisting of a plate with a horizontal slit of appropriate width, which they dropped in front of the camera: this was the ancestor of the curtain shutter. The picture showed sunspots aswell as limb darkening. The limb darkening was subject of debate those days. 

Compare with my recent picture of the Sun, 179 years later :)

References: 

- F. Arago, Popular Astronomy, Volume 2, Book XIV, Chapter XXVII, p176 (1855)

- NASA : Technology through time Issue sheet #40, First Sun Photo