Startrail with Star Adventurer 2i

Update Star Adventurer 2i:

After my colleague, Walter, fixed my issue on the bad "snap" connection, I was able to take again some images of the nightsky. 

First I completed the polarallignment; next I opened my app "SA Console" and connected with the mount. I selected Astro-Time Lapse and took 200 images of constellation Orion.

Postprocessing was done with Startrails and CS4.

When looking in detail, the mount is not always very accurate. But I found out I did nog fixed the altitude bold; not sure if this was the cause.

Setting

Nikon D7500 10mm f/4 ISO100 200x30s

Mount Skywatcher Star Adventurer 2i

Startrails and CS4

Moon Venus Mercury

Nightscape of Venus, Moon and Mercury.

Sol'Ex CaIIK Line Stack

After re-adjusting my Sol'Ex time to test. Seeing was very poor but still, I made some images in CaIIK line. The 10 images were made using INTI and stacked uising AS4!.The result was edited in CS4.

Setting

Solex Pro version on TALAPO60/360 and ASI678MM

2nd Gen Slit

Herschel Wedge

SharpCap, INTI and CS4

Preparation of Magnetogram Fe I 6173A

 One of the conditions of making a magnetogram is finding the right spectrum line. Not that easy. So finding the Fe I 6173 A line (which has a g=2,5) was the objective this morning. Comparing with the solarspectrum and Christian Buil's spectrum, I can say that I found it. Next time, I can start making the images for the magnetogram. I'm not 100% sure but the line split is visible. 

The Sun in H-alpha and Ha2cb

This morning a couple of hours clear sky. But still very poor seeing and a lot of wind. As a consequence my PC fell from the table, luckely without further damage.

I was able to connect my synscan to my PC and sharpcap. This made it possible to move the gear using the buttons in sharpcap. Much easier then working with the synscan handcontroller. Unfortunately due to weak USB connections, i lost connection everytime there is a gust of wind.

Beside this I'm not satisfied about the sharpness of the lines; in this case the H-alpha line. Even though I try to sharpen, using the collimator screw, focusser as cameraposition. Hopefully I can blame this later on the bad seeing. Let's wait and see. 

All data was submitted to SOLAP.

Setting

TLAPO60/360 f/6 with Sol'Ex Pro version and ASI678MM

2nd Gen Slit

Herschel Wedge

Sx/Sy nearly 1

Tilt: 1,4°

SharpCap, Inti, CS4

ATT Essen 40 Years - May 10th

Background: On Saturday, May 10, 2025, the 40th "Astronomy and Technology Meeting" (ATT) will take place in Essen. 

Beside the exhibitors the agenda for lectures is available with a lecture on remote astrophotography and
Die aktive Sonne in Foto, Time-Lapse und radioastronomischer Beobachtung by Udo Siepmann.

I'm looking out to attend this annual event. 

SOLAP Report 2024 - Sol'Ex Pro-AM

Florence Cornu from observatoire de Meudon (Paris) send us the SOLAP annual report 2024. This report provides information about the cooperation between amateurs ujsing Sol'Ex (Solar Explorer) and the professional Meudon Observatory, so called Pro-Am, cooperation SOLAP Project.

Currently 37 amateurs are part of the SOLAP of which 30 French and 7 non French. So far, I'm the only Belgian. My contribution is limited as I only started in september of 2024. 

Contribution per person with Ha and Ha2cb images

Some interesting facts from the report :

- EQ6 and AZEQ6 is most used mount

- IMX178 is most used camera; I'm the only one using the IMX290; 

- 72mm telescopes are most used

- Sunscan can not be used due to quality of the images

- Sunchine hours over the last 3 years

Naming of the files changed last year

Halo, Sundogs, Circles and Arcs

The Sun this afternoon with a halo22°, two sundogs, parhelic circle, upper tangent and a circumzenithal arc.

Editing using CS4

Studium Generalé with Prof dr Auke-Pieter Colijn and the XenonXT Project

Since 2017 I have been visiting Maastricht University on a regular basis as part of Studium Generalé. Studium Generalé provides excellent lectures as well as series of lectures that are always given by top professors or professionals.

Last Thursday, March 13, the missing universe was on the agenda by Prof. Dr. Auke-Pieter Colijn. He is a physicist who works as a professor of experimental astrophysics at the univ of Amsterdam and Utrecht. Around 6:30 pm I left for Maastricht and took Helios colleagues Walter and Fernando with me. For Walter it is already the most normal thing in the world, but for Fernando it was his first visit to Studium Generale. This time the lecture took place in the School of Business and Economics and not in the prestigious Minderbroedersberg. We were well on time and easily found a place in the grand auditorium. 

The lecture started with an overview of the size of the universe and how empty it actually is. All the matter we can observe makes up only 4% of our universe. The remaining 96% consists of something we don't know and therefore call dark energy and dark matter.

In Gran Sasso, Italy, at 1500m underground, is the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS). Here deep underground they are looking for WIMPs or weakly interacting massive particles. These particles are possible candidates for dark matter. For the sake of completeness, all other candidates were also discussed.

To find the WIMP particles, a tank was built with 8000 kg of liquid Xenon, the so-called XenonNT project see https://xenonexperiment.org/ When a WIMP particle interacts with xenon, electrons and a photon will be released immediately. The electrons are led by an electric field to the top of the tank where they come into contact with gaseous Xenon and release another photon. The sequential release of two photons over a certain time interval is the characteristic of a WIMP. Despite the fact that the experiment has been working for several years, no dark matter was found.

Observing the Corona with my Sol'Ex

I have been able to observe the corona of the sun several times and this was always during a total solar eclipse. Being able to observe the corona outside of a total eclipse is something completely different and a real challenge. How great would this be to be able to observe the corona from my garden and without totality. According to Christian Buil, this is possible with a Sol'Ex. And so I got to work.

According to Christian Buil, this observation is something for specialists, considered very difficult and even impossible if you don't have the transparency of a high mountain sky. Indeed, the biggest enemy is not the instrument but the diffusion of the atmosphere by aerosols, so that the very faint glow of the corona cannot be seen. In reality, the Sol'Ex principle is an asset, as the spectroheliograph is a very effective natural filter, which makes it possible to isolate the coronal emission lines. It's not an obvious observation, because we need to understand that we need to detect a signal coming from an emission line that alone represents about five billionths of the brightness of the solar disk!

On February 2nd I set up my Sol'Ex and I started looking for the Fe XIV (see photo). The recording was done with my Sol'Ex pro version on a TS TLAPO60/360 and ASI678MM camera. The slit is the generation 2 slit, say 7 microns wide and 6 mm high. I use sharpcap 4 for recording.

To edit my recordings, I used JSolex v2.7.3 and the imagemath module with which I can program edits in Java.

JSolex automatically looks for the most suitable line and from there I start my editing. Specifically, I count how many pixels I am removed from the found line up to the Fe I (5302.30A) line (referred to below as "X") and I apply the following formula :

C=X+p

Ref#1 = X-p

Ref#2= X+2p

Corona lijn = C-(Ref#2+Ref#1)/2

p (pixels) =5

I further process the image obtained in CS4, stretching to such an extent that I find "noise" in the corona. I apply "color range" to it to amplify the "noise".

Discussion

It is not clear to me and certainly whether this is the E-corona. I do know how to find the Fe XIV line (see spectrum) and I can edit it via JSol'Ex. Christian Buil uses a shift of 5 pixels and I'm not sure if I can just apply this given my slightly different setup. Christian uses the first generation slit, 2x2 binning recording, and a ASI178MM camera with 24 micron pixels. I use a different slit, 1x1 binning and the ASI678MM camera with 2 micron pixels. On the other hand, if I use 3 or 4 pixels for the p-value and do the same editing in CS4, I don't find any "noise". This is encouraging and could indicate the presence of the E-Corona, but I remain cautious.

Mars Profiler - Mars Map - Mars Mapper

When observing Mars, this website can be used which structures you imaged or drawed. 

Mars Profiler 

Sun Feb 2 Ha2cb - Continuum

 

Sun on Feb 2, 2025 with a lot of sunspots, as STCE noted a swarm. 
Image made with Sol'Ex pro 2nd GEN slit (7micron) and ASI678MM camera on AZEQ6 mount. 

Software: SharpCap 4, Inti and CS4.

Continuum Line: H-alpha 2cb (Ha2cb) located -24*(2,4/2) pixels or -28 pixels from H-alpha.

Mars Feb 3, 2025

 

Image of Mars on Feb 3, 2025. The polar cap is clearly visible aswell other structures on the disk.

Setting

TAL 200K @f/26 using Barlow X3

ASI224MC camera and IR/UV blocking filter

Sofware: SharpCap 4, AstroSurface and CS4

Jupiter and Transit of Io with Shadow and outbreak in NTrZ

 

Transit of Io on Jupiter with shadow. Moon Ganymede can be seen left on above picture. Also visibel is the "outbreak" in the Northern Tropical Zone (NTrZ).

The ADC with my Barlow x2 was replace with a Celestron Barlow X3 (on loan from Helios colleague).

Mars

Image of planet Mars. It's the first time I could image Mars since the last opposition of 2022.

Setting:

- TAL200K with ASI224MC

- IR/UV cut and Barlow x3

- SharpCap, AstroSurface and CS4

Sun with Sol'Ex Feb 2

Very good seeing this morning and a blue sky., so perfect Sol'Ex time.

Setting:

TLAPO60/360, Sol'Ex Pro version and ASI678MM

Herschel Wedge

Software: SharpCap, Inti, JSolex and CS4

Slit: Gen2 7micron and 10mm width

Sun with Sol'Ex Feb 1, 2025

First time this year .. a blue sky .. the entire day. Imaging the Sun using my Solex v3 Pro version on TLAPO60/360 and ASI678MM camera. Solar protection was done using Herschel Wedge.

Some learnings: even though I decreased ROI, the camera did had a limit on fps. This had an impact on sx/sy values. I need to deepdive into this.

CaIIH Line with Sol'Ex 2nd Gen Slit

Image made on Jan 19, 2025 with Sol'Ex Pro with 2nd Gen Slit of 7micron and ASI678MM camera.

BlueSky @pascalhilkens.bsky.social

 You can follow me now on Bluesky via @pascalhilkens.bsky.social

First light with 2nd generation Sol'Ex Slit - Observation of Sun in Spa-Francorchamps

A couple of weeks ago I installed my new slit which is the 2nd generation with a width of 7 micron is stead of 10 micron. The 3D slit holder was made by colleague Johan. Unfortunately I could not test the setting due to continious bad weather. 

This weekend I took my chance as a clear sky was predicted south of Belgium. My car was packed with all nescessary material including food and hot drinks. Special winter clothing due to freezing temparatures. I left early in the morning and picked of Walter to support the test. Destination was Spa-Francorchamps. Weather was perfect with a blue sky and an open space filled with snow.

For the test I used my EQAZ6 with Sol'Ex Pro and ASI678MM camera. My TS-TLAPO60/360 was also equiped with a Lacerta 2" Herschel Wedge. The mount was powered with a battery and PC with a Power bank Xtorm (in case of...).

Conclusion:

Weather conditions were very good, transparency and seeing very good. 

H-Alpha and H-Beta images with a lot of details. CaIIH en CaIIK have more details but unsharp. I made aswell images of Na D1, D3 and He D3; Mg b1, b2, b3.

My first image of H-alpha had a redshift of a filament of an incredable speed of 470.000 km/h (131km/s)

Second generation slit of 7micron gives more and finer details. 

Setting: 

Software : SharpCap 5, Inti, JSolex, CS4

Jupiter and Shadow transit of Ganymede

 

Temperature dropped to -5°C when shadow transit of Ganymede started.

Setting: TAL200K @f/26 with ASI224MC
ADC and IR/UC Cut
Exposure tim 27ms and 30.000 frames of which 3000 stacked.
Software: SharpCap 4, AstroSurface and CS4

Jupiter Jan 9, 2025 with GRS

I reworked by image by applying derotation using Winjupos. All in all, no huge improvements.

Jupiter and GRS

This evening some clear skies with 2 inches of snow and 0,5°C. Time to capture Jupiter with Great Red Spot. 

Setting
TAL200K f/23 with ADC and Barlow x2

IR/OV Cut filter

ASI224MC

16bit, 127fps, 30.000 frames of which 3000 withhold

Software : SharpCap 4, AstroSurface V3 Volcano, CS4

Sol'Ex Pro-AM 2024 Results (SOLAP Project)

SOLAP Project Abstract : Systematic observations of the chromosphere and the photosphere started in Meudon Observatory 115 years ago with Deslandres spectroheliograph. An exceptional collection of more than 100 000 monochromatic images in CaII K and Hα spanning more than 10 solar cycles is proposed to the international community by the BASS2000 solar database. We started in 2023 a “PRO-AM” collaboration between professional and amateur astronomers with the Solar Explorer (SOLEX), a compact and high quality spectroheliograph designed by Christian Buil, in order to record images every day, and several times per day, owing to tens of observing stations in various places. 

I joined the PRO-AM community last summer (August '24) and submitted serveral images. All of them are visible in the BASS2000 database. https://bass2000.obspm.fr/home.php

The contribution of the amateur community compared with the professional Meudon group is plotted in below table (anno 2024)

Sun Halo

 

Sun this afternoon with a faint Sun Dog, Circumzenithal arc and Sun Pillar.

Moon-Venus Conjunction

My first observation of 2025 with a nice Moon-Venus conjuction.

Setting :

Nikon D7500 with 18-200mm lens set on 90mm

Bracketing and HDR combining using CS4. Final editing with DeNoise AI.

Happy New Year 2025

Happy Astronomical New Year 2025 with many many clear skies.