Saturn November 17

Imaging Saturn on November 17, 2025 with ring tilt of 0,38°.

Editing was done using the newest version of AstroSurface W3.

Setting: TAL200K, ADC, Barlowx2, ASI715MC

Filter: IR/UV Cut

Software: SharpCap, AstroSurface, CS4, DeNoise AI, WinJupos.

Eros (433) with M31 & M110

Image of Asteroid Eros (433) with M31 & M110. 

Setting: TLAPO80/480 f/6 with flattener and ASI2600MC
Filter: Optolong L-Pro
Camera temperature: -20,7°C
Exposure time: 39x 57s,
Software: SharpCap, ASTAP, CS4, APP (Stellarium & Skysafari)

The flattener was used but with wrong distance: 93 instead of 123mm.

Asteroid EROS (433) my first blink!

Asteroid EROS (433) is almost in opposition and thus perfect for observation.  I had a clear sky with a tempurature of -4,2°C .

Setting: TLAPO80/480 f/6 with flattener and ASI2600MC

Filter: Optolong L-Pro

Camera temperature: -20,7°C

Exposure time: 39x 57s, 

Software: SharpCap, ASTAP, CS4, APP (Stellarium & Skysafari)

Difficulties: connection of mount with Sharpcap was not succesful except for moving the scope. But inaccurate use of goto function and platesolving. It even resulted in miscommunication with the mount. As a result I had to set the synscan back into factory setting. After 3h I was able to make my first image but then I figured out the camera hit the tripod. Once this was solved I made 40 images of which one polluted with an airplane. 

Making sure both Eros and M31 was on my picture, I used stellarium without success. This was resolved with Skysafari.

Sun with Sol'Ex November 8th

A clear sky and enough time for adjusting sharpness. Solution was found in getting the spectrum line in the middle of the space; I get sharpest images when both edges are sharp. Once this was done, I make sure the dustlines on the grating are well seen. 

Setting: TLAPO80/480 with Sol'Ex by James R. and ASI678MM

2nd Gen Slit and Herschel Wedge

Software: SharpCap, Inti V7.0.3, CS4, DeNoise AI

Tilt 0,09°; Sx/Sy 1,09

SSM3 with avg < 1,5arcs whole morning

Saturn with new ASI715MC Camera

First time this year capturing Saturn. The tilt of the rings are almost zero with 0,45°, a Saturn with edge on rings is not the Saturn we typically know from the books. But still interesting view.

I used my new camera ASI715MC with small pixels. I forget to keep an eye on the whitebalance on sharpcap. I made image both with and without IR/UC cut filter.

Compared with my ASI224MC

Setting is same as previous year; it was difficult to get blue/red out even when using my ADC.

ASTAP Video Youtube

Some interesting Youtube video on ASTAP (Astrometric Stacking Program).
See this link: https://www.youtube.com/@hank3327/videos

Red Rainbow 4734 likes on Facebook

 

A total of 4734 likes of my red rainbow. Beside this, 244 remarks and 52 times shared with others. Never thought a rainbow would be some much liked.

Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) Nov 2 and ASTAP

November 2nd, 2025, both transparancy and seeing bad. So, no good images of Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon). Images stacked using APP and ASTAP. ASTAP was used to identify some object like Messier M10 & M12 aswell as two Asteroids. 

Setting: Nikon D7500 on Skywatchter Star Adventurer 2i

Software : APP, ASTAP, CS4 and DeNoise AI

Comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon

Open sky but a lot of dew resulting in moderate images of Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon).

Using ASTAP, area magnitude is 5,4... cool!

ASTAP - Astrometric Stacking Program

I'm working my next challenge: making a light curve of a variable star. I was reading an article in magazine Heelal (November 2025 - Review Dwarf3 by Dmonique Dierckx) which explained the making of a curve using the Dwarf3 and ASTAP. So I went searching for more information on this software.

Downlaoding ASTAP was done via this link https://www.hnsky.org/astap.htm

I also downloading the following databases : D80 and V50

ASTAP, Astrometric Stacking Program, is able to stack images; so far I was only able to do this with Fits files. On top of this, it makes annotations, deepsky, asteroids, comets and variable stars.

There is a section Photometry, which calculates the magnitude and compares those with the database. Using color images, ASTAP can extract the green channel which makes values more accurate. 

When analysing the image with M51, two variable stars showed up. I let the software extract the green channel and measuring the magnitude. This data was copied into excel making the curve. 

Comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon on Halloween evening

Haloween evening, October 31, 2025 during a bright interval I was able to image Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon).
This time I used my Star Adventurer 2i together with Nikon D7500, a set up which made it possible to track the comet for 60s.

Setting: Nikon D7500

Mount: Skywatcher Star Adventurer 2i

Exposure : 4x60s ISO800; 2x10s ISO3200; 2x10s ISO6400

Software: APP, CS4 and DeNoise AI

Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) October 27

On the evening of October 27 ... a cloud free sky. So time to observe Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon).
I took a wide field using more then 260 images, each 5s.

The other images were taken with a larger focal point but with a time difference of one hour. Due to this time difference, the comet was low above the horizon resulting in fainting out of the tail.

Sun October 26

A small opening in the clouds and windy, but still I took my chance resulting in only one capture of the Sun. Some nice prominences at the east side.

Setting: Sol'Ex by James R, 2nd Gen Slit, ASI678MM, TLAPO80/480

Herschel Wedge

Tilt: -0,7° Sx/Sy 1,12

Software: SharpCap, JSolex, Inti, CS4

Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon)

Finally an open sky for about half and hour, which was enough to capture comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon).

Setting: Nikon D7500 with 112mm f/5.3, ISO6400 and exposure time of 5s

No Guiding

Software: APP 2.0.0. beta29, DeNoise AI, CS4

APP: Normal and MAD regression Avg (8;2)

Discussion:

Brigth core with both dust tail and ion tail. Structure in ion tail with knots aswell with small and wider regions. Tail extends minimum 5° .

Volcano Crater Hrossaborg (Iceland) - Apollo & Oblivion

During our trip through Iceland, we also visited the Hrossaborg Crater.

Hrossaborg Crater is a volcanic crater located in northeast Iceland, near Lake Mývatn. It’s actually an old tuff ring, formed by explosive volcanic activity, est 10.000 years ago, when magma came into contact with groundwater. The crater’s walls rise sharply and form a nearly perfect circle, giving it an otherworldly appearance—especially when seen from above or across the surrounding lava fields.

Because of its dramatic, barren landscape, Hrossaborg has been used as a filming location for several productions that wanted to capture a “moon-like” or alien environment.


Oblivion (2013) – The sci-fi film starring Tom Cruise used Hrossaborg as one of its key shooting locations. In the movie, it served as a backdrop for the scenes involving the base of operations on the desolate Earth. The stark volcanic terrain helped create the illusion of a post-apocalyptic world.

Apollo Connection – While not directly related to the Apollo missions, the resemblance of Iceland’s volcanic landscapes (including Hrossaborg and nearby regions like Askja and the Highlands) to the Moon’s surface led NASA to train Apollo astronauts in Iceland during the 1960s. They practiced geological fieldwork here to prepare for moon exploration.

Reinstalling Astro Software using WIndows 11 (SharpCap, EQMOD, PHD2, ASCOM)

 

Screenshot with Sharpcam, EQMOD, PHD2

A couple of months ago I bought a more powerfull PC which also has W11. As a consequence I needed to reinstall all software to connect and work with my existing mounts and camera's.
Before I used mainly SharpCap and N.I.N.A. : SharpCap to polaralign and planet imaging. N.I.N.A. is used for deepsky imaging. Lately I'm using SharCap a lot for Solar Imaging and  found out more things can be done: feature tracking for imaging planets and the sun aswell as platesolving. I didn't use both of them but seems I need to get into this. 

In stead of installing N.I.N.A. I focussed on getting everything to work with SharpCap, meaning connecting the mount and my ASI Camera's.

At first following software was installed and/or updated with the last version:

- SharpCap 

- ASCOM 7.0.2

- PHD2 2.6.13

- EQMOD v200w 

After installing Synscan and setting up Ascom, the system requested to upgrade by firmware of the SynScan. I never did this before and thus the firmware of Synscan was upgraded to V4.42.

A dry run was done using:

- mount AZEQ6GT

- ASI Camera's: ZWO224MC and ZWO2600MC

- SharpCap

- Stellarium V25.2

- EQMOD

- PHD2

I used an external USB hub with 4 USB connections. The RJ cable from my SynScan was connected using an USB to the USB hub creating a serial COM 4 port. This can be checked using Devices of W11.

Baud speed was set on 9600 and after all connecting the dry run was performed succesful.

Below is my new workproces which still needs to be tested during a clear sky :)

Lecture by Dr. Marcel van Daalen

 

During the annual JVS/VVS weekend (October 4th), Dr. Marcel van Daalen of the university of Leiden gave a lecture on the current status of our understanding of the universum. He talked about historical facts, observations and aswell inconsistencies. 

Sol'Ex articles published in Magazine Heelal

My articles on Sol'Ex (a follow up article on the evolution of Sol'Ex and it's software)  and the observation of the E-Corona using my Sol'Ex are published in magazine Heelal.

Sun H-Alpha with active prominences September 29, 2025

 

On the North Eastern limb a free prominence and on the Mid Western limb a long prominence moving away to space... so very active prominences.
The image was processed using new JSolex 4.1.1

This CaIIH is a very sharp image taken with Solex by James R. and 2nd Gen Slit. 

Getting this sharp image is done with both:

- sharp edges

- camera sharpness

- collimator adjustment with focus on the dustlines; this seems working. 

H-alfa2cb

Setting:

TLAPO80/480 with ASI678MM and Solex by James R.

Herstel Wedge

Software: SharpCap 4, Inti 6, JSolex 4.1.1 and CS4

Tilt <0,2° and Sx/Sy 1,1

Seeing with SSM3 almost all day <1,5 arcs

Data submitted to ftp.obspm.fr SOLAP

Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon)

This morning I took some images of Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon). The comet is currently 1,1AU away from Earth and will be at closest on October 21, 2025 on a distance of 0,59AU. Perihelion transit will take place on November 8th. Max brightness is predicted between these two days with the Comet low above the horizon after sunset.

Setting: Nikon D7500 f/4 28mm ISO3200 4s.
Editing: CS4 and DeNoise AI

Artemis II Boarding Pass

Next year, April 2026, NASA plans Artemis II crewed mission around the Moon. I have already my Boarding Pass :)

Video Aurora 17092025

 

My images combined into a video of the Equinox Aurora in Iceland (Sandgeroi).
Images taken on Sept 17, 2025 with Nikon D7500 and 10mm Tamron Lens.

Halo from airplane

When preparing for landing in Iceland, I was able to make some pictures of a halo with our plane.