Sol'Ex JSolEx 4.4 3D

JSolex version 4.4 creates a 3D image of the Sun using an image made with Sol'Ex.

Sol'Ex update with 61 sessions and 962 video shoots

 

My Sol'Ex journey started back in August '23 and today I'm looking back ... a steep learning curve, 3 Sol'Ex versions, 2nd Gen Slit, new 678MM camera, improved software, two conferences, a VVS Whatsapp group, contributing to ProAm Paris Meudon (Bass2000), 2 articles in VVS magazine Heelal, 8 lectures but most impressive my 61 Sol'Ex sessions with 962 video shoots. 

ASTAP Video Youtube

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

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. 

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 :)

Solar Scintillation Monitor SSM3 and SharpCap

After downloadoing the latest version of SharpCap (adjusted for the SSM3 bug) I connected my Solar Scintillation Monitor SSM3 (See https://www.analog-astronomical-device.ch/solar-scintillation-monitor). . Using the tools menu and selecting Solar Scintillation Monitor, the SSM3 can be connected. The result works very good with a good graphic follow up.

Overal seeing below 2 arcs with moments even lower.

The increase is due to upcoming high clouds

For instructions to connect the SSM3 with SharpCap see https://forums.sharpcap.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=48907#p48907 (New Feature : Support for Solar Scintillation Monitors).

An Atlas of Spectroheliograms from 3641 to 6600 Å by Varadi Nagy Pal

Varadu Nagy Pal et al made An atlas of spectroheliograms using Sol'Ex (version 1 and ML Astro SHG 700), see link to this article.

The Solar Disks Spectrum atlas itself can be found via this link. A print screen is shown below

I think he imaged all spectrum lines which are processed using JSolex. 

Some nice features:

    

    By clicking on "##" of interesting wavelengths you get for all lines more details aswell as a personal        ranking.

    By clicking on the "eye" 1.1, 1.2,...of interesting wavelenghts you get each time more specific line on         interest. When clicking on it you go to the immediate wavelength and image

    By clicking on spectrum++ or diagram++ you switch between the spectrumline or diagram. 

This is great work by the team and will be an extra tool to use .. to find interesting lines but also to compare the images.

JSolex 3.0.1 with NaID2 and HeID3

I used the latest version of JSolex 3.0.1 to process my scans from April 12th. Processing was done for Natrium I D2 and Helium I D3.

Setting with TLAPO80/480 and Sol'Ex pro with 2nd Gen Slit.

Tilt < 1°

Sol'ex images inside outside

I reworked my Sol'Ex images of H-alpha, H-beta and CaIIH from March 9 to get the sun inside outside.
In this way the prominences are now in the inner circle in stead of on the outside solar disk.

Mars Profiler - Mars Map - Mars Mapper

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

Mars Profiler 

First HDR image using bracketing - Moon Halo with Mars

To capture a halo around the Moon I applied bracketing using my Nikon D7500. Postprocessing was done using all 5 "bracketing" images with CS4 (Menu Automatic, Merge to HDR). Once the image is made, some minor editing and noise reduction was done. The final image has some more details using this HDR technic.

Astrometrica Software

 

Yesterday I found out the existance of Astrometrica Software (thanks to Bert Moyaerts) and which can help identifying small objects. Astrometrica Software provides the ability to easily compare astromerical images for the purpose of moving object detection. See links below for software, installation guides, instructions, and practice image sets. 

See this link : http://iasc.cosmosearch.org/Home/Astrometrica

Dell Wifi Issues - Great Dell Support

Only recently, my wifi connection was lost and when trying to reconnect no wifi networks could be found. Only when restarting I could reconnect to my wifi network.  The problem was solved using Dell Support and looking for updates of my drivers. It seems that 5 drivers were   outdated! 

GPT 4

 

Open AI with Chat GPT released GPT-4 . Have fun!