Saturn August 15, 2024

Clouds disappeared last night with some good transparency but fair seeing. Good enough to capture Saturn. The rings are currently almost edge-on with axe of the little ring on 2.6°.

Sol'Ex Pro : AR3784 in H-alpha, H-Beta and CaII H&K line

After re-adjusting the collimator of my Sol'Ex Pro, I made some images of the Sun in H-alpha, H-beta, CaII-H and CaII-K.

Setting: Sol'Ex pro on TLAPO60/360 with Herschel Wedge

Camera : ASI290MM

Software : SharpCap 4, Inti 6.2, JSolex 2.6.4 and CS4

Central is Sunspot AR3784; prominences are visible in each wavelengths.

ROS 2024 Group Photo

I received the Group Photo of the Rencontres des Observateurs Solaires of June 22 & 23, 2024 in Serbannes (France). Both Walter and myself, together with many others...

Sol'Ex Pro : First Light

I bought the new Sol'Ex Pro version and replaced the optics from my Sol'Ex version 1. This morning I installed the Sol'Ex via a Herschel wedge to my refractor TLAPO60/360.
The camera ASI290MM operated with SharpCap4. After my first scans I found out that scanning happened out of center. 

To found out what 's going on, I used the website of Jerome Bastardie : https://espace-infini.fr/en/accueil-english/

Via the implementation chapter https://espace-infini.fr/en/first-implementation/  I could link the problem to problem 7 ... tilt issue. I check my tilt with Inti and it was 57°. After correcting the tilt, the issue was gone. 

Setting:

Sol'Ex Pro version on TLAPO60/360 and Herschel Wedge

Camera : ASI290MM

Software : SharpCap 4, Inti, JSolex and CS4

Sol'Ex: Imaging Hydrogen Balmer Series

The Balmer series is a set of spectral line emissions of the hydrogen atom that corresponds to transitions of an electron from higher energy levels down to the second energy level (n=2). These transitions occur when an electron loses energy and releases a photon, resulting in visible light. The wavelengths of the Balmer series fall within the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum, producing the colors typically associated with hydrogen gas. The first six lines of the Balmer series are known as H-alpha, H-beta, H-gamma, and H-delta, H-epsilon and H-zeta which correspond to different transitions. The Balmer series is significant in astronomy and spectroscopy for identifying hydrogen in our sun, stars and other celestial objects.

Images are made with my new Sol'Ex Pro and using a Herschel Wedge on TLAPO60/360 and ASI290MM.

Software: SharpCap 4, Inti, JSolex and CS4.

Sunspot AR3780

Sunspot AR3780, currently 1200MH big, was imaged this morning using:

TAL200K f/8.5 with ASI290MM

Filter: Solar filter ND3.8, OIII filter and IR/UV cut 

Software: Sharpcap, Astrosurface v1 Urania and CS4

Saturn: 1 month to opposition

 

One month to go for opposition of Saturn. It was also my first time this year imaging the planet.

After polar allignment  using SharpCap, imagting started :

TAL200K f/8.5 with ADC and Barlowx2 

ASI224MC with IR/UV cut

Software : SharpCap 4, Astrosurface U4 and CS4