Sunspot AR4048

Sunspot AR4048 on April 4, 2025.
Image with TAL200K f/8.5, barlow x2 and ASI290MM. Use of ND3.8, OIII and IR/UV cut filter.

Software: SharpCap, AstroSurface and CS4

Fram2 - First polar-orbit human spaceflight

Fram2 will be the first polar-orbit human spaceflight mission to explore Earth. It will launch into a 90° circular orbit to the south from Florida, making it the first human spaceflight to fly over Earth’s polar regions from low-Earth orbit.

The North and South Poles are invisible to astronauts on the International Space Station, as well as to all previous human spaceflight missions, except for the Apollo lunar missions but only from far away. To date, the highest inclination achieved by human spaceflight has been the Soviet Vostok 6 mission, at 65°. This new flight trajectory will unlock new possibilities for human spaceflight.

On April 3, UT20h33 I could make images of Fram2 using my Nikon D7500 camera. The spaceship was visible "near" the moon.

Moon and Pleiades

 

Moon and Pleiades.
Set up: TLAPO80/489 f/6 on EQ8 and Nikon D7500

Bracketing and HDR using CS4

Partial Solar Eclipse March 29, 2025

 

Sun March 29 - One hour before partial solar eclipse

Imaging the Sun one hour before the Partial Solar Eclipse. This test was done at my home before moving to the public perfornace.

Partial Solar Eclipse

The partial solar eclipse imaged during public performance at "Het Moment" (Abbey of Averbode). I used my TLAPO80/480 f/6 with ND3.8 solar filter, IR/UV cut filter and OIII filter.

Editing using CS4 after conversion to DNG format. 

Sun in H-alpha Sol'Ex

Both seeing and transparency was poor but the objective was to optimize fps and testing connectivity of USB hub.

First I fine tuned the ROI as small as possible; with the used setting the ROI for H-alpha is now 125pixels. 

Next I changed SharpCap settings: memory usage for camera maximized and camera control setting all max eg. Turbo on.

WIth and without the USB hub I was able to get to 400pfs and keep it stable during capturing.

Setting

TLAPO80/480 with Sol'Ex pro and 678MM camera

Herschel Wedge

USB hub connected with Camera and external SSD

Software: SharpCap, Inti and CS4