Waning crescent Venus 46%

The past weeks you could not miss Venus at the evening sky. Venus is currently very bright and is now less then 50% illuminated. When using a telescoop Venus shows up as a "lunar phase" and is currently waning crescent.
Conditions this evening were very good (temperature -5°C, huminidy 89%). Observations done using Dobson 12" with SE 9mm clearly showed the phase of Venus which is currently 0.46. Below picture was taken with TAL200K and ZWO ASI224MC using Registax and CS4 for editing.

Book 15 Million Degrees

I'm halfway reading a book titled 15 Million Degrees (english and a dutch translated version is also available) by Lucie Green.
If you want to understand how the sun "works" and this in the context of historical achievements ... this is your book. Once finished I will post a detailed review.

What a night

It's a very good night to observe the stars. With temperatures around -6°C and huminidy 85% we have a very good seeing aswell. After 3-star allignment my TAL 200K was set for taking pictures using ASI224MC. With the naked eye it was possible to observe M44, M36 and M37. Pictures taken of M42, M81, M79 and M97.

Capturing pictures was done using FireCapture and SharpCap2.8. I found out that no colors were taken when using FireCapture.

Picture taken using SharpCap 2.8 - Stacked with RegiStax6 - Edited by CS4

Making a new 12" solarfilter DIY

Last summer I made a solarfilter for my 10" telescoop. Today I made a new one for my 12" Dobson. I'm using AstroSolar Safety Film D5.0 made by Baader Planetarium.
A step by step approach to DIY is explained earlier and can be found on my blog here.

Astrophysics Course at Urania

Today I attended the first lesson of astrophysics. This new course is given by Urania in Antwerp each tuesday evening for the next 10 weeks.
The auditorium was full with about 40 people.
Astrophysics is about applying theoritical physics on astronomical problems.
 In this first lesson an introduction was given to mathematics describing linear algebra, complex numbers, trigonometry, calcalus, ...

Moon 41%

Moon is 41% and moderate seeing. Picture taken in prime focus with Nikon D60 on Dobson Orion XT12". Editing completed using CS4.

Very Cold Observation testing SE 9mm 100° Ar purched ocular

Clear sky and moderate seeing this evening and very cold with temperatures up to -8°C. 

Observations done using Dobson OrionXT12 and my new Ocular. This is a Scientific Explorer 9mm 100° wide angle, argon purched and waterproof consisting of 9 elements. It was bought directly from Bresser in Germany.

Observations done on M1, M35, M36, M37, M38, M42, M43, M81 and M82. Also the moon was with 41% a perfect object for testing. I'm very happy with my new ocular and the starclusters are showing up very bright and sharp. The 100° wide angle and field of view makes it necessary to have your eyes travel around to see all the details. Very good quality, good contract and bright immense view. The ocular was delivered safely in a nice big box  without any issue.

Moon 41% Afocal using iPhone 6 on SE 9mm 100° -  Dobson 12"