Sun dogs and other arcs

This morning some very bright Sun Dogs and a very bright circumzenithal arc above the Sun.

When editing the picture in black/white the arcs become clearly visible.

AutoStakkert!3 AS!3 now available

The beta version AutoStakkert!3 is now available. It's not fully tested but can be downloaded here.

Voyager 2 is leaving our Solar System

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech 

Voyager 2 is currently on a journey toward interstellar space. According NASA the probe has detected an increase in cosmic rays which travel from outside our solar system. Voyager was launched in 1977 and is about 17.7 billion kilometers from Earth, this is more than 118 times the distance from Earth to the Sun.

Since August, the Cosmic Ray Subsystem instrument on Voyager 2 has measured a 5% increase in the rate of cosmic rays hitting the spacecraft. The probe's Low-Energy Charged Particle instrument has detected a similar increase in higher-energy cosmic rays.

Cosmic rays are fast-moving particles that originate outside the solar system. Some of these cosmic rays are blocked by the heliosphere, so mission planners expect that Voyager 2 will measure an increase in the rate of cosmic rays as it approaches and crosses the boundary of the heliosphere.

In May 2012, Voyager 1 experienced an increase in the rate of cosmic rays similar to what Voyager 2 is now detecting. That was about three months before Voyager 1 crossed the heliopause and entered interstellar space.

The fact that Voyager 2 may be approaching the heliopause six years after Voyager 1 is also relevant, because the heliopause moves inward and outward during the Sun's 11-year activity cycle. Solar activity refers to emissions from the Sun, including solar flares and eruptions of material called coronal mass ejections. During the 11-year solar cycle, the Sun reaches both a maximum and a minimum level of activity.

Credit NASA Article 

Renewed Editing Mars July 13

Astropictures from Mars taken on July 13, 2018 UT01h23 with TAL200K and ASI224MC were edited again. 

I used the new update of AutoStakkert!3.0.14 (AS!3) which is now a 64bit version. Stacking was done in planet mode, drizzle 1.5 and Sharpened 10%.

The result was edited in CS4 in following order of unsharp mask and Gaussian blur. 

Comparison of Mars as predicted by Calsky

Draconid Meteor Shower this evening?

When the sky is clear get a chance to go outside this evening to watch for meteors. The annual peak of Draconid meteors is expected this evening around midnight. Last month the parent comet,
21P Giacobini-Zinner, reached its perihelion. It means there is a small chance the number of meteors could peak.  But watch yourself :)

Startrail

Startrail taken on the morning of October 5th, UT2h-3h. Picture taken in the direction of South-East with Nikon D7500 f/3.5 10mm. Pictures stacked using Startrails v2.3

Freek Roelofs & Marcel Vonk

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Afgelopen weekend vond in Oostende het 32ste VVS/JVS weekend plaats. Diverse onderwerpen kwamen aan bod maar 2 lezingen sprongen eruit. Twee topsprekers waren aanwezig die uitzettingen gaven over Event Horizon Telescope : de eerste foto van een zwart gat (Freek Roelofs). Een tweede lezing ging over Emergente Zwaartekracht en het donkere Heelal (Marcel Vonk)