Space Weather workshop by Christine Verbeke

Selfie with Space Weather expert Christine Verbeke

Last week (March 3) I attended a meeting of the VVS Workgroup Sun. Space weather was one of the subjects. Guest speaker Christine Verbeke is a Space Weather Scientist for the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and is affiliated with KU Leuven Universtity. Christine was also a finalist in the 2023 PhD Cup for her research on solar storm modeling. The session provided an overview of solar storms and space weather, what are solar storms and what effects can they have on our Earth and society. A demo was given on how to make a prediction of the arrival of a solar storm based on a previous solar storm.

Sun H-Alpha and Ca-K using Sol'ex

A couple of images of the Sun in H-Alpha and Ca-K line. Pictures taken this afternoon.

Setting

TLAPO 60/360 f/6, Sol'ex with ASI290MM

Filter ND1.6 and SSD 
H-Alpha : Tilt angle : -0.8067, Scaling SY/SX : +0.5077

H-Alpha :192fps or 5.18ms, ROI 1936x276, 16bit, binning 1x1Software : SharpCap4, SHG-Main, IMPPG, CS4

Solar Eclipse 1 month to go

 One month to go for April 8th 2024 Solar Eclipse....

Sun Sol'ex Ca K and H-Alpha

A clear sky this morning for about 90 minutes, enough time to set up my Sol'ex and capturing the sun in H-Alpha and Ca K.

Some interesting prominences can be seen in both H-alpha as Ca K.

Setting: TLAPO 60/360 f/6, Sol'Ex with ASI290MM
Filter : Hoya 16

H-alpha : 7,1319ms or 139fps, ROI 1936x548, 16bit, bin 1x1

Ca K : 12ms or 83 fps, ROI 1920x1080, 16bit 1x1

Software : SharpCap 4.1, Inti, SHG4.3, CS4, IMPPG

Some interesting facts :

INTI gives a tilt of -2,9° while SHG gives a tilt angle of -12

Also the X/Y ratio is same for both INIT and SHG: 1,15

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 It seems that 5 drivers were   outdated! 

Lecture by Dr. Hans Huybrighs on JUICE Mission

Selfie with Dr. Hans Huybrighs

Together with my Helios collegue Walter I joined an interesting lecture on ESA's JUICE (JUpiter ICy Moon Explorer) mission. The lecture was given at the University of Maastricht as part of Studium Generale by Dr. Hans Huybrighs, Planet Scientist @ Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

Follow the journey of JUICE via this website with some spectacular Earth flybys :

- 20 August 2024 (6561km)
- 28 September 2026 (8645km)
- 17 January 2029 only 4649 km

Even more spectacular will be Europa Flyby in July 2032 with only 400km!!

Boarding Pass Viper

Viper, Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, will be NASA's first robotic Moon rover. This mobile robot will land at the South Pole of the Moon in late 2024 on a 100-day mission. The critical information it provides will teach us about the origin and distribution of water on the Moon and help determine how we can harvest the Moon's resources for future human space exploration.

My boarding pass is ready ...