Solar Eclipse and Airplane transit

Posted on 25/10/2022 by philipp

The partial solar eclipse on October 25th happened conveniently during lunch break, and the skies were perfectly clear. I opted for the big refractor (Astro-Physics 127mm f/8) combined with a 2x Nikon teleconverter in the hope to capture some detail in the form of sunspots on the solar disc.

I setup the camera to record a set of timelapse images, taking a picture every 20s. After I while I also setup the 60mm refractor to be able to observe the eclipse visually.

Shortly after maximum eclipse I noticed an airplane with contrail heading to the area of the sky where the sun was located. From past experience I thought that it will miss the sun (the apparent diameter of the sund and moon in the sky is only about half a thumb’s width at arm-length), but switched the camera to video and started recording.

Sunspot Active Region AR2736

Posted on 24/03/2019 by philipp

Sunspot AR2736 – Astro-Physics 127mm f/8, Televue 3x Barlow, QHY5L-IIc

After a few very quiet months the sunspot AR2736 grew to a considerable size and shows quite a bit of detail in this close-up image. The image was taken on 22.03.2019.

ISS solar transit

Posted on 15/04/2018 by philipp

As the ISS orbits our planet, from time to time it passes in front of the sun for a given location.

https://www.calsky.com and https://transit-finder.com/ allow you to predict such transits for your location.

Last Saturday such a transit happened, and I was able to capture it:

A combination of all frames that captured the ISS.

Total Solar Eclipse 2017

Posted on 10/09/2017 by philipp

2nd Contact – Diamond Ring, Nikon D750, 1/160s, f/8.0, ISO 400, 600mm (300mm f/4 PF + TC-20E III)

The Moon and Sun two weeks before the 2017 solar eclipse

Posted on 07/08/2017 by philipp

Two weeks before the moon will eclipse the sun, the moon was partially eclipsed by the Earth’s shadow

I had to turn around, when the road to my observing location was blocked, then I rushed to another spot, to find clouds on the horizon blocking the view for quite a while. But finally the still eclipsed moon emerged from the clouds and I was able to take some quick shots.

I used my 80mm refractor and a 300mm lens for the images.

Sunspot AR2665

Posted on 10/07/2017 by philipp

Even though we are heading for a possibly deep and long solar minimum, a huge sunspot is visible on the sun right now.

Big Sunspots AR2644 & AR2645

Posted on 02/04/2017 by philipp

Today two big sunspot groups were prominently visible on the sun:

Active Region 2644, 50 frames of 524, Astro-Physics 127mm f/8, QHY5L-II, Vixen 2x Barlow

Active Region 2645, 50 frames of 524, Astro-Physics 127mm f/8, QHY5L-II, Vixen 2x Barlow

The sun 2017-01-28

Posted on 28/01/2017 by philipp

The sun shows only few spots when near solar minimum. Today the Spots AR2629 and 2628 were clearly visible.

Astrophysics 127mm f/8 with Nkon TC-14EII and Nikon D750 Baader solar film (photographic density).

Giant Sunspot AR2456

Posted on 18/05/2016 by philipp

These days the large sunspot AR2456 is very prominent on the sun’s disc:

Astro-Physics 127mm f/8, TC-14E II, Nikon D750, ISO 80, 1/4000s, f/11, 1400mm

Astro-Physics 127mm f/8, Camera=QHY5LII Date=180516 Start=091636.208 Mid=091721.279 End=091806.350 Start(UT)=071636.208 Mid(UT)=071721.279 End(UT)=071806.350 Duration=90.142s Frames captured=979 ROI=1280×960 FPS (avg.)=10 Shutter=0.130ms Gain=474 Histogramm(min)=23 Histogramm(max)=243 Histogramm=95%

Mercury Transit 2016

Posted on 09/05/2016 by philipp

Today the tiny disc of mercury crossed in front of the sun. The weather didn’t cooperate fully, and I had to switch mounts as the Meade randomly stopped tracking in RA, and the WiFi router for the roof didn’t work as expected and tested… but I was still able to get some decent images… Read More →

Philipp Salzgeber photography

Category Archives: solar