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.
Read MoreSunspot Active Region AR2736
Category Archives: solar
ISS solar transit
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
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
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.
Read MoreSunspot AR2665
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
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
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
These days the large sunspot AR2456 is very prominent on the sun’s disc:
Mercury Transit 2016
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
Preparing for the mercury transit
Today I was making sure everything is in working order for Monday’s transit of Mercury across the sun.
I was able to fix the issue of the declination runaway motor of our club’s LXD-650 mount, and took some images using the 127mm refractor with a 1,4x teleconverter.
The sun 05-05-2016, Astro-Phsyics 127mm f/8, Nikon TC-14E II, Nikon D750, 1/4000s, Baader ND3.8 photographic solar film