Hughsie

I started this project back in September 2021, capturing the H-alpha channel, but then bad weather (or should I say standard weather) kicked in. By the time the next clear night had come along I had decided to work on the Cave Nebula and so Sharpless 132 got parked. Just over a year later a couple of clear nights at the start of this month popped up and so I decided to revisit Sharpless 132 and finish the project with Oiii and Sii. I always keep my imaging data, just the master lights and master calibration files, as well as the SGP profiles so I can match the original camera orientation should, like in this case, I want to revisit a target and add more date. With 17 hours of integration time I managed to squeeze this image out of PixInsight. Sharpless 132 is home to GP Cep, a Wolf-Rayet star which is lighting up this dim emission nebula. As the human eye like to pick out patterns, this region is also known as the Lion Nebula and originating from its ‘head’ is a blue Oiii stream of gas which is thought to be a ring of gas being blown out by the stellar wind coming off GP Cep. All the best, John

Caught the ISS pass on my All Sky Camera last night. The pass took place between 03:29:37 UTC and 03:32:53 UTC. The image below is made up of four 60 second exposures with a 5 second gap in between each exposure and shows the ISS passing through Pegasus, Perseus, Auriga and Gemini. Camera - ZWO ASI178MC with Fujinon 2.7 mm CF2.7HA-L1 fisheye lens, f1.8.

In early June 2022 I was asked by my local astronomy club if I would like to give a presentation on my process for acquiring solar data. Having never done anything like this before I decided to take up the challenge and put something together that not only included the acquisition of data but also what I do with it afterwards. Out of this came the video below which has been posted to the Orwell Astronomical (Ipswich) YouTube Channel which looks at acquiring H⍺ data with a Lunt 60mm DS THa/B1200CPT scope. https://youtu.be/mw7RVGSAlG4 There the video has sat for 2 months now and I have finally decided to share it here. I would rather my images do the talking than me but if someone finds something useful here then I class that as job done. All the best John

This image was captured across the three nights 11th, 12th and 13th August 2022. Equipment; William Optics Z103 with flattener (F/L 568 mm). ZWO ASI1600mm Pro Cooled to -10 c. William Optics 50mm guidescope and ZWO ASI290mm mini guidescope. Chroma 1.25” 3nm filters in Ha, O3 and S2. SkyWatcher EQ6R Pro mount Sesto Senso motor focuser. Data; Ha - 53 exposures O3 - 57 exposures S2 - 49 exposures Exposure time 300s, gain 139, offset 30. Darks, Flats and Dark Flats x 50. Processing PixInsight

I agree Jonk. Fortunately for me my local astronomy club has a large number of members who have all sky cameras and UKMON memberships so there are some seasoned observers there with way better gear that are able to confirm these things to me. A starting point may be to download Stellarium and the satellite function (all free) then check your images against known satellite positions. Heavens Above (also free) has daily predictions of bright satellites that can be found here https://www.heavens-above.com/AllSats.aspx?lat=51.9468&lng=1.05&loc=Cotman+Ave%2c+Lawford%2c+Manningtree+CO11%2c+UK&alt=10&tz=GMT

A nice bright Moon did its best to wash out the night sky but still lots of meteor activity visible last night.

Had to wait for the Sun to clear a neighbours bush indicating that the Sun is getting lower each day. Bit of breeze around too which interfered with the time-lapse below. First up is the solar disc. Nothing too dramatic on the chromosphere, however, there are some nice proms and filaproms on view. Next is a nice horseshoe shaped prominence. Probably wouldn’t have given this a second glance had the surface been more active but it was nice change of pace to capture something like this. More filaments in the Southern Hemisphere which reminded me of tiger stripes. First glimpse of the prominence on the South West limb too. AR13071 is visible to the West (right) located S13W36. This is a single sunspot spot region classified HSX and reducing in size. This region has not produced a single flare yet. To the far left (S18E01) we have AR13074. Like AR13071 this is a single spot as well as being classified the same (HSX) but slightly larger in area. This region got active on 8th August producing two small B class flares. Between the two is AR13077. Classified CSO this is located S13W24 and is growing in size and sunspots, having increased from 4 to 6 spots overnight. This region has yet to produce any flares. Same image as above but at higher magnification. Heading up North we have AR13075 and AR13076. The former has no major features whereas AR13076 has a single spot. By far the largest active region visible on the solar disc it too is classified HSX and is located N12E20. It has produced a single B class flare earlier this morning. Visible on the limb is a small prominence and filaprom. Lastly we have the large prominence on the South West limb.... ....and a shaky timelapse. Prom on SW Limb 10082022.mp4

Took an eleven day break from solar imaging. I just wasn’t finding it fun and simply didn't have the energy, desire or patience to capture images and process them. Now the Sun has taken a break too.... Solar disc captured at 10:16:02 UTC. There are five active regions on show but only AR13062 and AR13068 showed much detail. AR13062 - Positioned S24W53 this is represented by a single spot classified HSX.This region has been modestly active on the flare front, its best being a C4.1 class flare on 21st July 2022. AR13068 is a new entry located S15E43 on the solar disc. Over the last 24 hours it has doubled its sunspot total to eight and also increased in size. Classified DAO this region spent a lot of time today pumping out B class solar flares. At the time this image was taken AR13068 was in the midst of a B4.6 class flare which commenced at 10:25 and finished at 10:39 UTC.

All out of sync with my days. Nice eruption from what will soon become AR13058, just coming off the eastern limb (see image for AR13057 below).

Various active regions, filaments and prominences on display today.

These are wonderful white light images. Do you share them in the solar imaging section because they deserve to be there too.

This reminds me of a picture I took last year as I was waiting for our Sun to clear a bush in my garden so I could capture the solar disc.

Looking forward to seeing the JWST going up for sale on the FLO Offer page.

Before we all get too excited about JWST, see the first pictures then realise we need to build an even bigger scope to see beyond that, here is what’s down the road which we still don’t understand.

Hello Geoff. Firstly thank you for your kind words. As to the gear, I use a double stacked 60mm Lunt solar scope, a ZWO ASI174mm camera with tilt adaptor and different barlows or Powermates. With the exception of the full disc which was just the camera and scope, the remaining images had the Altair Astro 3x Barlow in the image train.

Below are a selection of images both inverted and ‘au nautral’ showing some of the solar activity on our Sun during the morning of the 8th July 2022.

Don’t worry Rusted, rest assured we will let you know if it’s rubbish 😂 is it the right way round?😝

A few shots of our Sun this morning.

Some images captured quite early this morning before the clouds set in.

Nice capture Rusted.

An early start due to clouds forecast to roll in. AR13040 remains the only active region and there were some nice proms visible on the south west and south east limbs.

Broken cloud, a strong breeze and only one active region on the Sun today. Here is AR13040 (S13W130).Classified CSO and comprised of nine sunspots. This area is presented at 3x and 4x magnification both ‘natural’ and inverted. Chucked in the disc for free 😁

I am assuming you are looking at imaging in white light with the Red Cat. Not certain this would work but maybe worth a call to Altair Astro https://www.altairastro.com/baader-50-od-astrosolar-binocular-filter-50mm-7585-p.asp or if you are feeling creative you may want to make one;