MalVeauX

Heya,

Woke up to some very good seeing conditions, didn't spend a lot of time, took two videos of the prominence and AR and that's it. A rapid session. Seeing was sub-arc-second. SSM data was wonderful to see. The view on screen was really steady and wonderful, too bad there wasn't more on the surface to pursue. The prominence really changed over night and is breaking up and some bits lifting off, lots of structure and activity with it, would likely be a great animation if someone has time. The AR is dwindling, the plage reduced, very low activity near it. I doubt it will get designation at this point and will be gone in the next few days likely if not sooner.

Color:

B&W:

Seeing Data (SSM):

Equipment:

120mm F10 Frac + Baader Red CCD-IR Block (D-ERF) + PST Etalon + 10mm BF + ASI290MM

Very best,

Heya,

Woke up really late today, was cloudy, but managed to go outside very late afternoon when my seeing is the poorest. I managed to work through some 2~3 arc-second seeing as there were tiny moments of 1.2~1.5 arc-second seeing here and there, so I stayed in that range to try and get data at courser image scales. The new cycle 25 AR (maybe AR2759 if it progresses?) has some visible pores in the photosphere and a lovely plage with filament activity in the chromosphere, with a great prominence right on the limb next to it.

Colored:

B&W:

Seeing Conditions (SSM; poor for my location today, mid-day, at its worst):

Equipment:

120mm F10 Frac + Baader Red CCD-IR Block (internal D-ERF) + PST Etalon + 10mm BF + ASI290MM (HA disc)
120mm F10 Frac + Baader Blue CCD-IR Block (internal D-ERF) + Lunt CaK B1200 Filter + ASI290MM (CaK disc)
120mm F10 Frac + Baader Red CCD-IR Block (internal D-ERF) + Baader 610nm + 3.0 ND Filter + ASI290MM (WL disc)
150mm F16 Frac + Baader Red CCD-IR Block (internal D-ERF) + 2x Barlow + Baader 610nm + ASI290MM (WL finer scale)

Very best,

Heya,

Despite AR2758 still hanging around, there was virtually nothing else but a wee filament here and there and hardly any prominences to really look at, other than one little one that is significant enough to see from the eyepiece. I wanted to capture small things today to exhibit the solar minimum, but with resolution and good enough seeing, there's still plenty to see despite any major features. So today I looked at convection cells in high resolution, the spicules of the chromosphere network and at the limb, and compared different resolutions under good seeing from apertures 52mm to 120mm to examine the features resolved and represented and to see the limb comparison.

Colored:

Spicules & Prominences with the 120mm:

Chromosphere Network and Spicules with the 120mm:

AR2758 & Spicules at Limb with the 120mm:

Convection Cells with the 200mm F6 Newtonian with Baader ND3.8 Solar Film & simple Baader 610nm + ZWO UV/IR Block filter and a 2x Barlow:

AR2758 and limb with the 52mm Single Stack:

AR2758 and limb with the 60mm Double Stack (limb suppression):

B&W:

Seeing Conditions (SSM Data; Two sets, the Cells first, then HA second):

Equipment:

200mm F6 Newtonian; Baader ND3.8 Solar Film (ERF); 2x Barlow, Baader 610nm + ZWO UV/IR block, ASI290MM (Cells)

120mm F10 Frac; Baader Red CCD-IR Block (internal D-ERF); HA filter + ASI290MM (HA limb)

60mm F10 Frac; SM60II etalons + ASI290MM (HA limb, courser scale, lower resolution)

52mm F11 Frac; HA filter + ASI290MM (HA limb, smallest resolution)

Very best,

Heya,

Took a stab at doing Venus in RGB for a more native color, then put some 742nm IR as luminance over that color, then put some 395nm UV over that as luminance to add the clouds. Was trying something different rather than getting the blue versions of composites.

200mm F6 Newt

ASI224MC + 3x barlow for color

ASI183MM + 2x balow + filter wheel + 742nm filter & 395nm filter

Very best,

Heya,

Lucky Friday the 13th perhaps? Woke up to a clear sky and excellent seeing conditions which allowed me to get some data in high res, and some lower image scale data to get some different compositions. AR2758 is winding down and approaching the limb to leave our sight, but it lasted quite a while! Only a few small prominences on the limb, but at a fine image scale, even they become large interesting structures. I was able to get AR2758 and the limb with proms and spicules in a fine image scale with sub-arc-second seeing conditions this morning with my C8 Edge + Aries D-ERF. The lower image scales were captured with my 120mm F10 refractor in HA & CaK. The convection cells were captured under very good seeing conditions with my test-bed Solar Newtonian, which is a 8" F6 Quartz newtonian with a simple, affordable, Baader ND3.8 photographic solar film filter in an aluminum cell and used an Edmund Optics 430nm Gband filter at F12 with a 290MM sensor to capture high res convection cells at 0.25"/pixel under sub-arc-second seeing conditions. This newtonian setup is centered around high resolution photosphere structures, so the cells and as the maximum returns, the sunspots.

High Res, Colored:

Lower Res, Colored:

High Res, B&W:

Lower Res, B&W:

Seeing Conditions (Sub-arc-second sustained quite often, was excellent):

Equipment:

120mm F10 Frac + Baader CCD-IR Block Red (D-ERF) + PST etalon + 10mm BF + ASI290MM (partial HA disc)
120mm F10 Frac + Baader CCD-IR Block Blue (D-ERF) + Lunt CaK B1200 + ASI290MM (partial CaK disc)
C8 Edge + Aries D-ERF + Baader CCD-IR Block Red (D-ERF) + PST etalon + 10mm BF + ASI290MM (high res HA)
200mm F6 Quartz Newtonian + Baader ND3.8 Solar Film + 2x Barlow + Edmund Optics 430nm Filter + ASI290MM (high res cells)

Very best,

Heya,

I had decent seeing this morning, around 1.2~1.4", so was able to capture some interesting bits in AR2758 in HA & CaK. Seeing dropped rapidly after that, just after 11am Eastern Time as my mid-day seeing started to become apparent. The sunspot is gone, AR2758 no longer has a visible umbra really, but the activity in the chromosphere both in HA & CaK is still quite lively with things to see.

Colored:

B&W:

Earth Scales:

Equipment:

120mm F10 Frac
Baader Red CCD-IR Block (Internal D-ERF) + PST Etalon + 10mm BF + ASI290MM (Ha)
Baader Blue CCD-IR Block (Internal D-ERF) + Lunt CaK B1200 + ASI290mm (CaK)
ED80 Frac
Baader Red CCD-IR Block (Internal D-ERF) + SM60II DS + PST Etalon + 10mm BF + IMX183 (Ha disc)
Baader Blue CCD-IR Block (Internal D-ERF) + Lunt CaK B1200 + IMX183 (CaK disc)

Very best,

Heya,

It was gloomy and clouded over this morning, but mid-afternoon there was a break between a few clouds, managed to quickly get some data on the sunspot formed in AR2758. Looks like it's still a class B sunspot dipole of cycle 25, it seems to be trying to form an penumbra, but not quite there yet. Clouds rolled in again fast, so I couldn't do any discs or anything, but I was glad to get any chance on the sunspot before I get back to work Monday.

Equipment:

120mm F10 Frac + Baader Red CCD-IR Block Filter (internal D-ERF) + PST Etalon + 10mm BF + ASI290MM (HA)
120mm F10 Frac + Baader Blue CCD-IR Block Filter (internal D-ERF) + Lunt CaK 1200 + ASI290MM (CaK)
150mm F8 Frac + 2x Barlow (F16) + Baader Red CCD-IR Block Filter (internal D-ERF) + Baader 610nm Filter + Baader 3.0 ND Filter + ASI290MM (WL)

Very best,
 

Heya,

Venus with the 200mm F6 Newt at IR + UV wavelength with the IXM183 sensor.

200mm F6 Newt

IMX183 sensor + 742nm IR & 395nm UV + 2x Barlow:

Very best,

Heya,

Finally some activity stirring on our quiet star. A new cycle 25 AR is developing fast and went form a mere pore to an obvious class A sunspot dipole with surrounding faculae in the photosphere and some mottling and plage starting up, nice and bright, in the photosphere. Seeing was average today and rapidly declined as the morning progressed so I kept the image scales a little course. There's a wonderful huge prominence on the North Eastern limb and its rapidly changing this morning.

Colored:

B&W:

Seeing Conditions (SSM):

Equipment:

120mm F10 + Baader Red CCD-IR Block Filter (Internal D-ERF) + PST Etalon + ASI290MM (HA)
120mm F10 + Baader Blue CCD-IR Block Filter (Internal D-ERF) + Lunt CaK + ASI290MM (CaK)
150mm F16 + Baader Red CCD-IR Block Filter (Internal D-ERF) + Baader 610nm + ASI290MM (Photosphere)
Solarmax 60mm II + PST Etalon + IMX183 (HA Disc)
ED80 + Lunt CaK + IMX183 (CaK Disc)

Very best,

Heya,

It was cloudy all day, but finally cleared up this evening while cooking dinner, so took some frames on the moon. Did a full disc in a single shot with the 200mm F6 newtonian and IMX183 in 500nm wavelength, then followed up with doing the same thing at F12 with the 290MM and 500nm filter for a finer image scale, just a bit under critical-sampling. Seeing was pretty good. So, tonight's 67% Waxing Gibbous.

200mm F6 Quartz Newtonian
IMX183mm + Baader 500nm Green (full disc)
290MM + 2x Barlow (F12) + Baader 500nm Green (High Res)
Best 501 frames each of 2k frames
Seeing 4/5 for stacked frames

Very best,

Heya,

Tried to simply things, had a bit of good seeing and a clear sky. Resolution is approximately 764 meters per pixel, at 0.41"/pixel scale. I undersampled but managed to do the full partial-disc in one shot, so did 3k frames an kept the best 251 of those to create this single image; using green (500nm) wavelength and an IMX183 sensor with my 200mm F6 Quartz newtonian.

Full resolution on my Astrobin:

https://astrob.in/full/6nrpko/0/?real=

200mm F6 Quartz Newt

IMX183 sensor

Baader 500nm Green Filter

251 of 3,000 frames

Very best,

Heya,

It was a warm morning but clear, seeing was decent, but kept the scales down a bit. Not a lot of features going on, the minimum showing off what that means, but some decent little prominences, a filament is rounding the Eastern limb and some convection cells for good measure. This is the result of about 22 minutes of imaging time (start and top of the SSM times).

Colored:

B&W:

Seeing Conditions (SSM):

Equipment:

150mm F8 Refractor (masked to 120mm F10 for the HA & CaK)
Baader Red CCD-IR Block Filter + PST Etalon + 10mm Blocking Filter + ASI290MM (HA)
Baader Blue CCD-IR Block Filter + Lunt CaK + ASI290MM (CaK)
Baader Blue CCD-IR Block Filter + SkyBender with EdmunOptics 430nm Filter + 2x Barlow + ASI290MM (Gband cells)
SSM to monitor seeing

Very best,

Heya,

Had a clear night with some ok seeing, figured I'd try a new combination to do high resolution mosaics with less gamble on seeing variability and missing a spot with overlap using several panels. Produced this mosaic with just 5 panels with generous overlap (could have probably did it in 4 with more creative positioning) using the large IMX183 sensor with its tiny 2.4um pixels and used a 742nm IR filter to handle seeing conditions. Overall did 1k frames for each panel (at a slow 18 FPS due to the massive data throughput of the 20Mp sensor) and stacked 401 frames from each.

Image scales are 0.21"/pixel & 302 meters per pixel

Thumbnail size:

Astrobin for full resolution:

Equipment:

T.S. 200mm F6 Quartz Newtonian with Meade Telenegative 2x Barlow (F12)

ASI183MM (2.4um pixel) sensor with ProPlanet 742nm IR filter

Very best,

Heya,

Woke up to a blue sky so figured I'd see what our sleepy start was doing. Not much going on. A filament, a prominence, nothing grand. So I did some full discs in HA, CaK & Gband to show the upper & lower chromosphere and photosphere. Seeing allowed a brief look at the chromosphere at a finer scale before the clouds rolled in.

Colored:

B&W:

Seeing Data (poor!):

Equipment:

120mm F10 Masked Frac (CR150HD)
ED80 Frac
Solarmax 60 II Etalon + PST Etalon (HA)
Lunt B1200 CaK (CaK)
Edmund Optics 430nm + Baader 10 stop ND filter in 2" Skybender with 2" Baader Blue CCD-IR Block Filter (Gband)
ASI183MM for full discs
ASI290MM for partials

Very best,

Heya,

Finally a clear night to take a look at our sister planet Venus. Captured in 742nm IR, 500nm Green and 395nm near UV to capture atmosphere.

Equipment:

C8 Edge

ZWO Manual Filter Wheel with 742nm ProPlanet filter, Baader 500nm Green filter, Andover 395nm near UV filter

ASI290MM

I stacked the best 10% of each channel.

FireCapture v2.6  Settings
------------------------------------
Camera=ZWO ASI290MM
Filter=IR
Duration=300.004s
Frames captured=49214
ROI=512x512
FPS (avg.)=164
Shutter=6.088ms
Gain=0 (0%)
Histogramm=75%

FireCapture v2.6  Settings
------------------------------------
Camera=ZWO ASI290MM
Filter=G
Duration=300.000s
Frames captured=51743
ROI=512x512
FPS (avg.)=172
Shutter=3.000ms
Gain=0 (0%)
Histogramm=72%

FireCapture v2.6  Settings
------------------------------------
Camera=ZWO ASI290MM
Filter=UV
Duration=300.013s
Frames captured=18736
ROI=512x512
FPS (avg.)=62
Shutter=16.00ms
Gain=225 (37%)
Histogramm=71%

Very best,

Heya,

Finally got all my bits and bobs together and started tweaking things and the weather cooperated today, albeit really poor seeing conditions with this weird cold snap we're having right now in Florida. My goal was to be able to rapidly image the full disc in a single shot with plenty of FOV at a good enough sampling to record good detail without undersampling too bad (near critical sampling in HA, but under-sampled for the CaK & Gband, but not too bad at this scale). I'm using a modular setup based on the ED80 that is fitted to handle all the filters with mounted Solarmax 60mm II etalon + 10mm Blocking Filter for the HA, Lunt CaK B1200 for the CaK, and an Edmund Optics 430nm (with Baader Blue CCD-IR block as D-ERF and a Baader 10 stop ND filter to drop transmission) and imaging with an IMX183 sensor (2.4um pixels, full disc FOV with a 600mm focal length).

Not much happening on the disc today, but there are some small regions with some flux and a few small filaments and some tiny prominences.

These are merely thumbnails; the full res images are 7611 pixels x 2679 pixels.

Equipment:

ED80 (600mm F7.5 FPL53 Frac)
Solarmax 60mm II Etalon + 10mm Blocking Filter (HA at F10)
Lunt B1200 CaK (CaK at F11)
Edmund Optics 430nm + Baader 2" Blue CCD-IR Block + Baader 10 stop ND (Gband at F11)
ASI183MM (IMX183 sensor)

Very best,

14 hours ago, symmetal said:

Hi MalVeauX.

I've found recording video in 16 bit makes no difference to recording in 8 bit. I was wondering why, and found this article by Craig Stark The effect of stacking on bit depth. As long as there is noise in each frame, stacking not only reduces noise but increases bit depth. He concludes

CMOS cameras used for planetary/solar imaging are generally 12 bit. The camera output is just multiplied by 16 to give 16 bits. Stacking just 100 8-bit images which contain noise, (as astro images invariably have) will give you quantization noise equivalent to 12.1 bits. As we normally stack more than 100 frames we've already improved on the 12 bit quantization error on the 16 bit recording.

Also recording in 8-bit generally doubles your frame rate if recording full frame so another bonus. 

Alan

This is an excellent paper, thanks! This helps loads when trying to figure out if something matters or not here especially regarding how large the 16bit data is and the FPS impact (if applicable) that comes with it. Conventional wisdom has been that 16bit helps with faint prominences, and anecdotal experience seems to lean that way too, but it may have been just n=1 or n=2 and not really better due to bit depth at all. Very interesting!

Very best,

Heya,

I picked up a small 127mm Mak (Celestron) to be a porch scope for visual, but figured I'd at least test it and collimate and image with it before it becomes that porch scope. So naturally pointed it at Venus. I plugged a manual filter wheel into its back with an ASI290MM and rotated through 3 minutes of capture time in Red (R) 610nm, Green (G) 500nm and Blue (B) near UV 395nm for the atmosphere and combined them via stacks of best 33% of each channel captured over those 3 minutes per channel.

Composite & Individual Channels:

Collimation on Sirius B:

Time, Date & Location (34 degrees Alt):

Setup:

Celestron 127mm Mak + ZWO manual filter wheel + ASI290MM

Baader 610nm (R), Baader 500nm (G) and Andover 395nm (B, UV) filters

Capture Parameters:

Red Filter (Baader 610nm Long Pass):

FireCapture v2.6  Settings
------------------------------------
Camera=ZWO ASI290MM
Filter=R
Profile=Venus
Duration=180.030s
Frames captured=33694
FPS (avg.)=187
Shutter=1.876ms
Gain=0 (0%)
Histogramm=49%

Green Filter (Baader Green 500nm):

FireCapture v2.6  Settings
------------------------------------
Camera=ZWO ASI290MM
Filter=G
Profile=Venus
Duration=208.288s
Frames captured=33689
Shutter=2.362ms
Gain=0 (0%)
Histogramm=38%

Blue (UV, Andover 395nm filter, lower transmission significantly, so I had to use long exposure and lots of gain):

FireCapture v2.6  Settings
------------------------------------
Camera=ZWO ASI290MM
Filter=UV
Profile=Venus
Duration=180.013s
Frames captured=11169
FPS (avg.)=62
Shutter=16.00ms
Gain=235 (39%)
Histogramm=55%

Very best,

Heya,

Another clear day, but the seeing was poor for my area typically. Regardless it supported the image scale (0.5"/pixel) in both wavelengths with lucky imaging. Took a look at today's prominences, some faint ones, and some nice dark filaments. No real noteworthy surface features today otherwise. Earth scales provided for the prominences. Most of them are on the Eastern limb quadrants. Both chromospheres represented, the lower & upper via Ha & CaK.

Colored:

Earth Scales:

B&W:

Seeing Data (SSM):

Equipment:

120mm F10 Frac
Baader Red CCD-IR Block Filter (D-ERF) + PST Etalon + 10mm BF + ASI290MM
Baader Blue CCD-IR Block Filter (D-ERF) + Lunt CaK 1200 + ASI290MM

Very best,

Heya,

Woke up to a clear morning, not a lot of features going on with the disc, but there are some nice faint large proms on the North Eastern quadrant limb and a fairly big dark filament to the South Eastern quadrant and noted a few small plages here and there. Seeing was ok, not great, so kept the image scale course (0.5"/pixel) with a 120mm aperture scope. Seeing measurements were poor, but managed to get some lucky frames with good sharp spicules at the limb.

B&W:

Colored:

Seeing Conditions (SSM Data):

Equipment:

120mm F10 Frac + Baader Red CCD-IR Block (internal sub-aperture D-ERF) + PST Etalon + BF10mm + ASI290MM

Very best,

Heya,

Lots of wind in Florida right now, seeing was ok, but the wind kept things difficult. There's a large prominence on the Eastern limb that was much larger a few hours ago and has diminished today significantly. There's a little active region with what appears to bye cycle 25 polarity near the Eastern limb and some large filaments hovering near by. I was able to gather some data on that large prominence, since it was so bright, in CaK even and found it had more structure in CaK than in HA at nearly the same time frame.

Colored:

B&W:

Seeing Conditions (SSM Data; decent seeing but very windy today, 20mph gusts):

Equipment:

Masked 120mm F10 Frac
Baader Red CCD-IR Block Filter (internal D-ERF) + PST Etalon + 10mm BF + ASI290MM
Baader Blue CCD-IR Block Filter (internal D-ERF) + Lunt CaK B1200 + ASI290MM

Very best,

Excellent resolution and presentation!

Very best,

5 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

~Out of interest how many panes did it take to cover the full disk?

37 panes, with lots of overlap since I did it manually and it's a gamble each time!

Very best,

2 hours ago, Pete Presland said:

Nice end result, what length runs are you doing on each channel? 

Thanks!

I did 180 seconds per channel, so approximately 30k frames each, but 17k on the UV due to longer exposure time needed. Kept the best 10% from each stack.

Very best,

Heya,

Took a stab at Venus again tonight with R (742nm IR) G (500nm) and B (395nm UV) with a C8 Edge + 290MM sensor camera.

R = 742nm IR

G = 500nm

B = 392nm UV

C8 Edge HD

Very best,