The huge sunspot area AR2192 is still very very active; it’s now the largest sunspot in over 25 years and its grown to nearly the size of the planet Jupiter…which is just amazing!

So far, it’s been quite remarkable that a CME has not developed from this powerful looking object. Mind you, the aurora hunters were probably holding their breath hoping for and ejection to lighten up their night skies :-)

There is also other activity happening on the surface with a stunning long dark filament that covers nearly a third of the Suns surface in its length, and there are also prominences especially one on the western limb that has now detached and is heading away from the Suns surface…

The colour and black and white images were taken with a 80mm Lunt Solar Telescope and Canon 700D with a 2x Barlow lens and processed in RegiStack6 and PS.

The white light images (12 stacked in RegiStax6) were taken with a 127mm refractor fitted with a solar filter and Canon 700D at prime focus, exposure was 1/1000th second and ISO 200.

The area all around this huge sunspot group has developed a large swirling pattern with solar flares and filaments shooting up from the surface not far from the large dark spot. The black and white image shows the pattern a lot better than the Hydrogen Alpha coloured image…it’s been so exciting to watch!

A solar telescope is the only way to see these features mentioned, please don’t try and look for them with an ordinary telescope or your camera lenses, as you REALLY will damage your eyes. Please use solar filters on all your equipment or project the Sun onto a smooth surface so everyone can enjoy this amazing object.

Images taken with a 80mm Lunt Solar Telescope and Canon 700D with a 2x Barlow lens. The white light image was taken with a 127mm refractor fitted with a solar filter and photos taken with the same camera at prime focus, exposure 1/1000th second ISO 200.

This is such a huge dark sunspot that it even looks a little scary!

The (Ha) image is a composite of two images, one for the surface and one for the active prominences on the limb. There were 30 images taken for each photo that were then stacked in RegiStax6 and combined in PS. Images taken with a Canon 700D and 80mm Lunt solar telescope.

The white light image was taken with the same camera and a Canon 100-400mm lens with a 2x converter on a tripod with a solar filter attached to the lens, 20 images taken and stacked in RegiStax6, exposures were 1/800th second and ISO 200.

‘Wow’ another total eclipse of the Moon was seen here on the Gold Coast on Wednesday evening. Unlike the one seen in April, this time we got to see the whole event from beginning to end, mind you…only just!

The weather had been just perfect for days leading up to the eclipse but on the day, yes, you guessed it, the clouds began to roll in just ready to pounce and spoil our special event.

Many of our club members had planned to meet and enjoy the eclipse along the foreshore at Paradise Point, but with the strong SE winds coming off the ocean and thick clouds creeping up from the horizon, we all decided it was not going to happen. So I decided to rush home and try my luck, where my 127mm refractor was already set up in the hope that it might clear later in the evening.

So with a lot of optimism, I attached my camera to the back of the telescope and waited…

Because of all the cloud streaming across the sky, I had to wait patiently until there were tiny clear patches between the clouds, then I quickly fired away with the shutter release and captured my images…after nearly 5 hours of this, all I can say is…I go my pictures :-)

My setting were all over the place because of the cloudy conditions, but because the Moon did not go right into the middle of the Earths shadow the northern edge was still quite light so the longest exposure was only 4 seconds.

The camera settings with the Canon 700D were:
Partial eclipse U1: exposure 1/640th and ISO 200
Full Eclipse: exposure 4 seconds and ISO 400
Partial eclipse U4: exposure 1/125th second and ISO 100
Full Moon: 1/500th second and ISO 100

The Stardust Junior Astronomy Club’s ‘Lunar and Planet Saturn Night’ on the 2nd October 2014

At last, we had a beautiful clear evening for me to set up the telescope and show some of the junior stardust children and there families our beautiful Moon. Unfortunately because of a barrier put up around the library, we were unable to view Saturn because it was behind the library building.

But all the children were every excited to be outside under the stars as I explained how the Moon goes around the Earth and how close it is to our planet as compared to Saturn. Then it was time for them all to be ‘Wowed’ by looking at the real Moon through my telescope.

I’ve been running the astronomy club at the Runaway Bay library now for over three years and get great joy when everyone is just blown away at seeing all our wonderful celestial objects in the night sky, please find some photos and a little movie I've made from the night :-)