It was very exciting last night, finally the clouds cleared enough and I got my first chance to see the close conjunction of Jupiter and Venus in the western sky.
 
My astro friend Tara Williams in NSW (who contributes to Spaceweather.com) was also getting her first views of the event and we exchanged many texts while capturing our images :-)
 
That unusual colour is still in the sky and it’s from the fine aerosol particles high up in our Earth’s atmosphere from the Hunga-Tonga volcanic eruption that happened back in January 2022.
​It seems to come and go in the sky for some reason?
 
Another contributor on Spaceweather.com is Peter Lowenstein from Mutare in Zimbabwe who has taken an incredible number of images of this atmospheric event and I congratulate him on his dedication in recording this remarkable phenomenon…I just wish our skies here in Australia were as clear!
 
Image taken with a Canon 70D camera and a Tamron 18-400mm lens at 200mm at 7.10pm (AEST) exposure time was 1.6 seconds and ISO 400.
 
To view all of Peter’s stunning images please got to:
https://spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=192439
His YouTube video is at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXrrMkXVzFA&feature=youtu.be

~ Video taken with Canon 70D in video mode ~

After taking those lovely pictures of Venus & Jupiter earlier in the western sky at sunset, I waited until it got darker to try and find and capture that elusive Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF). 
 
This Comet has been putting on quite a show in the northern hemisphere as it headed toward the Sun, but now it’s heading back out of the Solar System and becoming fainter.
 
Observers here in the southern hemisphere are only just seeing it, but not at its best and where I am here at home with all this cloud and urban light, it’s impossible to even find with the naked eye in the northern sky.
 
So using the star chart App called Stellarium and aimed my camera and lens up near Mars in the constellation of Taurus, I took some long exposure images and got it in between the clouds!
 
It was ever so faint but you can see make it out above Mars; I’ve also captured the two star cluster in Taurus, Hyades and Pleiades. It’s not the best picture by a long shot… but at least I captured it :-)
 
Images taken with a Canon 70D camera and 18-400mm lens, the Comet images were between 6 and 10 second exposures with ISO1600 & 2500.

It’s back, that pretty coloured volcanic sunset sky, with Venus and Jupiter putting on a lovely show in the western sky.
 
Because of all the cloudy weather we have not seen many sunsets of late, so it was such a surprise to see that eerie bright yellow colour back in the western sky before I took this picture. It even got a lot more spectacular later on with that deep purple colour but for some reason I couldn’t capture it with my camera!
 
Venus will continue to close in on Jupiter on the ecliptic in the western sky with a very close conjunction on the 2nd March, hopefully I’ll be able to capture some photos of the event over the next couple of weeks, that is, if the weather is kind :-)
 
Images taken with a Canon 70D camera and Tamron 18-400mm lens, the exposure was 1.3 seconds and ISO200. 

~ Movie taken with Canon 70D on movie mode ~

~ Solar flare AR3217 ~
 
While observing the Sun early yesterday morning I saw a sudden brightening from sunspot AR 3217 that produced a solar flare.  It didn’t last for very long, but I managed capture it, the previous image taken in monochrome just 5 minutes before do not have that bright activity.
 
There were also quite a few active prominences all around the limb with a small looping prominence not far from AR 3217, the Suns so exciting to observe at the moment as we head toward solar maximum.
 
Images taken with a Lunt (PT) 60mm solar telescope, Canon 700D camera with a 2x Barlow lens attached. Twenty images were capture with an exposure of 1/200th second and ISO200. Images stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS. Monochrome images, exposure time was 1/125th second and ISO800 with the same processing.
 
The white light image was taken with a Canon 70D camera and Canon 100-400mm lens with 2x teleconverter making a focal length of 1280mm, a glass solar filter was fitted to lens for safe viewing and imaging.

There was a lot of high level cloud in the western sky late this afternoon when I took these images, I was so surprised to capture this much detail on the surface of the Sun.
 
There were many long filaments and the new sunspots AR 3214 & AR 3213 looked very active, there was also a nice prominence on the western limb.
 
Images taken with a Lunt (PT) 60mm solar telescope and a Canon 700D camera with a 2x Barlow lens attached. Twenty images were capture with an exposure of 1/200th second and ISO200.

​Images were stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS. Monochrome images, exposure time was 1/125th second and ISO800 with the same processing.

On the 2nd February over twenty little budding astronomers came along to the Runaway Bay Library to learn all about our Amazing Solar System. 
 
The children had a lot of fun learning all about the planets. 
It was a joy to be back at the library with the Stardust kids, Noeleen :-)
 
Presented by Noeleen Lowndes
Member from the Southern Astronomical Society (Gold Coast)
https://www.sas.org.au

I only just managed to capture these images of the Sun before the clouds started rolling in showing those two large sunspot areas AR3190 & 3192.

​You can see a lot of activity surrounding them as they both neared the western limb of the Sun; there are also a lot of little sunspots sprinkling right across the northern solar surface.
 
The (Ha) images were taken with a Lunt 60mm solar telescope with a Canon 700D fitted with a 2x Barlow lens, exposure time was 1/320th second and ISO200.

Twenty images captures and stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS CS4.
 
The white light image was taken with a Canon 70D camera and Canon 100-400mm lens with 2x teleconverter making a focal length of 1280mm, a glass solar filter was fitted to lens for safe viewing and imaging.

That large sunspot AR 3190 is now nearing the western limb of the Sun and is not as large but still very active and could pose quite a risk with X-ray solar flares.
​
https://www.spaceweather.com/glossary/flareclasses.html
https://hesperia.gsfc.nasa.gov/sftheory/flare.htm
 
All those other smaller sunspots have dispersed and the other side of the solar surface is looking very quite and spotless, hopefully tomorrow I’ll be able to set up the LUNT solar telescope to take some picture in (Ha).  There may be some active prominences on the limb…how exciting :-)
 
Images taken with a Canon 70D camera and a Canon 100-400mm lens with a 2x teleconverter attached making a focal length of 1280mm. 
 
An Orion glass solar filter was fitted to the lens for safe imaging and viewing of the Sun. Twenty images were captured with 1/500th second exposures and ISO100, pictures were stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS CS4.

Not only is that large sunspot AR 3190 moving toward the centre of the Sun many other sunspots have developed on the solar surface. It’s the most I’ve seen in a very long time :-)
 
I get this information from the Spaceweather.com website where the daily Sun is posted from NASA’s Solar Dynamic Observatory at: https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov
It helps me to orientate my solar images and to name them their numbers on the image.
 
Images taken with a Canon 70D camera and a Canon 100-400mm lens with a 2x teleconverter attached making a focal length of 1280mm.  An Orion glass solar filter was fitted to the lens for safe imaging and viewing of the Sun.

Twenty images were captured with 1/500th second exposures and ISO100, ​pictures were stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS CS4.

Sunspot AR 3190 is the largest individual sunspot of Solar Cycle 25 and is now four to five times the size of the diameter of our Earth and it’s crackling with M-class and X-class solar flares!
 
What does it take to be X-class at: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10833
 
Images taken with a Canon 70D camera and a Canon 100-400mm lens with a 2x teleconverter attached making a focal length of 1280mm. 
 
An Orion glass solar filter was fitted to the lens for safe imaging and viewing of the Sun. Twenty images were captured with 1/500th second exposures and ISO100, pictures were stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS CS4.