~ Our Sun on 20_02_2020 ~
 
I just had to take a photo of our Sun today for this special numerical date of the 20th of February 2020, because it’s such an awesome date to remember the year when solar minimum occurred…. and Yes, the Sun’s still ever so quite and spotless today :-)
 
Image taken with a Canon 70D camera and an 18-400mm Tamron lens with a 2x converter (focal length 1280mm) with a glass solar filter attached to the lens for safe solar imaging. The exposure time was 1/400th second and ISO 320, 10 images stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS CS4.

To read more about our quite Sun and solar minimum please go to this excellent article written by Dr Tony Phillips from Spaceweather.com
https://spaceweatherarchive.com/2019/12/17/sunspots-set-a-space-age-record/
 
If your are interested in keeping an eye on what the Suns doing daily, then please go to NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory website at:
https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Goddard Space Flight Centre has just released two YouTube videos to celebrate
​SDO’s 10th Anniversary of watching the Sun.
Please see below the short video...'SDO Celebrates a Decade of Watching Sun'

Below is the longer and informative video called
‘Highlights From SDO’s 10 years of Solar Observation’
 
In February 2020, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory — SDO — is celebrating its 10th year in space. Over the past decade the spacecraft has kept a constant eye on the Sun, studying how the Sun creates solar activity and drives space weather — the dynamic conditions in space that impact the entire solar system, including Earth.
 
Since its launch on Feb. 11, 2010, SDO has collected millions of scientific images of our nearest star, giving scientists new insights into its workings. SDO’s measurements of the Sun — from the interior to the atmosphere, magnetic field, and energy output — have greatly contributed to our understanding of our closest star. SDO’s images have also become iconic — if you’ve ever seen a close-up of activity on the Sun, it was likely from an SDO image.

We’ve had a lot of rain over the last two months, but it’s been clear enough to take some lovely pictures of our beautiful Moon.
 
At this phase the eleven and a half day old Moon shows many of the dark lunar seas (Maria) on its surface. There are also some very prominent craters on display with the large craters called Tycho, Copernicus and Plato in view.
(I’ve marked some of the more interesting places on the surface in the second image)
 
The next eleven-day-old Moon will be on the 7th March 2020, you may like to revisit the Moon again and look at some of these wonderful features on the lunar surface with your binoculars or telescope.
 
If you live in the Northern hemisphere you may have noticed something different about my image, Yes, it’s upside down… that’s the way we view the Moon here in the Southern hemisphere ‘In the land down under’ J
 
My images were taken with a Meade 10inch LX200 Schmidt-Cassergrain telescope with a 6.3 focal reducer attached to capture the full disc of the Moon. I used a Canon 700D DSLR camera to capture the images, exposure time was 1/200th second and ISO100. Twelve images were stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS CS4.

~ Spectacular planet Venus still on show in the western sky ~
 
During January we've had a lot of rain and the sky's been very cloudy most of the time. I did manage to capture another picture of Venus the other night and the planet's now showing a slightly smaller gibbous phase.
​
(Please see my Venus blog from the 18th December when we had a lot of bush fire haze in the sky).
http://www.mystardustobservatory.com/astro-blog/-spectacular-planet-venus-now-on-show-in-the-western-sky
 
I was also able to capture some swirling cloud on the surface, which was exciting to see in the image. Venus is an interesting planet to observe because it’s an inner planet from us and closer to the Sun so it displays phases just like our Moon. I will try and capture some more images over the coming weeks in between this cloudy weather.
 
I have included imaging details on the photo; a short AVI movie of 800 frames was captured and stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS CS4. 

As you can see from my photographs above, I don’t have much room in my garden for a western view of the sky,
​I also have to contend with a caravan as well,
​but I always make do with what I have and as long as I capture the event…I’m very happy :-)
 
Images of Venus were taken with a Meade 10inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope using a ZWO ASI120MC-S camera with a wide field lens attached.
AVI movie files were captured which were then stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS CS4. 

Venus hides a wealth of information that could help us better understand Earth and exoplanets. NASA's JPL is designing mission concepts to survive the planet's extreme temperatures and atmospheric pressure. 
 
The image above is a composite of data from NASA's Magellan spacecraft and Pioneer Venus Orbiter.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech 

Sue Smrekar really wants to go back to Venus. In her office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the planetary scientist displays a 30-year-old image of Venus' surface taken by the Magellan spacecraft, a reminder of how much time has passed since an American mission orbited the planet. The image reveals a hellish landscape: a young surface with more volcanoes than any other body in the solar system, gigantic rifts, towering mountain belts and temperatures hot enough to melt lead.
 
Now superheated by greenhouse gases, Venus' climate was once more similar to Earth's, with a shallow ocean's worth of water. It may even have subduction zones like Earth, areas where the planet's crust sinks back into rock closer to the core of the planet.
 
"Venus is like the control case for Earth," said Smrekar. "We believe they started out with the same composition, the same water and carbon dioxide. And they've gone down two completely different paths. So why? What are the key forces responsible for the differences?"
 
Smrekar works with the Venus Exploration Analysis Group (VEXAG), a coalition of scientists and engineers investigating ways to revisit the planet that Magellan mapped so many decades ago. Though their approaches vary, the group agrees that Venus could tell us something vitally important about our planet: what happened to the superheated climate of our planetary twin, and what does it mean for life on Earth?

To read more of the story please go to:
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7558
For more information about Venus, visit:
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/venus/overview/
https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/all-about-venus/en/

By studying this mysterious planet, scientists could learn a great deal more about exoplanets, as well as the past, present, and possible future of our own. This video below unveils this world and calls on current and future scientists to explore its many features. Credit: NASA

I decided to set my other telescope up in all this heat today to see if that new sunspot could be seen developing on the surface of the Sun, it was very very faint but YES…there is was, I got it :-)
 
There was a lot of heat haze and high thin cloud in the sky so I was extremely lucky to even capture the sunspot, it’s not been designated any number yet but I’m sure it won’t be long.
 
To find out more about this new solar cycle just keep checking the Spaceweather.com website at: https://www.spaceweather.com
 
The images were taken with a 127mm refractor at prime focus that was fitted with a solar filter. I used a Canon 700D camera to take the pictures, exposures times were 1/500th second and ISO 200. Twelve images were stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS CS4.

This is my telescope set-up that I used to take a picture of the Sun on the 9th January 2020. I used a 127mm (5inch) refractor with an Orion glass solar filter attached to the front lens.

(DANGER: Never look through a telescope without a solar filter)
 
The little Tele Vue Sol Searcher that you see on top of the telescope is just a wonderful piece of inexpensive equipment for lining up the Sun. It has a hole at the front, which the sunlight passes through and falls onto a clear screen when the telescope is lined up with the Sun. I would not be without this great little gadget :-)

This is the first, first quarter Moon for the New Year and it was a lovely clear evening for taking pictures through my telescope. I was a little late to try and capture the X on the terminator line but the big three lunar craters Ptolemaeus, Alphonsus & Arzachel looked spectacular with their sunlit peaks.

The close up images were taken with a Meade 10inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope using a ZWO ASI120MC-S camera with a focal reducer attached.
 
AVI movie files were captured which were then stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS CS4. The full lunar disc was taken with a Canon 700D, I had to put a F6.3 focal reducer in the telescope system to capture the wide field view of the Moon.

It’s New Years Eve and I’ve set the telescope up in the garden to capture our beautiful Moon for the last day of 2019.
 
We have a four-day-old waxing crescent Moon that’s about half way up the north western sky as seen here in Australia. We see the Moon differently here in the land down under, in that the Moons view is upside down (south at the top and north at the bottom) you’ll also notice that the lit portion is also facing the other way…tricky isn’t it :-)
 
At this phase the whole of Mare Crisium (Sea of Crises) is on show in sharp relief from the Suns light. Just to give you an idea how big Mare Crisium is, the surface area is 176,000 sq km and diameter of 570km (that’s about the same area of Great Britain) *Sourced from Hamlyn ‘Atlas of the Moon’ by Antonin Rukl.
 
There are a lot of very interesting features on the lunar surface and I’ve named a few of them on my images, if you become fascinated in the Moon you must get a good lunar atlas or app to help you discover the names of the features on the surface.

 It’s really lovely sitting out here listening to all the fireworks and taking pictures of our nearest neighbour in space…that’s the Moon not the people next door :-))
 
Happy New Year everyone, WooHoo! 2020 is on the way….
 
To download an Australian Moon Phase Calendar for 2020 please go to the link below: Sydney Observatory Moon Phase Calendar
https://maas.museum/sydney-observatory/astronomy-resources/moon-phase-calendar/
 
The close up images were taken with a Meade 10inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope using a ZWO ASI120MC-S camera with a focal reducer attached. AVI movie files were captured which were then stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS CS4.
The full lunar disc was taken with a Canon 700D, I had to put a F6.3 focal reducer in the telescope system to capture the wide field view of the Moon.

~ Waxing Crescent Moon & Venus 29th December 2019 ~
​
The crescent Moon is now above Venus in the western sky,
it looked quite spectacular in the dark blue velvety sky this evening.
 
Image taken with a Canon 70D camera and a Tamron 18-400mm lens @f11,
the exposure time was 2 seconds and ISO 500.

I have never been a Barbie girl (mainly because my three brothers use to blow up and behead any doll I ever owned) but while out doing my Christmas shopping for my three grandsons I came across of all things ‘Astrophysicist Barbie’ with a telescope and Star Map just like I have on my office wall…well I must say, I was very excited about this and brought my first Barbie doll :-)

Information taken from the Barbie ‘Mattel’ website states:

Barbie® doll is an adventurous spirit, always enthusiastic about exploring the world, and she's partnered with National Geographic to encourage imagination, expression and discovery through play. Explore the universe with the astrophysicist doll -- she wears a professional outfit with themed accessories that include a swivelling telescope and star map.
 
Wow, Great work Mattel for bringing girls into the 21st century with there play, as you say in your product information: Kids will love making new discoveries and dreaming about their future because when a girl plays with Barbie®, she imagines everything she can become!
 
I brought my Astronomer Barbie from Target for $19 and I’m also going to collect the other career adventure dolls (Barbie: Polar Marine Biologist, Wildlife Conservationist, and Photojournalist Doll) because these dolls will be inspiration for the girls who come to the
​STEAM & STEM sessions that I do in at the libraries here on the Gold Coast :-)

(Please read more on the Barbie/Mattel & National Geographic websites below)
https://shop.nationalgeographic.com/products/barbie-astrophysicist-doll
https://barbie.mattel.com/shop/en-us/ba/career-dolls/barbie-astrophysicist-doll-gdm47

~ Solstice Sun ~

Today is the summer solstice here in Australia, this is a time when we have the hottest weather and the longest day of the year, unlike the people who live in the northern hemisphere who today are experiencing there shortest day of the year and it’s probably very cold…isn’t our world an amazing place!
 
I took this image at 2.30pm this afternoon through quite a lot of smoke haze with the surrounding landscape having a soft yellow hue that was filtering down from the sky.
 

I couldn’t help myself, but the Sun looked so bland that I decided to have a bit of fun and made a
​ ‘Sunny Christmas Bauble’ to wish everyone a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year :-)
 
Image taken with a Canon 70D camera and an 18-400mm lens with a 2x teleconverter. There were eight images stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS CS4. The exposure times were 1/100th second and ISO 500.

​~ Spotless Sun on the 19th December 2019 ~

​I have not taken many images of the Sun lately because it’s been so quite and the surface just so bland to look at.

But when I read on Spaceweather.com that the sunspot inactivity has now broken an all time space record, then I just had to get the camera out and record the event…and Yes, as you can see from my image, it’s still spotless :-)
 
We are now really and truly in the mist of solar minimum and one of the deepest since solar records began!
 
I've also captured a beautiful sunset photo today and because of the smoke haze there are all these awesome colours on display...very pretty.

SUNSPOTS BREAK A SPACE AGE RECORD: Solar Minimum is becoming very deep indeed. Over the weekend, the sun set a Space Age record for spotlessness. So far in 2019, the sun has been without sunspots for more than 270 days, including the last 33 days in a row. Since the Space Age began,
​no other year has had this many blank suns.
 
The previous record-holder was the year 2008, when the sun was blank for 268 days. That was during the epic Solar Minimum of 2008-2009, formerly the deepest of the Space Age. Now 2019 has moved into first place. 
Solar Minimum is a normal part of the 11-year sunspot cycle. The past two (2008-2009 and 2018-2019) have been long and deep, making them "century-class" Minima. To find a year with more blank suns, you have to go back to 1913, which had 311 spotless days.
Last week, the NOAA/NASA Solar Cycle Prediction Panel issued a new forecast. Based on a variety of predictive techniques, they believe that the current Solar Minimum will reach its deepest point in April 2020 (+/- 6 months) followed by a new Solar Maximum in July 2025.
​This means that low sunspot counts and weak solar activity could continue for some time to come.

Solar Minimum definitely alters the character of space weather. Solar flares and geomagnetic storms subside, making it harder to catch Northern Lights at mid-latitudes. Space weather grows "quiet." On the other hand, cosmic rays intensify. The sun's weakening magnetic field allows more particles from deep space into the solar system, boosting radiation levels in Earth's atmosphere. Indeed, this is happening now with atmospheric cosmic rays at a 5-year high and flirting with their own Space Age record. It's something to think about the next time you step on an airplane. Stay tuned for updates!
https://spaceweather.com/