My Stardust Observatory
  • Home
  • Introduction
  • Astro Blog
  • Education
    • NASA's Saturn Observation Campaign
    • Stardust Astronomy Club
  • Space Lego
  • Astro Links
  • Astro Events
  • Contact Me

~ The (Ha) Sun on the 26th February 2023 ~

2/26/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
~ The (Ha) Sun with solar filaments, sunspots and active prominences on 26th February 2023 ~
 
On the 25th February a magnetic filament connected to sunspot AR3229 near the northern limb of the sun erupted producing a reaction of events that could lead to a geomagnetic storm on Earth in the next couple of days. (Information from Spaceweather.com)
 
This is image of the Sun in (Ha) on the 26th February with some of that activity still present on the surface with prominences around the solar limb and some dark filaments on the surface.
 
There was also activity around AR 3234 to the north in the middle of the Sun and another area in the south AR 3236.
 
This image was taken with my Lunt 60mm solar telescope with a Canon 700D camera. The colour image is a composite with two sets of exposures to capture the disc and the faint prominences that were combined in PS; the exposures were 1/320th and ISO 100.

​The monochrome image was taken with an exposure of 1/200th and ISO800.

Picture
Credit: NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory
https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov
0 Comments

~ Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) near Mars with Hyades & Pleiades star clusters ~

2/13/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture~ Screenshot Stellarium App 12thFeb’23 ~
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.

Picture
0 Comments

~ Venus & Jupiter in the western volcanic coloured sky 12th Feb'23 ~

2/12/2023

0 Comments

 
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 ~
0 Comments

~ Solar flare eruption from AR 3217 on eastern limb 11th February 2023 ~

2/11/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
~ 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.

Picture
0 Comments

(Ha) Sun with filaments, sunspots and prominences 7th February 2023

2/7/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
PictureMy set-up with the Lunt 60mm solar telescope and Canon 700D camera
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.

Picture
0 Comments

~ Stardust Junior Astronomy Club Runaway Bay Library 2nd Feb'23

2/2/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
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
0 Comments

    Author

    I just love being under the heavens, come on a journey with me and I’ll share some of the amazing wonders of the Universe with you. Noeleen :-)

    Picture

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    November 2012
    October 2012

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Annular Eclipse
    Astronomy Event
    Canon Camera And Lens
    Comets
    Deep Sky Object
    Education
    Equipment
    Lunar Eclipse
    Moon
    Observatory
    Planets
    Seestar S50
    Seestar Sun
    Sky Phenomena
    Software
    Solar Filter And Camera Lens
    Solar Telescope
    Sun And Sunspots
    Total Solar Eclipse
    Travel

Picture
For all current observations of the night sky please go to my Astro Blog:
http://www.mystardustobservatory.com/astro-blog

​
​Copyright information: 

You are welcome to use my images for educational and private use, please credit me.
If you need higher resolution images then please contact me on my contact page, thank you.