Try increasing gamma if dark sections aren't distinguished

Try increasing gamma if dark sections aren't distinguished

Thursday, January 9, 2014

new year's sun spots, *solar winter storm warning tonight*

last year was the year of the solar maximum
peak in the 11 year cycle of sunspot activity
this is related to the sun's magnetic field flipping
water world with fire
which means this year is...
the year after the solar maximum
and still pretty good for solar activity so far.

took some relatively high power images of sun spots on new year's day:


there was some interesting activity just visible on the other edge:

the sun's surface rotates with a period of approximately 28 days when viewed from earth...
so here it is a few days later on 1/5/14 facing us:
this was a big one which could be easily seen without magnification (looking thru filter)

on 1/7/14 a coronal mass ejection was launched from this spot aimed right at us
as a result, tonight we're going to get hit by plasma consisting of charged protons, electrons, alpha particles and such...
which means major aurora activity tonight at the poles
there's a slight chance that you may see some activity if you live moderately far north
so take a look outside
you may see some strange lights

for more on this check out
http://www.spaceweather.com/

Monday, January 6, 2014

first light from new home: Christmas Jupiter

haven't imaged in about 6 months due to move/move/remodel... Jupiter is just past opposition now and should be in excellent position for viewing for the rest of January. Here's my first light image with a new camera from new location, Jupiter on Xmas night:

unfortunately, the seeing was terrible, amazed i was able to pull anything out at all. this is an animation of two shots taken about 30 minutes apart. shows the great red spot (lower left) just rotating into view.
here it is the next night (again terrible seeing)

you can see the great red spot lower left, Io's shadow upper mid, and a hint of Io just above and to the right of it's shadow.

cheers