It's that time of year again

[Guest]

I've got a 6AM start on Monday and the days when I can observe late at night and get up early the next day are long gone. As I won't be able to see dark skies, except when I'm not working the next day. I'm hoping to try Mars in the twilight and try Jupiter (although I've never managed a decent shot of it in twilight). There's also the Moon early next month.

Fortunately, I'm a solar addict and whislt I'm the first to admit that my shots aren't the greatest, I'm getting some results with my PST and Lumix compact digital camera:

http://s197.photobucket.com/user/PhillipPugh/library/?sort=3&page=1

I usually check once per day for sunspots but, if weather permits, I might do morning and evening checks, if work permits.

As the Sun changes a lot in hydrogen alpha, I will try to check it often. I'm not getting great results with close-ups, although I was quite pleased with some prominence close-ups.

If you have solar viewing equipment it is quite addictive and whilst many addicts claim to lose interest in the night sky, I certainly haven't.

[dawson]

The close up still will be easier when you are tracking

Jd

[Guest]

Probably but I'd need some sort of dovetail adaptor for the PST. I concentrate mostly on full disc shots. Many of my solar sessions are quick ones with a camera tripod during breaks in the cloud. I also think I'd get better close-ups with a larger aperture solar telescope but they are like gold dust.

[Guest]

I'm also now trialling a Baader Solar Continuum filter on loan from SCS Astro.

As I'm less than healthy at the moment and had hazy skies in the evenings, I'm just about 100% solar at the moment. Weather permitting, I'm doing up to 3 hydrogen alpha solar shoots per day.

My blog is here: http://sungazer127mak.blogspot.fr/2014/05/may-2014.html

My Photobucket is here: http://s197.photobucket.com/user/PhillipPugh/library/?sort=3&page=1

There are also some pictures of Brittany I took while on a business trip there.

I'm hoping for some clear weather ove rthe bank holiday weekend and will be off on Tues and Wed as well.

[stash]

Hope you get better soon Phil

[Guest]

Thanks. I've improved a lot since yesterday, so should be Ok for the weekend.