Solar 31.08.19 Prom + surface in H-a

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Afternoon solar: Captured some WL videos and H-alpha. Plus some stills.

The image is my first attempt to overlap surface and prom images in Photofiltre.

Rather rushed before dinner so made no attempt to match perfectly. Lost the surface detail as I brought out the prom details.

Not too bad for a first try.

Sunday morning and I transferred all the SharpCap captures from the SSD to my PC expansion drive. Half an hour at 180Mb/s via USB3.

It is a constant battle to have enough memory free during imaging sessions. The Laptop refuses to save new videos to the external SSD despite being told to save all new files there. So the laptop fills right up. Then the files have to be transferred manually to the SSD. Then manually deleted from the laptop before I can capture anything new. Crap!!

I discovered that the PC expansion drive won't work through my new USB3 hub. Its presence wasn't even identified despite plugging and unplugging several times. The SSD worked fine but I have two free USB3 ports hidden away amongst the tangled cable knitting on the back of the PC. Which I can borrow for major file transfers with a bit of fiddling with an LED torch. Not that it made any difference to the SSD. File transfer rate was identical via the hub. And they call this intelligent technology? Seriously?


A Sunday morning cycle ride for 20 miles, for a while in torrential rain, produced two tins of matt black, blackboard paint. This afternoon I managed the 7 upper, wall panels. With still a little paint left in the pot.

Quite pleased with the finish. I spent a lot of time trying not to paint the structural timbers. Which left quite a crisp effect. To paint or not to paint them? That is the question.

The water based paint smelt strongly and I now have a headache. So I have probably reduced my lifespan by a couple of years. All for the convenience of buying from a discount DIY chain which opens on Sunday. So that I avoided postal charges and could have a ride in heavy rain. Another 7 panels to go but it means grovelling sitting on the observatory  floor.. Wish me luck. NO flowers please. 💀

Monday 2nd is cool but breezy. So I have opened up the dome to clear out any fumes. It doesn't smell as strongly as yesterday and the nicely even, matt paint finish is surprisingly acceptable. Painted four lower panels. Three more to go. I may paint the structural timbers as well for a more uniform finish. I'll sleep on it before making a decision.

A beautiful crescent Moon presented itself in the early evening but was already too low to see from my observatory due to trees.

Click on any image for an enlargement.
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