28.07.2022 Afternoon imaging.

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Thursday 28th  67F. Sunny but lots of slow moving clouds. First image shows severe asymmetry of PST etalon sweet spot.

Thanks to  improved internet speeds indoors [320/320Mbps] I now have 50/77Mbps in the observatory via Wi-Fi at about 20m. A bad, 3m network cable, between the router and PC, was severely reducing speeds until very recently.

15.47 [CET] 

16.27  Not much improvement. I had to crop heavily. The soft and mobile seeing conditions don't allow such enlargement.

 

 

17.00 I gave up trying to improve on the soft seeing conditions. Imaging though the cloud was hopeless.

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16.07.2022 Afternoon imaging.

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Saturday pm. Back after lunch in sunnier weather.  The seeing conditions seem to have improved from earlier.

14.42 64F. AR3057 Some fine detail visible.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 14.52 AR3055

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14.56  AR3056 Cropped

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15.04  AR3059 Cropped

 

 

 

 

15.09 AR3058 Cropped

 

 

 

 15.15 The seeing has turned to much. Impossible to focus.

 

17.29 I'm back.  AR3053 Slight improvement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

17.44 Large prom on SW limb. Changed the Lunt 1200 to the PST 5mm blocking filter for greater brightness. Allowing reduced gain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

17.55  Slightly more processing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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16.07.2022 Early morning imaging.

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Saturday 16th 53F. 08.05 small clouds racing across from the NW.

08.12.13 [CET]  AR3057 An early start offered greater  clarity and less thermal image distortion. 1000 frames Mono16.

08.27 Images continue to disappoint. PST etalon misbehaving. Asymmetric brightness and detail.

 

 

 

 

08.32 I am having to heavily crop already, highly enlarged images. Just to cut off the featureless brighter areas in the corners and edges.

 

 

 

 

 

 08.38 AR feature on south eastern limb.

 

Becoming ever more cloudy. I'll return later if it clears.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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15.07.2022 Morning imaging.

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Friday 15th 56F. Clear and quite steady at first.
Becoming soft, cloudy and thermally mobile. 

09.00 First image: PST sweet spot asymmetry.  Darker above. Lighter below.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 09.22

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

09.27 

 

 

 

 

 

09.32 Clouded over! I'll return later if the sky clears.

 

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13.07.2022 Lat afternoon imaging.

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Wednesday 13th 67F, clear sky. Fairly stead seeing but not sharp. Later it became sharper and steadier.

AR numbers are tentative.

18.01 AR3055 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 18.10 AR3053

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 18.18 AR3056

 

 

 

 

 

 

18.50 AR3057

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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10.07.2022

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 Sunday 10th 60F, sunny periods with large clouds racing from the north/NW. 

11.40 Seeing conditions are poor. Softness, with large amplitude, slow, thermal distortion of the image on the monitor.  Processed captures, so far, are  not worth sharing. Increasingly cloudy. With bigger plates. IT is quite chilly in the dome when the sun is hidden!

11.43 AR3053 First decent image. Last few frames cloud covered. 50/500 frames stacked.

 

 

11.55 AR3055  PST Sweet spot imbalance. Dark above. Lighter below.

 

 

 12.00 Almost complete overcast. Giving up for now.

14.28 [CET]  Back after lunch. New, flaring feature on the south east limb.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14.55 There has been less cloud but the seeing conditions are not improved. Fuzzy and more rapid vibration than earlier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

15.04 Slightly better seeing conditions. A fluke?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15.12 The video capture was increased to 1000 frames. Stacked 50 of 1000.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 16.51 Strange clarity after processing. The image on the monitor looks awful!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 1707 Trying to get a better image of AR3053.

The fast moving lower cloud has ben replaced by thinner, high cloud. This may be the reason for the improved clarity and steadiness.

 

 

 

 

 

 17.21 AR3053

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

17.39 Still unnamed feature on SE limb.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 A later image: AR3055 The eyebrow filaments have changed. New spot just below them.

 

 

 

 

 

 18.18 Thin high cloud.

 

 

 

 18.24  AR3053

 

 

 

AR3053 Added colour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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8.07.2022 Afternoon imaging: Processing trials.

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Friday 8th 65F. Much sunnier this afternoon than yesterday. After a recommendation to change my settings I offer the following images. All have been opened and saved in ImPPG without changing the first image settings.

The captions show the settings.

16.00  75 of 500 frames stacked. Noise robust 2.

16.04 75 of 2000 frames stacked. Noise robust 2.

16.04 75 of 2000 frames. Noise robust 4.

16.27 75 of 1000 frames stacked. N/R 4. Nearly half an hour later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

16.27 As above but using PhotoFiltre's  "Auto Levels."

 

 

 

 

 

 

16.37 75/1000 frames stacked. ImPPG and
PhotoFiltre improved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

16.37 As above but using ImPPG multi-point curve. 

 

 

17.50 Still trying, but thin, high cloud is softening the image. 

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7.07.2022 Late afternoon imaging. Very Cloudy.

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Thursday 7th July 64F, cloudy from the NW with sunny breaks.  

17.05[CET] Early luck. Huge filament!  Not numbered yet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 17.07 AR3053 Slightly better image.

 It clouded over immediately after this. It doesn't look at all promising.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 17.26 The briefest of capture opportunities. Racing cloud.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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6.07.2022 Morning imaging in poor seeing conditions.

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  Wednesday 6th 60F sunny start becoming cloudy as I set up. Large, faster moving plates of low cloud coming form the NW. With high speckled cloud moving very slowly westwards. 

 The seeing conditions are poor. With rapid, thermal vibration/distortion of the image. There is an underlying clarity  if only the PST sweet spot wasn't spoiling it. Causing horribly asymmetric detail and image brightness. Now defocusing as clouds pass.

 11.00 Still no image worth sharing.

11.03  Trying to capture AR3052 & 3 near the NE limb. AR3053 is the major spot. AR3052 is more of a pore near a disturbed area.
 

11.16 Brief clarity. Better image.

 

 

 

 

 11.21 Slightly better but over-processed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 11.40 Total cloud cover! Giving up for the moment.

 

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3.07.2022 Afternoon imaging between the clouds.

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 Sunday 3rd July 72F, sunny afternoon after earlier cloud and rain. 

Still some cloud.

14.11 [CET] First processed image: AR3046.

Plates of cloud crossing the sun. Giving some relief from the heat.

14.24 AR3047 Almost central on the solar disk in the southern hemisphere. Tiny umbra even at this image scale.

The PST sweet spot looks like central brightness. Ringed by darker features.

 

 

14.40. Total cloud cover. Giving up.

 

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