30.09.2022 Afternoon imaging. AR3111, 3110 & 3107.

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Friday 30th Sept. Wet, windy and overcast in the morning. Sunny periods after lunch. I took a chance and captured most of the AR features. The wind is blowing through the observation slit. Making my neck cold despite a warm duvet jacket.

14.11 53F.AR 3110 Centrally placed in the northern, solar hemisphere.

First of a short series of captures. Followed by overcast.

 

 

14.12 AR3111 North eastern quadrant.

 

14.12.57 AR3110

 

 

14.13 AR3110

 

 

14.16 AR3111

 

 

 

14.21 AR3107 On the western limb.

 Eventually the overcast broke up but it was still very cloudy.

15.39 A later image stacking 100/2000 frames.
The cloud is thicker with fewer gaps.

 

 

 

16.05 AR3111 100/1000 frames. Strangely sharp and contrasty!

 

 

 

 

 16.17 AR3110  Retuned the Lunt etalon. Frame size enlarged to 1000x1000

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Active mound on eastern limb near the solar equator.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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25.09.2022 Afternoon imaging. AR3105, 3107 & 3108.

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Sunday 25th. Grey morning clearing to a sunny afternoon. 58F. I captured the three main spot gr0oup within 2 minutes of each other. First capture quite pleasing. Then the seeing conditions quickly became soft and vibrating.

 14.20 AR3105? The AR numbers are hard to match between Spaceweather.com and my own images.

14.21 AR3107?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14.22 AR3108?

AR3110, in the north east, is proving all but impossible to capture in any detail. Just mush.

17.00 I went back out. Caught the last moments before the trees swallowed the sun. None of the images of AR3110 was worth saving.

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22.09.2022 Morning & afteroon imaging.

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 Thursday 22nd 52F. Clear and bright but cloud arriving from the SW at 10.00 [CET]

9.56 Strange texture to the images again. They look detailed but contrast and sharpening are much too fierce. There is an overall graininess. 

 I am unsure of the spot identification number. AR3105, 6 or 7? Two of them?

16.57

16.58

 

 

 

16.59

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mosaic of the three images above using Ms ICE:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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19.09.2022 AR3102

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  Monday 19th Bright sunshine in an almost clear sky. I have been struggling to capture a normal image. There seems to be a strange, overlaid texture.

9.38 [CET] First acceptable capture. Though with reservations about the odd texture. Off tune in the top, right hand corner.

Seeing is unsteady. With regular thermal defocusing. 912x912 8ms Gain 142. 50/1000 stacked.

10.06 Later images show no improvement. Detailed but strangely artificial.

 

 

 

 

 

10.31 Still capturing. No change in texture despite playing with ImPPG settings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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18.09.2022 AR3102

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Sunday 18th 50F, clear start becoming very cloudy from the NW. Showers threatened.

09.22 First image is badly tuned. Promising transparency if only I could capture some frames.

9.43. There is now so much cloud that I am wasting my time! I'll come back if it clears.

 

9.45 It cleared partially so I captured some videos through passing cloud. Awful!

It is reported that snow fell in North Jutland today during thunder storms and cloudbursts.

12.30 Sunshine brought me back to the fray. The blue patches just will not cross the sun! There are two distinct cloud layers. With a slower moving upper layer. I am struggling to tune out brightness variations. Or even to focus accurately. 

13.00 Another half hour wasted without a single image captured. Time for lunch.

 

 

 

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11.09.2022

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Sunday 11th Some sunny periods teased me to set up for imaging. The sky promptly became completely overcast. 

15.41 [CET] AR3098 A brief glimpse of the sun allowed me to centre the image and focus. It needs retuning to even out the brightness.

15.43 AR3098 Slighty more even.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 16.09 A disturbed area without formal numbering.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

16.25 AR3100 near the SE limb. Quite spectacular. With some interesting eddies to the SE.

 

 16.48 A much larger frame size of the same area. Note the brighter left, lower corner.

 

 

 

 

 17.12 Solid cloud again. A filament near the western limb.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 17.33 AR3100 1000x1000 pixels instead of 912x912. This provides a wider field of view.

 

 

 

 

 

 17.37 AR3100 Better seeing condition.s

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

17.45 The trees are waving in front of the sun!

 

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5.09.2022 The benefits of a fork mounting.

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 Monday 5th 60F, Bright overcast but no sun until this afternoon.

  I may have talked myself into building a fork mount. The difficulty of raising piers, tall enough to support a cross-axis mounting so far above the ground, would be prodigious!

 It has occurred to me that I don't need full sky coverage. I only image the sun and occasionally the moon. I have no interest in the northern arc of the sky. There are tall, dense, trees along the entire northern boundary anyway. Just as there are to the west and south west.

 A fork is a balanced mounting and can carry heavy loads without heavy and awkward counterweights.

 The great advantage of the fork, over an English or cross-axis mounting, is that it needs only one pier.

 The space between the fork tines can contain multiple instruments if desired. They do need to be balanced longitudinally and axially.

 Because the fork is leaning towards the North Pole the entire instrument load is offset to the north. Mass loading can be applied to the southern side of the pier to compensate. Safely bringing the centre of mass back over the pier.

 An extended polar axis can be mass loaded at the bottom without affecting friction in the oversized ball bearings.

 The length of the fork tines and bulk of the OTAs determines the clearance of the OTAs from the pier when pointing at the zenith. 

 A multiple instrument OTA can be housed in a simple framework without balancing issues. If the instruments are arranged side by side then the fork widens but pier clearance is increased at the zenith and horizon. A 6", 7" and 10" do not add up to much width.

 There is no need to change heavy counterbalance weights while standing on a stepladder. The risk is far too high. The dangers of a major imbalance midway through the procedure could cause serious injury.

 The danger has prevented me from changing telescopes as needed for particular tasks. Which is a complete waste of the instruments involved. My iStar 180mm/7" f/12 R35 iStar refractor and my 10" f/8 mirror sit idly by. Waiting to be brought back into use. 

 

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4.09.2022

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Sunday 4th 63F/17C.  Bright but with thin, high cloud. The sky is now more white than blue. Wind blowing from the east again. I hope it doesn't blow the telescope around.

9.45 Setting up. Cloud to the east is diluting the sunshine. Soon overcast. 

11.18 A shopping  trip and spreading compost on the parking space later: First image through cloud.

 AR3094 on eastern limb.

11.22 A bit better. AR3092.

 

 

 11.26 AR3089 on western limb.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 11.44 A slightly better example of  AR3094 in a 1216x1216 frame size. The very long filament is better seen in this wider field of view.

 Cloud is becoming a real nuisance. So I keep going back to working on the parking space. This needs to be  ready to accept the smaller dome  when I have crane hire bring it down.

 Then I can work on the top ring of the enlarged observatory. Before fitting the rotation rollers on the larger footprint. Only then can I have the bigger dome lifted into place.

 12.25 The seeing conditions have worsened. I'll have a break and make some lunch.

 Here is a full frame image from the ZWO ASI174MM camera through cloud. 1936x1216.

 I may be able to tune out the brighter, right edge. The frame rate dropped dramatically to only 45fps.

 

 

 

 

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3.09.2022 AR3089 nears the western limb.

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 Saturday 3rd 62F. Sunny but with some cloud. The seeing is shaky and soft again. Bank of white cloud in the SE. A breeze from the east. 

 09.43 Second capture. The first was a mess and needed etalon retuning and image refocusing.

 Strange image with some flaring. Ellerman bombs? Off H-alpha band tuning? Asymmetric brightness again. I'll try retuning.

 

 

 

 09.55 [CET]  A momentary steadying as the breeze blew into the dome. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.08  Subtle improvement? 

Blogspot won't let me push the images closer together. They look tightly packed when I am editing the post. NOT when it has been published.

 

It is quite chilly when it is 64F in the dome with an easterly breeze. I hope it doesn't start blowing the telescope about.

 

 

 

 10.40 The seeing seems to be steadying slightly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 10.59 A change of frame size for a larger field of view. The blocking filter was rotated relative to the etalon. Then the etalon was retuned for even brightness and detail across the frame.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 10.59 Same capture but extra sharpening in ImPPG.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11.20 A huge bank of cloud has arrived from the SE and hidden the sun!

11.29 A capture between clouds.

Clicking on any image will [usually] provide an enlargement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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2.09.2022 AR3089

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Friday 2nd September 50F at 8.00. Clear blue sky.

The sun is on the dome so I am going to try some early imaging. The seeing conditions are supposed to be optimum before the landscape heats up.

A waste of time! Soft smudges.

10.14 First image I considered worth saving. Strange appearance. Poor detail. Dark in right, lower corner. Tuning?

 

 

11.05 High cloud is obscuring the sun.

I have added a 2" extension and double checked the etalon spacing from focus. Dark image has lost the light bridges.

Tantalizing detail is seen between completely foggy images on the monitor. I may give up and go shopping.
 

 

 

 

 

 11.19 Retuned and refocused.  Still uneven brightness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11.26  Detail improving despite thin high cloud over the sun.

 Struggling to maintain light bridges. There are two delicate bridges over the main spot's umbra.

 I have removed the Lunt red filter. The Baader D-ERF, 35nm H-a and Beloptik KG3 are protecting the camera. The camera temperature registered by SharpCap only reached 44C.

 All captures before and after lunch time were a waste of effort.

 As it approaches 18.00 I am trying different ideas for thermal convection reduction. I have lifted the rubber skirt on the windward NE side of the dome  to try and get a draught going. 

 Unfortunately the trees are rather dense behind the dome. The effect on the monitor was unnoticeable.  I have draped the white material under the slit again but this too was minimal in effect, if any. 

 The white tarpaulin is hanging well down the outside of the building over the SW arc. The double doors out to the old balcony are wide open. The live image is still soft, distorting wildly and "boiling." The processed images are completely worthless. 

 Yesterday was calm. Today there is quite a breeze. This seems not to have helped. The trees are now rocking into the field of view a full quarter of an hour earlier than yesterday. 

 17.58 67F. As a final trial I reduced the exposure from about 10ms to 3ms and 100 Gain. I had to boost the gain to 166. This seemed to have more of a beneficial effect than anything else. It could be pure coincidence. Because the sun is low and approaching the trees. The usual time for best seeing conditions. I can hardly believe the last image which came out of the mush.

 18.13 The sky is increasingly white around the sun due to increasingly dense, thin, high cloud. 

 18.15 Tried 2ms exposures and the boiling has reduced to a simmer. Though not with any increase in clarity. In fact the last half dozen captures are worse than ever!

 18.18 The trees have finally captured the sun.

 

 

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1.09.2022 Afternoon imaging AR3089

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Thursday 1st Sept. Warm, still and cloudless. Seeing is boiling and softer than ever.  I have draped some white sacking over the bottom of the slit to cover the metal flashing, the black rubber wind skirt and the plywood obs. wall. No visible difference on the monitor. 

Since something changes after the first capture. It may be internal to the instrument. Or it has something to do with opening the shutters to let the sun into the dome. 

 Dome inside and outside in the shade: 74/68F.

 16.16 First and only recognisable image so far. 

The following images were just smudges.

16.59 The effect of draping a white, lightweight tarpaulin from the slit down the SW facing observatory wall.

Following the rough draping of the white curtain of material the image steadied considerably. Not completely and it didn't sharpen the image as much as I would have liked. 

 The lightweight, white tarpaulin does not register a rise in temperature in sunshine. Being low cost and strong it can be brought out and draped as needed. Better than painting the building white and drawing attention to itself. 

 The foliage of trees and shrubs is steadily rising to cover the western wall in shade. This will eventually block all afternoon sunshine falling on the two story observatory.

 17.36 After a pause: I had opened the upstairs doors to what was once the balcony. About a meter square. It now opens to the inside of the larger building.

 

 

 

 

 17.44 Not the fine detail I was hoping for. The sky is still responsible for some of the seeing conditions.

 

 

 

 

 

   17.51 The trees are near.

 

 

 

I kept on capturing videos until the trees intervened around local 18.15 CET. There was no improvement in final image quality. Thanks to the shading, the live image on the monitor went from boiling to merely simmering and distorting. The images went from a hopeless smudge to rather coarse and artificial. The tarpaulins remained cool to the touch. The plywood shutters were hot throughout. Convection currents, from the shutters, may have been drifting across the open observation slit. There was no wind today to blow them away. 

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