September 2006 Observations

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Sep 1st

Bin scanned the sun under clear conditions at 16:30 GMT and didn't see any sunspots on my return to England.

Sep 3rd

The English September was proving to be as frustrating as the Indian August when thin cloud restricted me to a bin scan of the sun at 11:10 GMT. Although it was clear enough to see limb darkening, I couldn't see any sunspots.

Sep 4th

The bad weather continued into the evening but at 00:10 BST (23:10 GMT), there were enough clear patches in the moving cloud to do some bin scanning. The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) showed only the main nucleus but I was able to pick up the Wild Duck Cluster (M11), M15, Albeiro ansd Delta and Epsilon Lyrae. My wait of a few minutes was rewarded when I saw Melotte 20 and the Perseus Double Cluster. I finally caught my first evening sighting of the Pleiades but could only see about 20 stars.

I bin scanned the sun at the same time as the day before. Conditions were a bit better but still no sunspots.

Sep 5th

It was a complete whiteout during the morning but cleared late afternoon, enough to do some hydrogen alpha viewing. The disc was largely featureless at 17:00 GMT but there were some prominences to the left of the disc and an emerging sunspot, which I couldn't see in my binoculars. The disc detail was enhanced by fiddling with the tuning and focus. Unfortunately, my daughter had forgotten to recharge the camera while I was in India but, in truth, it is debatable whether anything would have photographed. I continued to follow the sun and saw some prominences emerge to the right of the disc. I drew the sun sunspot:



I went out for a lunar photo shoot at 20:00 GMT and took some full disc shots at 60x magnification (the moon had a large apparent size as it was near perigee) and close ups at 205x. Unfortunately, only the whole lunar disc came out/



Sep 6th

An early morning bin scan recovered the sunspot I had seen in hydrogen alpha light the day before:



Sep 7th

The morning was quite clear and the sunspot had rotated:



I did a hydrogen alpha photo shoot at 17:00 GMT and managed to photograph the sunspot and some surface detail around it.Some prominences were visible on both sides but didn't photograph well. I followed the sun on and off for an hour and the prominences changed shape and shortened.



I managed to find the moon at 07:40 GMT and the lunar eclipse was already well in progress:



I then took a series of close-ups at 205x magnification using my 12mm CEMAX eyepiece and Magni Max.











I finished with the penumbral shadow leaving the moon at 20:15 GMT:



Sep 8th

I bin scanned the sun under clear conditions in the morning and noted that the sunspot had rotated:



Sep 9th


The sunspot had moved closer to the centre of the solar disc:



Sep 10th

 
Bin scanned the sun at 16:40 GMT and 5 minutes later checked again in hydrogen alpha. The sunspot had apparently split in two and there were some prominences to the right of the solar disc and some faculae around the sunspot.

Sep 11th

I was amazed how much the sunspots had rotated on my early morning bin scan and they looked a but smaller, too:



Bin scanned moon at 07:35 GMT. Tycho's rays did not dominate the lunar landscape and many of the southern craters were visible.

Sep 12th

It was not until the afternoon that I was able to do a solar bin scan. A big surprise was that the sunspot had darkened:



Sep 13th

It was clear enough to do a morning bin scan. The large apparent change in position  was due the our Earth's rotation and not the Sun's.


Sep 15th

After a very cloudy and wet period, I was able to use Nick's PST CaK and my own PST at 17:00 GMT, when the sun was (admittedly) very low. I found the calcium K image was very hard to see visually and the photos were not clear, as I was unable to achieve focus. Some hint of granulation was there but the whole exercise was quite inconclusive.

There was some detail in hydrogen alpha: the sunspot group (which was no longer visible in my binolculars), a filament and 2 prominences but it was otherwise quite bland. The photos didn't come out.

I returned for a bin scan at 21:30 GMT and it was clear enough to see a hint of the Milky Way. I used Melotte 20 to achieve focus then swept round from the Double Cluster and Pleiades (low but not at their best) to  the Usual Suspects in the west, including the  double stars. The Wild Duck cluster (M11) was affected by haze and I knew that I was unlikely to see it more often  until the spring.  Also to add to the Usual Suspects , I was able to pick out M15, the Ring (M57) and Dumbbell (M27) and Pinwheel (M33), although none of them was clear. Best view of anything was the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), which showed a fair amount of structure.

Sep 17th

I did a solar shoot at 09:40 GMT in an attempt to refine my calcium K viewing and imaging techniques. I managed to get a sharply focussed disc plus a hint of granulation, which was actually visible to my eye:



The hydrogen alpha view showed little granulation visually and nothing photographically but the prominences came out best in green:



Sep 18th

Bin scanned the sun at 09:40 GMT but didn't see any sunspots.

Sep 19th

Bin scanned the sun at 07:40 GMT but didn't see any sunspots.

Sep 20th

After a cloudy day, I went for a bin scan at 20:15 GMT. A small patch of Milky Way was visible to the naked eye around  Cygnus. The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) was approaching its autumn best and showing lots of structure. Apart from the Usual Suspects, I was able to catch four globular clusters: M13, M92, M15 and M3 (although M3 was barely visible). I was unable to see the summer planetary nebulae but caught a late look at the Wild Duck Cluster (M11). All in all, a short but enjoyable session.

Sep 21st

Bin scanned the sun at 07:40 GMT in very clear conditions but didn't see any sunspots.

Sep 23rd

En route to Belize, I stopped off at Newark Airport in the U.S. and bin scanned an evening sun at 18:00 local time (22:00 GMT) and didn't see any sunspots.

Sep 24th

I arrived in Belize at 13:40 local time (19:40 GMT) and bin scanned the sun but didn't see any sunspots.

At 18:15 local time (00:15 GMT),  I bin scanned the dusk sky. Mercury was low down and showed about a 50% phase. The moon was a thin crescent showing a few craters. Jupiter showed 2 moons each side.

Sep 25th

I bin scanned the sun at 12:45 GMT and didn't see any sunspots.

Did a dusk bin scan like the day before. The moon was 3 days past new. I didn't notice any regular features but I could see a few more craters and Earthshine. I struggled to find Mercury. The phase seemed bigger, even after one day and I managed to find Spica in the same field of view. Spica was twinkling many colours, while Mercury stayed steady.

Jupiter showed all four Galilean moons on the sunward side and I saw them all come out one by one as the dusk darkened.

Sep 26th

Bin scanned the sun at 12:00 GMT under very good conditions but didn't see any sunspots.

I did a dusk bin scan at  23:00 GMT.  The moon was starting to show its features and Mare Crisium had emerged into daylight. It was about 5 degrees from Jupiter, which showed 2 moons each side when it was dark enough at 23:15 GMT.

Mercury had closed in on Spica and they were only 2 degrees apart.

Sep 27th

It was too cloudy to do a solar bin scan but I managed to do the dusk bin scan later. Dusk always seemed to be more clear in Belize, with it clouding over at night. Mare Tranquilatatis was starting to emerge into day and more craters were visible. It was five degrees from Antares. Jupiter showed 3 Galilean moons with 2 on one side and Mercury was just over one degree from Spica.

Sep 30th


Did my last bin scan of the Sun from Belize at 12:30 GMT. It was clear after 2 cloudy days but I didn't see any sunspots.

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