After a white out in Budapest,
it cleared enough at 11:00 GMT to bin scan the Sun through thin cloud
but I didn't see any sunspots.
Dec 4th
It was clear at 07:10 GMT and I checked the Sun with the PST.
Only a facula was visible, so I used the binoculars to check foir
sunspots but there weren't any.
Later checking of the PST photos showed that there were some
small prominences that I'd missed:
Dec 5th
During a coffee break, we saw the Sun through my PST at 09:10
GMT. There was a small prominence at the 2 o'clock position.
On a later break, we checked it at 10:45 GMT and saw that the
prominence had changed position due to rotational effects. The next
shot shows the supergranulation features.
Dec 8th
After some appalling weather both sides of the English Channel,
I finally saw action at 21:15 from my front garden. There were some clear
patches to the south and the Pleiades and Hyades showed well to my binoculars.
The Orion Great Nebula showed up well, despite low elevation. Melotte
20 was great and Comet Holmes was nearby, having grown in size but diminished
in surface brightness. I could also see M35 and the Perseus Double Cluster.
I had a glance in the direction of Gemini but saw no early meteors.
Dec 9th
I bin scanned the Sun in very poor conditions at 11:00 but didn't
see any sunspots.
Dec 10th
Bin scanned the Sun under clearer conditions at 10:00 but still
not sunspots.
Dec 16th
Bin scanned the Sun at 14:45 but didn't see any sunspots.
I went out at 19:00 for a photo shoot with the Startravel 80 and
started with the Moon with the Cybershot P72.
These are the shots with the Samsung Digimax
I couldn't see any surface detail on Mars, so it is little surprise
that no detail came out on the photographs either.
I managed a decent Pleiades shot:
and the Hyades:
Dec 17th
Bin scanned the Sun through a gap in the clouds at 12:30. I could
see limb darkening but no sunspots.
Dec 19th
Bin scanned the Sun through thin moving cloud at 11:15 but didn't
see any sunspots.
Dec 20th
Bin scanned the Sun in good conditions at 11:40 GMT but didn't see
any sunspots.
I took a look at the Sun at 14:00 with my PST. It seemed quite bland,
with an indistinct filament and no prominences.
The 10 megapixel photograph just about shows this:
Dec 22nd
Bin scanned the Sun at 12:40 through thin cloud but didn't see any sunspots.
Dec 25th
After a wet day, it was a nice surprise to see the Moon at 21:20. I was
experimenting with my new universal camera adaptor but finding it a bit of
a learning curve. A flat camera battery finally convinced me it wasn't my
night but I did manage to get a full disc shot:
Dec 26th
After recharging the batteries, I was out again at 01:00. A Moon shot
failed but I tried an 8 second exposure on Orion's Belt at 6x magnification
with the Startravel 80.
The 2nd shot shows the M42 region and it just about shows up.
I managed to capture more Pleaides than ever before.
Still a bit of learning to do but at least a result.
Dec 29th
I finally managed to bin scan the Sun in clear conditions at 09:45 but
still didn't see any sunspots.
I returned outside with the PST at 10:05. The solar disc was bland and
there was a prominence at the one o'clock position. I managed to capture
it but then cloud cme over and obscured the Sun.
