Bin scanned the Sun and saw that the sunspot had rotated.
I went out for a hydrogen alpha shoot at
17:20 GMT. The first shot shows the active region:
The second shot shows a close-up of the active
region:
Although I took several more shots, none
showed more detail on either the full disc or the close-up.
Indeed, with no prominences, the active region was the only highlight.
May 2nd
A morning bin scan revealed that the sunspot
had moved again:
May 3rd
After a cloudy start to the day, I finally
managed to view the Sun through thin cloud and noted the sunspot
rotation:
May 4th
After a cloudy morning, I managed to bin scan
the Sun after work and saw that the sunspot was approaching
the limb:
Still restricted to the Startravel, I saw that
Venus's phase was approaching 50%, although the best photo sugguests
more like 60%:
I used a variable polarizing filter and my CEMAX
eyepiece to achieve a magnification of 33x.
May 5th
I bin scanned the Sun through cloud and saw that
the sunspot had nearly rotated off:
An attempted hydrogen alpha shoot a couple of
hours later confirmed this and showed a couple of small prominences
but the photographs never came out.
May 6th
I bin scanned the Sun at 10:35 GMT in bad
conditions and found that the sunspot was too close to the limb
for binocular detection.
May 7th
I bin scanned the Sun at 12:10 GMT through thin
cloud but didn't see any sunspots.
The Sun was quite quiet in hydrogen alpha light
but I managed to catch some small prominences when it cleared
a bit at 16:10 GMT:
The second shot caught some prominences:
The third shot is a composite one:
The 4th shot shows the top prominence only:
The fifth shows the side prominence:
The sixth and final is another whole disc shot:
May 11th
I bin scanned the Sun on arrival at work at 07:25
GMT but didn't see any sunspots.
I went out at 21:45 GMT, hoping to find at least
some space in between the clouds. Venus shone through the clouds
and showed a phase of about 60% to my binoculars but nothing else
was visible.
May 12th
The poor conditions continued but the Sun appeared
through a clear gap in the clouds at 09:15 GMT but a bin scan didn't
reveal any sunspots.
After the end of the Eurovision Song Contest, I looked
outside more in hope than expectancy but saw a bit of sky, although
there was some cloud around. Firstly, Venus confirmed that its phase
had reduced and was approaching 50%:
I really missed my Maksutov (still had a bad back)
when I saw Saturn. I could see the rings but no planetary detail
and also saw Titan but no photos came out.
Alberio split easily but the photos never came out.
The Beehive showed faintly but there was too much cloud to attempt
a photo.
May 14th
Bin scanned the Sun under cloudy conditions at 09:30
GMT but didn't see any sunspots.
May 15th
Bin scanned the Sun under cloudy conditions at 15:05
GMT but didn't see any sunspots.
May 16th
Bin scanned the Sun under cloudy conditions at 07:35
GMT but didn't see any sunspots.
May 18th
Did a morning bin scan and the conditions were clear for
a change. I saw a
new sunspot.
I went out for a hydrogen alpha shoot at 16:50 GMT and noticed
some faculae around the sunspot and some prominences:
Only one close-up came out (conditions weren't great) and
it showed a prominence:
I tried using digital zoom on the camera as an alternative
method at 17:35 GMT:
I was hoping to catch Mercury near the crescent Moon in the
evening but there was too much cloud about. By 22:15 GMT, it had cleared
enough to do an evening bin scan. Venus showed a 70% phase, due
to the "Pugh Effect". I could see Saturn's rings but not Titan. I was
able to see the double stars Alberio and Epsilon and Delta Lyrae but
the only extended deep sky object I could see was Melotte 111. Jupiter
was very low down, having just risen in the south east, and it showed just
one moon in the poor conditions. As night time viewing is quite restricted
from England this time of year, it wasn't a memorable session.
May 19th
The weather patterns of the previous days continued but it
cleared enough for a solar bin scan at 08:15 GMT. I noticed that
the sunspot had faded.
After the FA Cup Final, I did a hydrogen alpha shoot, as it
cleared up. The Sun was much more active when I started shooting at
17:00 GMT, with the active region prominent and a few prominences around.
The next photos capture some prominences:
The next photo shows the active region. The pale yellow colour
shows the contrast between the faculae and surrounding region best.
The next photo catches a bit of both.
A bin scan at dusk (21:00 GMT) showed that Mercury was not
clouded out. Although I was restricted to the 80mm Startravel telescope,
I managed to image the disc well enough to show the gibbous phase:
I also managed to take Venus and the Moon in the same field
of view:
May 20th
I bin scanned the Sun at 10:45 GMT through thin cloud but noticed
that the sunspot had faded from view. It was too cloudy to try a hydrogen
alpha shoot but I hoped for one later in the day.
May 21st
I bin scanned the Sun through thin cloud at 11:50 GMT and didn't
see any sunspots.
May 22nd
I bin scanned the Sun through thin cloud at 07:40 GMT and didn't
see any sunspots.
By 15:40 GMT it had cleared quite well, so I tried another solar
bin scan. I didn't see any sunpots then either. I checked the Moon. Mare
Crisium was in daylight and some of the southern craters were visible
in my bins. I could see no sign of Saturn, which should have been in the
same field of view fot the occultation due later that evening.
The hydrogen alpha shoot at 16:00 GMT was almost inevitable. The
active region was still visible in hydrogen alpha light and I could visibly
see some small prominences, which didn't come out in the whole disc shot.
I didn't colour it because the contrast looked better in monochrome.
One of the prominences came out in red:
I managed a close-up of the active region:
I managed another close-up of a prominence:
May 23rd
Bin scanned the Sun at 06:40 GMT in clear conditions but didn't
see any sunspots, despite the presence of faculae in hydrogen alpha light
the day before.
May 24th
Bin scanned the Sun at 07:35 GMT in clear conditions but didn't
see any sunspots.
I attempted a hydrogen alpha shoot at 12:20 GMT but only some granulation
features were visible and it soon clouded over.
Fortunately it cleared again around sunset and a quick bin scan of
the western horizon at 21:00 GMT revealed that Mercury was clear of the
horizon and by the time I had fetched the Startravel 80 and cameras, it
has cleared. The apparent phase was about 60%. These 2 photos were taken
with slightly different methods, with the first one relying on optical
zoom and the second by post processing.
Venus was approaching half phase:
I could easily see Saturn's rings through the Startravel but couldn't
get a photograph to come out. However, the Moon was a different story and
optical zoom plus a bit of sneaky colour separation gave results comparable
to the Maksutov (which I still couldn't use).
May 29th
After the most appalling weather over the previous few days, it cleared
enough for me to bin scan the Sun at 07:40 GMT. I didn't see any sunspots,
despite the very good conditions.
The Sun was also rather quiet in hydrogen alpha light at 18:30 GMT. Apart
from some granulation, all that was visible was a prominence and filament.
The fitst shot shows the prominence with the full disc.
The second shot shows the granulation, filament and a nearby filament
that I missed visually.
The third shot shows a close-upof the filament.
The final shot captured the prominence and some surrounding granulation:
May 31st
Bin scanned the Sun in clear conditions at 09:40 GMT but didn't see any
sunspots.
