Bin scanned the Sun in the late afternoon. The sunspot
was close to rotating off.
Apr 2nd
I bin scanned the Sun at 11:05 GMT but the sunspot had
apparently rotated off.
Apr 3rd
I bin scanned the Sun at 18:05 GMT in clear conditions
but didn't see any sunspots.
Apr 6th
Unusally, I'd missed some viewing due to the day job and
publishing deadlines but managed to do a photo shoot of the Sun with
the PST at 10:55 GMT. Although they didn't shw in the full disc shot,
there were a lot of prominences.
Apr 7th
Bin scanned the Sun in a partly cloudy sky at 15:05 GMT
but didn't see any sunspots.
It cleared enough my 17:15 GMT and the prominence activity
had declined from the day before.
I was expecting the slender crescent moon the day after but
I caught it at 19:40 GMT. The earthshine came out better in the finderscope.
The atmosphere wasn't steady but Saturn looked nice, showing
a bit of surface detail but any attempts to boost the magnification
failed dismally. However, I did get my best shot for ages.
Apr 8th
I checked the hydrogen alpha view at 07:40 GMT and it was much
quieter than the day before.
This is the full disc shot and others will be processed later.
Apr 9th
Went out for a bin scan at 22:20 GMT. There was some thin cloud
about but there wers some clear enough patches. The Beehive (M44) was
very well placed and looked just superb. Saturn showed its rings. I
was able to see smudges of light for M65 and M66, while I could see one
member of the other close group, including M105 but couldn't tell which
one it was. I tried the Virgo cluster but couldn't identify any.
I noticed that there was an unusually bright looking star in
Corona Borealis but I checked its magnitude and identified it on the
star chart as Alpha. It wasn't unusually bright, being slightly fainter
than Polaris but could have been in a slightly clearer patch of sky.
Apr 11th
Bin scanned the Sun at 15:50 GMT but didn't see any sunspots.
I would have liked to have checked the hydrogen alpha view before
18:00 GMT but didn't get the chance. Although the session was disrupted
by cloud, I was able to see a full disc, showing very little at all.
However, when I processed one of the photos, there were 2 tiny prominences
in the 7 o' clock position:
After a promisingly clear dusk, conditions worsened to the point
where only first magnitude stars were visible at 21:00 GMT. I started
with the Moon. Although I was using the Mak, conditions weren't clear
enough to do any close-ups:
I could barely make out detail on Saturn's disc but at least I
could snap the rings:
Apr 12th
I checked the Sun with the PST at 15:15 GMT and found that a small
prominence was visible. However, it was barely visible in the photo.
I also tried some daytime shots of the Moon at 15:30, too. The contrast
isn't as good as night/twilight shots but not too bad.
I did a constellation shoot at 22:20 GMT.
First one was Leo:
The Virgo shots seemed to miss the bowl but I managed one of Coma
Berenices.
My Bootes shots missed the target but Gemini showed the Moon and Mars.
The other shots didn't come out, so it was a bit of a letdown.
Afterwards, I bin scanned the night sky. The Moon was then half phase,
showing tremendous detail along the terminator. The Beehive (M44) look
surprisingly good, considering how close it was to the Moon and the haze.
Indeed the haze meant that I couldn't see neither the Virgo cluster member
nor M65 nor M66 in Leo. The only faint fuzzy I could see was M13, which
showed well, despite the low elevation. I saw the double stars Delta and
Epsilon Lyrae and Nu Draconi to finish off.
Apr 13th
Bin scanned the Sun at 12:15 GMT through thin, moving cloud. I half
expected the previous sunspot to rotate back into view but, if it did, I
missed it.
I was hoping to see the conjunction of the Beehive with the Moon but
the conditions were so bad, I could only see the Moon. I used the 80mm
refractor instead at 20x magnification.
I wasn't totally surprised when the attempted close-ups didn't come
out.
Apr 15
I missed the clear part of the day due to work commitments but took
the PST out at 17:45. There was a lot of moving cloud about and I was unable
to do the planned photo shoot. I couldn't see any prominences and only granulation
features were visible on the main disc.
I tried to observe the conjunction between the Moon and Saturn at 22:00
GMT. Unfortunately, it was cloudy and although I saw them together, I'd
missed the closest approach and didn't manage a photo. However, I did get
one of the lunar disc.
Apr 16th
I did a hydrogen alpha photo shoot at 07:30 GMT and the Sun was very
quiet indeed.
Apr 21st
I missed some observing as I'd been busy writing but the weather hadn't
been great either. I bin scanned the Sun at 14:25 GMT through thin cloud
but didn't see any sunspots.
Apr 22nd
It was hazy when I bin scanned the Sun at 11:40 GMT but it was clear enough
to see limb darkening. I couldn't see any sunspots, though.
I tried a hydrogen alpha photo shoot at 16:10 GMT. It was still hazy and
there were no prominences and I could only see granulation features.These
photos are the best from each of the cameras I used and you just can't really
see much.
April 23rd
Bin scanned the Sun at 10:20 GMT in clear conditions but didn't see any
sunspots.
I did a hydrogen alpha shoot at 17:00 GMT. The full disc shots didn't come
out but I managed to see some prominences.
