December 2008 Observations

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Dec 1st


It was clear at 12:30 but the Sun was very low and shimmering. Only minor granulation features were visible.


 

Dec 2nd


I took a snap of the Moon, Venus and Jupiter at 16:30. I missed the main conjunction and occultation the day before.


 

Mare Crisium was just clear of the lunar terminator. Venus showed a 70% phase and Jupiter’s disc was clear and there were 2 moons to the east.
 

Dec 4th


I did a check with the PST at 12:30 GMT and there was an amazing prominence at the 4.30 position.



 

Dec 5th


I did a PST photo shoot at 13:00 GMT and noticed some new prominence activity. The disc was rather quiet.

I went out at 21:00 and caught a nice first quarter Moon:


 

Dec 6th

I did a solar photo shoot with the PST at 12:15 GMT. Visually, it appeared very quiet.


At 17:15 I snapped Venus and Jupiter together in the evening sky.

The Moon was in fine form, with Clavius to the south and Plato to the north having emerged from the terminator since the night before.



 

I could see three of Jupiter's moons visually but only two recorded on the photo. I couldn't make out any disc detail.

Venus was definitely showing a clearer reduced phase:

I tried some experimental shots on some deep sky objects later but failed miserably.
 

Dec 9th

I spent a lot of unsuccessful time trying to get prime focus snaps on both of my main telescope. However, I rescued some Moon shots from the session.


 

Dec 14th

I checked the Sun with the PST at 11:45 GMT. Only superficial granulation features were visible in the poor conditions and no detail showed in the photographs.
 

Dec 17th

I went out for some constellation shots at 19:30 GMT. While waiting for exposures, I cast my eyes in the direction of Gemini in the hope of catching some late Geminid meteors but did not see any.

The first close-up shows the head of Cetus with the Pleiades at the top.

The second, slightly to the east, shows Taurus, with some surrounding constellations.

I wasn't going for Gemini but it came out very clearly in the Auriga snap, despite the loe elevation.

I then added a snap of Ursa Minor, amazingly capturing the constellation pattern.

Cygnus and Lyra were well placed, despite it being so late in the year.

I caught a nice one of Orion rising.

I revisted Cetus and got an even better shot of its head and neck, with Taurus to the right.


 

Dec 19th

I was just about to go to bed but looked out and saw a 3rd quarter Moon low in the east. At 00:50, I took a few snaps, although shimmering did not give a great opportunity to do much more than a full disc shot. The close-ups will require a lot of post processing to see if I can extract any more detail than on the full disc shot, so are on the back burner for now.


 

Dec 26th

It was clear at 09:30 GMT but the Sun was low down. It was clear in white light and very quiet in hydrogen alpha.

Unfortunately, no more detail came out in the close-ups than the main disc.
 

Dec 29th

I bin scanned the Sun at 11:40 GMT under very clear conditions and saw limb darkening but no sunspots. I then checked with the PST and it was very quiet.


 

Dec 30th

 After a cloudy day, I was surprised to see it had cleared by 18:10 to reveal the Moon low in the west, with Venus to its east. Not much else was visible, however.


 

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