It was clear at 14:45, after weeks of waiting,
but
the Sun was quiet again.
Feb 3rd
I checked
the Sun with the PST at 12:50 and it was quiet, with no prominences.
I was
having
trouble extracting detail from the close-ups, so may try later. The
later
try seemed to bear fruit. I even found prominences that I missed
visually.
Feb 6th
Although
the day was frustratingly cloudy, it cleared enough by
mid-evening
to get out, so I was out at 21:15. Although the Moon was not the
primary
objective, I took a shot of the full disc, using my Mak deep sky
set-up.
Tycho's rays were starting to dominate the lunar landscape.
It ws
then
down to the real business of going out! M41 showed better than my
previous
attempt with several fainter stars becoming visible, depite the Moon.
However,
the clarity of the sky meant that moonlight wasn't being scattered very
much. I saw nearby M50 for the first time and it appeared as a fuzzy
patch
through my binoculars but the mak soon revealed many faint stars. M47
was
more obvious with the bins but it took the Mak to show the fainter
stars.
M46 was a rather nice view, with lots of faint stars twinkling.
After
carrying
the telescope in, I went out again to take some constellation shots,
not
realising that I already had the ones I needed for the Messier project.
I snapped Canis Major.
I also
took
one of Sirius and Canis Minor in the same field.
Feb 7th
I went
out
again at 00:00 in an attempt to track down M48, as part of my aim to
catch
all of the Messier objects. It was quite hard to find but appeared as a
fuzzy patch in binoculars, with some stars being resolved in my Mak.
Feb 8th
Despite the poor forecast, I was able to do a
hydrogen
alpha photo shoot during a gap in the clouds at 10:20. I could see some
granulation features but no prominences. However, one came out in the
full
disc shot.
Feb 10th
Bin scanned Venus at 18:20 with fast moving cloud
and noted a 30% phase.
Feb 11th
I went out with the PST at 12:20 under poor
conditions. Visually, I could see some granulation features but nothing
else.The photos showed a bit more.
Bin scanned the Sun at 15:15 but didn't see a
reported sunspot.
At 18:00 I snapped Venus showing a 30% phase.
Feb 12th
Bin scanned the Sun at 09:30 but there was still
no sign of the reported sunspot.
Feb 21st
Bin scanned the Sun at 11:10 through thin cloud
and
there were no sunspots.
It cleared enough at 11:40 to try a shoot with
the PST. I could not make out any prominences visually but could see
granulation
features quite clearly. However, a small prominence came out in the
lower
right quadrant. I also found that the whole disc and 2 of the quadrants
responded to different processing techniques.
I went out for a bin scan at 19:30 to explore
the southern open clusters in and around Canis Major. I saw M93 for the
first time and it appeared just as a fuzzy patch. M41 appeared to blink
in and out while its stars scintillated, whilst M46 and M47 came out
quite
well. I checked Venus before coming in and it appeared to have a 30%
phase
but it was very bright and there was some distortion.
I returned an hour later with the Mak. Some of
the brighter stars of M93 showed as a triangle of scintillating stars
against
a fuzzy background. M46 and M47 showed very similar views to previous
sightings.
It was quite hazy in parts of the sky when I
went
out at 22:00 to try some experimental shots. I managed to get the main
stars of Melotte 20 in Perseus.
I also had one Pleiades shot that came out:
My final session of the day was at 23:00 GMT.
The main objective was to see Comet Lulin, which I found near the
Leo/Virgo
border. However, conditions were not good and it was a fuzzy patch with
a nucleus and no tail. At least I got the tick for it! Neither M65 nor
M66 were visible (shame), so this deterred me from further observation.
I did find that Saturn's rings (which were nearly edge on) actually
showed
up as thin lines each side of the planet's disc.
Feb 22nd
I did a hydrogen alpha shoot at 09:25 GMT. Like
the
day before I could find no prominences, despite trying harder to see
them!
.
Feb 27th
Unforttunately, this was to become my only look at the Sun from Prague.
I bin scanned it at 07:15 GMT in clear conditions buit didn't see any
sunspots.
Feb 28th
Conditions were hazy when I went out for a photo shoot at 19:45 but I
managed to photograph the Moon and Venus at 24x magnification with the
Mak before cloud moved in and brought a premature end to proceedings.
.
