January 2009 Observations

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Jan 3rd

It was clear at 11:50 but the Sun was quiet again.

The close-ups revealed no more than the full disc shot.

At 16:40, I did a photo shoot of the Moon and Venus. I tried to find Mercury and Jupiter without success.

Whilst I was pleased with this lunar shot, the close-ups were all blurred. After a lot of processing, Venus finally came out showing about at 60% phase.


 
 

Jan 6th

After a "heads up" from Brian B on the Sky at Night messageboard, I bin scanned the Sun at 12:00. I couldn't make out any detail but Brian had used a larger instrument than my bins.

I checked the hydrogen alpha view with my PST. The main disc was bland, with minor granulation features but I could see a prominence at the 7/8 o'clock position.

At 17:20 I went to do a quick full disc shot of the Moon but also did Venus with a variable polarizing filter and visually it looked better than without and showed a clear 50% phase, even though it wasn't due for another 8 days (Shroter effect). I also saw Mercury, also with a phase of around 50% but it was dancing in the turbulence. Small wonder that the Venus and Mercury shots look similar.

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Jan 10th

Bin scanned the Sun in white light at 11:40 to follow up sunspot reports but couldn't see anything in the poor conditions.

The conditions remained poor but I was able to snap the Moon at 19:20. The apparent size was too large to capture in the photograph.


 
 

Jan 13th

I came downstairs to a beautiful waning gibbous moon in the west at 07:00. I couldn't quite get the whole disc in, as its apparent size was very large.

After a false start, I bin scanned the Sun at 12:45. Although it was clear, I could not detect any features that had been reported. I did a hydrogen alpha shoot with the PST. Even though there were no prominences visible, nor other features, more granulation features were visible.

After a false start, I bin scanned the Sun at 12:45. Although it was clear, I could not detect any features that had been reported. I did a hydrogen alpha shoot with the PST. Even though there were no prominences visible, nor other features, more granulation features were visible.


 
 

Jan 17th

Checked the Sun with the PST at 10:45. Only minor granulation features were visible, although I caught a cloud-free period.

 


 



Jan 18th

Bin scanned the Sun from Heathrow Terminal 2 under clear conditions. I could see limb darkening quite clearly but no sunspots.

Jan 19th

Bin scanned Venus at 18:45 local time in Athens (16:45 GMT). The phase appeared to be about 65%, a clear demonstration of the "Pugh Effect". The Orion Great Nebula (M42) was well up in the sky  but was far from clear. I attempted a snap of Venus against the background, Orion and Sirius rising above a small mountain.

At 17:05 GMT, I did a bin scan of a few open clusters. The Pleaides (M45) only showed about 20 stars and M35 was visible but poor. However, Melotte 20 and the Hyades showed well.
 
 

Jan 25th

Bin scanned the eastern and south eastern sky from Athens at 17:30 GMT. I was able to see the Orion Great Nebula (M42) clearly and the Pleiades (M45), although I could only see about 25 stars. M35 was poor but the Hyades and Melotte 20 stood out well.

Jan 26th

I bin scanned the sky at 17:45 GMT. The conditions werew similar to the day before and the impressions were thesame. In addition to the deep sky targets, I also checked out Venus, which was still showing an apparent gibbous phase in my binoculars. Despite the visual limitations, the shot of Orion came out well.

Taurus came out well, too:

Venus showed well with the Acropolis to the lower left.

The final shot of the session was Gemini with Canis Minor.



 

Jan 30th

The weather continue to be unreliable on my return to England but it cleared enough by 17:45 GMT to take a snap of Venus close to the Moon but it was too hazy to allow telescopic observation or photography.


 

Jan 31st

I was hoping for some solar viewing, especially being Saturday but it was not to be. Conditions were similar to the day before. I managed to record a wide field shot of Venus and the Moon at 18:00, however.

I bin scanned the Moon and it showed well, with a chain of craters along the terminator. Despite the twilighlit conditions, the Hyades showed well but there were only about 20 Pleiades on view. Venus showed a 40% phase in the bins.

By 20:00 it had cleared somewhat and I did a photo shoot of the Moon and Venus but, during the session, the cloud closed in. Venus showed a 30% phase.


By 22:00, conditions had cleared further to allow some limited deep sky viewing, although faint galaxies were well out of range. M41 looked rather sparse with the Maksutov but the Beehive (M44) looked great, although I could not get the whole cluster into the 1.7 degree field. M69 looked nice and it was my first ever look at it, turning out better than expected.
 

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