Daily Archives: December 22, 2013

The Sun Online and solar activity. December 22, 2013

Several C-flares and two M-flares were observed during the past 24 hours, many occurring short after each other. Catania sunspot region 87 (NOAA AR 1928) is most active. The probability for C-flares remains high, around 80%, and for M-flares around 40%.  An X-flare is possible but unlikely.
Solar wind speed remains around 350 km/s and the magnitude of the interplanetary magnetic field is still around 5 nT, as observed by ACE. Current  geomagnetic conditions are quiet (Kp<4) and are expected to remain so during the next 48 hours. Towards the end of day 3, geomagnetic conditions might become unsettled to active, due to the effects of a coronal hole, which is currently at the central meridian and a latitude of 25 to 50 degrees.
SIDC

Equipment: Coronado 90 + SBIG 8300s + LX75
Processing: Photoshop
Date: 12/22/13
Time UT: 15:00
Exposure 0.8 sec.

With SPONLI Space is getting closer!

  

Related posts:

  1. The Sun Online and solar activity. December 20, 2013
  2. The Sun Online and solar activity. November 3, 2013
  3. The Sun Online and solar activity. December 6, 2013
  4. The Sun Online and solar activity. December 13, 2013

Tutulemma: Solar Eclipse Analemma

tutulemma_tezel_960 

Image Credit & Copyright: Cenk E. Tezel and Tunç Tezel (TWAN)
If you went outside at exactly the same time every day and took a picture that included the Sun, how would the Sun’s position change? With great planning and effort, such a series of images can be taken. The figure-8 path the Sun follows over the course of a year is called an analemma. Yesterday, the Winter Solstice day in Earth’s northern hemisphere, the Sun appeared at the bottom of the analemma. Analemmas created from different latitudes would appear at least slightly different, as well as analemmas created at a different time each day. With even greater planning and effort, the series can include a total eclipse of the Sun as one of the images. Pictured is such a total solar eclipse analemma or Tutulemma – a term coined by the photographers based on the Turkish word for eclipse. The above composite image sequence was recorded from Turkey starting in 2005. The base image for the sequence is from the total phase of a solar eclipse as viewed from Side, Turkey on 2006 March 29. Venus was also visible during totality, toward the lower right.

APOD NASA 22-dec-2013

Related posts:

  1. A Solar Eclipse from the Moon
  2. Opportunity’s Mars Analemma 
  3. Lunar Eclipse
  4. Total lunar eclipse. April 15, 2014

The Tarantula Nebula

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The Tarantula Nebula (also known as 30 Doradus, or NGC 2070) is an H II region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). It was originally thought to be a star, but in 1751 Nicolas Louis de Lacaille recognized its nebular nature.

The Tarantula Nebula has an apparent magnitude of 8. Considering its distance of about 49 kpc (160,000 light years), this is an extremely luminous non-stellar object. Its luminosity is so great that if it were as close to Earth as the Orion Nebula, the Tarantula Nebula would cast shadows. In fact, it is the most active starburst region known in the Local Group of galaxies. It is also one of the largest such region in the Local Group with an estimated diameter of 200 pc. The nebula resides on the leading edge of the LMC, where ram pressure stripping, and the compression of the interstellar medium likely resulting from this, is at a maximum. At its core lies the compact star cluster R136 (approximate diameter 35 light years) that produces most of the energy that makes the nebula visible. The estimated mass of the cluster is 450,000 solar masses, suggesting it will likely become a globular cluster in the future.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Boren-Simon PowerNewt 8
Imaging cameras: QSI 583 wsg
Mounts: Sky-Watcher NEQ6
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Boren-Simon PowerNewt 8
Guiding cameras: Starlight Xpress Lodestar
Focal reducers: Borel-Simon Coma Corrector
Software: Maxim DL, photoshop, Registax, CCDStack, Cartes du Ciel
Filters: Astrodon OIII 5nm, Astrodon SII 5nm, Astrodon H-alpha 5nm
Accessories: Sky-Watcher SW Electric Focuser
Resolution: 3326×2504
Dates: Dec. 10, 2013
Locations: Home
Frames:
Astrodon H-alpha 5nm: 14×180″ -15C bin 1×1
Astrodon OIII 5nm: 14×300″ -15C bin 1×1
Astrodon SII 5nm: 14×420″ -15C bin 1×1
Integration: 3.5 hours
Darks: ~10
Flats: ~10
Bias: ~10

Autor: Jean-Marie Locci

22 December 2013

We select the best works of amateur astrophotographers with details of equipment, shooting processing etc.

Related posts:

  1. Tarantula Nebula (NGC 2070)
  2. Tarantula Nebula in H-alpha
  3. The Cosmic Web of the Tarantula Nebula
  4. The Tarantula Zone