Messages

1

General Discussion / Re: Armchair Observations

« on: April 01, 2021, 01:08:23 PM »

C2 gif movies from today show Venus moving away from its superior sun conjunction.  Note also what appears to be a small sun-grazing comet (probably vaporizing) early on the 31st of March. https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/LATEST/current_c2.gif

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General Discussion / Re: Armchair Observations

« on: March 20, 2021, 03:54:13 PM »

Venus, moving to superior solar conjunction has entered the fov of SOHO C2 imaging https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/LATEST/current_c2.gif.  Will pass within 2 degrees of the sun on March 26th https://in-the-sky.org/news.php?id=20210326_11_100.

3

General Discussion / Re: Observing tonight?

« on: March 19, 2021, 11:59:34 PM »

Nice night (3/19/2021) for observing with the little StarBlast scope.  Took a short video of the moon through the scope with Orion moon filter and 6.3M pixel camera.  A still pic from the video (enhanced a bit) is shown below.

4

General Discussion / Re: Observing tonight?

« on: March 06, 2021, 01:17:12 PM »

Would love to be there as well.  But, just got a SkyFi 3 and want to get it set up with my observatory scope tonite.  If things go smoothly I may come out.
Bob

5

General Discussion / Re: Armchair Observations

« on: February 23, 2021, 12:48:52 PM »

SOHO shows some interesting solar activity on it's latest C2 and C3 videos https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/gif/.  Venus appears on the right in the C3 as it closes in on superior conjunction.  Sun has 2 new sunspot groups. https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/hmi_igr/1024/latest.html

6

General Discussion / Re: Armchair Observations

« on: January 23, 2021, 12:38:12 PM »

Another interesting SOHO C3 gif animation from today shows bright Jupiter, less bright Saturn moving to solar conjunction; a small sun grazing comet appears near the end of the video at the 8-oclock position. https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/LATEST/current_c3.gif

7

General Discussion / Re: Armchair Observations

« on: January 21, 2021, 12:45:48 PM »

A nice SOHO C3 gif animation from today shows the two comets mentioned above and the planets Saturn and Jupiter (bright objects to the left of the sun).  Pretty cool! https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/LATEST/current_c3.gif.

8

General Discussion / Re: Armchair Observations

« on: January 18, 2021, 01:33:34 PM »

Today's C2 SOHO images includes two small comets that were eventually vaporized by the sun.  Also see https://spaceweather.com/

9

General Discussion / Re: Armchair Observations

« on: January 01, 2021, 01:44:40 PM »

Mercury (lower left) and comet Erasmus (top left) are soon to exit the SOHO C3 field of view (fov) https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/LATEST/current_c3.gif.  Sun is relatively quiet today but increased activity is in the forecast https://spaceweather.com/.

10

General Discussion / Re: Armchair Observations

« on: December 18, 2020, 12:12:00 PM »

An interesting C3 gif movie from SOHO today shows the planet Mercury nearing superior conjunction (below the sun to the right) as well as a small comet (Erasmus) entering the fov on the right in the last few frames. https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/LATEST/current_c3.gif

11

General Discussion / Re: Armchair Observations

« on: November 29, 2020, 02:56:20 PM »

SOHO C3 shows a big coronal mass ejection (CME) today and solar flare.  The sunspot responsible should be rotating into view in a few days.

12

General Discussion / Re: Observing tonight?

« on: November 29, 2020, 02:32:31 PM »

Sunspot image taken yesterday 11-28-2020.  Sunspot AR 2786 is one of the largest in quite a while.  (Taken with a sun-filtered StarBlast 4.5" reflector and Orion 6.3 Mpixel camera).

13

General Discussion / Re: Armchair Observations

« on: November 17, 2020, 12:20:16 PM »

A great Mars 3-D imaging video from the Pic Du Midi observatory is today's feature on https://spaceweather.com/.  A complete rotation of Mars is presented taken during the close opposition this October and early November.

14

General Discussion / Re: Armchair Observations

« on: November 09, 2020, 03:11:31 PM »

Sunspot group AR 2781 is quite impressive!  It has rotated into an ideal view for observers with sun filtered telescopes.  A view from 3 days ago (11-6-2020) taken with the StarBlast 4.5 inch reflector with Orion solar filter and 6.3 Mpixel camera is shown below.  Great views and discussions continue on https://spaceweather.com
 

15

General Discussion / Re: Armchair Observations

« on: November 03, 2020, 02:21:50 PM »

Another sunspot group (2781) is rotating into view.  Viewed today; will photograph tomorrow! Check out https://spaceweather.com/ for details.