Although the sun is at solar max, and has finally flipped its magnetic poles, it hasn’t felt like there’s been too much solar activity. Now, finally, we have a big sunspot grouping. AR1944 has not only been active, but is large enough to be seen with the naked eye. Remember, always use appropriate solar filters when observing the sun. I could see the spots naked eye, using my Baadar mylar solar material, and through my 90mm refractor it looked quite spectacular. Unfortunately the seeing today was terrible, producing wavy images, but I did manage to get an image through the scope. Here it is below, with a second one showing a blow-up of the largest group. If you have a solar filter, don’t miss this magnificent sunspot grouping. It’s the best we’ve had so far this solar cycle.

Close-up of the above image

Halton Arp, an American astronomer and creator of the Arp catalogue, passed away on December 28th. He imaged and created a database of galaxies that didn’t fit any of the recognized galaxy types, creating a catalogue of unusual galaxies. Published in 1966 it is called the ‘Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies’ and you can still get a copy of the catalogue, which is still in print. It makes for fascinating reading, and gives you some fun targets for your scope.

Although I became fascinated with the images of Jupiter’s moons, as seen in the blog entry below, I actually went outside to see the full moon. Here it is, this winter’s Snow Moon and the smallest full moon of the year. (Canon 60D through a 90mm refractor)

Here is a picture that I just took tonight of Jupiter and its moons. The image was made with my Canon 60D at the prime focus of my 90mm refractor. Visually, there is much more detail visible on Jupiter through the scope, but this is just two frames (one exposure for Jupiter and another for the moons) at the prime focus of a 570mm focal length system. What I found most interesting is that you can see colour differences in the moons. Of course you can see the difference in brightness, but Io shows as a distinct yellow colour.
Jupiter 1/125 second ISO 100
moons 1/100 second ISO 800

Check out this NASA page

Most nasa sites are overloaded, but this page works.

Select LASCO C3 and a number of frames (5 per hour) to see a cool video of the comet approaching the sun.

http://sohodata.nascom.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/soho_movie_theater

I rose early this morning as i had set my alarm for 6:09 AM.
I then verified that the daylight savings time no longer applied, and that the 6:58 sunrise
meant i had another hour to go.

I decided to bring my 4 inch solar filter, my DSLR and my pocket camera.
I also packed a tripod and my finderscope (a 3.5 inch refractor) on the off chance they would be handy.

At Burlington Waterfront Park, a place where the HAA has held public astronomy events in the past,
I knew that there would be a clear view of sunrise over the water.

The cloud bank on the horizon was another matter. It appeared that there was rain in the Grimsby area,
and the clouds extended out over the water to the east, obscuring the point of sunrise.

I did, however, get to watch a nice sunrise.

The eclipse was predicted to end at 7:08 AM.
Using the solar filter, i could see a chunk missing from the lower right portion of the Sun,
but due to the nearby clouds there was no way to guarantee that the interesting part of the Sun was not
simply being blocked by the cloud bank right below it, as it peeked through the clouds.

So I might claim to have seen the eclipse, but i might simply have seen the Sun.

I shared the view through my solar filter with 2 people who had come to take a look.
By holding up the (highly reflective) filter in front of my face, and angling it so that the image of the Sun
matched the dark part of the pupil of my eye, I had a clear sharp view of the Sun, albeit small.

I hope other members had more favourable cloud arrangements.

Last night several HAA members came out to join Jim when he opened the park for observing. Five members and five scopes were set up on the hill and enjoyed views of double stars, clusters, galaxies and nebulae. Everybody looked through everybody else’s scopes and encouraged each other. The club’s loaner eyepiece was put to good use, and several members enjoyed the very wide fields that the University Optics 55mm eyepiece offered.
I was lucky enough (and yes, some if it was luck) to get a very good polar alignment and a very good focus on my camera and ended up with some of my best astrophotos to date. Here is one sample from last night, a view of M13, the globular cluster in Hercules, taken through my 90mm refractor.
Next time you get an email from a keyholder inviting you out to the park, why not come on out and join us for another great night.

M13, the great globular cluster in Hercules, through a small scope

Long time HAA member Kerry-Ann Lecky Hepburn is speaking to the public at the David Dunlap Observatory this Saturday. Kerry spoke to the HAA earlier this year, and is an engaging speaker. Set against the backdrop of the largest telescope in Canada, this should be a special occasion. Details can be found here:

http://theddo.ca/ScheduleTickets/tabid/64/Default.aspx

According to reports from the AAVSO, the nova in Delphinus peaked earlier today at a magnitude of about 4.5. I just looked at it this evening, and the nova has dimmed to 4.9. Finder & comparison charts can be found by clicking on the title above and following the links.

Janice and I went out this evening to try to see the nova that appeared today. We spent a few minutes identifying the field and then found the nova easily by about 9:55. This is the first time we’ve actually seen one. Thanks to Joe for the notification. This one is an easy binocular target with 7×50 binos. A chart can be found at the sky and telescope web site. John Gauvreau has determined a magnitude of 5.7 which based on what we saw is pretty darn close.