Sunspot #2305 ~ Imaged in a series of shots taken a few minutes after my previous post.

This shot seems a little more in focus and better contrast.
Keith

Sunspot #2305 looked fine today

Although the weather prediction for today was snow/sleet later the morning was bright and clear, allowing me to get a quick shot of the largest sunspot on the solar surface ~ #2305
The temperature was in the low 40's so the air was only moderately unstable.I took many sets but this is the first image of them, so I may have a sharper image of this sunspot later.
I also took a couple sets of Sunspot #2313 which was much smaller so I might include it later as well.
Keith 

There is a new naked-eye nova in Sagittarius...

Taken from Sky and Telescope

Nova in Sagittarius Brightens!
by Alan MacRobert   March 19, 2015

A 6th-magnitude nova erupted inside the Sagittarius Teapot on March 15th. It's in easy range of binoculars just before dawn — and still brightening.      Link to S&T Article

Update Thursday March 19: The Nova has brightened to about magnitude 5.2, more than a half magnitude brighter than it was at it's discovery. There's no telling when it will stop.

The nova is right on the midline of the Sagittarius Teapot. The horizon here is drawn for the beginning of astronomical twilight in mid-March for a viewer near 40° north latitude. The nova is about 15° above this horizon. Stars are plotted to magnitude 6.5. For a more detailed chart with comparison-star magnitudes, see the bottom of this page. 

You never know. On Tuesday, March 15th, nova hunter John Seach of Chatsworth, NSW, Australia, found a new 6th magnitude star shining in three search images taken by his DSLR patrol camera. The time of the photos was March 15.634 UT. One night earlier, the camera recorded nothing there to a limiting magnitude of 10.5.



Before and after. Adriano Valvasori imaged the nova at March 16.71, using the iTelescope robotic telescope “T9” — a 0.32-m (12.5-inch) reflector in Australia. His shot is blinked here with a similarly deep earlier image. One of the tiny dots at the right spot might be the progenitor star. The frames are 1⁄3° wide.

The Spectrum taken a day after the discovery confirmed that this is a bright classical nova ~ a white dwarf whose thin surface layer underwent a hydrogen-fusion explosion ~ of the type rich in ionized iron. The spectrum showed emission lines from debris expanding at about 2,800 km pr second,

The nova has been named Nova Sagittarii 2015 No. 2, after receiving the preliminary designation PNV J18365700-2855420. Here's it's up-to-date preliminary light curve from the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO). Here is the AAVSO's list of recent observations.

Although the nova is fairly far south (at declination -28° 55' 40", right ascension 18h 36m 56.8s), and although Sagittarius only recently emerged from the glow of sunrise, it's still a good 15° above the horizon just before the beginning of dawn for observers near 40° north latitude (i.e. New Jersey ~ Keith). If you are south of there it'll be higher, if you're north it'll be lower.
Binoculars are all you'll need.

To find when morning astronomical twilight begins at your location, you can use our (S&T's ~ Keith) online almanac. (If you're on daylight time like most of North America, be sure to check the daylight-Saving Time box).

Below is a comparison-star chart from AAVSO. Star's visual magnitudes are given to the nearest tenth with the decimal points omitted.

Check back here  (S&T ~ Keith) for further updates!



Okay, great!
Let's try to get some imaging of the new nova....
Keith Marley

Saturn is impressive today

I went outside this morning at 4:30 (31°F) to find Saturn for the first time this year and I was not disappointed.. The rings appear almost fully exposed (except for a small portion still covered by the planet) and extremely tilted. 
Look for it at this time in the south, just northeast of Graffias, the northern star of the three stars in the head of Scorpius.
Graffias is also a nice double ~ check it out.
I was not prepared to take pictures today, so I only looked for a  few minutes.
Try to get some photos of the planet while it is still cold.... I'm sure you won't be disappointed either.
Keith

Just when you thought it was safe to post.....

Ok, I give up!
I promise I won't complain anymore about the sun's misbehaving.... right after my last post regarding the lack of sunspots, "Ole Sol" gave us a treat.... #2297
Hmmm,  maybe I should complain more if it means sunspots like this.

As noted: This is Sunspot #2297 and the Large spot is about 10 Earth diameters while the entire sunspot system is about one Jupiter diameter.
Keith

The Sun is acting like it's already well into it's minimum phase

I've been watching the sun whenever the weather would clear enough for me to get my little solar scope out for a quick peek... and all I see is yellow! 
Very few sunspots seen these last few weeks and the ones that I saw were relatively small and unimpressive.
But I couldn't take it anymore so I got the camera out anyway to take a few sets. Each set was over 5000 images, while only 500 were usable... another unsettled daytime sky!  But I wasn't happy with the effort made ~ I got as good an image using my Galaxy S5 over the eyepiece!

Pssst ~ past it on: "Go outside and take pictures of something in the sky" 
Keith

Venus and Mars one day before conjunction, with the 2 day old crescent Moon

I decided to take my Nikon out last night (Feb 20th) to try to get a quick shot of the 2 day old (6% lit) Moon, Venus and Mars while they were rather close together. The actual Mars/Venus conjunction is actually tonight but considering that the weather wizards predict snow for our area....

I didn't have anything interesting in the foreground to add to it and it was so cold (teens) outside that I decided to just use my 300mm and get just the planets:

Keith Marley

Io's Transit Of Jupiter

I went out last night thinking that I had to at least get some use out of my imaging equipment before the clouds rolled in again.... and Io was transiting soon.
By the time I got outside with my equipment set up and ready to go, it was passing 20°F on the downslide with winds about 3-4 mph. The scope was set up in my driveway with Jupiter about 45° elevation and two bright incandescent lights outside of my neighbor's house across the street directly below it!

The sky was clear although very unsteady when viewed under more than 200x magnification ~ plus the wind. So I think I lucked out with about 326 frames that I could stack out of a run of 575. I did six runs totaling about 500-600 frames each with one run that I was fairly satisfied with.

I used my Explore Scientific 102/700mm Apochromatic refractor on a Celestron CGEM with a ZWO ASI120mm camera and a 2.5x TeleVue Barlow.

After about an hour and a half outside in that cold I decided that I had better get in before I lost a phalanges or two....
Keith Marley

Here's the results:

NJAA Astro Photography TechNote #01, "Value" of Stacking Frames

Hello Everyone.

I've been asked many times about how many subs should be taken.  I always say take at least 20 subs without giving to much additional information.

Well I feel its appropriate that I give the background information regarding my recommendation.  I've written an article for the NJAA Astro Notes on the subject and wanted to have this group get an early look at it.

Take this link to download the PDF article

I hope that this article inspires others to write TechNotes.  We can build a library of PDF's and make a master compendium of all the articles into a single eBook.

Enjoy the article, I hope that you find it helpful.

Clear Skies,

Jim Roselli

Comet C/2014 Q2 01/07/15

30 seconds one shot.
800 mm f/3.9
No Guiding
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