[Theme] Show us your best moon (and solar system) images

[Øivind Tøien]

Back to the Sun, the sunspot active region AR4079 is is prominently visible right now even with just a pair of eclipse protective glasses. This one is from May 4. There is an interesting bright bridge between the two sub-regions of the spot. 500PF with TC-20E III on ZWO ASI 678MC, stack of the best 15% of about 1500 frames in 14 bit mode, stitch of two processed images. Open in new tab and click for larger size.

[ARTUROARTISTA]

Back to the Sun, the sunspot active region AR4079 is is prominently visible right now even with just a pair of eclipse protective glasses. This one is from May 4. There is an interesting bright bridge between the two sub-regions of the spot. 500PF with TC-20E III on ZWO ASI 678MC, stack of the best 15% of about 1500 frames in 14 bit mode, stitch of two processed images. Open in new tab and click for larger size.

Gorgeous. And is it a photography lens or a telescope?

[Akira]

Back to the Sun, the sunspot active region AR4079 is is prominently visible right now even with just a pair of eclipse protective glasses. This one is from May 4. There is an interesting bright bridge between the two sub-regions of the spot. 500PF with TC-20E III on ZWO ASI 678MC, stack of the best 15% of about 1500 frames in 14 bit mode, stitch of two processed images. Open in new tab and click for larger size.

Amazing, as always.  Well worth viewing large!

[Øivind Tøien]

Gorgeous. And is it a photography lens or a telescope?

Thanks Akira and ARTUROARTISTA. Yes this was captured with the Nikon AFS 500mm f/4 E PF lens + TC-20E III at 1000mm f/11. This combination is well aligned to the 2um pixel pitch of the ASI678MC astro camera according to the commonly used "5x rule" of optimal ratio between F-number of the lens or telescope and and pixel pitch used in planetary astrophotography.

[Nasos Kosmas]

Excellent capture Øivind

[Øivind Tøien]

Excellent capture Øivind

Thanks, Nasos. Seems I was particularly lucky with the seeing on this occasion.

[ARTUROARTISTA]

Thanks Akira and ARTUROARTISTA. Yes this was captured with the Nikon AFS 500mm f/4 E PF lens + TC-20E III at 1000mm f/11. This combination is well aligned to the 2um pixel pitch of the ASI678MC astro camera according to the commonly used "5x rule" of optimal ratio between F-number of the lens or telescope and and pixel pitch used in planetary astrophotography.

Thanks Oivind for going into detail, you know how to do it, congratulations.

[Øivind Tøien]

Thanks again ARTUROARTISTA.

I can as well show the non-stitched IR capture I did before the visible light one above, converted to monochrome, although it is not quite as crisp looking. In both cases I used a Baader Astrosolar ND 5.0 film filter on the front of the lens. It is interesting that the brightness of the bridge between the two sub-regions of the spot also shows in IR.

[Nasos Kosmas]

Øivind Is this an IR capture?, Is this a feature of the Astro camera ?

[Øivind Tøien]

Øivind Is this an IR capture?, Is this a feature of the Astro camera ?

Yes the ASI678MC is a full spectrum camera with just an AR protective window on the sensor that lets through everything from near visible IR to some way into the UV-A band. I takes 1.25" filters that are screwed in in front of the sensor. For visible light I use a ZWO UV-IR cut filter which includes wavelengths up the the hydrogen-alpha red band. For IR I have an Antlia 685nM IR pass filter. And I also have a UV pass but it requires a lens with good UV transmission which excludes most modern lenses.

However other models may come with a UV-IR cut filter on the sensor that has to be removed/replaced with protective glass for use with IR pass filters. This is the case with the newer ASI676MC, which has a square sensor also with a  a 2um pixel pitch and might be a good alternative to the ASI678MC.

Here is the ASI678MC with a 1.25" UV-IR cut filter mounted at the time:

[Nasos Kosmas]

Thank you Øivind for the explanation 

[golunvolo]

Impressive views Øivind, thanks for sharing it!

[Øivind Tøien]

Thanks, Paco.