PCW Memorial Observatory - Erika Rix | Having fun exploring our universe!

2005 12 20 First Solar Projection

•December 20, 2005 • 1 Comment

2005 12 20
Projection

Well I’ve taken the plunge, overcame my fears and with the encouragement of several CN members have done my first projection sketch with the ETX70.

The EP I used was a Kellner 12mm. I had no way of attaching it to the back of the scope, so instead had to use it in the normal EP holder. This made it very awkward for tracing the sunspots on my 3 1/4″ diameter circle that I had drawn on my paper that was attached to a clipboard. I can see that I want to continue using this method, I’ll need to get an adapter for the back of the scope and a bracket to hold the clipboard or something similar steady. Funny how much your arms move when you’re trying to do something delicate.

When I finally got the spots traced, I added a three times Barlow, the white light filter and finished the sketch directly at the EP. The winds were playing havoc with the light tripod and scope, but at moments when the winds would calm, I was able to grab more details around the sunspots.

There was something that I hadn’t expected though. With the ETX, it usually mirrors the view. When I projected the sketch for the first stage, it somehow flipped things around to resemble the view with a PST. So I had to finish the sketch in opposite directions from what I was actually viewing….make sense? Think of a dob..that’s what it was like only instead of pushing a dob in the opposite direction, I had to push the pencil.

The highlight of the Sun today was the pair of sunspots 837. The penumbra looks almost non-existent between the pair, but rather it wraps itself around the outer parts of the larger umbra facing West. The smaller of the pair was slightly fainter and made up of several little dots with a hint of penumbra around them.

835 nearly out-shined 837 and the penumbra was as clear as could be, only flattening out enough to look oblong but still leaving enough to fully encircle the darker umbra. 822 may have had just a hint of penumbra, but it did show signs of faint facula (an perhaps a slight amount near 835).

At least it warmed up from 9F to 12F today…and funny enough, I felt warmer too, being in no major hurry to come back inside. Which Paul would have wished I had done, because I am still home sick and never got out of my PJ’s. Well at least I was wearing a scarf and heavy jacket.

Posted in Solar Observations, Solar Observations 2005
Tags: charcoal, ETX70-AT, faculae, NOAA 1037, NOAA 10822, NOAA 10835, penumbrae, solar projection sketching, solar sketches, sunspots, umbrae

2005 12 19 solar h-alpha prominences

•December 19, 2005 • 1 Comment

What a sunny beautiful day, regardless of the cold temps and having a cold to boot. Wrapping a knitted scarf around my face and head, I bundled up with the PST (still on loan to me by John Crilly) in my arms and headed outside.

It didn’t take long to find three prominences, two on the Western limb and one one the Eastern. Tuning it in for the best view, I put a towel over my head to block out all excess light and began my sketch. Tempting as it was to try another full disk sketch, I wanted to concentrate on the prominences instead…especially catching the “Christmas Tree” prominence on the Northeastern limb.

December 19th 2005 H-alpha sketches

It almost reminded me of a mountainside with about 2-3 little steps leading up to the highest peak. It was all very close together and difficult to render. It’s a shame my sketching skills aren’t very fine tuned to capture my view…but this will hopefully get better with practice. You’ll see a darkened splat south of that prominence with a lighter splotch on the inside edge of it. I haven’t determined what that is yet…knowing my luck it could be dust or debris on the lens.

On the Western limb, I could see a black sunspot that I think may be 835. Just west of it was the larger of the two prominences protruding outwards like a spike. And just north of that, it’s little brother, shorter and perhaps a tad more blunt.

I believe I’ve caught the colors correctly on paper as to what was in my view….almost salmon with a darker line along the limb, and added orange/not quite yellow intermingled within.

Posted in Solar Observations, Solar Observations 2005
Tags: H-alpha, prominences, PST, solar sketches, Sun

2005 12 12 first close up prominence sketch

•December 12, 2005 • 1 Comment

2005 12 12

I couldn’t believe my luck when I went outside and found a few openings in between the clouds. I don’t believe I’ve ever entered the house so fast and especially can’t believe that it didn’t end up with tears because of how icy our porch steps are. Never the less, John’s PST was safely set up on the driveway and after covering my head and the EP with a spare sweater I found in my truck, there were views to be had in between the clouds.

Because the thin cloud layers came and went, it was a bit difficult making out the exact shapes of this prominence. But all at once, the skies opened up for the clearest view yet, and I was happy that my sketch was as accurate as I could muster.

Now, the orientation always messes me up. The sun is to be orientated by celestial N, W, E, and S. So I had thought this prominence was on the eastern limb. Would someone please let me know otherwise if I’m mistaken?

If it helps, it was located on the left through the EP with a PST scope.

Thanks!

Oh, and just for grins, I inverted the sketch to see what it’d look like with a black background….

Posted in Solar Observations, Solar Observations 2005
Tags: charcoal, prominences, PST, solar sketches, Sun

2005 12 10 First Solar H-alpha sketch

•December 10, 2005 • 1 Comment

2005 12 10
Today’s date on Spaceweather.com.

This is my first H-alpha sketch and was created with watercolor pencils.

Yesterday afternoon the clouds parted long enough to get in a good session using the PST that John Crilly lent me. The amount of activity made for a wonderful view and I tried as hard as I could to render it accurately. I may have gotten a little dramatic on the prominences and filaments, but felt it was important to stress those areas so they wouldn’t get lost in the sketch.

There were 3 filaments…actually there were about 10 until I looked up wondering what the heck was going on. It was then that I noticed a tree was in front of the sun! So I moved the scope to a tree free area and was happy to see one dark definite filament, a soft lighter almost w shaped filament, and finally a third small softer one at the south eastern edge. I softened these up with a red colored pencil, which was my error as it really made these areas too pronounced.

Finally I added the prominences, two beautiful ones on the Eastern and Western limbs, using two shades of colored pencils. And then added the small spikes of prominences where needed. Also, you can see evidence of faculae towards 833 on the Western limb by a lightened area in the darkened photosphere.

The really cool thing about this observation was the looped effect of the Western prominence….it’s really cool reading how the magnetic fields support the shapes of cloud like conditions of these prominences! I thought I was seeing things until I saw Mila’s photo of this same prominence: Prominence 12/10/05

Posted in Solar Observations, Solar Observations 2005
Tags: active regions, charcoal, filaments, H-alpha, NOAA 10822, NOAA 10830, NOAA 10833, NOAA 10835, prominences, PST, solar sketches, Sun

2005 12 08 Solar White Light: ARs 826, 830, 833

•December 8, 2005 • 1 Comment

2005 Dec 8
white filter

On that morning, the clouds were coming in quickly and at lower magnification, I didn’t really notice what I believe is 833. At higher magnification, those two little spots stuck out like a sore thumb. The Wilson effect was very obvious in 826, although I wonder if it can still be called the Wilson Effect if you don’t see penumbra?

There was however a beautiful hotter area around 826 going inwards towards the middle of the Sun. Almost reaching towards the 833 group. You can see this area by the almost white blotches on my sketch. Speaking of 833, I was a little surprised I didn’t see it on Space weather.com website for that day (white usually shows up the following day, meaning yesterday morning).

Can someone remind me how I record the direction on the sketch? Is it as if I’m on the Sun looking at Earth? Or as if I’m on Earth looking at the Sun?

I have also sketch a bit through the PST that John Crilly lent me, capturing two prominences close to each other. What a sweet scope…and yes, Ron…even though John warned me, I do believe I see one of these scopes making it to my home in the hopefully near future. How easy to use and it works a charm set up next to the other scope’s with their white filters.

Posted in Solar Observations, Solar Observations 2005
Tags: active regions, charcoal, ETX70-AT, full disk, H-alpha, NOAA 10826, NOAA 10830, NOAA 10833, PST, solar disk, solar sketches, Sun

2005 06 04 – First White Light Solar Sketch

•June 6, 2005 • 1 Comment

My first solar sketch – sketched at my first star party in Bellevue, Ohio.

Posted in Solar Observations, Solar Observations 2005
Tags: active regions, ETX70-AT, NOAA 10772, NOAA 10773, NOAA 10775, penmubrae, solar sketches, umbrae, white light

2005 05 21, Mons Rumker

•May 5, 2005 • Leave a Comment

2005 05 21

Mons Rumker

I can now say I’ve viewed my first domes! It wasn’t the Valentine Domes, (otherwise known to me as Matt’s domes), but a complex group of domes creating a circular formation in the Northwestern region of the moon. Named after Karl Ludwig Christian Rumker (German astronomer and director of school of navigation in Hamburg; 1788-1862), this formation is approximately 70km across, found on Rukl 8 and is also Lunar 100 #62.

We had rains the last several days and even though I have to get up at the crack of dawn to load the trailer chuck full of flowers for Farmer’s Market tomorrow, I couldn’t pass up the chance to sit atop of my comfy new observing chair and soak in some more lunar rays! The clouds cleared around 6pm for the first time since my last report and the moon was in her glory shortly afterwards as if to remind me that we have some catching up to do. I wasn’t going to disappoint her….

Checking out VMA, I had a list of possible objects to serve as the main feature. What I assumed was a deep crater ended up being Rumker…much to my delight! Everything else paled in comparison this beautiful sight, so Rumker it was.

As I knew I would want to stay up to write a report, I cut my observing time short by studying this object exclusively. But with a smile on my face I am reminded that it isn’t necessarily the quantity that matters, but the quality!

Posted in Lunar Observations, Lunar Observations 2005
Tags: charcoal, domes, Lunar, Mons Rumkin, Moon, sketch