SolarChat!

Hi everyone...

The cold snap that settled in over eastern Canada and the Eastern US continued yesterday...Friday overnight low was -29C, but if you add in the wind chill is was below -40C. By mid morning Saturday it had warmed up to a balmy -26C (but still very cold wind). The mounts and cameras managed to work in the cold so I managed to collect my first solar images of 2018.

The first image is a disk/limb composite through the LS80T/B1200Ha solar scope double stacked with the LS75FHa front mount etalon. Though there were few formally named active regions on the disk, there were several regions on the disk and a nice cluster of proms on the SE limb: The one named AR (2693) is near the western limb, followed by a long filament which was the most obvious feature at the eyepiece: The SE quadrant also features a few small filaments and one of the un-named active regions is along the top of this image. The limb was enhanced separately to highlight the proms:
The final solar image is a longer exposure shot of the SE limb to show the proms, which have some structure visible: The last images capture some sunlight that has been on a journey. Jupiter and Mars have been drawing together for a close conjunction in the morning sky over the past week, and were closest together Saturday and Sunday morning. The images below were taken around 7am (local time) this morning with a tripod mounted Canon 60D. The exposures were close to 1 second...the camera displays did not work well at all in the cold The zoomed image below was through a 250mm lens. The Galilean moons were paired on each side of the planet, but insufficient resolution to separate each pair. Ganymede and Callisto are on the west side of the planet and Io and Europa are on the east side.
Clouds were closing in quickly and I was limited to grabbing a few images, the majority through the clouds.

This closes out my first imaging sessions of 2018.

Questions and comments are always welcome,
Brian

Very nice indeed Brian.
Not sure I would venture out in that cold though.

Good capture of the conjunction.

An excellent session, Brian, in such freeeeezing conditions. We complain when it gets to 'about freezing' so I don't know how you manage in such bitter conditions.

Good images.

Stu.

Steve and Stu...

Thanks for your comments and feedback

The cold certainly makes any activity a challenge, but I can generally dress to keep warm. Electronics and lubricants that are tested in California conditions usually fail before me Mounts need to be re-greased with a low temp lithium grease to have any hope of working and the cold makes LED displays appear almost white across the screen at times.

Brian

Hi Brian,

Very good. With those temperatures you have nobody would draw me out into the cold

I used to live in Germany for about23 years and I was used to it but now after living 24 years in Mexico, No Way ...

Thanks Rainer...

Lots of folk here don't like the cold either and head to Florida, Texas, and Arizona to pass at least some of the winter. Some of my wife's family trek to Mexico until spring.

Warming up this week, actually should crack 0C mid week...if the forecast holds, but short lived.

Brian

A really nice set of images there Brian! Makes our +2c seem positively balmy today

Thanks Mark...

Although the high today was around -8, the air hold more moisture and feels colder than the days it 20 degrees colder!

Brian

Hey Brian, very nice images....I like those close-ups of the filaments and prominences, well caught

This morning we woke-up to -20 Celsius, the coldest it has been in my 27 years here, so I know how you feel

From tomorrow, though, it should warm up to the 30's

Franco

Thanks for your comments and support on the images Franco...much appreciated!!!

The cold has affected a significant part of North America, I see news casts with snow and frozen fountains well into the southern states. Even iguanas falling out of trees in Florida cause it s so cold

Stay warm everyone,
Brian

MapleRidge wrote: ↑Mon Jan 08, 2018 12:36 am
Although the high today was around -8, the air hold more moisture and feels colder than the days it 20 degrees colder!

The humidity is one of the reasons it feels a lot colder in the UK than the thermometer says it is...

Superb images Brian, I am really impressed you can see the Jupiter moons as well, that is a fabulous image! I am always surprised how wildlife can survive in temperatures like that outside all night where we would freeze to death in an instant.
Alexandra

Mark and Alexandra...

The weather systems cleared the high pressure system out overnight that gave us the intense cold, and replaced it with a flow of warm, humid air for the south that dumped 15+cm of snow here at home today. Mild for a few days, then back to sub-zero temps again. Gotta love the variation in our weather

Alexandra, mother nature hasn't allowed the animals to get soft...so to speak. Most still hibernate or grow a good warm coat and put away food for the winter. Mankind has modified their environment (and adapted to rely on it) to the point we no longer could survive long without our coats and heated homes. Don't get me wrong, I like my heated home very much

Brian

Brian:
Super session at -26.3°C.
Happy new year Brian.
Best regards,
Eric.

Thanks Eric...always appreciated

Brian