Astronomy Report – April 9th

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astronomy-report]

Crew 279 Astronomer Report 09April2023

Today, I’ve used the ZWO camera to capture the sun’s chromosphere and prominence (the picture is attached). Capturing this image was quite challenging because there was a slim layer of clouds today which decreased the contrast and details in my image (this is an hypothesis). I also noticed a lot of dust on the front lens but I did not touch it.

In general, whatever the orientation of the ZWO camera, the right side of the picture was always brighter ; so much that I had to decrease the gain and gamma for getting information in the prominence right side. Could it be due to the clouds’ diffraction.

I have not used the tuning module (I only used the chromosphere tuner) . Is it normal ?

Pictures settings :

Chromosphere : Gain=50, Exposure=0.0155, Gamma=1
Prominence : Gain=150, Exposure=0.0155, Gamma=60
Flat : Gain=50, Exposure=0.0155, Gamma=1

The last problem that I got is about the flat : I am really struggling to get all the sun in the frame. In fact I think it is nearly impossible… Thus, the flat takes into account a dark region of the sky in the corners and the final corners of the chromosphere is impacted (see chromosphere frame). In my final composite, I’ve cropped the corners to solve the problem :’)

I will try to take pictures of the Sun tomorrow, I hope to see greater prominence.

Concerning the green and blue frames of M51, the weather at MLC_RCOS16 has changed a bit and I prefer to lunch them tomorrow night in order to have clear skies.

Here is my report :

Astronomy Report

Name: le Bussy Gwenaël
Crew: 279
Date: 09/04/23

MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY
Robotic Telescope Requested (choose one) MDRS-14 (MLC-RCOS16) MDRS-WF

Objects to be Imaged this Evening: /

Images submitted with this report: /

Problems Encountered: /

MUSK OBSERVATORY

Solar Features Observed: Sun’s chromosphere and prominence

Images submitted with this report: Sun_23_04_09_chromosphere_and_prominence_composite, Sun_23_04_09_chromosphere, Sun_23_04_09_prominence

Problems Encountered: Frame too big compared to the sun and problem for getting a useful flat, right side of the frame brighter.