ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY – Daytime Moon

February 26, 2023February 26, 2023 ~ Everything Geek ~ Leave a comment

First light for the 224MC from ZWO controlled by the ASI Air plus. Shot through the tiny FS-CB60 refractor at a whopping f/20 on a Teegul III mount.

Exceptionally bad seeing made focus quasi-impossible. Contrast very poor as it was shot during the day. This is a stack of a 90s AVI that I find surprisingly good, considering.

Libration was at maximum for the month of February with the Eastern side of the Moon tipped into view. Mare Australis is visible in the SE.

Among the interesting features south of Mare Nectaris are the Rupes Altai range and the Vallis Rheita.

Rupes Altai is a slightly arcuate escarpment bordered by craters Piccolomini to the SE and Catharina to the NW, spanning some 440km. Pictured above is the southern region of the range and the crater Piccolomini with is curious parallel double peaks. The escarpment is a portion of the outer wall of the Nectaris Basin and reaches 4000m heights with respect to the surrounding terrain, considerably more than similar structures such as Rupes Recta and Rupes Cauchy.

Concentric rings forming the Mare Nectaris Basin

Vallis Rheita is 450km long and widest at 30km, formed from a series of overlapping craters that radiate to the center of Mare Nectaris. It is thought to have arisen from secondary events following the Nectaris impact.

ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY – Jupiter

October 8, 2022October 9, 2022 ~ Everything Geek ~ Leave a comment

Jupiter around opposition, sporting a whopping 50 arcsec diameter and shining bright at mag -2.9. Three of the four galilean satellites are visible.

Below, the apparent movement of Io over about half an hour: from directly in front of the planet (south-eastern limb) to outside the diameter, on the lower right.

ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY – Moon libration 8°N

October 8, 2022October 9, 2022 ~ Everything Geek ~ Leave a comment

The North pole of the Moon is tipped into view thanks to the current libration in latitude of about 8°, which is significant.

Photo is a one-shot through a small refractor carried by a compact EQ mount. APS-C sensor, bad seeing (it was boiling).

ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY – The Sun: sunspots AR 3006, AR 3007, AR 3008 and AR 3009

May 15, 2022October 9, 2022 ~ Everything Geek ~ Leave a comment

BUG HOTEL – Cocoon harvest

March 10, 2022October 9, 2022 ~ Everything Geek ~ Leave a comment

The bug hotel opened in the spring of 2017, offering superior accommodation and personalized services in eight spacious yet cozy 9mm by 90mm holes drilled in healthy, un-treated, pinewood that’s easy to chew through should guests wish to make modifications to the otherwise comfortable cylinders.

The particularity of this property is that one of the outer walls has been replaced by crystal-clear 6mm glass that offers spectacular views. Privacy is ensured by a hinged flap that swiftly closes when so desired.

The official designation of the property is CB-890, because you can see the bee in all 8 rooms that measure 90mm in length.

It lies just outside my window, by some flower pots next to the wall (SE) It was populated every year, starting in early spring, with the holes sealed by May. The highest number of holes occupied must have been 5 or 6. Last year (2021) was the lowest so far with only 3 taken.

The tenants are solitary bees of various species, and there are, of course, various parasites that treacherously prey on their larvae.

This pretty cigar-looking structure is made by the leaf-cutter bee:

These are made by what I believe to be mason bees:

A whole row of cocoons has been killed by the larvae of the Carpet Beetle. They manage to break the cocoon, get inside and feed on the larva.

The life cycle is as follows: there is frenetic activity in early spring, when females find (or make) a hole in a vertical structure, usually wood, and fill it up with several mounds of pollen. The bee then lays an egg on each mound, separates them with little walls of mud and seals the entrance. The egg becomes a larva that feeds on the pollen and builds a cocoon in which the bee eventually develops. The following spring it chews through the cocoon, breaks the mud wall and flies out.

Females are about half the size of males and the smaller cocoons are always closest to the entrance, as females hatch first. The larger cocoons are the males that hatch last. A dead female near the front can mean the dearth of all cocoons, as sometimes the newly hatched bee does not have the strength to chew through several separations.

ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY- The Sun

February 20, 2022October 9, 2022 ~ Everything Geek ~ Leave a comment

High altitude clouds, low Sun and high turbulence. One shot.

ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY – The Sun

January 30, 2022October 9, 2022 ~ Everything Geek ~ Leave a comment

Sunspots AR2936, AR2937 and friends, the first being amongst the largest of young solar cycle 25 and which hurled a coronal mass ejection towards Earth in the early hours of January 30th, bound to reach us February 1st or 2nd.

AR2936 has multiple dark cores larger than Earth, and the entire group stretches more than 100,000 km across the surface of the sun. That’s about 8 Earths one next to each other, or a little less than a quarter of the way to the Moon (which is 30 earths away, roughly).