The Dutch Observatory

The Astronomical League’s Analemma Program. After taking measurements for a year, I finished the project in April, and did submit my results after I completed the write up, produced the graphs, and made the calculations.  The purpose of the project is to calculate, based only on the data you collected, the latitude of where you are, the tilt of the Earth, as well as the eccentricity of the orbit of our Earth around the Sun. On June 7th I was informed that I had met the requirements for the project. But not for the first time, the AL managed to spell my name incorrect on the certificate, so today I did receive the corrected version and I can close the book on this project.

The Sun 2015-10-07.  Solar activity again very low with no flares to report in the last two days.  Sunspot area has decreased to just 100 millionths and the total spot count today has decreased to 2.  AR2427 which still could be seen a little at the beginning of our outreach session at Heard Mixon Elementary, disappeared from our view later in the session because of the Wilson effect.

We did an outreach event for Kate’s Club of Atlanta at Panola Mountain State Park.  During lunch I took the time to make a few images of the Sun.  Here a full disk image as well as a close up of AR2305.

My daughter Tanya placed two pinhole cameras in Atlanta.  One in Cabbage town, the second one in Midtown.  The Midtown image came out great and is shown here.  The period covered is from the Summer Solstice until the Winter Solstice 2014.  This is the best Solar graph we have gotten in the last year.  We’re ready for the next cycle from the Winter solstice until Spring Equinox or Summer Solstice.

OK this week it is time to remove the pinhole cameras if you obtained one earlier this year, or if you made one yourself to generate a Solargraph.  Between now and the 21st, the Sun will only drop another 5 seconds which is only 1/6 of the dot that the Sun generates on the photo paper.  Here is the Solargraph made from my deck behind my house between the Summer Solstice and today.  The washed out areas on either side are created by small trees obstructing the Sun.  The dark area on top of the image is the canopy of a 70′ tree at the side of the deck that obstructs the sun in the summer months from above.

Sometimes when I meet a person who shows a real interest in astronomy and especially the Sun, I offer them to get a personal Solar Imaging session in which they capture the image, and process it all by themselves using my equipment.   Last Friday a youngster by the name of Christian Johnson came over with his mother, two twin brothers and his teacher to image the Sun. He handled the scope (focussing and positioning the sun in the center of the chip) Selected the camera settings to his liking (gamma, gain, and exposure time based on the histogram) and make the capture run. He than processed the image in Registax and Photoshop himself with a very nice result for a first time solar image!!!

Another observing session from the Dove Fields at CE. We had 13 people on the field. Five visitors who were there also on Sunday at Lake Varner, and Kitty made a very nice closeup of the comet.  I tried to do too much by bringing my SVC80 and trying to capture the comet through Frank’s refractor.  Could not get the comet on the chip of the DMK or maybe bring it in focus, so I lacked the time to keep track of my Canon.  Therefore limiting today to only one image and waiting for another chance.

A week and a half ago I received a request from someone in Ohio whose son was doing a school project on the Sun.  He wanted to measure the locations of Sun spots on different days and measure how they changed over time so he could calculate the rotation period of the Sun.  In order to do so he asked for permission to use some of my images.   Now everyone knows that you can use my images for any purpose, and I submit my images to the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers, but this request for a student project made me really feel great!   Today I received the final version of the data he measured and used in the project and I would like to share this with everyone.  Congratulations Mickey with this project, and thanks for allowing me to share it here.  You did a real great job at this!!

Tuesday we did the first of a two day solar event at Hightower Trail Elementary in Conyers. Great students and teachers! The students saw the sun, the active region which produced the largest CME impact since 2003 and learned about the satellites that help us study the sun.  Back on Wednesday for the second day and Friday for the 8th Space Camp at Hightower.

Yesterday I received an email from a Social Circle resident who was looking for someone to help his daughter with a Middle School project on Constellations.  Well, that email came to the right person.  Tonight Hannah’s family, together with her friend Taylor, were over at the Dutch Observatory to talk about Constellations. Unfortunatly it was overcast and they did not get to see what we discussed, but the planetary program on the PC gave a good indication of what they would have seen.  I guess they went home with a lot more than they bargained for.    I believe they will do well with this project.