Solar Eclipse 12th August 2026

Unable to get to a location with clear views of the Western horizon, I had to make do with observing from my back garden in Freshwater.

I was able to image from first contact to just past maximum.

Equipment:

Pentax K-S2 camera

Tamron AF 70-300mm LD Di zoom lens, set at 300mm

Pentax Rear Converter K T6-2X

Overall focal length 600mm

This image is a collage of three frames, a few sunspots makes the images more interesting.

My youngest daughter was lucky enough to be in Mallorca, right at the end of the path of totality and grabbed this image

My middle daughter was at a good location in East Cowes and grabbed these images

Still plenty of activity on the Sun

June 25th 2026, a few sunspots, filaments and a nice flare.

White light (Left)

Scope: Sky-Watcher 80ED PRO

Camera: QHY 268C

Ha (Right)

Scope: Coronado PST

Camera: Altair GP-CAM3 178M

Flare with a nice twirl to finish!

Impressive Solar Flare

 09:30, Friday April 24, Freshwater, Isle of Wight.

This magnificent flare was the first thing I saw after setting up for a day of solar imaging. On the left the Sun in white light, on the right the sun in Ha.

The white light image was taken with a Sky Watcher ED80 DS Pro, Baader solar film, QHY268C camera and SharpCap. The Ha image was taken using a Coronado PST, Altair GP-CAM3 178M camera and AltairCapture, it comprises two images, the first (centre) a normal exposure showing surface detail, the second (behind) overexposed to reveal prominences and flares. The flare appears to have originated from AR4419 which was extremely bright in Ha.

The images were stacked from 60 second videos, using RegiStax6 and processed with ImPPG and Affinity Photo 2.

 

New M51

After nearly two years of zero deep sky astrophotography I finally got round to doing a full recalibration of the rig. I chose M51 as my test target.

The image is made up from four 3 hour sessions, 17th, 18th, 19th March and 6th April, 90 x 120s exposures each night. It's looking good so far.

Scope:        Sky-Watcher ED80 DS Pro

Camera:      QHY268C

Mount:        Sky-Watcher NE6 Pro

Images stacked using Deep Sky Stacker and processed using Affinity Photo 2.

First Perseid of the year

My first Perseid meteor image of 2025

Equipment:

Pentax K-S2

16mm Samyang lens

Manfrotto tripod

Capture details:

F2.0

ISO1600

10sec

Partial Solar Eclipse 29th March 2025

Some cloud affected images early on, but these were kept to maintain an uninterrupted sequence.

Images taken at 15s intervals.

First sequence taken using a white light filter.

Scope:      Sky-Watcher ED80 DS Pro scope.

Camera:   QHY268C

Mount:      Sky-Watcher NE6 Pro

Second sequence Ha

Scope:     Coronado PST Ha solar scope.

Camera:   Altair GP-CAM3 178M

Mount:      Sky-Watcher NE6 Pro

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS 19th October 2024

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS was not well placed for me on the date. This was taken just before it disappeared behind the next door house, hence the dark shadow bottom left.

Equipment:

Scope: Sky-Watcher 80ED PRO

Camera: QHY 268C

Mount: Sky-Watcher NEQ6 Pro

Stacked with Deep Sky Stacker, processed with Affinity Photo 2