The Sun Today

Here's some pictures of the sun today. There were some good spots, hoping they get better as we reach solar maximum.

1/1250, ISO 200.

Observing Report: 2 New Messier's + Solar Images

This is the first observing report of 2013. I haven’t been out a lot this year, this is my longest session, about 45 minutes. I completely forgot about the Messier marathon, and  when I remembered a week later it had been cloudy most of March. I’m hoping to get out a lot more this month, starting with tonight. I went out at 8:15pm, with two new Messier’s on my list; M40 and M94. Transparency and seeing was average, with no cloud cover. However, there is a lot of light pollution. I started the night by adapting my eyes, observing Jupiter and the Orion nebula first. Both were setting in the south-west sky. Then I moved onto M40, a insignificant double star. It is in the constellation Ursa Major, by the Big Dipper. After a little time looking I confirmed it. Not much to see. The highlight of the night was M94, a spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici. I was suprised by the brightness, a small smudge with a bright nucleus. I closed out the night by looking at a few open clusters around Orion and the star Sirius. Overall, tonight was satisfying and can’t wait to get out more. Two new Messier’s make that a total of 59/110.

I also got some solar images earlier today.

1/1250 sec., ISO 200