SAS Astronomy Picture(s) of the Month [June, 2024]
Sol in HA, the ISS and Aurora in MA
We have three non-traditional astrophotos this month!
The first pair is a set of iPhone images of aurora taken from Concord MA and Carlisle the night of May 11, 2024, during the recent CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) event!
Aurora in Concord, MA (left by Terry Riopka) and Carlisle, MA (right by Marc Lamere)
The second is the culprit responsible for the CME: the Sun itself, taken on May 21, by David Murray using an 8″ f/6 Newtonian, a solar filter and a wide band Halpha filter. This is a single frame shot at 0.005s, processed with PI and PS Camera Raw, then colorized. David is starting to dabble in Solar imaging, so keep any eye out for better and better photos to come!
Sunspots! – Photo by David Murray
And finally, we have one of my best shots to date of the ISS (International Space Station)! I caught this imaging with my ASI2600mc, using my Paramount MyT to do the satellite tracking. This is the first time I’ve used my Paramount to do satellite tracking, and it worked beautifully! It caught the ISS on the night of May 11th and tracked it until it crossed the meridian. I used Firecapture to take the video. There are *a lot* of things that can go wrong: focus, exposure, tracking, the weather, trees blocking your view, but looks like I got lucky! Next time, I’m going to try using my powermate to get a higher magnification view!
The International Space Station (May 11, 2024 @9:41pm) – Photo by Terry Riopka