My objectives were to image Venus with the ASI290MM and the Sun with the 60Da.
It was 50F when I went out side at 0945 and has warmed up to 55F as I finished up at 1100. There was not a cloud to be seen when I started, and a few small, low and puffy clouds are visible to the west now. There was a slight, but occasional breeze when I started, but the breezes were noticeably more brisk as I finished up. Astrospheric carried the seeing conditions as below average, an that seems consistent with what I was observing on the display.
The NP101/G11 were already set up. I added the ASI290/2.5x PM and the 60Da for imaging.
I had hoped to time my activities so that I could capture Venus first as it approached the meridian, and then swing over to the sun as it cleared the trees. I was running ahead of schedule and had to wait maybe 10 minutes for the sun to clear the trees. Not bad?!
I used the ASI290 to capture Venus in L, just to make sure that I would have something to show for my session no matter what. I also captured in IR and UV with hopes to make a composite color image.
I captured a close up of the AR2976/AR2981 sunspot groups with the ASI290, then switched over to the 60Da for a full solar disk.
The good: Set up, power up, and acquisition went very smoothly. I uncovered no issues that require work. I did remember to replace the ASI178 with the ASI290.
The (not too) bad: Optics need cleaning, but are quite usable.
The ugly: I had to use what a ridiculously fast exposure duration on Venus with the gain at zero. Exposure times with L was .33ms and the frame rate was 483 fps. I do not recall the exposure duration for IR and UV, but the frame rate for both was 177 fps. I recall changing the filter from L to IR and the dropped a lot, but was still higher than I have experienced in the past. Additionally, I would have expected the UV frame rate to be lower because that filter passes less light. As I sit here, I have no recollection of changing filters. I do distinctly recall connecting to the filter wheel, but I did not test by changing filters while watching for the filterwheel apertures to swing through the display.
As I close this email at 1119, the sun is behind a cloud.
