Hmmm, I bought a new brolly about 6 weeks ago, it hasn't rained since until this morning. Probably a good idea to buy another.

Nice images, you can see the curve of the horizon And real "exam weather" ...

That smoke has been a real issue these last few days, there's ash on everything ... hereabouts there seems to be two plumes, one I think from the Mournes & one from a major fire at Ballypatrick Forest which has been burning for days but hasn't had the same coverage as some of the others.

Thankfully not as destructive as those in the USA. Could do with some rain to wash the pollen & smoke out of the air ... the haze is awful & my eyes are itching horribly!

My "thunderstorm alert system" (migraine of a special type) triggered at 0900 yesterday (29th) but cleared at 1600.

Superb imaging of a difficult fast moving object!

Have you had a go at Nanosail-D?

I've used MICE (for solar & lunar surface mosaics) and am very happy with it : but I've declined the EULA which goes with the Silverlight application required to play Photosynth. Read the EULA carefully and I think you'll see why.

Saturday March 26th: The Sun has many spots visible in white light; there are five active areas in the eastern sector (plus a very small sixth near the west limb).


2011 Mar 26, 1055 UT. WO FLT 110, Lunt solar wedge, ND 3.0 & Wratten 29 (deep red) filters, prime focus, DMK41; 80% resize.

Here's a closeup of the main active area (AR 11176):


2011 Mar 26, 1038 UT. WO FLT 110, Lunt solar wedge, ND 3.0 & Wratten 29 (deep red) filters, 3x tele-extender, DMK21.

And here's the main activity (south of the solar equator) in hydrogen alpha:


2011 Mar 26, 1119 UT. WO FLT 110, Solarscope SF-100 Ha filter set, 2x Powermate, DMK41: 2 frame mosaic, 55.5% resize; full size version here.

Was still at minimum (around 3.75V) on March 1st but on March 15th had risen to 3.66V ... just about noticeably brighter to the naked eye. Watch the end of this eclipse carefully, there won't be another one for 27 years!

I wish I had .... Dull, dull, dull. What a pity that they couldn't have found a less shallow presenter; I think Michio Kaku would have done a good job of presenting this material (and might have avoided some of the glaring oversimplifications too).

Here are my images from the 27th, both made with Canon 40D & 17-40mm f/4 zoom used at 17mm, f/4.0, ISO 400.

8 sec exposure of early pass, this is a crop from the centre of the frame:


60 sec exposure of the late pass, note the track fading close to gamma Ceti; this is the whole frame resized: the dome of light pollution is from Coleraine 

Very interesting: I nearly missed the early pass as I was busy doing other things but managed to "snatch" a couple of short exposures. I was much better prepared for the late pass but didn't realise that the satellite would be going into shadow so close to the start of the pass. Our different locations show quite clearly, from my house the ISS passed very close indeed to gamma Ceti as it was fading. After the ISS went into shadow it remained visible (onboard lights shining through windows?) just barely visible to the naked eye.

... have just come round the limb; AR 11163 isn't much ...


2011 Feb 26, 1135 UT.

... but AR 11164 is complex & with scope for lots of flare activity.


2011 Feb 26, 1134 UT.

Here's a hydrogen alpha view of the north east area of the disc showing the ARs and related prominence activity:


2011 Feb 26, 1339 UT.

All images made with William Optics FLT 110 4.3" f/7 fluorite triplet refractor & Imaging Source cameras. White light images with Lunt solar wedge, ND 3.0 & W29 (deep red) filters, 4x Powermate, DMK21. Ha with Solarscope SF-100 Ha filter set, 2x Powermate & DMK41.

Thanks guys ...

Yeah, there's ice in the upper atmosphere ... probably responsible for the "soupy" appearance of the sky behind the low level cloud banks too.

Lovely colours!

Finally, the whole disc mosaic:


2011 Feb 15, 0001-0026 UT. William Optics FLT 110 4.3" fluorite triplet apo refractor, 2x Powermate, W29 (deep red) filter, Imaging Source DMK41 camera: 19 frame mosaic, 23% resize: full size version here.

Apparent diameter 32.47 arc min. Colongitude 51.9 degrees. Illumination 85.2%. Solar inclination 1.3 degrees; libration in latitude +01 deg 42 min; libration in longitude -07 deg 26 min. Altitiude 44.8 degrees.
   

I think you've got our weather - that's just typical late Feb weather on the North Coast of Ireland!