Had some time to do some solar imaging this week for the first time in ages. Things are heating up up there! Here are some shots of the Sun and that massive sunspot region AR1476 that has literally been spewing C and M class solar flares all week - it's just cracking with energy.

The enormous AR1476 sunspot group has been cracking with A and C class flares over the last few days. Like AR1339 this one is visible with the (shielded) naked eye as well measuring a whopping 60,000 miles across. Have  a look at the to scale image of the Earth to get an idea of just how big this really is.

Now for something a bit different. I've had my Astrotrac for over a year now but have barely used it until recently due to work commitments or extended periods of poor skies. Well we've finally had quite a few clear nights recently so it was time to take it out for a spin.

Yet another Greater Orion Nebula shot. Yes I know, have been there before but it's still my favourite object in the night sky. A wondrous example of what our now universal city light pollution is hiding from us.

It seems to be an age since I was out with the telescope but we finally had a clear night this weekend, albeit one with a high waxing crescent. Despite the moon's interference I tried managed to capture some detail in the Alnitak region. Sky glow did limit exposure to 120 seconds however . Even so I was surprised at how much information the 450D managed to capture through the small William Optics refractor but will still revisit this object if we get a clear moonless night before Orion bids us adieu for another year.

This is a shot of the area close to Alnitak, the left most of the three bright stars in the constellation of Orion The Hunter. Those three starts are often called "Orion's Belt" from which the "sword" of the incredible Orion Nebula hangs (I've used the Orion Nebula and the Running Man nebula as the backdrop to this website).