Sun Baked Observatory Explores Venus Atmosphere During Solar Transit

 

Sun Baked Observatory Explores Venus Atmosphere During Solar Transit
We are constantly developing new ways to process and extract data from raw solar imaging. Much of these efforts are experimental and subjective. This time we've enhanced the atmosphere thickness surrounding Venus during a solar transit when Venus was passing in front of the Sun, and looked for Venusian atmospheric detail across the planet.

Topmost Image: This is the final step 4 in the processing cycle. Here we see Venus moving across the face of the sun, approaching the solar limb. The Sun and Venus final result show the appearance of detail in the atmosphere of the planet and a surrounding atmosphere of varying thickness outwards from Venus. The color shows the differentials.

Immediately Above: Step 2 in image processing will determine if any data is present in the raw image as related to the planet and the surrounding region of atmosphere, and if it warrants continued processing.

Left: This is step 3 in the process after

step 2 determines the presence of imagery on Venus and adjacent features, suggesting a surrounding band of thick atmosphere that sunlight is filtering through. The changing solar plane also shows detail closer to the Sun's limb as it receives color encoding to specify the intensity levels of objects discerned. This is also a first level step in reducing the luminosity differential between the Sun and Venus.

At left: Step one in the solar-venus process is to acquire a raw image of Venus traveling across the face of the extremely bright sun. At these great and vast luminosity differences, Venus looks like a black featureless disk, i.e. until processing can view the underlying sheath of light differentials. This image is first processed to reduce the effects of Venus' motion and increase the clarity and sharpness of underlying features.

Atmospheric Study - Spectacular Captured Weather Subsystems

Atmospheric Study - Spectacular Captured Weather Subsystems for Extended Observations
It was discovered that spectacular weather subsystems exist in and around regional active volcanic mountains where it can be clear in one area and obscured and raining in another. How is this useful to astronomical imaging? Can the telescope view sky objects during rain? Do these weather subsystems divide and what are their rates of changeability?

PHOTO

In a general example, entire mountain ranges can disappear while others remain visible, depending on weather conditions. In other specific examples, clouds are seen in front of some clear area mountains and not others.

WEATHER POSITION These weather systems move inside, over top side, surrounding the sides, and extending to the base of volcanic mountains.

VOLCANIC MOUNTAINS

There are five main surrounding active volcanic mountain regions, each at varying sizes, distances and elevations. 

LOCATION

The volcanic mountains border on the Pacific ocean where a weather front can spill over into the mountainous formed depressive bowl and weather is thus held captive. Weather inside the bowl is shown to move around, affording clear views in one location and not in another. Sometimes these systems are static more or less, or can be in a high rate of motion and change.

RATE OF CHANGE - SIZE - CONTENT
Weather can change in 20 minutes and one weather cell may have a different rate of change compared to another. Cells can vary in size and content. Some cover entire mountains while others are seen as small prevailing cloud systems obscuring a small mountainous fraction.

CONCLUSION

During daytime, subsystems are visually spotted and the telescope is directed to open areas of the sky for astro imaging or to specific mountains for conservation study. At night, weather subsystems are found with imaging cameras that see in the dark.

LED Light Pollution Haze Craze

Taipei City core is a 9.9+ Bortle rated light polluted center. Light pollution is the
most heavy during the early night when most lights are on. Imagine a tall skyscraper
with 250 families and light shining through their 500 windows until they fall
asleep. Now imagine 350 skyscrapers with 175,000 lighted windows! City lights
include incandescent, fluorescent, sulfur, mercury vapor, and LED styles.

LED Light Pollution Creating Atmospheric Haze Craze

"The rising tide of energy-efficient LED street lighting could prove a double-edged sword in terms of light pollution impacts on wildlife. LED technology lends itself to control in terms of both beampattern and dimming/switching; therefore careful deployment of LED lighting using higher levels of control could abate some of the problems caused by light pollution. However, the replacement of HPS street- and area lighting with LED could introduce a major change in the color of urban skyglow. The higher blue content in LED lighting is more subject to scattering in the atmosphere, especially by cloud cover, thus increasing skyglow. In addition, the blue spectra have a greater impact on melatonin production and could further disrupt sleep patterns in diurnal animals, including humans."

Quick Solutions
The quick solution is only a small temp fix, i.e. to filter out the blue LED spectrum in the night sky. Filters are available for cut and broadband selections and the new IR are specially designed to penetrate atmosphere as well. It will be challenging for telescopes to shoot through such heavy light pollution, however the new digital telescopes are coming, such as the Unistellar eVscope (which does not accept filters) that are designed to handle light pollution in urban core areas.

Effects of Light Pollution

http://www.deepskywatch.com/Articles/what-can-i-see-through-telescope.html

"Living in a light polluted urban area does not mean you can't observe the deep sky. However keep in mind that only a handful can be seen and details of them will be far less impressive. The following images illustrate the effects of light pollution on some of the brightest deep sky objects, which are observed using the same telescope from different locations. In this particular example - The Great Andromeda galaxy through a large telescope."

Image Credit

Light pollution affects fainter DSO such as distant galaxies even more dramatically. Above is how the Virgo galaxy cluster may look through a large telescope in different locations. Strong light pollution will make many fainter galaxies invisible.

Heavy Light Pollution Plan

Set up a plan for observing deep sky objects from an area with a moderate light pollution. Focus on objects like open clusters, double stars, brightest emission nebulae and bright planetary nebulae with high surface brightness.

Tips for Light Polluted Regions

* Early morning hours people have their lights off and are sleeping

* Image on nights of less smog - the combination of smoke, fog, and light pollution

* Shield from the direction of the heaviest light pollution sources

* Cut spectroscopic wavelengths: smog, haze, atmosphere/light pollution sources

* Check predictive maps for nights with the least pollution

* Keep a monitor on the ratio of humidity to air pollution

* Atmospheric contaminants can act as a reflective shield to the night sky

* Monitor particulate matter air content, less content offers greater transparency

* Use low noise CMOS sensors

* Look for times of minimal dust suspension

* Filter background radiation with image processing

* For extreme light pollution filters, consider the Hydrogen-Alpha line

* Use long pass filters, 50% transition from blocking to passing at about 640nm

* Consider the entire line of cutoff filters, inclusive of 742, 807, etc.

* Avoid weekend imaging sessions when night lights increase

* Buy a light pollution sensor and monitor nightly results to detect patterns

* Addtl. full scale image processing

Atmospheric Lensing Effect Discovered

Pacific Oceanic Upper Atmospheric Lensing Effect Discovery

by Mike Otis

ABSTRACT

I have discovered an oceanic upper atmosphere lensing/filtering effect that takes place with a layer of light haze above Pacific Ocean regions of the Earth.

The upper level haze, in its light state, is comprised of a semi-spherical plane of co-existing thin water droplets causing a lensing/filtering effect that contributes to telescopic function. Generally this can vastly improve "seeing conditions" and imaging results.

This giant lens can cover the entire sky or sky sections around clouds at any given time. The density of haze and water vapor determines some lensing/filtering properties. Studies show vast improvements in telescope seeing, a widespread phenomena recorded across various oceanic locations 1,2,3,4.

Water droplets are not the conventional pure H2O composition. With seawater evaporation and saltwater proximity, some intermixing levels of salt dissipate into the upper atmosphere, producing lensing cells of NaCl with a ratio of 1:1 of sodium and chloride ions. This composition propels the lensing effect of which the telescope becomes the primary and the hazing is a tertiary filtration lens. In another analysis, the atmosphere hazing curvature becomes the primary objective of specified index and the telescope an ocular of specified magnification.

Sea coast data examples confirming the effectual phenomena that results in exceptional imaging are by (1) D. Parker, Coral Gables, FL USA, Atlantic Ocean, (2) C. Go, Cubu, Philippines, Camotes Sea, Pacific Ocean, (3) M. Otis, Taiwan, Pacific Ocean, and (4) D. Peach, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Atlantic Ocean. Additional confirming data sets available.