A Comedy of Errors

The fiasco began as I tried to align on 2 bright stars, Vega and Altair.  No problem locating Altair, but Vega was under the roofline of a house.  I figured I would just get close and align later when the sky got darker.  This, of course, caused a slow drift and I was unable to obtain anything more than a 15 second video.  I then went back to attempt a second alignment, finished Altair and just as I was about to zero in on Vega both of my telescope drive batteries went dead....imaging session over...nuts!

Solar Activity 11-16-2011

Unfortunately, I missed the huge prominence on 11-15-2011 because of rain in the Austin area.  Go figure, rain in Austin.  After living in this area for over 7 months, I think it has only rained once or twice.  Texas has experienced a severe drought for a long time.  Anyway, back to the sun.  Solar activity has really been on the increase for some time now after one of the longest solar minimums in over 100 years.  Here are a few images from 11-16-2011: