I'm constantly amazed that I can turn on this telescope (Celestron CPC1100) after nearly 8 months of inactivity, tell it to wake from hibernation, then have it point within a few arc minutes of the centre of the Sun. There's a nice large sunspot group currently, plus some smaller spots. I first viewed with the 40mm MK-70 at 70x, but there were a couple of distracting spots in the eyepiece, including a tiny dead bug. I then switched to the 22mm Nagler at 127x, and the Sun fit snugly within its 82° apparent field of view, 38' actual f.o.v., enlarging the spots nicely.
I did a re-alignment on the Sun, and then slewed to Venus, which was nicely within the 22mm field! I centred it and used it as the second object for alignment. According to Starry Night, it is currently 85% illuminated and 31 arc seconds in diameter, about half what it was during the transit across the Sun two years ago.
The POD is full of dust, algae, and cobwebs, so I'll leave it open today to air out, and try some observing tonight, if the mosquitoes aren't too fierce.
Temperature = 23°C
Here's a picture of the Sun a few hours ago from Big Bear Solar Observatory in California:
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