tibbs1972

Thanks for your comments, I'm waiting for another clear night now, so that I can have another go and also get some more Darks and Flats as well. I believe you get flat images by covering the lens with something like a cloth or paper and shining a light through it. Is this correct ? Neil

Morning I've uploaded the origional stacked tiff to my website. It can be downloaded from the link below. I'd use save target as, as its a 58MB file. http://www.tibbles.co.uk/cassieopeia.html Neil

Hi, I've now stacked 20 and 45 images using deep sky stacker, which was really simple to use. I also used gimp to adjust the curves, I think. Luckily I had 5 darks on file, so I managed to remove some pollution as well. Seem to be a much clearer, crisper image now. I think I still need a lot of experience stacking and adjusting curves, but its a start.

Hi Pat, The widefield image is from a single exposure. Last night, I took fifty 30sec exposures, so I have got a lot of raw material to work with, but I have not tried to stack them yet. I bought myself a descent tripod, which helped immensly, much easier than being mounted on my telescope. I've never stacked any pictures with any success so far, I need to do a bit of reading and play around. Is Registax the only free software ? Best regards Neil

Pretty chuffed tonight. I saw Jupoter in the east this morning, and also saw Andromeda for the first time with my Camera on a 20sec exposure, which you can see in the bottom RH corner of the second image. I'm pretty pleased about finding Andromeda, as it's the firsy galaxy I've ever spotted.

It's a clear night tonight, now the rain has cleared. Image from a quick 20sec, F4.5, ISO800 exposure.

Well done, keep up the good work.

Thanks Isabelle / Dave, I grew up watching sci-fi movies with fantastic space stations such as in 2001 or Star Trek, so its fascinating for me to think of what we as a race have achieved with the Skylab, Mir and the ISS. Next step, space tourism, hopefully in my lifetime, maybe. On the other hand, maybe not such a fantasy... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12915976

WOW ! Just caught the ISS going over the UK. Wasn't expecting it tonight, but saw it as I was just now watering the garden. I ran upstairs and leaned out of the window with my Minocular. As it's been such a beautiful clear day, I could see a bright shiny centre, and I believe I could make out the solar panels. Another amazing sighting for me. It lasted about 3 minutes. :) No clouds tonight, looking forward to the best couple of hours observing this month, I hope.

Thanks all for the support and the bed knob suggestion. Let's hope I don't need to do this for a while.

I've had a natural fear of collimating and thus far upto now have not tried. Tonight I watched a few videos on youtube and took a crack at it, one of which I've linked below. It's quite tricky holding the secondary mirror trying to align it with the focuser. The other problem on the secondary mirror, is that celestron have somehow cross-threaded one of the adjustment screws. This caused me no end of trouble. I pricked a hole in a black lens cap, which I then used to collimate. The main mirror was eaiser to adjust, but I got a bit confused for a start, as on the Celestron Powerseeker, the locking screws are exactly the same as the mirror adjustment screws. This made things more difficult as neither are labelled. After about an hour, I managed to get both mirrors dead centre. This is one of lifes little tasks that I won't look forward to in the future, as its pretty frustrating adjusting the secondary mirror. At least I won't be diving in without a clue in the future. Neil

Saturn is giving me some problems. For the last week, I've tried imaging with my DSLR camera to no avail. All I get is a white blob on the image. I know the telescope is ok, as through the 20mm and 15mm lenses I get a crystal clear image. I've tried every exposure time and ISO setting I can think off, but the prime focus direct mount method just doesn't work with planets. I decided to grab my old £30 webcam and tape it to the Cannon T-ring adapter. After finding some free webcam software, to my surprise, I managed to get an outline of Saturn. I have to say I am pretty chuffed to even manage an image of this resolution and feel like I've succeeded in my goal, even though the image isn't that clear. I have seen some threads on this site stating that webcams and CCD cameras are better than DSLR cameras for imaging planets. I am starting to believe these statements are correct. Anyway, heres the image I managed to get with the cheap webcam. I think I may have to invest in a CCD camera in the future.

Superb Video, great pictures and footage. I'm extremely jealous. Neil

I Had another go tonight without the moon filter, focused again and again, it was worse than last night. I'll live with last nights image. Thanks for the advice. Regards Neilh

Jim, The image throught the my 20mm eyepiece is much clearer than the camera. It may be that the moon filter I used was low spec. With the camera, it's a DSLR Cannon EOS 1000D, so I can zoom in once it's attached and it does come into focus. On the live view display, it looks ok. I've tried lots of different ISO settings and exposure times, but can't seem to get as much detail and focus as with my 20mm eyepiece observing directly. I also had trouble last night trying to get a good picture of Saturn other than a white blob, which is annoying as that kept me up until 0245. Regards Neil "Constructive critisism is always welcome".

Good luck with Andromeda, I spotted it 2 weeks ago about 3:45am. Its a long wait.

I Had another crack at the old favourite again.

Thanks, I managed to get rid of some of the LP by reducing the ISO.

Hi I was taking a widefiled shot tonight by laying my DSLR camera flat on its back for a 60sec exposure at ISO400, F3.5. To my surprise, I caught the Advanced Land Observing Satellite "DAICHI" (ALOS), which apparantly is a satellite developed to contribute to the fields of mapping, precise regional land coverage observation, disaster monitoring, and resource surveying. See attached photo and flightpath from stellarium below. I also noticed a second satellite low down in the photo, but I am not sure what this one is, as its not on stellarium. Regards Neil

My next scope will probably be a 200mm, as the light collected will be much much grater than my 130mm ( focal length 1000mm ) Celestron Powerseeker. In my opinion, it's always best to go for the larger aperture.

I would'nt worry, for myself I won't be around in 100 years. For those that are, the way technology is advancing, we will either be able to move or destroy it in 100 years.

I'll put it this way, with my 5" scope I've been in awe of some of the things I've seen since January. For the scope your after, because of the increased aperture size of 8", it will probably collect twice as much light. You should get much better, clearer observations. Good luck with the purchase, hope you have many clear nights ahead. Regards Neil

Sounds like it will be amazing, hope all goes well. I imagine the Pyramids with a backdrop of Orions belt would be fantastic, if you get to go anywhere near them. I'll get there one day. Regards Neil

Sorry, I didn't answer the second part of the question. I believe, as the camera is connected to the telescope and the 18-55mm lens is removed, the focal length is 1000mm, as I've done with my Camera and Telescope. Regards Neil