sorrimen

3 hours ago, dweller25 said:

Those are great images @sorrimen 👍

Which ADC are you using ?

My local seeing can be poor so am thinking about an ADC.

Thanks! I’m using the ZWO ADC, though the mark I version without the bubble level (makes no difference for newtonians).

Note that an ADC won’t really help with seeing, just atmospheric dispersion which is mostly a function of how high up in the sky your target is. I’d still recommend it regardless, though if seeing is bad it’s still going to be poor images unfortunately. If anything I find it’s been most helpful where seeing is good but my target is low.

3 hours ago, Space Cowboy said:

Saturn has come out very well with the ADC.

Very important piece of the imaging train for the UK I’ve found. Really improves my images

7 hours ago, Kon said:

Very nice set of images. Saturn has come out nicely.

Certainly pleased with the banding. Shame we don’t have the volume of nights we had last year!

8” dob, asi462, 2x barlow, ADC

Pretty good seeing with first jupiter though poor on the second (still some ganymede detail!), average for saturn. First planetary images of mine in a while!

19 hours ago, Astronomist said:

really nice images! I will have to try this when (if) I finish my eq platform project. Mine probably wont be accurate enough for 10s subs though

I’ve found balancing and polar alignment to be very critical for good tracking. Any wind and you can forget most subs. 

10s isn’t worth it for me given how few subs I can stack.

Hi all 

Just a few of my first DSO images with a new EQ platform sold to me by @cajen2who I must thank for giving my dob the opportunity to image DSOs! 

All images apart from the final M31 are with my 8” f/6 dob on an Asterion Light EQ platform, with an asi462. Used sharpcap, DSS, Siril, photoshop. Most subs were ~2-3s, but some were 5s up to 10s (not so many as it’s hard to get good ones). 

All from a decent bottle 7 site.

M13. Focus a little soft on the second, but nice to see the different coloured stars.

M57

M27

M71

Crescent nebula. Real shot in the dark target as I’ve never gone for it visually. 

Albireo

M31. This one is just my canon 70d and 55-250 is stm at 250mm. 15s subs on the platform, around 5min total integration.

Hi all,

Been a little while since I’ve done any posting so hope you’re all well!

Wondering if any of you know roughly what time of year Damian Peach tends to update his website with the previous year’s images? I’ve only been in the astro game a few months so didn’t catch when he added the 2021 images and I’m waiting excitedly for the 2022 ones. Can always see a few of them on Twitter, but the having them all dated on the website means more for me to see 😁

Cheers

Ross

Down in Plymouth today but no luck with clouds in the way. 

Hi all

A quick post to hopefully help at least one of you avoid my mistake. I was always wondering why my frame rates were well below what were advertised. I always put it down to my laptop just not being up to scratch despite having an SSD and USB3.0. Looking at the charts today, my frame rates matched up perfectly with the 12bit rates despite recording in 8bit. Turns out all I had to do was click ‘USB High speed mode’ on in Sharpcap and voila! Frame rates matching what is advertised.

Rather annoying that I’ve discovered this now that planetary season is basically over…

Ross

Lovely little image there. I was going to suggest a mosaic but see you’ve beaten me to it. I’ve just done my first couple and it’s very fun! 

Get videos encompassing the whole moon. By the looks of things you could do it in 6 or so panels. I tend to find that autostakkert alone does best for lunar surface work, but only if there isn’t too much drift over the whole video. You can always restrict frames/split up videos if autostakkert is getting confused. Then use Microsoft image composite editor. You have to dig a little bit to find a download link but shouldn’t be too hard. Stick in the images and do a simple stitch, export as tiff and take it to registax and voila! 

2 hours ago, Louis D said:

Wow, someone is asking £70 for one which almost the new price when VAT is removed (£74).  Unless that person is collecting VAT, that is ridiculous.  In the US, we always price used equipment against the new, without tax, price.

It’s certainly a high price, especially as there’s another right below it for £59 (still a little high imo as most I’ve seen sell for £50). In fairness everything here is always priced with tax included so it doesn’t really come into mind when selling used, but I still think if you’re selling second hand at more expensive than a 20% discount <£100 would be you’re overpriced! 

16 hours ago, bingevader said:

I can't give a comparison, I'm afraid, but I have the 32mm Panaview and a couple of EPs around the 25mm mark.

The Panaview was my first venture into 2" EPs and I loved it and has lead me down the 82º EP route.

Yes, it's a little soft around the edges, but it's not bad for the money.

If you want something better corrected, you need to pay 2x or 3x the money and more if you want to and can afford it.

The difference in FOV, however, is super!

For me, the 82º EPs just frame things in an altogether more enjoyable way.

Yes, I know, that's completely down to the individual, but if you think you might like the experience then it's worth a go.

They are obviously cheaper second hand!

You're not close enough for me to offer to show you unfortunately.

My Panaview only got superseded by the Meade which was an end of line deal and too good to miss!

That seems to be what I’m hearing; much more money for better correction! Thankfully, even if it’s as only as good %-wise as the Starguider then it will outperform it just because of the wider aFOV. 

82 degrees seems to be around my sweet spot too 😁 Feel in love with a morpheus when I looked through it and I’m pretty hooked, despite not owning any!

Kind offer to show me, but yes south wales is a little out the way from London 😉

Thanks for the info!

8 hours ago, Louis D said:

Basically, it would have about the same field correction.

Okay perfect, thanks Louis.

Hi all

Currently own the 25mm BST Starguider, which is noticeably the weakest of the lineup. Wondering if anyone’s compared these two/has an opinion on what will be better for me. Got a standard 8” dob, and live in rather polluted skies (B7ish) so I’m wondering whether the 10x difference in mag will have a noticeable effect on views. The wider view would be good but only if it’s as good optically and the sky glow doesn’t have too negative an effect. I’ve heard the panaview can be a bit soft at the edges, but so can the BST so how do they compare?

TIA

Ross

First attempt at a mosaic. The captures were done with an asi462 but without a barlow so significantly undersampled. Now that I know what to do I may reattempt this in the future with proper sampling to get some real detail.

36 image mosaic. The tiff file is with each panel individually processed. You can clearly see the divisions between them but the detail is much better, as you’d expect. The png is a much cleaner image, but has less detail. 

Any tips appreciated!

B267870A-2D94-4DFD-B70C-5AF723D3B055.tiff

A week late, but fantastic images Neil. I’ve got the raw videos for a mosaic waiting but haven’t got round to putting it together. How did you go about creating it? 

Fantastic. Really lovely colour.

Fantastic work. I always hate my images with the spot leaving as it never gets the detail on the edge that I’d like. Can’t say the same here as you’ve absolutely nailed it! 

10 hours ago, SzabiB said:

I don't like this topic....made me want to buy the Baader zoom + barlow 😪

Just finishing my BST collection at the moment and already looking for new eyepieces.

Just a question, anyone tried the Baader zoom for planetary imaging with phone attached to it? 

Haven’t tried, but I imagine it would be too wide. My gosky one would have no chance, but apparently the nexyz has the same 55mm diameter as the bhz. Not sure whether it would work or not!

Brief session with okay transparency and pretty good seeing. Most importantly first ever (albeit very very diffuse and dim) viewing of the Veil. Bortle 7 with only 8” dob!!! You need good eyes to make it out but it’s certainly there. 

I’ve got a full set of BSTs and Baader zoom. Both have their uses. If you like planetary as much as or more than DSOs then absolutely pick up the zoom as it’s just fantastic for it. Other than that I only use it for deepsky on targets like the ring where zooming helps, or when I would otherwise use a 12mm or 8mm for the slightly wider FOV.

5 hours ago, astrolulu said:

Hi, the photos look very promising and the quality of detail in shots like the Rupes Recta for example seems very good for untracked photo. How many frames do you manage to collect during such a passing?

Many thanks. It was actually your post train that got me to try lunar once again. Still more practice and maybe an eq platform to get anywhere near you level, though currently resolving craters ~1.5 miles diameter I’m happy! I normally don’t get many at all, maybe 1000 max. Surface stabilisation is very hit and miss with untracked videos, but I’ve experimented with manually editing SER files to get rid of frames without the feature which should help in future.

Thanks!

Great image. Motorised focuser has been invaluable in my experience. 

20 minutes ago, PeterW said:

Did wonder if you were out when I popped my head out, looked quite stable and dark. You have seen the ET before, think I did it up from the Rec? What eyepiece were you using for the clusters, lower power might give even more stars. 

M33, now we’re really talking… I’ve only managed that from very dark skies once; never risked it round here, just goes to show what good transparency can do, pity you didn’t  pop the nebula filter in and try for the veil or pacman 

I can’t understand how you can get such deep and steady shots through the eyepiece, never works for me!

 

Amazing result!

Peter

You know what, maybe we did get it. Can’t remember the shape striking me so couldn’t say for sure. 25mm mainly. Good point; 12mm helped on the ‘faint glow’ type clusters where stars are just on the edge of resolving, but most of them were best at low power.

Was amazed in all honesty. Can’t believe I didn’t think of going for the veil! Think by that point it had sunk down anyway, but should have really gone nebula hunting as well.

Those shots are without the phone holder too, not to show off 😉

Ross

Hi all 

Lots of posts today, so thought I’d share some lunar attempts whilst I’m at it. Working on a mosaic but need to sit down and think about it given that I’m untracked. 8” dob, asi462.