Stardust

It's a start after the summer shut down.  I'be been itching to try one of these lenses so bought I used to see how they are. This is the first test on an astrotrac mount.

10 x 120 second exposures on my regular Fuji Xt2 no calibration frames. Idas LP filter

this adaptor looks to solve a couple of problems, I don't have the lens but this makes it more versatile 

On 29/05/2020 at 12:24, wornish said:

I have just ordered my first reflector a Celestron Edge HD925. can't wait to give it a go.

that should be very good indeed

As an update on the 180 MAK I'm quite pleased with this 200 frame stack 

A 3 pane mosaic each or 65 frames Skymax 180 Fujifilm Xt2

if dimmed the background and taken down the blue which i think looks better

I agree that less stars would look better, i just grabbed the first one i had but i think i have more suitable ones. As a concept  i think it adds a nice contextual background. The only time I have seen stars around the Moon was during an eclipse and we know they are there just cant see them. I will play a bit more with the technique, this was a first go. 

Full Moon from last night overlaid on a background star scape of mine. Not sure about this, first time i've tried it and I guess it's a marmite technique. Fuji Xt2 skymax 180, 6 pane mosaic 

7 hours ago, B4silio said:

Wow!

Glorious colors and the amount of details is simply stunning! I love the moon one day before or after full, as it has so much more depth, and you've captured that beautifully!

 

thank you, might be a bit flat tonight

15 hours ago, Sunshine said:

Smashing moonshot!

thank you

6 pane mosaic each of 250 frames with my fuji xt2 and skymax180

Don't try this till you have a tracker, shorter focal lengths are more forgiving on tracking. A Pentax  M135 f3.5 is pretty good and very cheap. you can then get a pentax to canon adaptor.  

Zoom lenses tend not to be that great for our purpose. You'd be better off with a prime lens. to give you an idea this shot was with an old M42 Zeiss 135mm f3.5 lens on a tracker mount and stacking frames. A Tamron 90mm macro f2.5 the older is a very flat field lens. You don't need autofocus and i'm sure there'll be a lot more lens recomendations..

This is my best Hi res shot to date, taken with a skymax 180 zwo224 & 2.5x power mate 100 frames stacked

brilliant set of images

Come through nicely, I was on this last night just in HA

superb hi res images

7 hours ago, johninderby said:

The ES is  very nearly as good as the Powermate in most scopes. Maybe in a very fast scope the ES might be only 95% as good. 

Had the ES 2” 2x but it was a big heavy lump though.. Opticstar does the same tele extender at a bit better price.

http://www.opticstar.com/Run/Astronomy/Astro-Accessories-Telescopes-Opticstar.asp?p=0_10_5_1_8_56

cheers for that, looks like a hunt round at Astrofest could be in order

thanks for all the feedback guys. I use the 2.5 & 5x powermates with my Lunar & planetary cams along the the Televue barlows at times.  It's only going to be on the Moon with my Fujifilm XT2 so I'll look at prices but the ES might be enough for that set up. 

cheers

David 

Wondering if anyone uses an explore scientific  2x 2" tele extender or powermate with a dslr? 

I have a cheap 2" 2x revelation barlow that works quite well. I thought I'd  try a 2.5x powermate. Apart from the vignette I thought the lunar image was cleaner. This got me thinking that a 2" would be better. The explore one is more appealing on price.

Sunday was clear so out with some scopes. This was with the omc140 and fuji xt2  camera. 2 panes each of 115 stacked video frames. 

We went 3 years ago and didn't see the lights. Very stormy weather.

2 hours ago, Alan White said:

How come you got a clear sky down on Kent?
I am only in South Essex and it clouded over for the whole event, then of course cleared!

it was a couple of hour window in the clouds, normally its what you had.

I did make a change to be clear for an event

My shot of the eclispe  with a Skymax 127 Fuji Xt2 2 panes each of 200 frames stacked