Steve Ward

Looking at Sat24 you should see the haze drift of in about half an hour or so Roger ... 🌞

Early attempts through the white veil proved unsatisfactory but thankfully it drifted away so I got a second bite. Rapidly shimmering view but caught enough to play with.

A ten minute window between him clearing the trees and the clouds rolling over ... plenty of time ...

Well as it was the best data I've captured in about eight years (admittedly I wasn't capturing any for seven of those ... 🤣) I think I'll stick this one in the pot ... Canon EOS 1000D , Tal 100RS , 1.8x Barlow (modded down from 2x to suit set-up) , Baader ND3.8imaging film , Oiii filter. 100 frames stacked from 240 caught , processed in PIPP , Autostakkert 3 , Registax 5 , GIMP.

And just for the hell of it here's one extreme to the other , first is what I look for when I'm checking my through my frames in Reg 5 purely as a preview tool , second sure ain't ... !!!

A million and one things to do and wet day meant a slim chance of any fun today ... But just had time to put the shopping away before the blue patch arrived and I jumped on it in a flash ... superb seeing meant I could choose 100 great frames from just 240 shot , why can't it be like this all the time eh ... ?

Nice work sir ... 🙂 Needs flipping horizontally though ... 😉

First session mid-morning was a complete waste of time , had to take a break for an hour or so but managed to catch another gap or two at about 15:30. The view was remarkable , I only shot a quick 43 frames in the gap but the first 18 were an unbroken run of nigh on perfect frames ... never seen the like in ten years ...

Another early session before the grey blanket returned , capturing as soon as I had a clear disc at 06:30 ...

Was having a look back over my May captures and it's as though they were plucked randomly from a collection of images. I've put a little video together just because I felt like something to do while waiting for the Moon to rise ... 🌞 I usually use NASA/SDO data for these but this time I've used my own captures . The YT link is here if it's easier viewing ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDQR5_TkF2c back and forth mpeg4.mp4

Touch of deja vu anyone .... ? Have just redone the processing taking a little more care to remove the thinly veiled frames that I chucked in last time ... "More haste , Less speed ...

Certainly was sir , I had a second look in the gap after lunch but it wasn't worth the effort to press the shutter. Here's hoping for better luck early doors tomorrow.

I tried ... 🤣

I got it mainly to try and squeeze a bit more retail in my usual stuff as it's a couple of million MP bigger sensor wise , but I haven't had a decent blue patch to play with it in yet so sticking with the trusty 1000D until I see if I can get it to behave as I want.. Chose it because it's the same battery as the 1000D and more importantly the same DIGIC III processor . Tried "upgrading" to the 1100D years back but the DIGIC IV chip and software will not allow the same detail as the 1000D.

A rare excursion out in the dark for me these days , a quick test of the 'new' Canon 450D that I picked up for £40.00 last week (clean as a whistle and only 3000 on the clock , but it's diopter's bust ... but that's not needed when it's shoved up the back of a 'scope and tethered ... 😉 ) Was getting ready for the eclipse shoot I had planned but that's likely to be thwarted by the weather now ... ☹️ Shot 240 frames , stacked 120 of them. The orientation's a bit off as I had to rotate the camera rather than adjust the variable Barlow.

Early bird and all that , out capturing data at 06:30 watching the bank of cloud approaching apace . Seeing marginally better first thing but I watched it deteriorate with every set shot .

Or knowing that we were the only two silly buggers trying to see through it ... 🤣

Well done for getting anything recognisable today through the awful shimmer ...

Clear here too , I was going to spend the evening shooting the Moon for a change but it's not worth rearranging the kit for it , here's to better conditions all round at 06:30 tomorrow ... 🌞

Just had a second look here , plugged the camera in , couldn't believe how bad the seeing was , unplugged the camera and came back indoors ... 🤣

Shimmering mess first thing , but slung a couple of dozen rough ones in the pot anyway , will take a second bite this afternoon I hope .

It was 'orrible Roger , but found enough good frames among the garbage ... 😉

Brief window first thing so up at the crack to catch it ...

Had to wait a while for the blue today , but well worth the wait as the seeing was greatly improved after the wet had passed . Selected 150+ from the 600 shot , but that was too many because the "not so good'uns" just started to mush the tiny pores and details that were on show , so I went back through the good'uns with a very critical eye and reselected just 45 real 'crispies' . It was well worth the extra bit of work ... 😉

Dire seeing again , trying to find decent frames with crisp detail in three widely spaced regions simultaneously proved a real struggle so I concentrated on the regions on the limbs and let the middle do whatever ... 😉