Trevor N

Thanks for the comments. I’ve tried this before and failed miserably but it seemed to work this time.

A bit of poetic license here. 8 x 3 min subs taken using a star adventurer and 1200D layered over one shot of the Isle of White. I can't get that low in the South from home so pleased with the detail. 

Thanks Pete. I wouldn’t normally but Saturn is a challenge being so low. I used an imaging source camera as normal for the planet and a series of half second exposures for the moons. All combined in PS.

Taken Sunday night at the prime focus of a C6. Two exposures combined to show the moons. As expected, Titan is very prominent. All good fun.

Thanks. Think this one may be slightly better. Difficult to judge sometimes !

Very low in the sky but decided to have a go through the C6 scope. Seeing wasn't brilliant. I used a colour imaging source camera. Best of about 1000 frames

I agree Bish. No wires , no plugs, no laptops, not even a mount. Very chilled !!

Ive spent years now watching laptop screens and waiting to gather electronic data to build up images. I can however remember being a young lad (many years ago) when my uncle let me look at the stars through a pair of 8x30 binoculars from his back garden. I was hooked.

I thought it about time I started just looking again and not spend all my time imaging. Tonight was a chance to do just that. I live in a reasonably dark village although the modern obsession with security lights blazing away all night has certainly increased local light pollution. 

Armed with a pair of 15x70 celestrons I ventured out. The nearest town lies a few miles to the Northwest but overhead the Milky Way was immediately visible to the naked eye and the whole sky was clear.

M31 was brilliant and extended right across the field of view. Once my eyes became dark adapted I could see the two satellite galaxies nearby. I swept down and found M33. It was obvious but appeared as a large diffuse blob

M27 was easy and the veil was seen. The western loop much brighter but.I think I could just make out some  nebula in the Witches broom area .

The North America nebula was just visible, surprisingly large but I could just see a curve where the wall is and the black void between that and the Pelican stood out.

Finally, flat on my back on the patio I just swept through the Milky Way. What a site, occasionally crossed by a satellite.

Nice to remember being that little lad all those years ago and I will certainly start looking again rather than just taking pictures !

Thanks Paul

Taken a couple of nights back using a skywatcher ED72 and Canon 1000D. The are about 90 minutes of 4 minute subs here. I used an HEQ5 mount unguided.  A bit noisy in places but it was about 20 degrees. Overall though pleased with the detail.

Like the colour and contrast 👍

Taken last night through a Canon 1000D on a star Adveturer. 50 x 2 Min subs. I used the basic Canon 55-250 zoom at about 100mm. Pleased with the tracking and also the detail picked up by the lens. It's nice to get away from autoguiding sometimes !

Nice image. Like it

I've been fascinated with astronomy since I was a lad, probably like many others on this forum. So armed with a 60mm refractor in the late 60's I was out there just enjoying the views during the Apollo missions.. Along comes digital photography and for years now I have looked at a laptop screen rather than through the scope. I've spent hours processing images, convincing myself the results would always be better than what could be achieved by simply looking. It's taken years but I'm now not so sure. 

Following a photo session on May 15th I took time to simply look. Armed now with a C9.25 sct and a variety of eyepieces I viewed the moon. It was breathtaking.

Starting with Plato I could see at least four if not five small crater-lets on the otherwise featureless floor. The Alpine valley was tack sharp and maybe just a hint of the central rille.

Moving down through the Apennines I could easily see Hadley Rille, the home of the Apollo 15 mission . Over to Copernicus crater and in moments of good seeing there was a wealth of detail in the central mountains

Finally down south through Tycho onto Clavius, probably my favourite area on the moon. Lots of small crater-lets across the floor but my eye was taken to Porter Crater on the wall of Clavius. In the best images I've ever taken I have noticed two small craters inside Porter, one being slightly elongated. I never thought I would see them visually but again in good seeing they snapped into view and I could easily see one was elongated.

Overall, the views were fantastic. They give a completely different perspective to photographic images. I will continue to image in the future but certainly not at the expense of simply observing. I wish I had moved round this circle more quickly. Imaging is certainly not everything ! Trevor

Finally waded through the AVI's taken a week or so ago. One image with a C6 and the other with a C9.25. I like the ridges near the straight wall.

Great shot. Lots of detail

Thanks. I think I could have done better but the moon was over the house roof which after a hot day didn’t help. Having said that, perhaps the best detail so far in Clavius

Thanks for the comments. Nice time of year. Moon was high and relatively warm weather !

Both shots taken with a x2 barlow and imaging source camera

Good clear nights lately. Two images taken through a C6 and C9.25 recently. Always worth a look along the terminator