neil phillips

The heat mass in the air that's been causing havoc over the UK has for the moment shifted. I first got wind of this by looking on the solar section. where it was also mentioned. As such. I set up again. Its still really early days to be imaging Saturn

Both images taken in daylight. With such a faint planet is far from ideal. But seeing doesn't calm in the slightest at the moment until the sky is bright. And Saturn isn't horrendously low roof hugging ( but still low ) there appeared to be some kind of jet stream or disturbance despite the lack of showing on maps. But its a far cry from the heat mass of the last few days. 

The bright sky plays havoc with processing. And havoc with colour. I assume the moon is Titan

Cheers guys. The goal is to extract as much detail for the size of the scope. But with little to no noise. still looking at least partially Natural.

Playing with some data from the 29th April 12" Stella lyra. very careful process. 

Lovely result. Superb processing. And not a common sight. Seeing UV cloud moving on Venus.

Still some detail on show Pete. Nice capture

3 minutes ago, Kon said:

I am with you on mixing hot/cold currents, and it hardly stabilised last season with a few exceptions, at least for me. At least the Jetstream is at bay at the moment.

Agreed that was my memory too for the most part. 

3 hours ago, Kon said:

Great capture. Some nice details despite the not stable seeing. Do you think it's related to hot weather and cooling at night as we had it last summer? I hope not!

I am convinced its a warm air problem mixing with colder air. Ever felt the warm pockets of heat when swimming ? That kind of logic. I am unsure of the dynamics or how it equalizes though ? Or how long it takes. But it can equalize, and it can be stubborn. From what i remember 

Cheers RE Saturn

3 hours ago, Pete Presland said:

Looks a good start Neil, not particularly easy at the moment given the position, even when the seeing is decent. Some nice detail visible nonetheless.

Thanks Pete yes its encouraging this early poor seeing 

2 hours ago, neil phillips said:

Seems to be everybody had this. I will bet a blast of warm air from the continent or some such is to blame. 

Cheers

Another capture

Just now, Ibbo! said:

Nice early saturn.

I had the same with solar in the late afternoon

Seems to be everybody had this. I will bet a blast of warm air from the continent or some such is to blame. 

Cheers

Just now, Space Cowboy said:

Yep, like blasting the secondary with a hair drier. I packed up without even attempting to image lol Looks clear again next week after the weekend thunder.

Last time i had this seeing it lasted a while if i remember. Hopefully not

10 hours ago, assouptro said:

Hi Starpeeps! 
 

I have just changed my mount and after spending the last few nights getting everything working as I would like I’m having real issues guiding and imaging even just focusing tonight, I’m wondering if there is some high turbulence playing havoc with my imaging or if there is something else more localised to my system at fault 

Btw, I’m at an extremely long focal length of just over 2000 with a 12” sct with a Starizona focal reducer so any turbulence will be exaggerated. 
 

it’s clear! But is it?? 
 

Thanks 

Bryan 

Appears to be a country wide seeing problem. We all had it.  Its not a jet stream. But some kind of large warm air mass. it constantly knocks the image out of focus

9 minutes ago, Space Cowboy said:

You've done well there Neil.  I've never seen such bad seeing as there was for Venus. Impossible to focus. 

You had the same by the looks. Constantly turning into blur. I had that seeing effect last year. often under high pressure. its like a warm air thing. not jet stream. Color shot was pants 

Cheers

Despite high pressure seeing was pretty bad.  Would not stay in focus, Stubbornly kept at it, improved a little as it got higher. 

But i am already making improvements from the ICE breaker shot i think

Glad i didn't use the 12. Stella

245mm Orion 462c IR685 

You did well. A record of this years UV cloud. Cheap filter and no drives. Yet quality is top notch. 

Reminds me of the cloud cover over lowestoft lately

It is different. A strong dark UV blanket

On 08/06/2023 at 12:37, Kon said:

I agree, not long left; I plan to stop in the next few weeks or when clouds are hard to see. We can then wait for Neil's efforts in the morning Venus.

Got a lot to live up to. You guys doing so well. If i dont get the high pressure. Wont be as good. you both knocked it out of the ball park 

On 07/06/2023 at 21:27, Kon said:

After the excellent weekend, tonights session was not as impressive but Venus is completely covered in clouds. I could only see the two white patches at the poles during my capture and the rest was very dark. Interesting development of the cloud features. My usual setup. False colour. 

strong dark contrasty cloud. Its almost totally taken over. Like a UV blanket

Cheers Pete its great in the morning. Very calming

28 minutes ago, newbie alert said:

Can't see the images, but fun isn't it...enjoy

Just now, powerlord said:

For those not following the latest gadgets:

https://www.apple.com/apple-vision-pro/

they demoed a planetarium app during the presentation which looked like it would be pretty amazing.

Not out till next year.. and it'll have to be pretty amazingly amazing for 3500 quid.

Still, it'll be interesting if we see any other astro focused AR apps coming in with it. I can imagine asiair being able to make use of it for example to start ARing the sky with your images, maybe extending the social side by augenting the sky with images others are imaging in the same area or groups or whatever as you are, etc ot even extending real time collaboration of stacking across the VRverse ?.

Like any new tech the price will come down. I must admit I was watching it thinking.. this'll be about 1k.. The market was as shocked as me I think with price and delay in availability.

I should say, I'm a long term VR/AR designer/adopter- haveing got my first set in the 90s and built my first mobile phone based set years before oculus. These do look like they could really be good - other than the elephant in the roof - or more accurately the muppet in the room with a massive pair of ski goggles on..  to be seen walking down the street and in front of your car next year!

stu

Too pricy for me, i am stuck with quest 2. Which is good enough for a decent planetarium simulation. But your other ideas would take development

Just now, Space Cowboy said:

Cheers Neil! You've always been the inspiration. Encouraging me to try Venus and get a UV filter. 🙂

I've edited the post replacing the false colour image with a colour balanced version.

And you have inspired me through the years. Cheers bud

Just now, Kon said:

Thanks Neil. I was taken aback by the capture on the 4th. Not a sign of atmospheric disturbance. I want to revisit the data as I am sure I can pull more out of them. I have more videos from each day to play with.

As i said to Stuart just keep gathering data while the conditions are good. Then you can sit back. And spend time processing.

Superb Stuart.  you guys are just slaying Venus in the UK. Congrats on the amazing results. Stunning comes to mind

3rd is good. 4th is sublime. Congrats on getting these. What great work you and Stuart have been doing.