Luke
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Everything posted by Luke
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Beautiful!
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AR12781 - Ha (first solar post here!)
Luke replied to Backyard Space Dude's topic in Imaging - Solar
Wow, lovely shots! Your processing already looks fab to me. It will be interesting to see what folks are using for sharpening currently. I tended to use Smart Sharpen in Photoshop with Remove set to Lens Blur, partly because it was so fast and seemed to my eyes to give comparable results to other methods! But I am Photoshopless now and switching to Gimp. I have been trying Astra Image now, which I have used in the past, with Lucy-Richardson deconvolution. I think I'll take a look at ImPPG too! -
New scope on the near horizon 🤩🤩🤩
Luke replied to Eddieh's topic in Discussions - Scopes / Whole setups
Nice! I've had three Celestron SCTs (still have the eight inch) and they were lovely scopes. Cor, a 10MP camera. Have fun! -
That's sad news. I had an issue with something I bought from them years ago, and they sorted it out for me. They were friendly and helpful. Best of luck to them with their future endeavours.
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--- 2020-10-06, AIA 171 Level 1 data Courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams. -
Gosh, Hobnobs, I love them too and had completely forgotten about those! Though I think Jaffa cakes will always be my goto! I've really missed a bunch of folks from the forum and Star Parties! As much as I am tempted to order a bunch of imaging stuff from the amazing folks at FLO, I THINK I am gonna get my processing fix from the data from the Solar Dynamics Observatory! There is nothing quite like capturing your own data, and I can't wait to see more captures from the solar gang here! But I do love the 171 Angstrom wavelength in particular! I don't suppose the good folks at FLO sell one of those sub £2k?!!! (I'm tempted by their Hubble offer for DSO). This is the first image I have processed in ages. Level 1 data courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.
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It's maybe either a pair of binoculars or something boring like an extension tube! So I will pick on my eyepieces. We switched mostly to Tele Vue Delos eyepieces and were tempted to sell our Radians, but we really enjoyed them for solar viewing and I am so glad we kept them. They are the 5mm and 8mm. I imagine any Tele Vue eyepiece could last a VERY long time and now I hope these ones will never be moved on! Telescope-wise, hmmm, I would guess it is our 10-inch GSO dob, which we bought in 2012. Truth be told, I regret earlier selling the Skywatcher 12 inch solid tube dob. It was better optically than the GSO, and it was a very convenient scope, not that heavy, ready to use almost instantly. A really nice weight to light bucket ratio! I wish they still made these! The Flextubes are super neat for being compact and for taking to star parties, but I do like the convenience of a solid tube dob, given the amount of cloud we get. That said, I do like the dob base of the GSO, and the views are decent with a Tele Vue Paracorr coma corrector on.
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Hi all! I'm back after a break of three or four years I think! I've hardly done any astronomy in that period! While away I got very much into board games. After my experience with cloudy nights in the UK doing astronomy, I swore that if I got another hobby, it would not depend on the weather! Anyway, I hope to be back for good now to stargazing! Without boring you with the details, my work situation has changed and it's made me rethink what I want to do with myself, for a living and in my spare time also. And I think it's made me realise how much I love this hobby and that I want to make more time for the things I love. Right now I am tempted to get back into solar imaging, but my other half Sarah is less keen. She has a point. We got stuck in terrible traffic one year when setting off for our summer holiday in Dorset. We left a little bit later than planned... "I'll be ready in a mo, as soon as this cloud clears and I can grab just one more capture!" 😮 Cheers, Luke PS Do you folks still eat Jaffa cakes? I've been keeping that going, thankfully!
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I've had several Skywatcher telescopes and they have all impressed me with the optics, including the F9 ED100. A shame there are some delays. I was thinking about maybe a new scope and noticed some of them seem to be unavailable in the short term. I guess it makes sense right now that folks are getting into stargazing even more. My other hobby is boardgames and that's of course difficult for many folks who can't meet up like normal for their gaming sessions, so I guess we are lucky with this hobby that it works very well solo as well!
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Happy 25th birthday to my Celestron GP-C8
Luke replied to michael.h.f.wilkinson's topic in The Astro Lounge
Many happy returns to your telescope! I'm rather fond of my 8 inch Celestron SCT. I'm tempted to try it for white light solar imaging next year. -
which constellation fascinates you the most and why ?
Luke replied to messier 111's topic in The Astro Lounge
I like seeing Ursa Major the most. I think it's partly because that is how I get my bearings and what I use to align my scope on. I love when I am on holiday and I look up at the night sky and see Ursa Major up there giving me a solid reference point. I think it also just looks majestic, maybe as I am so familiar with it. Plus I also love M81 & M82.I like seeing Ursa Major the most. I think it's partly because that is how I get my bearings and what I use to align my scope on. I love when I am on holiday and I look up at the night sky and see Ursa Major up there giving me a solid reference point. I think it also just looks majestic, maybe as I am so familiar with it. Plus I also love M81 & M82. -
which astronomical event struck you the most.
Luke replied to messier 111's topic in The Astro Lounge
I'm going to have to go with my first ever view through a telescope, looking at craters on the moon. The scope was an impulse buy from Jessops and although I could have got something much better for a bit more, I will always treasure those first few views on the rather wobbly mount! I thought, "Why haven't I looked though a scope earlier in my life?!" I found it staggering how much detail I could see. -
That's amazing! My vote is Klingon Bird of Prey 😁
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Cor, lovely shot, Dave!
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Thanks Dave, it's good to be back! I've barely done any astronomy for a couple of years now. I am hoping to get back into things. It would help if the sun is starting to pick up (I hope I haven't jixed us now!!!) Yikes Steve, I hope you get some clear soon!
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Great first post! I am really fond of my Radian eyepieces for solar. I agree with you about how dynamic the sun is. You never know quite what you will get and sometimes it is worth popping back out several times on the same day as things sometimes change so quickly. That's interesting about the focuser working fine for you. I'm very tempted to pick up a Lunt 50 at some point. I've looked through a few Lunt scopes and they have all given a beautiful view.
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Nice one! I like how you've caught that little patch higher up as well, I nearly missed it when observing. Well done too, Gus, I can never seem to get anything out of my phone at the eyepiece!
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Seeing was pretty good our way, despite thin cloud. It's the first time I have observed the sun in, I would guess, at least two years! I checked Gong the other day and saw that nice group of spots and it was lovely to see them at the eyepiece today! I could see some bright spots of activity in h-alpha in the active regions and a little prom, though there was quite a lot of glow in the eyepiece. But I thought the view in white light was stunning, with a Lunt 1.25" wedge and 85mm scope. It took me ages to get set up. First I couldn't find my giro mount. Then I finally remembered it was under the same cover as our HEQ5 mount! Then trying to remember what eyepieces, filters I use, etc!
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I don't believe it! Weekend forecast is 100% cloud, yet again! Where are the sunny weekends?
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Have packed most of the solar gear away, rain has suspended play. I wouldn't bother with such small, fast-moving gaps but the seeing looks decent, the gaps are a beautiful blue and the big AR was smoking away. ! Hope some others are sneaking a view or shot in.
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Am rolling the dice this morning, have set up for solar imaging with Quark and Equinox 120, hoping to get some images before the clouds get here. Will be a long 20 minutes waiting for the sun to clear the tree! Good luck to any other early birds.
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Beautiful crisp morning out there, hoping to take some solar snaps for brekky. Good luck to those at the Sunnyside Cafe this morning or tuning into Pig Radio.
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Yikes that happens to me too, Shaun. On my Summer hols last year, when I couldn't be with my beloved Equinox 120 and Quark, I had images every single day! :-o 17 days of 'em. Anyway, the filaprom was looking magnificent, and there were a few nice filaments either side of it. I noticed some faint plasma jutting some way out from the disc, looks like a little burst happened earlier and I caught the latter stages. Have a nice time in Italy, I would drink a Peroni to you if I had one :D
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Still cloudy here, am hoping a few gaps will show up this avo for a bit of solar, I can't get enough of the prom -> filaprom -> filament big 'un, looks to be still there in good shape on Gong?
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Wowsers, well I have to see how it stacks and processes, but I have just taken some full disc single tile captures with the Quark and my Tele Vue 60. All the talk of the Quark and its 4.3x Barlow and I am imaging not too far from my SolarMax 60 at prime focus! I need to see what the results are like, but I am so surprised to be seeing a full disc in the capture software! :-o
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Hmmm I may have jumped the gun. my early stacking and processing does not look promising! Complicating matters is that the seeing was horrendous, I took a few white light full discs too and they are not that great either. So I may need a second shot to check if it is viable! :-o Shaun when are you gonna get imaging, you know that ASI174 is a good deal :D
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Lost: sunny weather forecast at weekends. Last seen: January 2015. Suspect: BBC Weather. Reward for safe return: dose of Vitamin C.
