baggywrinkle

When I moved into my place 5 years ago I asked the local parish council if they could shield the sodium street light as it shone backwards into my garden.

A letter to the PC and then I attended a meeting to explain why and they did it within a couple of weeks.

I am now on the PC an on the committee that looks at lighting issues in the village, they other PC members know of my interest as I regularly post astro images on the village Face Book site.

I used the new Altair GP 385C camera on the 12" Meade with a Barlow. I definitely need to add an IR filter as well as a red one.

A bit of cloud dodging this morning and it finally cleared around 4.30

Again I used the GP 290M camera on the 12" Meade and the 183C Hypercam on a 65mm Primeluce APO.

The seeing was not so good but acceptable.

Used an Altair GP 290M camera for the detailed shots on my 12" Meade and an Altair 183C Hypercam for the whole shot, that was mounted on a Prima Luce 65 m.

I used the Altair 385C on my 12" Meade SCT, 5000 frames with the best 25% stacked.

I am waiting for some filters to arrive to see if I can tease more detail. I tried with and without a 2x Barlow.

Great images and better detail than with my colour camera. I have ordered some filters.

I already own three Altair cameras and consider them a really good buy considering price  performance. 178C, 183C and a GP 290M

With Mars putting on a nice show and at high altitude I was using the 178C Hypercam and got some good results, however it was a little slow even when the ROI was reduced. It has been excellent for Lunar and DSS though.

I was considering the GP 290C for a planetary as I have a very good opinion of the 290M (mono) which I use for all Lunar imaging. Bout on advice from Ian at Altair I and bought a GP2 CAM 385C.

Like the 290M it is a nice small package and it will be used on my Meade 12" SCT.

I used it for the first time on 1st September with the Sharpcap software. I have never had any issues with this software recognizing a camera and its built in features for the histogram and focus are excellent.

I was stunned by the speed. Even on full chip I was getting 100 FPS and when using a reduced ROI 170-200 FPS. With that frame rate I now need to use it with a 2x Barlow. I know the frame rate will drop but it will still be faster than the 178C

So 10/10 for this little gem.

Attached my first try with the camera. 

Happy Bunny

Superb detail

Got first light on a new camera the Altair GP Cam 385C. I have been using my Altair Hypercam 178C and decided I needed a dedicated color planetary camera. Glad I did.

Cracking little camera and I managed frame rates in the 170-200 FPS in the ROI selected.

The one this morning was taken using my 12" Meade SCT, 3000 frames with the best 25% stacked above a 65% quality level.

I think there is a dust storm as the polar cap is much less visible when compared to a previous image and to others posted recently.

Many of the determinative stars that mark the Lunar Mansion were only 6 magnitude. 

The scale is correct but only two of their constellations resemble Western ones, the Big Dipper which in Chinese is the rice ladle Bei Dou and Shen which is Orion.

The map is actually based on Chinese observations and the asterisms reflect the Emperors realm, so there are many palaces, markets and gardens as well as courtiers and princes.

Sadly on this one the area below Shen (Orion) has been left off but there is an Imperial Toilet and even an Imperial Poo!

The difference between dew and no dew is fractions of a degree.

Glass as well as the OTA tubing will radiate away heat and actually cool below the dew point predicted by a calculation based on ambient temperature, local ambient pressure and the local relative humidity.

Dew heaters and dew shields will help prevent dew formation.  One by forming a columns of stable air over the objective or corrector plate, the other by additional heating raising the temperature to above  the phase change between gaseous water vapour and the liquid phase. Water can be tri phase, gaseous, liquid and ice.

Eyepieces in pockets will delay the onset of dew formation but not prevent it. Left long enough in the telescope they will cool too.

I phoned..got a booking 15th - 19th in Blue Butterfly area. Me and my Basecamp

Just checked...fully booked.

What are the dates?

I didn't use any filters, just the Altair camera at native focal length. I initially used a Bhatinov mask on Capella to focus before I swung round to Mars. The previous week I used the Moon to try and get a sharp focus then swung to Mars. The seeing then was worse. See images below.  I think the rain we had cleared the atmosphere a bit.

Its the LX 850 with the 12" ACF F8 SCT. Great tube, but the mount noise when it slews scares all the wildlife nearby..maybe even wakes neighbours!

Stunning. What mount did you use please?

I bought this 'van before CV19 arrived. Glad I did. The object being I can use it for the star parties as well as for the Field Archery competitions. 2 Berth with a proper galley, loo & shower.

This will be the first one I have been able to attend.

I have also put together a travel pack of astro kit to take with me based on using the iOptron CEM 25P mount onto which can now mount a Williams Optics 50mm Whitecat,  SW 127 Mak and an Altair 70 mmED.

Used the 12" Meade ,  Altair 178C Hypercam, 2000 frames with the best above 64% quality stacked.

I have made a booking 11-16th March. Will be using my caravan.

Best book on science: Bill Bryson 'A Short History of Nearly Everything'. Witty and precise, make you remember what you are reading.

Some images from last night using the iOptron CEM25P with a White Cat 50mm and a modified Canon 60 D.  37 x 1 minute subs, at ISO 3200 for the N.  American and 25 x 1 minute subs at ISO 1600 for Sadr & M29 area. I did have more but there is so much space junk up there i had to throw out a load.

Some images from last night using the iOptron CEM25P with a White Cat 50mm and a modified Canon 60 D.  37 x 1 minute subs, at ISO 3200 for the N.  American and 25 x 1 minute subs at ISO 1600 for Sadr & M29 area. I did have more but there is so much space junk up there i had to throw out a load.

I decided to go for this mount as I wanted something that had a reasonable payload capability (12Kg) and could be easily transported. Once Swift, the caravan makers, go back to production it will be the mount I take in the Basecamp SE caravan I have on order.

It is a simple mount to set up and balance. There is a built in GPS so when setting up you are getting date and position but time still needs to be adjusted to set our current BST. Alignment is also easy and after a two star alignment it is very accurate. As I will be using it mainly for astrophotography I also wanted to get a good polar align.

The CEM25P comes with a built in Polar scope which an illuminated reticule. However my left knee was replaced last October so crouching is out plus an old sports injury means I have less than comfortable neck rotation, so I added the iOptron iPolar camera.

When slewing to target it is whisper quiet. Unlike my LX850 mount which sounds like it has a bag of spanners thrown into the gear wheels.

The mount is a treat to set up and very quick. I added a few drops of WD40 to the RA and DEC adjusting screws and they are much smoother. Basically once you have got the mount roughly Polar aligned you connect the camera to a PC and the software will plate solve. You are then presented with a cross and a red circle. Just adjust so the cross lies over the circle by viewing the PC screen. As it gets closer the view expands to allow for better accuracy. Once aligned just switch off the PC. This means you do not actually need to be able to see Polaris to do an alignment. This is a distinct advantage in the Southern Hemisphere where Sigma Octans at +5.5 mag is borderline naked eye.

I have a couple of criticisms on the iPolar: The USB lead supplied at 300mm is ridiculously short! You need to put your PC on a chair or camping table and it simply does not reach, luckily I had a 1m lead as it is a standard type lead.  Secondly the lens cap provided is such a tight fit that once pushed on it is a wrestling match to take off. So I have cut a slit so you are not pulling a vacuum trying to remove it.

The manuals are both reasonable and cover most of the subjects needed...unlike Meade manuals.

I  also added the option for the carry case for the mount head and handset as this will offer better protection when moving around the country...when we are allowed to.

As an additional note Altair have a neat little bracket which can be used to clamp the iPolar camera to other mounts or adapter plates so it's use is potentially wider than just on iOptron mounts.

I'll post some images from tonight's session later: I have the White Cat 50mm Canon 650D on it as I write imaging around Sadr & Deneb in Cygnus.

Overall I'll give it 9/10.

Generally the stock EP's supplied with telescopes are of low quality. The exceptions are the single EP's supplied by Altair and Celestron. They are better than usual.

I do not have experience with the BST range but people say they are good.

There will be some that disagree but the quality of the zoom EP's is much improved. I have the latest version of the Baader 8-24mm and the optics are very good indeed and you are not left looking for another EP in the tray. It can be used with a Barlow but personally I do not often use a Barlow due to the light loss. I use this with a 9,25" SCT, and the Altair 70 and 102 mm refractors.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/baader-planetarium/baader-hyperion-zoom-eyepiece.html