rjc404

I like the 700D. It's a good all round entry level DSLR. I use it for everything not just a astro but it is also really light so if weight is an issue on your scope it ticks that box. I find it really good in low light as well. Cheers Rob

Here's a couple of quick hand held shots from yesterday (30/6/15) of the conjunction. Not sure why I was too lazy to get the tripod out and do a proper job... anyhow here they are (might need to zoom in a bit on the wide shot to actual see the planets!). Both taken with a Canon EOS700D with a 50mm EF lens. The upload compression does take a bit away from them. Too much wispy cloud to get anything tonight... Cheers, Rob

One more widefield from my backgarden. Not as good as some of the others on here but I still enjoyed putting it together. Shot using a Canon EOS700d with a very cheap 50mm f1.8 lens on it. First time I've used this lens for shooting the sky and think f1.8 might have been a bit too much aperture as it was hard to focus. Will try stopping down a bit next time.

Here are my first attempts at C/2014/Q2. Had to wait for what seems like an age for a combination of clear nights and no gales blowing and for Lovejoy to clear the altitude of the trees to the south of my back garden! These attemps aren't as good as some overs on here and are done with more modest equipment. No computerized tracking, just using an EOS 700D with a 50-250 zoom lens at 250mm on a motorized EQ3/2 mount. Anyhow, here they are (click on the images to enlarge): Test shot as Lovejoy cleared the trees (overexposed a little in my raw editor). Quick timelapse of test shots. Overexposed single raw image, trying to get a glimpse of the tail (only 45 seconds at ISO 800 - probably should have gone for a higher ISO). Handstacked series of 7 45 second images. Had trouble with these in DSS so stacked by hand in Photoshop. Right back to getting the Toucam, barlow and scope out to have another crack at Jupiter...

I just use live view on the camera. The scope can occasionally hit the tripod legs but careful use of the hand controller can avoid it.

Thanks for the comments. I just try and get the best focus I can on Live view with x10 screen zoom and then shoot as many shots as I can when everything is looking least wobbly.

Thanks, it was a single frame tweaked in a raw editor.

Hardly had time to use my telescope since moving house but finally managed to get out for a very quick look up at the moon and about 20 minutes of trying to get a decent picture in between fireworks. Here's my best effort from tonight.

The US still have one re-usable 'space plane' in active service. DARPA's X-37B - the military's autonomous unmanned space-shuttle. No idea what the specs of the X-37B are though as I doubt they've been released. But here's what the ever accurate Wikipedia has to say (sarcasm intended...) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37

Local council deciding to upgrade all the street lights around me now meaning I have shadows to the end of my garden and no clear lines of sight where a streetlight isn't in my eye anywhere... only temporary though - moving in a couple of months. If it wasn't the above though then laziness, brain dead fatigue from work and Champions League football on TV would be the answer...!

Great coloration on that shot. Fantastic pic!

Very moody shot. I like that!

I like shot 1. I've always had trouble stacking the moon and never had a particularly good results yet (probably because I lack a decent barlow for close up mosaics though as I'm still stuck with the Skywatcher original that came with my 'scope). My best images have always been single shot images (with a bit of post processing in a raw editor) where I've used the biggest screen I can to get focus as sharp as possible and then just taken a batch of five to ten shots (about 1 or so a second) at different speeds at ISO 100 and 200 until I find an image that has beat the seeing and is really sharp.