Koraki

Hi Guys, After a little while of intermittent viewing due to work commitments I finally managed to get outside for a few hours last weekend and had a decent viewing session. At the tail end of the session I hooked up my Canon DSLR to the HEQ5 mount (provides very nifty steadiness) and fired off 160 subs @ ISO 3200 and 1.3s so a totla exposure time of roughly 3.5mins. The image post processing (i have alot to learn here) came out as: This is compressed of course but that doesn't account for the poor quality only my astro-photography and image processing skills can be blamed for that. I think its a good step forward though so looking forward to thoughts on how this compares to other beginners and pointers on how to get better image's using processing? Koraki

Thanks CJG and Chris i'll re-post in the community one as well as visit oasi, cheers

Hi Guys, Further to my previous post where I came to the admission that I need some real astronomy guru help I am reaching out to anyone suffolk/Ipswich based who would be interested in coming out for a few sessions 1. to have a laugh and 2. to offer some advice to a truly keen but rather perplexed newbie! Get in touch!

So I had a spare evening and thought I would put it to use by taking my skywatcher Explorer 200p and HEQ5 mount out again with my 1100D Canon with the aim of getting some good snaps/video's of the moon and Jupiter. Once out however i realised that despite my meticulous planning following the astronomy shed video's on mount/scope setup, i couldn't polar align. The reason was that i couldn't see the reticule against the backdrop of polaris!!! has any one else had this problem and am i being a complete noooob here? For the second session running i failed at polar alignment, i think next time out i will have to try and find an experience astronomer to buddy up on a session with me...(offers anyone?)... Also, balancing was an issue as when i had my DSLR attached the standard HEQ5 counter weights couldn't handle it, i think i will need to invest in a longer counter weight bar (as i don't want to push my set-up beyond the weight limit)... In any case i thought i would have a go at seeing what i could get un guided and it turns out i got quite a good snippet of Jupiter and the 4 moons ( ) . Albeit the video looks grossly overexposed as is way too bright, this was captured with a Canon 1100d, does anyone know what settings to play with to get the bets image?Moving on from Jupiter i took some snaps of the moon and i tried Orion; my pictures look a bit amateur (well i am an amateur i suppose so what did i expect ey) but they are alot better than my first time out (i.e. my first time was an epic fail)... My favourite snap of the session was actually of the SUN! Used a Sigma 70-300mm lense on Macro setting @ 300mm. Anyways, the realities of stargazings requisite skillset is beginning to dawn on me however my enthusiasm is only going up so I look forward to many more sessions to come and hopefully one day i can produce a Damian Peach(esk) photo of Jupiter! P.S. if anyone around the Ipswich/Suffolk area is interested in being my astronomy buddy for a session or few to help me get started then get in touch! Thanks for reading!

Hi Chris, At current my proposal is to cut the video's down to a manageable size perhaps the best 5 second segment as the point is to see what can be seen through different set-ups not to watch a 2 minute video etc. The small sizes will also help with hosting etc. In terms of how i see it working is as a website with a menu pain that allows the user to select from the set-ups that we have in the database by object which will then open a new browser on submission that displays the video and the technical specifications, probably utilizing flashplayer. I will bolt on user functionality i.e. members as a second release but I'm more interested in getting the core of it going first. Also, consent and video rights will be an issue that I want to discuss with those that come forward with videos to determine a consensus around the rights and responsibilities of both the hoster and hostee and i'm not entirely sure of the most equitable treatment as yet and will ultimately hopefully be a group decision. I will need to look at the hosting requirements when we get file sizes in etc to determine how I end up paying for it all whether by adwords etc and this then raises the questions of distributing funds to video submitters, perhaps based on number of views or something or perhaps setting the thing up as a social club or something I'm not too sure as yet. I'm at work at the moment so happy to have a longer conversation about it if you want to drop me a message? My experience is predominantly in accounting and finance with experience in SQL development, Javascript and C# so collaboration may be a necessity to get it looking perfect. Many Thanks, Nick

Hi All, After trowling through numerous ‘Example View’ tools online for various telescope set-ups I have decided to start an on-line database that will utilise real webcam views taken through different telescope set-ups of different objects for existing and new enthusiasts. This will require an epic amount of short/medium/long videos and so I am calling on anyone interested in helping me to get in touch! If you have any old or new video’s taken through a standard webcam and have to hand or can remember the technical specs of that viewing session then please do get in touch. Kind Regards, Koraki

So, a little history first... Around August 2013 I picked up a Celestron astromaster 114eq, got it out a couple of times to view the moon but really couldn't use it, it had one of the axes controls broken and I found it very difficult without the motors to keep anything in the field of view. This of course will no doubt be down to my inexperience of using any kind of telescope! Anyway, with 4 months of research and learning and about 5 books later I took the plunge and bought my 'REAL' first telescope, being the Skywatcher 200p with the HEQ5 mount (my end goal is astropotography). It is a beast of a machine (attached). It's very heavy but stable, the viewfinder is 1000 times better then the red dot sight on the astromaster which i had sooo much trouble with although its still not 100% perfect. So armed with my new addition I took the whole set-up to Sutton Heath in Suffolk which has relatively dark skies, well as dark as it gets around the east. After an hour of setting the reflector up and aligning the viewfinder I was ready to go. First i spotted venus in the west following the sun really (i need to get better with locations i.e. declination and right ascension as at current I couldn't tell you where it actually was...i didn't polar align as I got lazy...in hindsight this undermined by whole evening's tracking ability i.e. i couldnt track anything with the motors) was an amazing sight as a 1/3 crescent. I took a couple of unguided 1/200 snaps but some significant camera shake (my remote shutter release malfunctioned) ruined the picture, but i have attached none the less! Next was Andromeda which I found by hopping via cassiopea, a real achievement for me as this was the first time i tried it and i found the fuzzy grey area after about 5 minutes....but then lost it for another 10 minutes! Was amazing to find it though with the new gear and no auto tracking it wasn't easy. Next was Jupiter and what a sight, two bands clear (32mm plossyl with 2x barlow) and two moons on show, was a real good way to end the session! So...things i learned...I need to polar align so i can auto track, that would have made life a billion times easier, less rushing next time! Also, when aligning the finderscope i need to pick a further off target as i reckon i chose a tree about 150yds away which didnt equate to an accurate set-up. All in all though really impressed with my new gear, i just need to learn a bit more about it! Looking forward to the next session! Koraki