lukebl

Thanks for the comments. A bit of a reprocess with the same data.

Hi folks, OK. Not another Orion Nebula. I've not done any DSO imaging for a long while. Looking at my files, the last time I attempted imaging M42 was way back in 2009! This is the result of just 50 minutes of 2 minutes exposures each of HA and Oiii. Perhaps I'm just lazy, but it's so easy to overexpose this one, and I quite like the understated effect. I particularly like the fact that you can see the blue stars of the Trapezium so well, and other subtle details in the core that often got lost with longer exposures. Omegon RC8, Atik 383L+ mono, HA and Oiii filters. Synthetic green channel.

Impressive. I've always wanted to see or capture the Pup. Not easy at 52 degrees North, but it's at its greatest elongation now so I must try again.

I agree, they’re not well matched, but they’re all I have at the moment!

First clear night for weeks last night and, great, binning with the QHY5 works! A quick session on the Horsehead still only had 3 stars in the field of view, but the guide star was bright and guiding seemed very good. I think my focus was a bit off. 15 x 600 sec exposures, RC 8, Atik 428ex, Baader Ha filter.

...and apparently you can bin the QHY5 too. That's something I didn't realise. So maybe I don't need a new camera after all.

Opps. Sorry, it looks like you can bin the ASI290 2x.

Thanks for the info vlaiv. Unfortunately, I don't think you can bin the ASI290 in PHD.

Thanks, Vlaiv. Here's the current configuration. It's a nice big prism, and you can see the whole of the sensor reflected up the OAG tube (please excuse the dust!). I think that the prism is about far into the light beam as possible without affecting the imaging camera. Maybe it could go a little further. I'm not sure of the make of the OAG. Exposures are 3.5 seconds. The distance from the prism to the sensor is about 45mm.

Hi folks, I currently use an old QHY5-ii mono cam for off-axis guiding with my RC8 (focal length 1600mm), but often fail to locate a single guide star or only manage to find one due to the narrow field of view. I would like to try out the new multi-star guiding facility of PHD, so wondered what would be the best guide camera to use. I have a ZWO ASI290MM for planetary imaging which I understand is more sensitive than the QHY5, but its sensor area is only half that of the QHY. Looking at the alternatives (see my plan below), The 174MM looks like a good option, and its sensor is more than double the area of the QHY5. However, it's pretty expensive, as is the Lodestar. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I ventured out for my first bit of astro-imaging for many months this evening. I did this quick capture of Mars. It shows how much it's shrunk over the past few months. The first image was captured back in November when its apparent diameter was 16 arc seconds. Now it's only 9.3. Not a great capture but still showing some detail, notably Syrtis Major. Approximately 25000 frames, 200mm f/8 RC, 3x Televue Barlow, ASI290MM mini camera, IR, G and B filters.

Here's a quick capture of the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction this evening. Just 5 frames, manually stacked in Photoshop. Canon 700d, 200mm f/8 Ritchey-Chretien, 1/5 second exposures, ISO800. From left to right, the moons are Callisto, Ganymede, Io and Europa. The star to the left of Callisto is 7.5 magnitude HD191250, 233 light years distant. Here's a single frame from a bit earlier when the sky was bright. Titan is just visible on the original to the right of Saturn.

The main problem is that the VAST, I mean VAST, majority of people either don't care about excessive night-time lighting, or worse, they actually prefer it. I hate to be cynical, but it is a battle we won't win.

Ouch! I regularly listen the to BBC World Service, as I find its internationally-based news far more informative, interesting and impartial than the tedious domestic stuff. HOWEVER, whilst listening to an item about the forthcoming Jupiter/Saturn conjunction just now, the news anchor introduced Dr. Carolyn Crawford as being from the Cambridge University Institute of ASTROLOGY. It was a recording, so she didn't have the opportunity to correct him. I'll bet she's fuming!

It's great to see the sun has become active again with plenty of prominence and sunspot activity, so I dusted off my old Coronado PST and made these quick captures this afternoon. Basic unmodded Coronado PST, 2x TAL barlow, ZWO ASI290 Mono mini camera. Colourised in Photoshop. The animation shows a soaring gull which photobombed one of the captures.

Love those flares!

Posting that picture got me thinking about the location and what it looks like now after half a century. I did a Google search and amazingly found a contemporary photograph from almost exactly the same location. Nice to see it hasn't changed at all.

Not sure if this counts, but this really is my first telescope. I recall that I whacked another kid over the head with it, but that's another story! Over 50 years ago, Gara Rock, Devon.

The seeing this Mars season has been awful here, but it seemed fairly steady last night. This is my best effort this year. Approximately 25000 frames, 200mm f/8 RC, 3x Televue Barlow, ASI290MM mini camera, IR, G and B filters. Disappointingly nowhere near as good as my efforts back in the less favourable apparition of 2012, using a 250mm f/4.8 Newtonian and lesser camera kit. I should have kept that Newt! Plenty of recognisable features, though, including the Valles Marineris.

I've checked on Carte du Ciel, and I think you'll find that they are 16.7 magnitude asteroid (19545)1999 JY33 and 18.6 mag (109030) 2001 QL10. Both Main Belt asteroids. Nicely captured. I love imaging asteroids!

SpaceX Falcon 9 second stage

I agree. Bahtinov mask on a nearby star. I've been using Alpha Andromedae recently.

Many thanks for the positive feedback folks Tonight's a good opportunity. They're both at greatest elongation (this time on the same side of the planet) at around 22:00 GMT.

Can someone clarify something for me. On the Clear Outside weather app and website is a rating for seeing, which appears to be rated from 0 to 100 in steps of 10, . Sorry if I'm being stupid but does a high number good or bad seeing, and how accurate is it? Probably doesn't make much difference anyway, as seeing always seems to be poor here.

Hi all, These aren't pretty images. In fact, they're pretty awful! But at least they show both of Mars's moons Phobos and Deimos, which I've always wanted to capture. I noticed that tonight they were simultaneously at greatest elongation at around 7:30 GMT, so that I could potentially capture them at the same time. Phobos is so close to Mars, and orbits so fast, that it's usually engulfed by the glare from the planet. I captured these with my planetary imaging camera ZWO ASI290 Mono Mini and my 8" f/8 Ritchey-Chretien, plus 3x Televue Barlow, using Firecapture, 600 frames, 150ms exposures stacked in Registax and highly stretched. I was surprised that it was possible to capture such tiny faint objects (Phobos at mag 12.0 and Deimos at mag 13.0) with a basic planetary cam and shortish exposures, especially with Mars so overexposed. Like I said, not very pretty, but I feel I've achieved something, especially in high winds and bad seeing. Basic image: Labelled: Including quick image of normally exposed Mars for proper scale: Screen grab from Sky Safari at the same time: