lukebl

Great detail again!

Here's a couple of false-colour variations of Venus from the 10th April. The normal convention is to put the IR image in the red channel and the UV image in the blue channel. I had a go a reversing this convention. I think it's quite pleasing. Captured with Baader U-Venus filter, c. 90,000 frames, of which 30,000 stacked. 13ms exposures @ c. 74fps. 3x Televue Barlow, Omegon RC8 and a ZWO ASI 290MM Mini Mono camera.

Aah! Don't remind me. I remember it vividly. I went to bed early and was blissfully unaware. Next morning I noticed that there was an answerphone message on my phone. It was from a non-astro friend containing loads of 'ooh's' and 'aahs' and '*$*&*' and 'hey, are you seeing this?' as they witnessed the magical display. Needless to say, the following night there was nothing to see. I have since seen the northern lights, but I had to venture all the way to the bl**dy arctic to see it.

That's a really lovely crisp image. Knocks spots off my efforts!

Technical problems meant that I didn't manage to get any satisfactory IR captures to make a false-colour image, but this UV capture shows some interesting cloud patterns. In particular, a bright patch on the limb. Captured with Baader U-Venus filter, c. 15,000 frames. 19ms exposures @ c. 50fps. 3x Televue Barlow, Omegon RC8 and a ZWO ASI 290MM Mini Mono camera.

This is a capture from the evening of 7th April. I hadn't originally bothered to process the image because, due to various technical issues, I could only manage about 4000 frames before the mount went haywire and the laptop seized up. However, in an idle moment this afternoon I processed the frames and found that I'd managed to capture some unexpected detail. The contrasting dark patch above the centre and the pale area at the bottom were noticeable in individual frames. Maybe you don't need to capture tens of thousands of frames after all? Captured with Baader U-Venus and IR filters, c. 4,000 frames for UV channel. 19ms exposures @ c. 50fps. Green channel made from 50% UV and 50% IR . 3x Televue Barlow, Omegon RC8 and a ZWO ASI 290MM Mini Mono camera.

Captured with Baader U-Venus and IR filters, c. 20,000 frames for UV channel. 16ms exposures @ c. 50fps. Green channel made from 50% UV and 50% IR . 3x Televue Barlow, Omegon RC8 and a ZWO ASI 290MM Mini Mono camera.

Cracking image. I'm amazed how you can capture 90k frames. It takes me long enough to capture 20k.

Sorry, I can't help you with this but it may be useful to know that the Howie Glatter circular pattern adapter is being made again. In the US I believe that Agena Astro, Starlight Instruments and Skies Unlimited have them in stock. I've just got one myself, although it doesn't seem to be helping me with my RC collimation.

Some nice details visible this evening. Captured with Baader U-Venus and IR filters, c. 20,000 frames for UV channel. 16ms exposures @ c. 50fps. Green channel made from 50% UV and 50% IR . 3x Televue Barlow, Omegon RC8 and a ZWO ASI 290MM Mini Mono camera.

As the originator of this thread, I've only just caught up with the replies and many thanks for the responses. After reading all this, all I can say is that I doubt anyone will EVER, EVER buy a Ritchey Chretien EVER AGAIN!

Some faint details visible this evening. Captured with Baader U-Venus and IR filters, c. 22,000 frames for UV channel. 16ms exposures @ c. 50fps. Green channel made from 50% UV and 50% IR . 3x Televue Barlow, Omegon RC8 and a ZWO ASI 290MM Mini Mono camera.

This is a mosaic of 7 captures showing the NW section of the moon (I think my compass directions are correct) . The crater in the centre of the image is 154km J. Hershel which I've never really noticed before, I guess because it's so close to the edge. Omegon RC8, 3x TV Barlow, ZWO ASI290MM Mini camera. Each comprising 1000 frames captured with Firecapture.

Thanks. I think I can get it a lot sharper and, yes, it would be nice to capture all other Apollo sites when the lighting is at the right angle.

Here's a quick capture of Hadley Rille, the landing site of Apollo15. I think I remember Apolo 15 most of all the missions, as it was the first to use the Lunar Rover, travelling over 27 kilometres at up to 12km/h, and the terrain was more dramatic than the other sites. The tip of the arrow markes the exact landing site. To give you a sense of scale, the rille is just 1.2km wide, and the crater in the closeup (Hadley C) is 6km across. Omegon RC8, 3x TV Barlow, ZWO ASI 290MM Mini Mono camera.

Nicely captured. That'll be asteroid 447 Valentine. discovered on 27 October 1899. I checked on Carte du Ciel.

Here's a capture of Venus this evening. What a sight! 17 x 8 secs, Canon EOS 700D, Canon 70-300mm @ 210mm, f/8

Here's a quick capture of the Owl Nebula, M97, from last night (31st March 2020) Just an hour's worth of 5 minute exposures of HA and OII, with a synthetic green channel. Atik428ex, Omegon RC8 (1600mm, f/8), NEQ6, Guiding with a QHY5 cam and OAG.

This is a capture of Venus this evening, together with a capture at the same scale from 17th February, showing how the size and phase have changed. Only subtle details showing. I think that's partly due to the current wind direction, which is blowing smoke from my chimney right in front of Venus and messing up the seeing. Captured with Baader U-Venus and IR filters, c. 20,000 frames for UV channel. 22ms exposures @ c. 40fps. Green channel made from 50% UV and 50% IR . 3x Televue Barlow, Omegon RC8 and a ZWO ASI 290MM Mini Mono camera.

Just started watching Picard. It looks good. It's rather amusing that Data has aged and put on weight! Well, he always wanted to be more human.

...is Comet ATLAS (C/2019 Y4), apparently. According to Spaceweather.com, its gaseous envelope is now half as wide as the sun. It's developing a nice tail and looking promising. Captured with Canon 700d, 30 x 120s exposures @ ISO1600, 200mm f/5 Newtonian.

I think that refers to the total magnitude. A fuzzy blob at mag -4 will look a lot fainter than an a concentrated object like Venus also at mag -4. Still mighty impressive though.

Personally, I prefer wired controllers as you can find somewhere to hang them! I was always losing track of wireless ones. I managed to find a double pack of these very basic controllers for about £15 on Ebay, which work fine for me. Nothing fancy!

Thanks for that, Craig. It's gone a bit yellow, but I think I prefer it.

After a couple of days in lockdown attempt to undo my failed efforts to collimate my Ritchey Chretien, I think I might have got the scope back to square one. This is a capture from this afternoon about an hour before sunset. Quite a bit of detail visible. Captured with Baader U-Venus and IR filters, c. 20,000 frames for UV channel. 14ms exposures @ c. 70fps. Green channel made from 50% UV and 50% IR . 3x Televue Barlow, Omegon RC8 (effective focal length 4800) and a ZWO ASI 290MM Mini Mono camera. I'd like to lose the blue cast. Can anyone tell me how I do that in Photoshop?