BrendanC

Great - love the positivity!

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing this. I can see that your frequency of viewings goes up each year, presumably that's as you get more used to your equipment and observatory? I keep my scope outside under a (fairly serious) tent which keeps it dry, but even though I can be up and running in half an hour, it's still been very frustrating recently. For what it's worth, here's the Jupiter image I managed to capture with my T7C (ASI120MC clone): I also got a moon in there which I didn't realise until post-processing. Last night was without doubt the clearest and calmest it's been for months - but my DSLR was being repaired so I couldn't take advantage of it!

Hi all, I just got my camera repaired (actually, replaced), and even though it's the same model (EOS1000D, modded), it's obviously a different sensor, different thermal characteristics etc. Am I right in thinking this means I need to rebuild my darks library? I think it does, I'm just wondering whether there's any way I can around it! Thanks, Brendan

Well, tonight, Clear Outside got it wrong - I had a couple of hours of clear sky! Managed to get some slightly overcast Jupiter. Wheel of fortune and all that.

If we're sharing telescope names now, to help each other through cloudpocalypse, my 130pds is called Scopey Wopey Doo Dah.

I'd probably choose a stronger word but I thought I should keep it clean!

If it were just about granularity, then how come it always gets worse, not better? (PS I wasn't being entirely serious about Cloudy Nights!)

Here's a thing: on Clear Outside, I swear that it never shows clear blocks of time the closer you get to that time. For example, at about noon today, it showed three hours tonight, but I just checked and they've gone. It's always that way around - promising something and then revoking it as the time approaches - never the 'right' way around. Grrrrrrr!

I feel your pain. I'm all collimated up and raring to go too - but according to Clear Outside, the 90-minute block of clear skies I had until about an hour ago just disappeared...

I agree with the comments about equipment 'failing' even when it's not being used. What I tend to find more is that I'm so out of practice, I can't remember what to do next! I'm now a dab-hand at putting the rig together and taking it apart again. It's the bits in between that disappear without practice. I got a dinky little T7C (ASI120MC clone) so that I could do some planetary work as well as use it for guiding, in the belief that you can get the shots you need very quickly and take advantage of gaps in the cloud. Which is partly true because I got a nice shot of Mars the other night - then, last night, watched as Jupiter, then the Moon, then Saturn all faded behind the clouds just as they were emerging from behind the tree! Thwarted, again. I started out on this lark thinking I would purely want to do visual. However, I quickly found myself wanting to go the photography route, mainly because there's so much more out there among the DSOs, and I like the idea of 'seeing' what is 'hidden', plus you can share your work with people. Still, I guess running out and quickly chucking in an eyepiece wouldn't do any harm.

Thanks for the helpful comments everyone. I'll try and keep the faith. During the 'cloudpocalypse' I've been reading books, building up my objects spreadsheet, writing my blog, tweaking my session timings spreadsheet, watching videos, reprocessing old data etc etc. But there's a limit to how much can be done in the background, as it were. There's an outside chance of some clear bits tonight. Fingers crossed.

I keep my mount set up in the garden, and can get the camera etc all rigged up in about ten minutes. After polar alignment, I can be up and running in half an hour, all of which I can also generally do before full astronomical darkness. But still, so few occasions to do this. I sold my trusty little Skywatcher 130P AZ Goto so that I could concentrate more on imaging. Now I'm wondering whether I did the right thing - I could just plonk it anywhere in the garden and be up and running in no time.

This is the thing. I never expected it to be easy, but I did expect more opportunities to do it once I'd overcome the hard bits! I used to have a classic car, a Spitfire. It wasn't until I got it that I realised how often it's cold and wet in the UK. Now I've got a telescope, I realise how often it's wet, windy and cloudy!

Would love to do that but I really do not have the cash. Nor can I move to the desert, or Andalucia.

So, it's been a long haul. Lots of problems, issues, things to understand, things to work around. I'm finally at the point where I think I know what I'm doing. I've had some real successes and images I'm proud of, and got a real buzz out of acquiring and processing (and sharing). However, one thing that is beyond my control... the weather. In my little corner of the UK, it appears that we've had virtually wall-to-wall cloud for the past, what, three months? When I look back, my last proper, full night session was literally this time last month. September 22nd. Before that? Again, by amazing coincidence, August 22nd. With a small window on 28th. Then 19th July. Do you see a pattern emerging? That's right. On average, I seem to manage one session a month. If I'm lucky. I thought I had a three-hour window in the weather tonight, got everything set up... and the clouds rolled in. So, is this really a viable hobby, I'm starting to ask myself? The relentlessly terrible weather forecasts are starting to really get me down. I check Clear Outside every day or so, and just see red - literally and metaphorically. I know it's challenging during the summer months (heck, we don't even get astronomical darkness between mid May and end July) but I'm not sure I can continue just hoping I get one chance a month to do this. I know this is a bit of a whinge, but anyone share my frustration?

Hey, that's grea to know. It's confusing isn't it, when the camera just keeps taking exposures? But yes, that's how the ASCOM drivers work, I honestly don't know how/why, but it's ideal for the polar alignment feature. I once installed NINA but didn't really use it. I've been using APT for over a year now and it's great. It automagically detects my Canon, no need for the ASCOM drivers. It might do the same for your Nikon? If not then pop over to the APT forum whether the developer Ivo is very helpful.

Be very interested to know how you get on. What I found was that, at first, I didn't think the drivers were working because the camera kept taking exposures, but it turns out that's what it was supposed to be doing. Make sure that, in Sharpcap, you play around with whatever controls you have for exposure ISO and time. I found ISO1600 and ten-second exposures worked fine.

Latest StarTools does.

As mentioned, it might be worth trying the ASCOM drivers. I really did not expect them to work with my EOS 1000D but they did, first time, and every time since, and now I'm a happy bunny with Sharpcap's polar align feature which is awesome.

So, I've had confirmation that the T7C should be fine with the OAG. I'm going to do it. Wish me luck... I'm going in...

Exactly, which is why I'm asking about the ASI120MC, because it has the same sensor. If someone has used one with an OAG, that would be a very good indicator that the T7C would work too. Good idea to ask in that section but link to this post, to avoid cross-posting.

That's precisely my point - a mono camera is more sensitive, so I just need confirmation that the colour version is sufficiently sensitive. I have absolutely no idea whether or not it is, but would be happier if someone had used an OAG with an ASI120MC because that's pretty much exactly what I'd be using. Great to know your setup gets better stars than a guidescope, which is really the attraction for me.

OK, I've decided: I want to go the OAG route, but I need to know if the T7C is sensitive enough. Given that it's essentially an ASI120MC, I need to know if anyone has successfully guided with one through an OAG. So, any takers on this? I'll leave it a couple of days, if none, then I'll post again but specifically asking this question. Thanks for all the help so far.

Thanks. I would be wanting to push the exposure times as far as I can! Which is why, if I used a guidescope, I would probably always have in the back of my mind whether I could have pushed harder with an OAG. It now seems to boil down to: OAGs can have problems with getting a guidestar, particularly if the camera isn't mono - could be a real issue Guidescopes have greater FOV to get around that but it still remains that flexure could be a problem - plus the 'what if' issue. So a guidescope is more likely to work, but an OAG, if it works, is more likely to work better. Still undecided! Argh!

This page is very good: https://astrojolo.com/gears/oag-vs-guidescope/ I'm wondering whether my camera might not be sensitive enough for an OAG?