orion25

Love the C8 image! Very crisp and colorful

Great first attempt, StarDuke! I like the first two because they closely match what I see in the eyepiece. Regards, Reggie

Thanks, George. The heat has been really oppressive here in the States, but some nice nights (and mornings) appear unexpectedly. The Canadian wildfires were not on anybody's radar! The smoke has drifted down as far as my region in the southeastern U.S., but sometimes you get a break if you're an opportunist like me, lol. I saw a clear pre-dawn sky with two brilliant gas giants and rushed to set up my rig before work and voila! You and the Mrs. have a blast in Italy! Cheers! Reggie

Between Canadian wildfire smoke and oppressive humidity (and a bit of Saharan dust) I managed to image the gas giants at pre-dawn. The seeing was surprisingly good and I was able to get some workable data. I even caught Io transiting Jupiter (white dot on the right of the upper large belt)! Captured with the usual suspects - Orion 180mm Mak, ASI 224mc, Firecapture, post-processing in Registax 6 and Photoshop: Saturn is moving edge-on from our perspective, peaking in 2025. I'm particularly pleased with how it came out. Cheers! Reggie 🤩

Simply brilliant, Kon! You're using that Astromania filter to the hilt! Regards, Reggie🤩

Brilliant shot!

Apparently, Venus and Mars were not afraid of bees 😛 Images were taken using a 70-300x zoom lens/Nikon D3200 Venus Mars Cheers! Reggie 🤩

Excellent work, Stuart! I'm glad you figured out the artifact issue,. Wonderful images Regards, Reggie

Brilliant! Keep up the good work, Kon! 👍👍 Reggie

Thanks, Michael

Oh, my stars! Thanks, Nik271. T Lyrae is what I saw and imaged Friday night. Yes, it is gorgeous

It rivals R Leporis (Hind's) as my favorite carbon star. The red color really stands out!

Nice work! Brilliant! Reggie

Thanks to #PHIL53 for suggesting I check out this spectacular red giant carbon star in Lyra, not too far from the "double-double" Epsilon Lyrae. It's not visible to the naked eye and can vary in brightness from magnitude 5 to 11. Here is a prime focus shot: Cheers! Reggie

Boy, were you right, @PHIL53! T Lyrae is a striking red carbon star! I just saw (and imaged) it for the first time Friday night. Thanks for the suggestion! Regards, Reggie

👍👍👍👍

There is also evidence of red cedar structures (called "Woodhenges") built by the Mississippians to acknowledge the equinoxes and the solstices, like Stonehenge in Great Britain. Here is another informative article about the Cahokia culture, the largest Mississippian culture we know of north of Mexico: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/march/12/cahokia.htm Regards, Reggie

Thanks for reading my post, my friend. Information about Mississippian cosmology is limited but research indicates only a basic knowledge of the cosmos, based on the four cardinal directions and movements of the sun and the moon. Seasonal factors in relation to the sun were obviously important to the Mississippians who were an agricultural people. The "Harvest" and "Hunter's" moons likely assisted them with nighttime harvesting and hunting. It is unknown if eclipses were considered significant but there is some evidence of the acknowledgment of Venus as a "morning/evening star" from iconography on gorgets (round pendants) discovered at archaeological sites. Research indicates that Mississippian astronomy was likely NOT to have been significantly influenced by Mesoamerican culture (as once thought) due to the latter's differing point of reference for the four cardinal directions and other specific cultural views of the sky, but Venus was important in Mesoamerican cosmology also. Here is an interesting read: http://rla.unc.edu/Mdvlfiles/paper/Daniel-Hartung 1981.pdf

I finally got to test out my new Antlia UV filter with my 180mm Mak/ASI 224mc imaging setup and got some pretty good results. It cost about half the price (around $200 US) of the Baader or Astrodon UV filters (around $400) and seems to show similar performance to the less expensive Astromania UV filter (part of 3 filter set: UV/IR/CH4 pass, for about $150 US). Focus can be a challenge, but you can no doubt get some cloud detail! I deactivated the debayer in Firecapture and imaged Venus in monochrome to eke out as much detail as possible. Cheers! Reggie 🤩

Wow! Brilliant images, Luke! Keep 'em comin'! Regards, Reggie

Some of the best Venus images I have ever seen! Keep up the good work, Kon Regards, Reggie

Thanks, Kon

Not baad at all! Or is it, lol (baader, that is). Beautiful image, Luke!

Wow! I see Munch's "The Scream" also! Great work!

Gr88888888 post! @Kon