Space Cowboy

First colour lunar ive done in about 10 years and its with the new qhy5-iii-585c.

I didn't set the colour balance correctly during capture so its rather a blue moon. Few crater burns too but pleased with the early results considering seeing was awful.

Taken with Auto Dob 250 at prime focus for the 3 pane mosaic full disc and 3x tv for f15 on Plato.

That Plato shot is really nice.

29 minutes ago, Kon said:

Great first light. Looking forward to more of your captures.

Thanks Kostas. I've got lunar to post up too with this cam. Did try Venus UV but not quite so hot though seeing was bad. 

1 hour ago, neil phillips said:

Lots of fine rills has come out  2x vixen deluxe Barlow F10 full size

 

 

Looks like someone did a good job with the collimation 😉

Thanks for the capture info Neil. 👍

Very nice captures Kostas! How many frames are you managing to stack with the manual tracking?

1 hour ago, neil phillips said:

Hard to process this one

 

That's another belter! How long are your captures Neil? What number of frames are we talking about?

Sweet images Neil.  Love that white marble texture.  Smart setup!

48 minutes ago, neil phillips said:

Nice first light Stuart. yeah mosaic building is a pain

Thanks Neil. Think I got about 80% of the disk on the old qhy5ll chip. If the tracking is off and it's on a alt/az mount and there are thin clouds about then mosaics are a pane (pardon the pun) 😉

17 hours ago, Kon said:

Thanks Stuart. Yes very pleased to have got my setup ready for planet season.

Have you tried your new filter yet?

Yes I've had 2 brief sessions with Bessel U & qhy5ll mono but am struggling to get below 50ms at max gain. That's at f15.  Seeing has been poor to boot. Bit of a head scratcher because I know this cam is capable of much faster shutter speeds with a UV.

What you are achieving is quite remarkable considering you have an 8" scope manually tracked. If there was a Venus imaging competition on here I'd be giving you the trophy now.🙂

Fired up the Coronado PST for the first time in about 7 years with my new QHY-III-585C cam. No need to mosaic anymore for a full disk with the larger chip. 

RGB & G channel :

Fabulous images Kostas! Those early season sessions are bearing fruit now.

Nice first Lunar with the new mono Kostas! 

Stella done good 👍 Weather looks to be improving this weekend.  Look forward to seeing more Neil.

20 hours ago, Kon said:

 

I agree that it is a very good start.

 I am pleasantly surprised that I managed to do 9ms exposures with ~350 gain, and considering  I was capturing through thin clouds. No ghosting either. The question is if I should remove the AR window for more sensitivity. According to the zwo site it clips 15% of the UV.

What f number were you at? That UV filter was the bargain of the century! 😉

Terrific capture! 👍

Super images Kostas! You've hit the ground running with that new cam!

1 hour ago, Kon said:

Asi462mm, it was good price second hand. But I have not had clear skies for the past few weeks to do anything.

I have seen some great Venus UV and Jupiter methane images with it as well. I will report once I had the chance to try it.

Excellent 👍 Weather looks naff for another week at least. Very frustrating when you get new gear. Not had a proper clear night here since mid Jan.

15 hours ago, Kon said:

Thanks. I am looking forward to try with my new mono camera, if the clouds ever depart.

Which one have you got? 🙂

8 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Just been in the shed to look at my SL. Definitely unscrews.

All it needed was a rubber band!

45 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

Just been in the shed to look at my SL. Definitely unscrews.

Cheers Mr Spock! That's all I needed to know 👍 🖖

1 minute ago, John said:

My finders crosshairs have a number of orientations - I tend to agree with @Mr Spock, that this does not matter as long as the centre of the X is correctly aligned. You should be able to unscrew the eyepiece section a little from the diagonal body and the cross hairs will rotate with it because they are attached to a reticule set at the focal plane of the eyepiece. If you unscrew the eyepiece section a little you will need to adjust the focus of the finder again which is done at the objective end as you probably know. 

I know that John. I can't unscrew the dang thing 🙂

I've always preferred the cross of st George for my alt/az mount. If the scope moves the same way as the hairs are oriented then it's a lot easier to center the object.

I recently purchased a Stellalyra right angle findersope.

The crosshairs are oriented as X not + . Usually you can simply turn the eyepiece (unscrew) to change the orientation but this finder eyepiece is stuck fast.

I've asked the retailer but they say they've never tried unscrewing one and don't recommend trying it.

Has anyone unscrewed the Stellalyra RA findersope eyepiece?

24 minutes ago, Kon said:

Looking forward to your results. I am thinking of a mono camera as well. I might start a new topic to get ideas or do it offline with some of you seasoned planetary imagers.

A Venus thread  would be a good idea. The planetary forum has gone rather quiet. We need to get people fired up!

3 minutes ago, Kon said:

Are you planning to use the filter with a mono camera? I am seriously thinking to get a mono if it will give better images.

Yes I'll be using it with my faithful old QHY5L-ll mono (not the pink version).

I've also ordered the QHY-5-III-585C which comes with a IR850 filter so will try that on Venus also. Basically we are facing 3 months of rain 😉