Space Cowboy

The cross hairs are so thick it would have to be more than slightly defocused. In over 10 years of planetary imaging I've always found a sharply focused findersope easier to accurately align. Fainter targets like Saturn and Polaris would be hard to see if not in focus especially on a hazy night or if there was some dew on the optics.

Unfortunately I need to be more accurate than that when centering a planet at f20 on a camera chip 🙂

I recently purchased a 9x50 astro essentials right angle findersope from FLO to replace my Skywatcher 9x50 straight through findersope. Tried the right angle findersope last night and the cross hairs appear way too thick completely obscuring Venus in the evening sky. The optical train is much shorter from the crosshair so I assume this is why it appears thicker. Does the right angle Skywatcher findersope have the same issue? Do I have to look for a much more expensive replacement? For planetary imaging the astro essentials finder is no use with such coarse crosshairs. SOLVED! Sent the AE finder back and got this as replacement. Not tried on scope yet but crosshairs are nice and fine! Only 10 quid more and comes with a shoe! Looks far better quality. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/stellalyra-8x50-right-angled-correct-image-raci-finder-scope-with-bracket.html

Thanks Kostas. I guess sometimes enthusiasm gets ahead of experience and I'm certainly no Venus expert so should have made that clear. 🙂 Look forward to seeing your next Venus results 👍

That's a great result Kostas! Please ignore my previous comment. I've never imaged Venus in ir and was doubting my initial reaction 🙂 Fantastic offer from Craig and super UV images there!

Hmm....just looked on my big monitor, not sure that is cloud detail now 🤔

Terrific effort Kostas! Certainly cloud detail on that image.

Did you ever get firecapture guiding working with your DOB? I've just ordered the WiFi adapter for my SW Flextube DOB and am wondering if this can work with firecapture to improve tracking while imaging a planet

Thanks John and Bosun for your feedback. Clearly loading and unloading the truck is the critical part of the operation. Height adjustable feet would be handy. Maybe even a permanent platform for the DOB to sit on but that would have to be completely stable as I'd be using the DOB for planetary imaging. As you say Bosun inflatable tyres are a must for a smooth ride.

Thanks Olly that sounds a good method.

That's a good point Mike. I don't know if the feet on the 14" DOB will be higher than my current 10".

Thanks Xilman & Geof for those ideas. I think inflatable wheels are key as I'll need to go across grass and the odd bump. This truck looks good so may get it and try with my 10" Dob. We need a good truck on the farm anway and this will be able to shift very heavy stuff : https://www.sacktrucks.co.uk/cst990-folding-toe-sack-truck-heavy-duty-250kg-capacity/

Do you think the wheel base is too narrow on the sack truck or is it the toe plate width thats making it unstable?

I'm considering the pitfalls of owning a 14" SW Flextube DOB and wondered if a sack truck would be able to handle one given the base is 31" wide and sack trucks I've seen below £100 don't look that wide. Usually the toe plate is about 12 to 15" wide which looks rather unstable even if a wider plate was attached would the wheel base be wide enough? Anyone using a sack truck for such a beast?

I was actually trying to view the comet through a 32mm 2" eyepiece on my 10" DOB and before packing up decided to try taking a pic with my phone of the pesky moon that had been shining like a lighthouse! Quite amazed how well it came out as the phone cam is not great. Handheld through 32mm 2" eyepiece. Capture and processing done with ulfone armor 7x pro :

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/812022-planetary-imaging-faq-updated-january-2023/ All you need to know is on that thread 😉

Cheers!

Sorry to dig this post up but would I be able to use this setup for the comet? I'm thinking FOV wise?

Fantastic!

Very nice detail still showing!

I normally let AS!3 select the best frames but for the purpose of the animation I let PIPP select the best 46. Better seeing can be so fleeting even within one second.

Thought it would be interesting to animate 1 second of seeing from a 467fps Mars capture to show how much variation there can be in just 1 second of video and how important it is to maximise frame rate in less than perfect seeing. First GIF is the full 467 frames and second GIF the best 10% :

Thanks Geof. I went out again last night and seeing was horrid so I used the session to try and get my head around firecaptures planetary auto centering ROI features. Took me a while to figure out how to reposition the ROI after always having it stay in the top left corner.