bish

A bit late in seeing this. Superb. I've been sketching the moon since I was a kid and am still not very good!

Really good. Gives new people an idea of what to expect  

Great image

. I was out earlier today. I did some fairly ropey sketches and took even worse images. I do like WL solar observing, but there are 2 things that it really shows up  1. The floaters in my eyes just get worse  2. My optics are covered in dust specs and some hairs.

Thanks. Think I will give it a go.

Hi all 

I'm not sure whether to get a h beta filter. I have seen the horse head in a 10", but it wasn' t my SW 250 and may have had better optics. Anybody seen the HH in  a 10" or smaller?

Thanks

2 hours ago, wongataa said:

I took the photo here: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/391273-orion-nebulae/ with a completely stock Canon camera and lens.  No filters were used.  It was taken in suburban Birmingham so quite a lot of light pollution.  The camera was mounted on a Star Adventurer.

I think it always best to try the kit you already have to see how it performs before contemplating extras like filters or astro modding.  You may decide you don't need that.  You may decide you need different stuff to what you originally thought of.

Thanks. I live in Dudley, so can't  be too far from you.

12 hours ago, Elp said:

Have you tried using your camera as it is? This will give you a good idea of what you're working with.

Some filters are good some not so much, it depends on the surrounding environment, what targets you will be shooting, your ability to guide for long enough to get good signal.

General light pollution filters like CLS, CLS CCD, Optolong L-pro do block a little light pollution glow but I've found the gradients can still swamp the image. If your local light pollution is LED based you're out of luck here as LED is broadband through almost the whole visual light spectrum so this type of filter will not work very well. They work well at blocking the older sodium vapor based orange/yellow lamp light.

Optolong l-enhance and l-pro work better at concentrating on allowing only the narrowband type signal through so are only really good for certain type of nebulae. For this reason you have to expose for longer to get decent signal (but not too excessively), decent tracking comes into play here also depending on your focal length and exposure lengths. These generally work well with colour cameras.

It's generally not a good idea to use any filter while imaging galaxies as they are broadband and a filter will block/reduce the signal from them.

To give you an idea here is an image of the Orion Nebula using a CLS CCD filter, you can see a lot of the nebula detail is missing despite the high ISO used and relatively large amount of images (though it's a short exposure time per image which is the main reason it's dim), but with this target it appears like this in around 3-4 seconds of exposure without a filter so you can see how aggressive it is in blocking light:

 

Here is an unedited 3 minute autoguided exposure with my modded dslr (via my 60mm refractor) of the horsehead and flame nebula from a bortle 7 backyard with no light pollution filter (so it is possible):

 

I'd try with what you have at the moment with a few targets, for DSO you will need some kind of tracker. I had a Star Adventurer but got frustrated trying to find targets as they will be invisible to the eye, so now I use an azgti which has goto so it's much more rewarding (with plate solving which you have to add with additional equipment).

Thanks for your reply. I will try an untracked exposure and see what that is like. I think all of the old sodium street lights have been replaced now, which doesn't look good for light pollution reduction.

Hello all,

I might get a star adventurer for star parties, but will need to practice at home under  a  bottle 8 sky. I assume I could use my AZ4 tripod legs. I've a canon camera body and a few lenses. I would need clip in filters,  light pollution/narrow band. Should I also get a camera astro moded? Does anybody manage to get anything under really bad pollution? When I go to a dark site I don't want to have some clue what I'm doing.

Thanks

4 minutes ago, Don Pensack said:

The 13 Nagler is out--too little eye relief compared to the others.

Pentax--69.4° (measured)

Delos--72° (one report of 73° but anecdotal)

Morpheus--78° (measured)

I can only report what I see in my 12.5" dob at f/5.75 (with Paracorr coma corrector).  You might see something different without a coma corrector or in a shorter scope with more field curvature.

Pentax--edge of field very slightly astigmatic, but excellent contrast.  Easy to use with glasses.  Eyecup rolls up but very slowly due to fine thread.

Delos--edge of field sharpest of the 3, but needs about 1/2" of inward focusing compared to the other 2.  Excellent contrast. Easy to use with glasses.  Eyecup slides up and locks in place.

Morpheus--edge of field sharp, parfocal with the Pentax,  superb contrast, Easy to use with glasses.  An eyeguard extender is included, giving 4 different heights for the rubber eyeguard.

 

You can't lose with any of the 3, but the apparent and true field of the 14mm Morpheus is widest, and noticeably so, if that matters to you.

 

I wear glasses and went with the widest field, but none of the 3 is lesser compared to the others. 

If I didn't wear glasses, the 13mm Nagler would be a contender.  It's 79° (measured) and excellent in every way except eye relief (you might get eyelash oils on the lens).

Plus, it's very small compared to the others, a remarkable feat.

 

You picked 4 really high-end eyepieces.  Which do you prefer: Lamborghini, Ferrari, Maserati, or McLaren?😄

Thanks for your informative reply Don.

I want a really nice wide fov  14mm ep. I  like decent eye relief so my eye lashes don't stick to the glass.  The choices are delos, pentax xw, morpheus or 13mm nagler. I had an 11mm nag that I regret selling. If the morpheus is really close to the others then maybe I should save £120 +  ? It 2hat have to be a very close match though.

Thanks

Bish

Great, thank you.

Hello all,

I took a shot of the moon tonight with my phone. I used to sketch but find less time these days. I also had a decent moon map on my old phone, but not yet on my new one. Can anybody identify the craters in this pic? Thanks

Hi all,

I have a celestron power tank and have heard the charger that comes with it is not very good. Does anybody know a better alternative ?

I will also replace the power tank later in the year (only need it for stat parties). What other suggestions do you have for something better. I hear Jackery are very good.

Thanks all

I saw comet 2019 L3 ATLAS last night.well placed in Gemini. Quite Small but fairly bright in my 10".

Unless you have double patio doors I assume that the base firs through a standard door way. I considered getting a 14" flex but think I would have to take the base apart to take through the house.

I keep looking out for another varipower to buy for nostalgia (I sold mine when the mount broke). It has to be blue though.  At the time I wanted a tasco from the catalogue because the ad said they magnified by x400.

My first scope in the early 80’s was a print astral varipower (x25,  x50 and x75 if I remember correctly)

That’s great. Thanks for sharing.

I agree. These programmes are made for viewing figures not necessarily a relatively niche group of keen enthusiasts. I will be watching Strictly thougj😆

Thanks David. Most of the time (at home) I won’t use it,  but have been caught at dark sites with  everything dewing over very quickly. Just for extreme conditions when there is a lot of moisture. Thanks

Hi all,

I want to run dew heater straps on my 10” mirror, secondary mirror, 50mm finder, ep and telrad. I have a 7AH power supply but assume I will need more power to run for full night observing?

Thanks

Bish

Really nice sketch. Must have been great in the ep.

Thanks. That will be an easy star hop!

Very nicely done. Far better than my effort from today.

Lucky I was off work today. The sky was clear so I put my mak out with a white light filter just on the off chance.