bish

Only seen this thread today. Of course the weather will be against me now.

I"ve nearly always bought new as I like things to be pristine. That will change now.

Getting glimpses through cloud. Just wont get any photos.

Day off work. Total cloud as expected. Off to the cinema instead.😂

Buy her an AP set up for christmas (make it a combined birthday present due to the cost)

1 hour ago, Roy Challen said:

Should be fine, that's what I did for an annular eclipse in 2012 from Kyoto. I hand held eclipse glasses in front of the lens. My avatar is that very pic.

Thanks Roy.

Hi all,

I think i will take a few pics of the partial eclipse, if it is clear. I"ve got a white light filter for my mak and might just hold it over the camera lens hood. Will be a bit more fiddly than buying filter paper and making one, but I probably wont use it again until 2024. I think it should work OK?

Thanks

Yes, I also moved from the top of a hill to a dip. The amount of air pollution was also more noticeable. Galaxies and nebula are my favourite thing but I don"t bother with those at all now. I do a bit of solar system and variable star observing. A couple of clear hours with bins at Kielder last year was a tonic. Hopefully get some clear sky up there this year.

Out observing with 127mm mak and white light filter. Lots of detail when seeing good. Eye floaters and dust on the optics a bit of a nuisance for white light looking at black spots though!

I"ve got a white light filter for my mak but the fov is a bit too narrow to take pics with my DSLR.  Think I will get some baadar to make one for my camera lens.

I had a look 2 nights ago. I'll be honest looking at the moon has always been bottom of my list. However, when I looked at the area around cathatina, etc at x533 and then a wide angle of the bright earth shine it did change my mind. As a kid I mainly looked at the moon in my small frac, but tend to ignore it recently. Decided to make a start on the lunar 100 now.

44 minutes ago, blameTECHIE said:

I love my google pixel 5 - may not have the best lens/sensor on the market but the software makes up for it (as pixel phones usually do).  Saving in RAW+JPG makes things a bit more useful as well.

Not sure if it's a feature on other android phones, but placing it into camera night mode, on a tripod and then angling up to the sky automatically engages astrophotography mode - autostacks about four minutes of night mode shots.

Have attached a some random images that I took of one evening when setting up, they're not great (wasn't really going for anything) and unfortunately there's a bit of light pollution but the stars are nice and sharp and the on-phone stacking seems to do really well (this was taken just outside Kidderminster looking East(ish) so roughly over your neck of the woods @bish)

And it's water/dust proof, so I've been happy to leave it outdoors overnight with a USB powerpack when I started playing with timelapse mode. 

That's great. Thanks for your reply.  They do look really good. 

Nice image, well captured. 

To be honest my 10" dob is ideal. I have a 127 mak that I only use because I bought a white light filter for it. It has the goto which I don"t use because the telrad on a dob is easier. Having said all that I have been tempted to get a good quality small frac to stick on an AZ for a grab n go on drives out.

Great shot.

Hi all,

Does anybody have a google pixel phone? My samsung might need replacing and I wonder if its worth getting as I have seen some really nice milky way photos with them.

Thanks

So annoyed that at the weather.  Hoping for a break in the clouds,

Weather against me. Would like to try and see it close to the thin crescent moon tonight.

Taken my eye off the ball with this one. Fingers crossed it"s clear tonight.

I booked the day off work for this, so expect cloud. Sorry.

Excellent sketches. I always naturally enlarge sunspots when I draw. It takes me a bit of time to sort out the eye floaters, and dust/hair on the optics from actual spots on the sun. Have to try to live with the floaters.

If there hadn"t been the long wait Nd price increase I would have got a new scope for sure. Bought some camera gear in the end. Now considering a solar scope, or bigger dob  or eps I don"t really need but would be nice..

Sad news. RIP.

Thanks for that. Very helpful. I remember the revelations being around. 

Hello all,

Does anybody have any experience of omegon dobsonians? £650 for a 12" seems there must be a catch?

Thanks