MarsG76

Looks nice and sharp...

I'd say start big and spend more than you're comfortable to spend (without bankrupting yourself) and start experimenting, researching as much as you can and basically become obsessed by the hobby until you're coming out with the kind of images that your hoping for.... my theory is that if you spend that much or complex gear, you'll be PUSHED into mastering the hardware because it COST YOU HEAPS, selling it will be a waste of a lot of money and once you have successes, you already have the bigger mount and scope without needing to upgrade.... I started with a 8" SCT at f10.. needless to say, it was a massive learning curve and it took a while but now I'm coming out with images that I'm happy with... and the big spend kept me hungry, outside almost every clear night and researching the hobby during the "cloudy nights"... to be honest I've also spent a lot of time at work on the hobby instead of doing actual work.... I did become (almost unhealthly) obsessive for a while.... until I produced my first decent image, the Horsehead nebula... now my obsession is more of the healthy nature.

I was lucky to have seen it too... it was cloudy and rain for at least the week before and during 21st Dec through to evening of 22nd December. The "Clear Outside" app was showing that there was going to be around the 65% cloud cover mark toward the evening so I setup the scope and hoped for the best.. it wasn't until around 20:30 that I started to get breaks in the clouds in the west and luckily was able to catch a glimpse of the conjunction. The view was a little shimmery as the planets were quite low in the western sky but there was some fine(ish) details punching through occasionally.... the view was almost surreal as both planets fit comfortably into the FOV using my 2X PM and the 17mm Ethos Eyepieces and were quite large in angular size, needless to say that I was very happy to have experienced that telescopic view.

Sheeesh... Well done!!!! I remember when I had to clean the corrector plate.. all I was thinking about it.. "Don't drop it!!!".. but the operation was successful.

What a beauty....

Hello All, This is a photo accurate representation of how I've seen the conjunction through a Skywatch 14" f4.6 Dobsonian, using the 17mm Ethos eyepiece combined with the 2X Powermate during the observation of the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, and how well both of the planets fit into the eyepiece field of view. My location on the east coast of Australia was totally overcast for the last week and this evening I had a small window of opportunity to actually have a glimpse of the rare event, which no doubt, I will not have a another chance of experiencing in my life time. This happened about 17 hours after the actual closest point between the planets, and most likely the difference would be so small that it wouldn't be noticeable without direct comparison. This image was composited by first taking a series of shots through the eyepiece using an iPhone, I chose the best frame of the series than superimposed the overexposed planets with images of the planets captured separately with enough transparency as to accurately show how the planet details looked in the eyepiece. Observation time was 22 December 2020 @ 09:51 UTC. Clear Skies, MG

Hello Astronomers, I'm sharing with you my image of the Witch Head Nebula, aka IC2118 & NGC1909 in the constellation Orion, near the star Rigel. This object is very large in the sky, being 3°×1°, so I had to use my smallest telescope to deliver the wide angle and low power needed to image all of the "Witches" profile. This is a very difficult object to image using a DSLR, and a dark sky is needed to capture it in it's full glory. I thought that I'd give it a go with my DSLR, and see what I end up with... I'm happy that the end result in my image shows the shape of the "Witch Head" but I think that the overall image will not be winning any awards. This image has been exposed through a 80mm refractor @ 500mm FL, using my cooled and full spectrum modded DSLR for a total exposure time of 12 hours and 34 minutes, in a semi-rural, Bortle 5 (maybe 4) sky. CS MG

Great image with awesome depth... and very nicely framed.

I love the colors and the glowing "gassy" look of the nebulosity.

Congratulations on the new astroimager... looking forward to seeing your photos exposed through it.

thank you.. This is quite a busy region..... it is a satellite galaxy I guess... so I guess to remain in existence, stars have to form within....

I say the same thing about northern objects...

Orion is not totally upsidedown.. actually diagonally down...

Both hemispheres have their unique celestial features and attractions... there are quite a few northern sky objects I wish I could see and image too....

Hello all, Sharing with you my first DSO mosaic image. This the Large Magellanic Cloud visible from the southern hemisphere, a companion/satellite galaxy of our Milkyway 160,000LY away. Due to the angular size of the LMC, this image consists of 4 frames, each exposed in natural color at 500mm focal length through an 80mm refractor. The 4 frame are combined into one image to fit the whole satellite galaxy into the frame. The camera used was my astromodded and active cooled canon 40D. Exposure time was 2 hours and 42 minutes per frame for a total of 11.5 hours for the whole image. Each mosaic frame consisting of 20x60s, 20x120s, 14x180s and 12x300s subs. CS, MG.

Very good start.... the great thing about the sun is that it's features always change....

Beautiful image.

I'm assuming that you guys are calling people "budgies" because you have a degree (or some kind of formal education) when it comes to "Law of Physics", right?? Facebook doesn't count...

Man, that detail... I can almost touch the regolith...

I'm sure that 20 years ago someone would say something similar about imaging the sort of details we're capturing on, for example, Jupiter... perhaps say you need to be in orbit and yet a way was found to penetrate the limitations imposed by the atmosphere.

I researched as much as I could before attempting to mod than cool the camera... its not difficult, only time consuming and delicate... so you can't rush it.. take your time and be extra careful when ever prying anything apart.. By the way, my complete camera with the temperature controller and cooler weighs 1827g.

From memory the weight of everything was about a bit over a kilo.... but when I get a chance, I'll weigh it and amend this message. I do not have any issues with balancing. I searched on eBay for old 40D bodies and found them between $100-$140... the peltier cooler kits were $15 ea, the copper plate was $20 and the controller was about $9. A can of expanding foam and a 12V 50A PSU to power the cooling was also needed. After about $250 and quite a few hours of work I ended up with this "Cool 40D". Definitely cheaper than the 294MC, and I'd love to compare the cooled DSLR to a dedicated astro cam using the same equipment to see just how much difference there is in reality... like I said, my 40D delivered virtually noise free (upto 1800s) subs.

+1 for flexture.... but the cause might also be the guide star which you're guiding on vs polar alignment accuracy. How far is the guide star from the object being imaged? if it's far enough, coupled with a polar alignment that is out enough, you might get that effect... it might look like it's drifting in RA but over a longer time it will show up as arcs...