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spaceman_spiff

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Status Updates posted by spaceman_spiff

  1. spaceman_spiff

    Imaging Mars tonight, seeing is bad/can't get good focus. Will wait for Mars to get a bit higher...

  2. spaceman_spiff

    Imaging tonight - All aligned, focused and framed, i'm on M51 atm.  :)

  3. spaceman_spiff

    Finally got my Esprit 100 in the post! If it's clear, i'll set up a star test to see how it performs.

  4. spaceman_spiff

    So clear last night!...shame it was a school night :-{

  5. spaceman_spiff

    Just blew my synguider...put the wrong supply in...started to smell something then...pop.

    Sigh...:icon_shaking:

    1. Knighty2112

      Knighty2112

      Ouch! ?

    2. spaceman_spiff

      spaceman_spiff

      Synguider version 2 on the way!

  6. spaceman_spiff

    I was planning on a night out with the scope getting more hours on M51 but I just don't have the energy :sad:. I fell over a week ago and my back is still not quite right...My mount looks heavier than it used to.

    1. cuivenion

      cuivenion

      263752-calvin-and-hobbes-wallpaper.thumb.jpg.69e9801c8c973984263ddbd1495f02c8.jpg

      Don't always need a mount!

    2. spaceman_spiff

      spaceman_spiff

      Finally...someone who knows who spaceman spiff is!

      Sometimes with all the complexities of astrophotography it's easy to forget the simple joy of looking.

      thanks!

    3. trynda1701

      trynda1701

      Indeed. Plus, you can't beat reading some Calvin and Hobbes!

  7. spaceman_spiff

    Meeting cancelled tomorrow morning...I'm getting the mak out again for two nights in a row, I can't quite believe it!

  8. spaceman_spiff

    Sooooo windy! Had to remove the dew shield because it was acting like a sail!

  9. spaceman_spiff

    Should be clear here tonight...perfect for my lunar terminator study

    1. Show previous comments  1 more
    2. spaceman_spiff

      spaceman_spiff

      Hi Pig, I'm going to record the terminator moving close up, see here:

       

    3. Pig

      Pig

      Okies, sounds very interesting ? let me know if you post it. I will hopefully be doing some serious termination zooming tonight.

    4. spaceman_spiff

      spaceman_spiff

      Absolutely,

      Just getting kit set up now...

  10. spaceman_spiff

    Guiding for the first time since November!

  11. spaceman_spiff

    Got the Mak cooling in the garage ready to blast the Moon!

  12. spaceman_spiff

    Feeling a bit downhearted today - totally clouded out last night in Bury whilst the most of England had clear skies. Was looking forward to imaging all week :clouds1:

    1. xtreemchaos

      xtreemchaos

      had clear here in south wales but the seeing was pants, the Pleiades was like a disco too bad to do any imaging so you didn't miss much mate. hope you feel better. charl.

    2. spaceman_spiff

      spaceman_spiff

      That's good to know! Hopefully I'll get one clear night before the end of the month.

    3. westmarch

      westmarch

      I think that it's a myth put about by the Met Office that most of England had clear skies.  I was out on the Yorkshire Moors and couldn't see my hand in front of my face due to mist!

      John

  13. spaceman_spiff

    Off to France tomorrow. Can't wait! Staying in some dark skies around Limoges.

    1. jabeoo1

      jabeoo1

      Excellent area to visit.  Be sure to visit this place: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oradour-sur-Glane_massacre

  14. spaceman_spiff

    Tomorrow night predicted to be clear and Moonless...a rare thing. I'm planning on imaging the Leo triplet, and later M92. Lets hope the weather holds.

    1. Messier 104

      Messier 104

      Good luck with skies spaceman. 

      look forward to seeing the final image.  

    2. spaceman_spiff

      spaceman_spiff

      Thanks, I'm feeling the pressure now :wink:

  15. spaceman_spiff

    I've centred Jupiter and with my 2x Barlow it fills the screen! Hopefully I'll get a really nice gif from all this effort.

    1. Knighty2112

      Knighty2112

      Hope it goes well,  but seeing was very wobbly last night at least where I was, so fingers crossed for you. :) 

    2. spaceman_spiff

      spaceman_spiff

      Yes, definitely some wobbly moments, but the atmosphere did become still reasonably often. Very unpredictable. Anyway, I caught most of the Io eclipse!

  16. spaceman_spiff

    Finally a clear night...after almost 3 months! After so long I'm a bit rusty.

  17. spaceman_spiff

    Really want to do some Lunar imaging tonight but the wind is howling! I think I'll stick to bins tonight - I don't want to over-stress my mount.

  18. spaceman_spiff

    Predicted clear sky all night tonight. Guess what...clouds. I'm glad I got my white light Solar scope working otherwise I would have nothing to process.

  19. spaceman_spiff

    First clear night in ages! I'm going for the crescent nebula!

  20. spaceman_spiff

    I have just upgraded my old barlow to a 2x Tele view 1.25 inch. I am interested to see how it performs.

  21. spaceman_spiff

    I have just ordered an astro-modded Canon 600D from Cheap astrophotography to replace my knackered Nikon D200. Can't wait to see how it performs!

  22. spaceman_spiff

    Just done a run of 40 x 3 min subs of M106...cloud fogged up a few subs and I lost guiding on others but I should have enough to get some detail.

    1. Toxophilus

      Toxophilus

      Look forward to seeing the final result. I ended up having a bash as M1 last night. The initial results look much better than my previous attempts at it, although my guiding was as not as good as I have had previously. I suspect something was either dragging or the balance was off a little.

    2. spaceman_spiff

      spaceman_spiff

      Well you definitely bested me on M106! I have added the attempt to my gallery. I can't seem to remove a duplicate upload of the picture. Makes me look like I'm trying to flood the SGL gallery! 

      I tried to pull out as much detail as I could but all I was getting was noise :sad:. I will try to add another 40 or 50 stacks tonight and see what I get. M1 would also be great to get but my view is blocked to the west.

    3. Toxophilus

      Toxophilus

      Many thanks! Although it's not a competition. Your image of M106 is actually very good, far better than some of my previous attempts. I've posted my image of M1. It's come out really well with some of the changes in technique, I was able to stretch the image far more and reveal a lot more data. I intended to do M109 tonight but ended up re-dong M106 again using the technique that I used on M1. So it will be interesting to see if I have an improvement on it. I may even add the stacks together to see what else I can get out of it.

  23. spaceman_spiff

    Taking more guided subs of M13 tonight. Maybe if i'll see the propeller?

  24. spaceman_spiff

    Well I tried to go for some of the galaxies in Virgo on the weekend but they were just too low so I played it safe and imaged M101 and M13. 

  25. spaceman_spiff

    I'm going for M86 this weekend! Hopefully, i'll get some of the other objects that crowd that region of Virgo

    Screen Shot 2016-03-04 at 14.19.23.png

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