BGazing

Well, this is my first ever camera...luckily, just before I got into photography they released a 2 micron camera that plops into SCT without need for any barlow. Native f/l is also good for focusing, everything is easier.

Thank you. Tonight (29th) we had another night of good seeing, here are the results... Untitled1.mp4

C8, ASI 678MC First two images are 3 mins stacks, then 2 derotations of 5x3 minutes, finally animation (of sorts) covering around 70 minutes. Have no idea why animation here opens in a huge format... Untitled1.mp4

Took some time to process these because...life and work. Still frame is derotated 5 images of 3 mins each. ASI 678, C8, ADC. Animation is a 8 individual frames combined (each corresponding to a 3 minute acquisition), my first try

Here's derotated 5x3mins...

Thank you all, guys. I actually do imaging inbetween observing with binoviewers (or the other way around, lol) and I also think it is important to maintain some fidelity when processing and not go overboard with the colors. Gas giants are fairly subtle and, well...gaseous.

Finally some good seeing, C8 and ASI 678, not that much processing, when the stack is good you can do whatever you want with it, basically.

C8, ASI 678 and ADC, really surprised how well it turned out...seeing did not look that good and I shot through some smog...

Have you compared Neodymium vs normal UVIR, except that the former is somewhat dimmer and requires a tad longer exposition? Visually I like Neodymium a lot on Jupiter and Mars.

Some more...

Posting this belatedly, still geting used to ASI1600MM, a real beast... Lunt 80 and ASI 1600MM, f/12 other than full disc, which was undersampled considerably at f/7.full disc 4 inv.tiffull disc 4 inv.tif

Mediocre conditions, but still...inverted full disk, I reckon, is the best.

I have AYO II, which is comparable. It will suffice. Get a nice Berlebach tripod, also a SW AzGti is a great little tracking mount to have for your DF, I use it almost all the time for Solar/Lunar/planetary. AZ100 is a great long-term purchase, though. Overkill, mount overkill usually results in a rock steady focusing on high magnifications...

Taks are awesome, go for DF or DZ unless you want to shell more on a focuser (these days Feathertouch focusers are a long wait). Uni 18 Berlebach tripod, you can put it on some simple Altaz and at the same time SW AzGti will handle it well. 4inch Tak is a keeper.

32mm plossls are great night time bino EPs, not so much for solar, eye relief gets to long even for me, and I have recessed eyes. But, during the night, they are very, very comfortable indeed. Immersive, sort of. Never warmed up to my pair of 25mm NPL plossls...too bad Baader skipped that focal length.

Binos are awesome, completely transformed my Solar system viewing. My Moon/planetary ballpark in a 100mm refractor would be around 150x. If the seeing supports, bumping up to 190x. So you can safely go up. Any bino would do, but the polarizing effect (which matters more on solar) might differ. Nominal OCS/GPC might not be actual, so experiment, cheap plossls or some orthos would do. I'd say get something around 18mm...

A bit different, very light, take...

Nice! So you are one of the lucky few whose 178 does not create a grid pattern?

Blustery day, taken with ASI 120

Literally my first day of shooting ever, so I am sure I could have done better. Still learning the processing. Shot using a borrowed ASI120.

Unless your seeing is great you will be seeing-limited probably at 100mm already. So either 80mm off center or full aperture and then be prepared to lower magnification and use ND and/or polarizers/binos.

I was considering moving away from Baader film to wedge but instead went on a splurge and am waiting for Lunt 80 to replace my Quark. H-alpha is addictive. Still interested to hear how you find it compares to film. To me, moving from mono to bino in white light was a huge leap and, I understand, going from film to wedge is more subtle.

That would be around 30x, so Baader plossl was able to take the entire disk and then some? Did you have to move the scope to frame the entire prom?