ShrewView

Sorry to hear that. Mine was out too, with both mirrors needing a good tweak, presumably from transit.

Also grabbed a quick first light with the 8 yesterday morning. Conditions were pretty awful though with poor seeing and lots of moisture. Mars was low to the west by this point so not a fair test really but did manage to see some surface detail in the few moments of clarity. A good practice run though and confirmed things like the focuser can cope with the weight of binoviewers etc, so not a waste of time.

This one arrived at lunchtime in bright sunshine...followed about half an hour later by cloud and rain. I kid you not!

For me there are two, separated by about 30 years! First 1988, which was when I was a lad and only just into astro. I remember trying to draw it as I nudged and chased it on an az mount. At the time I was amazed to be able to see the surface details on another planet. Second is actually this year. The last week in September we had some really good seeing and using the same same scope I had some cracking views. So much more relaxing though with tracking that I think I can appreciate it even more.

I'll go for 15.00. These drivers don't hang about.

Having taken some images last week when we had a good spell of seeing I had pretty much filled up my hard drive with files and I've since been clearing and sorting what I have. The attached are a few mars animations showing the planets rotation over an hour or so on the 16th and the 21st to 22nd of September as well as the best still I have so far processed. I'm still not happy with my processing but hopefully that's a skill that improves over time. All taken on 8.5 inch newt with asi224mc. The first two at around f18 and the last and the still at f33 with a combination of barlows and bits (basically imagine if Frankenstein made an image set up) All processed through pipp and as3. Still was taken from 35% of 15000 then registax for wavelets. Right then, back to my digital housekeeping, only another Tb to sort!

Really like it. They just keep getting better!

I can't comment on the scopes as I've never used one but I'd definitely keep the SP. I added the synscan eq5 goto to mine and it copes with an 8.5inch newt ok. I don't image seriously but it'll happily keep the planets or any other target in view and that improves its use for visual too. Very happy with mine.

Truly stunning.

Thanks. Noticed As3 had already applied some sharpening and struggling to improve it much at the mo without losing something. Here's a few of the scope taken earlier while waiting for tonight's effort. Complete with warning sticker! Thanks. Yes, if you imagine south pole at six o'clock position then from the 8 to 10 position I had the feeling there was a lighter feature which appeared curved. Having seen some of the images from the bigger scopes, suspect its not cloud but can't get a final image which does much better than the original without burning it out? Didn't notice it a couple of days ago though when I last looked. Your image is great. What did you decide?

Had another clear night here and although it wasn't as steady as the middle of last week when the seeing was very good, it was still better than usual. So after a spot of visual decided to try some imaging runs. Captured with 8.5inch newt and zwo224 at around f18. Best 2000 of 18000 through pipp and AS3 Haven't really applied wavelets or done much else yet, only AS3 output. On capture I noticed the lighter region on the limb which does seem to move with the rotation of the planet. Don't know if this is Martian cloud or just paler Tharsis region coming into view?

Hi John I think the answer to your original post title is, if you are looking to get the most out of the aperture you have, then a dedicated camera is the way to go. If you don't want to spend any further, then eyepiece projection and lots of video can certainly get some pleasant results. That's a good picture of mars you've got. Much better than i did with my 6D. Back in 2016 i was using my 6D on my 8.5 inch newt to image the moon and planets because that was all i had. My results on the moon and even Jupiter were pleasing enough, but on smaller targets the 6ds pixels are too large to catch the detail even my 8 inch can capture. Don't get me wrong the 6d is great, and excels for the deep sky stuff where it can soak up faint light sources with longer exposures. Anyway, wanting to get close to the best i can from my scope, i bit the bullet and bought a zwo224. Yes there's a cable and laptop to contend with but the images are much better. For the price of the powermate you considered you could buy a dedicated planetary camera and a cheaper barlow to connect it with and probably a filter to aid contrast, which would give you much more detailed images than your canon can. I think I've got a way to go yet with my processing skills but the attached images show the difference between the two approaches with the same 8 inch scope. One in 2016 with the 6d and the other last night with the 224 and a couple of barlow elements stacked. If you are considering spending money to get the most out of your scope then i'd personally recommend swapping to the dedicated camera. Good luck with whatever you decide. Mars 2016 - Copy.tif Mars_2019 - Copy.tif

It's gorgeous, is what it is. Well done. Really like the colours and clarity of the first and there's a sort of 3d feel to it that pulls you in. Time very well spent. Thanks for sharing.

That's really interesting. They are all very good images, and i'm assuming you've tried to use as close to the same levels on each but if i had to pick one i'd lean towards the single 2 minute stack with wavelets and decon. To me the derotation is slightly better than the 10 min stack without it, but compared to the single two minute run adds nothing. In fact its not quite as well defined to my eyes. Great stuff though and given i'm currently processing and trying to get the best from the data i collected last night/this morning its a great help. Thanks

Looks like we're a step closer to another 3500 satellites to spot. Courtesy of Amazon. https://a.msn.com/r/2/BB18bMg4?m=en-gb&referrerID=InAppShare

I'm south of town and the light pollution looking north isn't good but grinshill should be a decent spot. last night was all cloud here. glad i got out Saturday night. Think i may have caught the same one with my last shot! it was about 2.45

I hadn't used to be afraid of the dark, but now????!!! 😀

Loving everyone's images. It's been a truly gorgeous sight tonight. I too took a short trip to a darker spot with a clearer horizon. Well worth it. Single frame 10s @ iso 1600. canon 6d

These appeared yesterday. So I had a chance to sit in the sun and have a browse. All I can say is wow...so much info.

Hi Alan I'm also at the stage of pondering piers for a planned obsy. I too thought of making my own but am currently leaning toward buying something instead. In my case it's partly because of appearance and partly because it may be the easier and quicker option. If I were planning to move within the next few years as you are I'd be looking to buy a steel one that I could take with me, otherwise I'd only have to rebuild at the new house, which effectively doubles the cost. You may have already seen and dismissed these but in the short while I've been looking at these I've spotted a few other options to the pulsar you've considered. I've no idea how good they are. but I'm sure others do. https://www.altairastro.com/altair-skyshed-8-observatory-pier-with-anti-vibration-fins-441-p.asp https://www.homeobservatoryuk.com/?p=telescope.piers https://www.telescopehouse.com/explore-scientific-pier-for-eq-5-mounts.html

Caught it passing over through the bins. Does this mean we get a trail of them later tonight?

Hi Rob My garden also faces south, so this time of year its Leo that I look for to the south as its getting dark. It's a nice obvious one that, like Orion, actually looks like its supposed to. I don't use apps on a phone, but do use stellarium (which is free) on a laptop just inside the house to get an idea of what to look for, and at this time of year there are lots of galaxies and globulars to aim at in the constellations nearby. High humidity does make the sky less transparent so it does make it harder to get the faint stuff, but much depends on the man-made lights you have in the area as they make the whole sky less dark. Do any of the apps you use say what your sky's are like? There's not much you can do about it, but try and find a dark spot in your garden without lights shining directly on it and let your eyes get properly used to the dark and that will help. Over the summer there are lots of things to look for but it won't be that dark til 11 or 12 and starts getting light by 2 so gets much harder. Jupiter and Saturn will be really low down this time, but Mars will be nice and high, so that should look good.

Lovely stuff. I like your M3. I always find them a bit intimidating to try and draw....too many stars!

That's nice. I can see a whole imaging challenge based on starlink! 😀

Nice job. I put the same synscan set on my vixen SP. Agree the plastic is a bit flimsy but has lasted ok and it works fine, although pretty noisy when slewing. So I too tend to just find stuff manually and then let it track from there.