Peco4321

11 minutes ago, Art Gecko said:

This might actually be my last picture on this thread as I'm collecting an Heq5 mount tomorrow!!

Boooo. 

Lovely image. One of my favourite shots of mine is almost the exact composition, not as nice as yours but it's such a lovely target. 

Good updates thanks. 

Next launch on Tuesday, nice warm up to the main event next week of Falcon Heavy. 

Stopped watching at that point. 

Screen shots taken during last nights video, take off and booster release and faring jettison. 

11 hours ago, johnfosteruk said:

wait, what, did I miss something

It's the Falcon Heavy launch I want to see.

Currently set for next Wednesday night /  Thursday morning. 

Already up and away. 

https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/01/25/va-241-mission-status-center/

Lift off in 10 mins. Coverage has started. 

Here we go again for tonight and a decent hour as well:

2 minutes ago, jjosefsen said:

skywatcher explorer 150p?

Yes it is. 

4 minutes ago, jjosefsen said:

Nice! Those seem a lot better. What focal length are you imaging at?

From what I've seen about my scope it's f/5. 

Enjoyable, but very cold session last night, bit of high cloud kicking around and light pollution seems to getting more and more noticeable for me now.  Not had time to add any flats to these but quite pleased to be picking out the blue areas in the Whirlpool Galaxy:

Beehive Cluster - 31 x 45 sec ISO 1600 plus darks and bias

Double Cluster - 34 x 45 sec ISO 1600 plus darks and bias

Leo Triplet - just a final flurry before packing up so only 10 x 45 sec, darks and bias, right in the worst light pollution area at them moment

Whirlpool Galaxy - 78 x 40 sec (for some reason I changed it!) ISO 1600 plus darks and bias, heavy crop

All stacked in DSS, and stretched in GIMP.

7 hours ago, mikey2000 said:

Are you still worried they are making your pics worse?

Yes a bit, something is not quite working with my flats (I have other threads ongoing on this issue) so I'll go back to basics and start at collimation etc and see how it goes.  

Overall though, I'm still very pleased with what I can get with modest equipment and processing skills/software. 

Just GIMP, need to invest in better software when I have a better laptop. 

4 minutes ago, jjosefsen said:

looks more like light polution to me..

Could well be, shooting over houses with conservatory lights, looking out towards the light skies of Hull. 

Well I'm not bothering tonight, aiming for a late one tomorrow so going to skip the launch as well and have an early night. 

Horsehead and Flame, 162 x 45 sec, darks bias and flats, and yes, I am still struggling to gain anything from flats.  Un-modded canon 1100d on 150p, ISO 800.  Going to carry on with my news years resolution of trying to perfect flats!

I think this thread can carry on for all things rocket based, seems quite a few of us are interested in this sort of thing. 

Try here

http://www.ulalaunch.com/

2 minutes ago, Stu said:

Agreed! Seemed to scorch the sides of it!

Anyway, safely away, great to watch.

Thanks for the heads up Peter  

Next biggie is the Falcon Heavy. 

The power is unimaginable 

That initial flare up of flames had me worried. 

Past yesterdays attempt now. 

It's the final countdown, stop singing everyone