Craney

OK here is my effort. Pretty pleased with the result. This was taken from the school clock tower from March to July ( 15th), so we have Equinox to Solstice + a bit. Was strapped to a lightning conductor.... so could have got a bit more luminal activity as well....!!!!! I did a bit of photo-shopping to remove a few light-streaks and speckling. As with everybody else, missed the highest arcs !!.... maybe next time. oh... and I seem to have left my own mark as well. Sean.

Ka-Boom !! You've nailed that one. F9 means a long focal length and overcoming a few significant hurdles. 40 hrs !!.... spells out a lot of dedication. Well done.

Nice. I think if you look very carefully, I think you can just make out craters Aldrin, Collins and Armstrong. Not my picture.

Reminds me of the cover of this book..... one that generated the interest... many Moons ago.......

No ADC .... there's another excuse.... but eek !!...I have one and it does not make my gas giants any better. In fairness, it'a a good image considering the altitude.

Evening all, Hope you are enjoying this spell of clear nights. Within the last week, I have de-rigged my Edge8HD from the permanent pier EQ-6 and I am going from small planetary nebulae imaging to (Equinox-80) widefield with the nebula of Cygnus and Cassiopeia. I like to keep the same scope on the EQ mount for a while, especially once I have ironed out all the little backfocus, balance, alignment issues etc... Annoyingly, Jupiter and Saturn are now showing themselves above the housetops and local flora. I really do need to get some better results with my planetary work. The thought of changing everything at 02:00am to capture a wobbly, hyper-active banded jellyfish between the tree branches is not really motivating me. It would be nice to have a mobile Alt-az that I can set up elsewhere in the garden (better view) that is capable of dealing with a C-8 or slightly larger SCT i.e . that will reliably track and keep steady whilst imaging 120fps etc with 2x barlow. Not forgetting use with Solar and Lunar with lighter gear. Any recommendations from experience ?? Thinking about £400-£700 tops .... so middle-ish price band. Am I being a bit optimistic with the bulk of an SCT?? Many thanks in advance. Sean.

It's one of those 'Laws' ... but hold fast, bide your time, refine your technique with focus, tracking and the like, because..... https://spaceweatherarchive.com/2021/07/16/farside-explosion-touches-earth/ There is something hurling out CME's on the Solar far side..... I'm no Solar boffin, but that could present itself as nice proms and edge detail in a few days time.

Nice pic. Keep 'em coming. ...don't say goodbye to the cmos

How easy is "Astrosurface" to use ?? I must admit I had not heard of the program. I usually play around with Registax after stacking. Sliding the sliders and sliding them some more ( not knowing what on Earth I'm doing ). My images look a bit better but there is really no method at all. Wondering if this program is bit more up to date and less overtly technical ?? Cheers Sean.

oh-err... I've just ordered one from FLO !!! I'm watching with interest.

Worrying .... You would be totally unaware of ending up in a red-light area........

Roll-on clear skies and the next Solar Maxima. These look fascinating scopes. Good luck with it. Looking forward to the results. How exciting.

I'd guess these are still pretty low in the sky for you ? Excellent detail. Pardon my ignorance, does "Rrgb" mean you used the red capture as a luminosity channel ?? How does that help ?? My planetary imaging is a bit basic to say the least and I am hoping to go up a level or two during the Summer holiday nights. Cheers, Sean.

Download from this page for whichever device you need the software. https://pegasusastro.com/downloads/ # EDIT Dr_Ju_just beat me to it

I like these Telescope "shoot-outs"..... I would say the 120ED gets the nod.

I ask myself.... is there any point in dreaming of the zwo2600 MM or the QHY268MM when this one delivers such great widefield results ?

That is mesmeric. The natural motion of the atmosphere contrasted against the 'artificial' light and motion of the village. Just the right amount of streetlights to give the frame perspective, but not enough to over saturate. You must have been out on the fells to get that angle ?? Sean.

That is quite spectacular.. Mines up on a clock tower until about the 19th July. Thought I would go for March to Mid-Summer + 1 month. It is really difficult to know if you have positioned it well enough to get the high arcs and a bit of meaningful scenery as well. I just guessed. What did you do to 'process' it ?? That's the bit that is worrying me. Cheers, Sean.

Thanks, nearly all the scopes I have bought second hand and the original owners must have discarded the plates as a faff. I was at a bit of a loss to understand the function. Indeed. I'm always back and forth between the end of the scope when collimating. I'm sure this plate would have been float tested very soon or used as a plant stand. My potential buyer suggested it might be a protection feature if you regularly stand the OTA on it's end, for example on a rough surface. Anyway thanks for the info. I will have a root around my box of 'strange and of unknown origin' accessories to see if anything looks likely in there. Sean.

Evening all, I answered a small add from a chap who wanted a second hand Celestron C-8N ( that's the Newtonian F5, not an SCT ). No problems as I have one which doesn't get much use. In his ad he asks for the " mirror blanking plate" which came along with it when new. Since I bought it second hand myself I was not sure if I had it to hand or had put it away in a box. I tried to google what one looks like and nothing came back, I have looked in the C-8N manual and there is no mention of it, or use of it........ does this thing exist ?? Anybody out there shed any light on the matter ?? Rgds, Sean.

... did you remember the tripod ?? ...... and some clothes ?? ....... and some midge cream......

That is a great piece of work. As Adam says above, you don't often see a full disk movie, and that makes it even more special..... Processing 339 movies !!........ not for the faint hearted.

Yeah... you'd think somebody would realise they've hung Saturn upside down.

That's great. I do love a 'collection' of significant astro-objects within a single frame.

Very nice. I saw them from Harrogate at about 11:15pm, but they were so extensive I thought they must be some high cirro-cumulus. When they persisted I began to think about the camera and a time lapse. Then lo-and-behold, by about midnight they had more or less disappeared. Surprised they went so quick, I did not think NLC's were so transitory. Sean.