Craney

I might be wrong here ..... often am .....   but I thought that extended object like planets  did not give significant diffraction patterns whereas 'point' objects like stars did produce them.  All to do with image formation and superposition of waves.

That's why I thought you could only use stars for Bahtinov masks as well.

Very sad news.  Had the pleasure of meeting him in person when buying a telescope a few years ago.

He loved a good modification and upgrade to the basic stock model of scope. I got the feeling he had an engineering background and was a great source of information if you ever had a design specification that needed filling.

Sean.

I'm not fully convinced that  Black3.0 is  the best out there..... as some advertising would promote.

I tried to darken a dew-shield that had seen better days with an undercoat of Black (v1) then a topcoat of Black3.0.

Start

During

end

It dries to a matt finish, but it does have a dull sheen to it.  That is,  it looks darker when wet.     The Black(v1) undercoat was not enough by itself.

It improved my dew-shield (slightly)  but   maybe flocking paper and blackboard paint may have been cheaper in the end.

Hope this helps.

Sean.

Can follow on Flight-Tracker ...

Not been a great year in terms of progression but have still enjoyed the turning of the heavens and photographing less visited areas of the sky.

I have found it hard to invest the required time and tweak the inevitable 'issues' but hey-ho, othr things to do.

I would not have included a post here ... but ..... went to Iceland over New Year and got this... on December 30th.

-22'C ( that's colder than the temperature I set on my Atik 414 !!!! )  and a breeze.   Respect to those who venture out into the high latitudes to do astro-photography. 

Anyway, looking forward to 2023 .... Happy New Year everyone.      ( now where's that comet ??)

I'm afraid you are all wrong.......  it's the Tholian Web......

season3 episode 9......

Hi there,

I had the same problem with my C8 SCT. 

Taking a OSC image of the Moon with my Canon 60D, then  a planetary shot of Jupiter with a Barlow, ADC and smaller ZWO 224....... then to round the evening off a longer set with a cooled mono camera, 0.6x reducer and filter wheel.   All requiring little tweeks to maintain balance.

I found this a good solution if you have any length of Vixen style dovetail left on either side of the scope / mount clamp.  

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/counterweights/baader-dovetail-bar-levelling-counterweight.html

Very quick to slide away or toward the scope and you can add successive weights if one if not enough. 

  Saves unclamping the whole rig....which can end badly if you are not paying attention.

It might help.

Cheers.

Sean

I know about neighbour's rooftops........!!     Upper   0438am    .......    Lower    0449am .......😖

My pier in the back garden 'sees' Mars  (and the Moon)  until  3am Thursday morning.    Then a house gets in the way.

Anything happening about then ??

Saw this on FB.    'Live' coverage from above Lunar surface.

Thought people might like a look.    Views rival my Equinox 80.

I got something similar but less impressive at the end of May.

One similar to this  appeared on the forum a few weeks ago, and I had myself saying..... that is a good looking scope.

(picture from the web - credit to whoever took it !!)

Clean lines. No unnecessary fuss.   Almost art-deco in design.      Would not look out of place in a 1950's Sci-fi movie that is imagining what life in the 23rd century would look like.

The pedestal base does it for me....

Some more to the list:

EDIT :  Oops already got !!!     >>>   Perlan :   Restaurant / exhibition centre / water tower (!)   and  has a great view over Reykjavik.

Reynisfjara beach :    Black sand beach with Basaltic columns and offshore volcanic stacks.    In mist you could believe you are on Rigel 5  !!  Alien landscape.   Watch out for the waves though.

Waterfalls along the South Coast:   At least 3 beauties.    One you can walk behind.   One which is hidden, and you walk into the bottom of the plunge pool.  Very bracing.

Enjoy.

Hopefully I am going there over Christmas.

Sean

Yes, I agree with the above.   

I bought a 600mm mirrored from a less well known brand off of Amazon.  Cheap and cheerful.... indeed.....  thought it might be a good wildlife and lunar lens.

Really difficult to focus at any distant object with any degree of precision.   In fact I think 'infinity' occurred about a fifth of a rotation before the end stop !!!

Compared to my old Celestron C90 I might as well been using a pin hole camera !!

Being small and compact, the 600mm now makes a nice paper-weight.

Sean.

Indeed,  that Atik 414ex Mono is quite something.   

You definitely know if you have the object in the FOV.    If you cannot pick it out   (30 sec bin 4x4 ) then it is way too faint or you are looking in the wrong piece of sky.

I had a 10 minute window  of sky twixt tree and a three bed-roomed semi.    The Moon was Gibbous +  and staring right down the barrel of my finder scope.   The usually superb lodestar and Evo50mm combination could only get the lock on just one star, almost a total wash out... the NEQ6 and double mounted scopes were not liking this crazy altitude...... and did I mention the cloud scudding past over my South horizon.

There was a slight chance with such a low object.

but there it is, in all it's  H-O-O  glory.    A whopping  2 x 2min exposure with Equinox 80  and Atik 414 mono.

One I have never caught before and thought I never would with the local houses and gardens.

I'll be back tonight to add to the data and expect to get a rocket right through the middle of it !!!

Sean.

One of one   .....

That's quite something.  Well done.   

You have got blue starlight reflecting amongst the dust. Never been aware of that aspect before.

Had a go with your original TIFF.

Tried to subdue the colour shift and bring out the detail,   which is there.

I have a Canon 60D unmodded  and it also shows similar quirks to yours  after stacking.

I've been had by the tentacles.     

Samyang 135mm Vs The Squid

Five nights over 3 weeks,  waxing and waning Moon,  skitty cloud.... various levels of transparency ......   1 Hour Ha   (ok)  .... 16 hours O3 ( not enough !!)

O3 exposures up to 10 minutes each as well....    

It beckons......

Camera = Atik 414ex mono @-20'C

I'm wondering if the Samyang  ( under my suburban skies ) has enough light grasp to bring the creature out ?

Anybody else had success with our slippery foe from anywhere other than the Atacama ??

6 hours ago, scotty38 said:

 

Rear lights are so they can see the plough.

Even more irony  ......   !!

Until you knew...... definitely the Mysterons.....

...or pour water from a kettle  onto the tea-towel before wrapping around the connector.     Mind yer fingers!!!!

Or maybe pre-heat -treat the adapter with a hot flannel ... then allow to cool.....then reheat......

Several iterations and attack with the jar openers again.

One really stuck threaded adapter I had .......( that defeated all manner of techniques  )  somehow loosened itself on a window sill being left in the Sun for a week.

Ironic if he is growing carrots .......🥕