Pete Presland

9 minutes ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

I have found that i have a side effect ... i am addicted to buying and selling ( usually at a loss of course ) to get to my " sweet spot" ( which i honestly know i may never find ! As i am writing this i can see its a ridiculous condition , but , its also exciting , in an expensive sort of way . 

I think I found mine with my C9.25, large aperture at a reasonable weight. As I get older I am glad I didn't get a C11, I think I would be struggling in a few years to lift it on to the mount.

Just come in from a 3.30am start, a beautiful scene in the East this morning.  Mars is doing its best to try and "outshine" Venus though!

9 minutes ago, Physopto said:

A good few years ago I sold a Meade 12" LX200. I had marked it with a UV pen early on. When I went to sell it I tried to remove the marker data. But it was very difficult and would have damaged the paint surface. So it went to the new owner as was. If it was ever stolen and recovered I guess the marks would be still visible and it could be traced and returned. I may still have the buyers details somewhere.

Derek

Any info is better than nothing, at least there is still a point of contact. Hopefully this item will make o=it back to the rightful owners.

Should make for a spectacular sight, hopefully after a successful Mars imaging session.

Not the evening for Telescopes, hopefully some clear skies later in the week.

4 hours ago, morimarty said:

A great detailed martian image Pete. I noticed you switched cameras was there any particular reason other than the obvious osc.

I have got some mono images as well, i have not processed them yet. I generally start with OSC and then mono afterwards. I was not sure how much time i had before Mars slipped behind the willow tree near me.

6 hours ago, Craney said:

Some cloud detail in there.  It surprised me at first to see Venus facing to the left as I had become so used to it being an evening object and facing right.

The weather of late seems to be conducive to early mornings.  The showers build up in the heat of the day. Roll over and rain until about  1am  ( by which time Jupiter and Saturn are past their best for me).   Then the skies clear at about 3am.    Mars is still high, Venus is quite spectacular and you have the Winter constellations peppering the dawn light...... but setting up the kit at that time takes some dedication.... and silky stealth skills to avoid making a racket !!

 

Silky stealth skills, if only.......many loud bumps and bangs, much to the annoyance of other members of the household.  I absolutely love that time of the day though!  

I have the Baader 0-111 filter, very pleased with every time i have used it. I also own an explore scientific UHC filter which gives a slightly brighter view but less of a contrasty view depending on what object you are looking at.

I found this very interesting reading when i was deciding what filters i might require.

https://www.prairieastronomyclub.org/filter-performance-comparisons-for-some-common-nebulae/

I also prefer up as well, i just like the feeling similar to how @John described it

2 hours ago, Don Pensack said:

I regularly observe at a cold high altitude site.  It's not uncommon for temperatures to reach 3°C in August and -18°C in December.  Eyecup up, eye nestled into cup, is a prescription for immediate fogging of the cold eyepiece.

If it still fogs with the eyecup in the down position, I remove the eyecup altogether to allow more air to circulate in between the eyepiece and my eye.

[I also keep a Japanese folding fan in my pocket to wave at the eyepiece to quickly evaporate any fog on the eyepiece in the event it does fog up.  Don't laugh.  It works.]

Sorry could not help laughing  at least its dark and compared to the Solar hood i wear in daylight though.........

14 minutes ago, kev said:

nice image Pete. ive got the first decent sky here for ages.. and late tonight that storm is supposed to come.  

Pouring down here already, got grab every chance you can no matter how small the window is. Hopefully it will stay clear at least for Jupiter and Saturn.

13 minutes ago, Uplooker said:

Well done. Personal opinion, I think it is slightly over cooked on the pole, but well done, lovely image.

Definitely, i would agree as well. It certainly will be reprocessed again over the coming cloudy evenings, always have found the processing the hardest part of imaging. 

Been thinking about moving on from my trusty friend the DMK21au618, it been a great servant over many years but technology moves on.

I have owned an Asi 290mm for some time and i think i definitely did some white light images with it once, i may have popped it in the Lunt perhaps....

The first thing i noticed were the very newton rings which were very easily compensated for with my tilt adapter.

I could get the full disc in width wise, but not quite on the smallest dimension of the chip. So i slowly drifted the disc starting with one end showing to the limb then moving the other end on to the chip.

If my calculations are right, this single SER run capture is almost the same reoslution as when i do a 12 pane mosaic with my DMK.

Not the sharpest image and will still be doing some close ups, but a promising start i think. I have been considering an Asi174mm, but other than the global shutter i am not sure what i would gain. I would have to Barlow the camera to achieve this resolution as well.

Lunt 50mm double stack, Asi290mm and tilt adapter.

very nicely captured.

Excellent set of images.

Very nice close up capture.

Very mean and moody images, they remind me of some of the clouds we have been seeing lately!

Despite the conditions, that is still a nice sharp disc.

Some nice close up detail there, any activity is so welcome. Cycle 25 maybe be here, but old Sol is still pretty quite compared to a few years back.

The conditions seemed to have deteriorated from the earlier Mars session when Venus was finally clear of the houses.  Good to see Venus again but very little detail on show this time.

Captured with my C9.25, Asi 290mm, UV filter and a X1.8 Barlow. 25000 frames SER FILE stacked in A/S3 and lightly sharpened with CS2.

Early 3.45am alarm call for Mars, but for a change the seeing was reasonable and it was such a change not to be imaging at 15 degrees at the bottom of my garden!

The conditions seemed fairly stable from the time i popped the camera in, until Mars disappeared behind the trees.  Great to be reunited with the red planet and see some nice detail, especially after the sand storms of 2 years ago.

Captured with my C9.25, Asi 224mc. ADC and a X1.8 Barlow. 240 second SER FILE stacked/drizzled (x1.5) in A/S3 and lightly sharpened with CS2.

Pretty pleased with the result, wish i had known Phobos was close by, i might have tried a longer exposure to see if i could have seen it as well.

Lovely set of images, some really nice details visible there.

I have quite fond memories of spending many nights trying to get a decent image out of the Toucam Pro, then the SPC900n. But you are absolutely correct the new technology is amazing and I would hate to go back.

Some really nice details visible there

Very nicely captured

Very nicely captured