Sunshine

2 minutes ago, jetstream said:

765x in the 15" and 375x in the TSA 120

765x!!!!! OMG have you spotted the flag on the moon as yet? the TSA120 is my dream scope, soon i will get my dirty paws on one, hopefully.

When using my 115mm refractor, my highest power EP would be my Pentax 3.5mm XW yielding 230x. When i bought it, i figured i would only use it for lunar and, those rare night where seeing will support planetary use. As it turns out, i am able to use this eyepiece a lot more often than i thought, I have nicknamed "Star Splitter" as it is a crack shot tight binary splitter, amazing detail on Lunar and, just last night it was fantastic for revealing a razor sharp Cassini Division and equatorial band on Saturn. At first, i was weary of buying such a high end eyepiece which i then figured i would only use occasionally but, it has been a pleasant surprise indeed.

One fine closeup you’ve done, very clean and crisp, I’m surprised it was at just 200ISO, fantastic.

A big welcome to SGL!

Welcome to SGL! 

A pretty image indeed!

6 hours ago, Alan White said:

So after 2 years, what are your thoughts on the APM UFF 18 mm @Sunshine?

Since purchasing that eyepiece, I have gone through two scopes before settling with my 115mm refractor, I have yet to use it in my refractor. The few times have used it, I do recall very pleasant views with very minimal edge of field brightening and, no field curvature that I could notice. This weekend I will give it a good go with my refractor which will yield a low magnification, from a build quality POV, it is a solid eyepiece with decent eye relief, I'll be sure to reply again with my findings, which scope would you use it with assuming you would be interested in the same eyepiece?.

I think Jupiter would pretty much be the test for a low contrast detail, especially comparing two scopes side by side.

Agreed! 

Unfortunately, my old canon 5D is not the most sensitive camera in the dark and, has loads of noise, being a more than decade old sensor. Soon, i will be looking for a second hand Sony A7 or the like, strictly for wide field use to mate with my Star Adventurer. In the meantime, this is about as good as i can do without stacking.

Was that ever a fun read and,  it reminded me so much of my own story in this most noble and fascinating of hobbies. A big welcome to SGL! we look forward to hearing from you, stay safe!.

1 hour ago, michael.h.f.wilkinson said:

The straight, blueish streak is the gas or ion tail, the more yellow-white tail is the dust tail. The heavier dust grains aren't blown away as fast as the light ions, so the dust tail lags along the orbit of the comet

Fantastic closeup, Thanks for the info.

I’m curious, the very straight streak coming off the core, far left, is that part of the tail or a photographic anomaly?. Wondering because the majority of matter is being blown to the right yet, that portion holds straight, not sure how that would be possible.

It may help if you shared the model of your phone, I watched a fellow take a jaw dropping shot of NEOWISE with a Huawei P30 I believe. It’s simply amazing what some phones can do these days.

They're all works of art but, especially dreamy is the one with the bridge, sublime.

If you are referring to a binary system whereby one of the stars has a planet, then i would expect that syzygy would occur quite frequently. Exactly what time scales (intervals) syzygy would occur would depend on how far the two stars are apart and, the distance of the planet from its parent star, more often in a binary where stars are closer to each other. There are sooooo many variables involved and, as mentioned above, unless the exact physical distances, masses, planes, etc are known, no one can argue against almost any scenario you choose. Regarding the pre sunrise/sunset, i imagine a planet with a tilt whereby the dimmer star just barely grazes the horizon as seen from the surface of the planet. Imagine the dimmer star never rises above the horizon and, always appears as a daily sunset/sunrise before the parent star actually rises and tracks across the sky (as our sun does). Whoa!! my mind melts, there are just too many variables, i think its safe to say that you can pretty much rest assured that no one will poke holes in your novel, unless, you are actually describing a known system who's physical properties are already understood.

I would really like to know what this novel will be titled, i would love to read it. 

Best of luck!

Literally a spur of the moment attempt at Neowise before i had to rush off for errands, handheld and, maybe slightly out of focus but, its there!. Tonight, if the sky participates, i will give it a proper go.

With an 11 degree FOV i think the only thing it would find is how limited ones patience really is, using it would be like tracking a fly through a straw.

I’m all in for this challenge! 

Welcome to the Lounge, Steven, I think we were all lurkers before we finally joined up, nice story about M42 BTW.

What is a "finder" eyepiece? 

 Nice shot, cassini division well defined.

Very nice dob, sharp looking, i would love to hear about your first light report! 

6 hours ago, Freddie said:

All using a ROI of 640x480 does is use a smaller area of the chip. It doesn’t change the resolution as the pixels are still the same size so no loss of detail.

Your frame rate and exposure are obviously linked. At an exposure of 1/60 of a second you can capture 60 frames in a second but if you change to 1/10 of a second you will now only capture 10 frames per second.

This clarifies everything, thanks a bunch!

Great shot!