michael.h.f.wilkinson

Clear (sweltering) skies, so finally giving C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS) a go with the Meade SN6 6"F/5 Schmidt-Newton. Scope collimated, just waiting for such darkness as can be expected.

Just got news mine should arrive tomorrow (clear skies predicted for tonight, clouds for tomorrow, go figure!)

Interesting stuff. I am awaiting the arrival of the AM5 some time next week.

Just spotted it again, with difficulty. It should be easier in proper astronomical darkness. Best of luck in Spain. On Monday I hope to get it with the 6" Schmidt-Newton

The AM5 also travels a lot more easily by plane

I used a second-hand Skywatcher EQ3-2 mount for tracking and stacked a few hundred 60s exposures. I use APT to control the camera

The lower of the two images would be roughly the same with a non-modded camera, as it does not contain H-alpha emission. For the top one you would need at least twice the exposure time to get a similar result, because modding the camera more than doubles the sensitivity to H-alpha. M31 with my old EOS 700D shows what can be done with a non-modded camera All images above were taken with my APM 80mm F/6 with 0.8x reducer. Below is a 200mm telephoto shot Modding a camera yourself is possible, although I have never done it. There are several modding services

Just got this second-hand camera in yesterday, to complement my ASI183MM-Pro. Maybe I can build a dual rig with two Samyang 135mm F/2 lenses, couple the mono to one, and the colour to the other, and grab LRGB simultaneously

Older DSLRs can give really good results, especially if astro-modded. My old, modded 550D works just fine The 75-300 isn't Canon's best zoom, the 70-300 being rather sharper at full aperture, but I have no experience with the former, so cannot comment on how good it will be

Eye relief is the killer issue for me. The XWs are perfect in this sense, and having a Nagler 31T5 (a.k.a. Panzerfaust), a 22T4, and ES 92 deg 12 and 17 mm EPs, the XWs seem really lightweight to me.

It was very hard even with bigger bins. Next chance I get I will wheel out the 6" Schmidt-Newton

Just had several looks at this comet, located close to M10. I found it quite challenging, even with my trusty Helios LightQuest 16x80 bins. A small fuzzy patch did show up north of M10, no tail visible. Moonlight and lack of astronomical darkness didn't help. Clouds have now come in, so that's it for tonight. Still, comet number 33 bagged. Hopefully I get more opportunities later

Should you be interested, there is a Pentax SMC Ortho 9mm 0.965" EP on sale here (I don't know the seller): http://www.te-les-koop.nl/BekijkAdvertentie.php?key=43151 It is a Dutch site, and there are no photos, but it might be of interest

It has been around for years. They are very expensive indeed. As I understand you can even use the Coronado 60mm DS unit on a Lunt scope. It does get you a small central obstruction of course

I was comparing the LS50 with B600 to the SolarMax-II 60 with BF10

There are Lunt 60mm aperture Double Stack units: https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p4958_Lunt-Double-Stack-Etalon-for-all-LS60FHa-Filters-and-LS60THa-Telescopes.html

I have the SolarMax-II with a BF15, and it is great for visual and pretty decent for imaging. A bigger blocking filter is also advantageous in imaging, I find. So regarding the bigger aperture and bigger blocking filter, the Coronado wins. The downside of that instrument (which is why I am eyeing a potential replacement is the central obstruction of the etalon, which makes the Lunt a slightly more comfortable scope visually. I also have a 60 mm Double-Stack unit, which greatly increases contrast, at the expense of a much lower brightness. The helical focuser is also not much to write home about. It does the job, but is a bit fiddly. The focuser on my LS35 was slightly better. Hope this helps

I hav eimaged with a humble Lunt LS35 THa, a Coronado SolarMax-II 60 mm, and an APM 80mm F/6 triplet with ERF, Baader TZ-4 4x tele-centric Barlow, and a Solar Spectrum 0.3 Å H-alpha filter. In the latter I could only image parts of the sun and needed to stitch the result. The differences between the set-ups can be seen below (click for full size view) If you can get something like a secondhand LS50 or 60, or a SolarMax 60, that would be a great start.

Nice images. Hope to catch this one one of these days

Witchfinder Sergeant is the best we can do nowadays Joking aside, it is always a good idea to approach things like this from a scientific point of view.

Managed some quick shots from the roof of the Forum building in Groningen, where we had a solar observation event of the National Sungazing Day Quite a few proms visible

Lovely captures

Another more wide-field shot from the same night.

Here is an entry from the Netherlands, taken near Dorkwerd, in the province of Groningen, taken around 01:00 on June 23. Taken with my Canon EOS 90D, and 17-55 mm F/2.8 zoom. Raw file processed a little in Affinity Photo. I like the way the headlights of the car in the distance light up the mist lying over the fields.

Just snapped a nice display of noctilucent clouds. Shots taken with my Canon EOS 90D and Canon 17-55 mm F2.8 zoom