Beltalowda

Fortunately, it follows a rather predictable cycle. But in all seriousness, congrats on your first planet. I recently viewed Venus while volunteering at a star party. I used my 13% transmission moon filter and it turned Venus from something that looked like an overexposed camera phone image into something where you could clearly discern the phase.

Oh, that makes sense. haha. I call it the annoying method.

By the way, I actually have no idea what the drift method is.

Thanks. That's amazing.

I'm only using a cellphone and don't have a tracking mount, but I still feel like maybe I can squeeze more out of the setup if I knew what I was doing. For example, my profile picture was taken during the lunar eclipse with the same camera and turned out pretty well: But I tried to image the Orion nebula and was too ashamed of the result to share it, until now: I realize the moon is low hanging fruit, but I feel like I should be able to get better nebula pictures.

I'm taking baby steps toward getting better images. After a very poor attempt in May (which was too embarrassing to share here), I figured Jupiter's opposition would give me a nice opportunity for a do-over. Are there any filters that will help bring out richer colors? Also, I just noticed how bad these look when enlarged. How do I post them in a smaller size? Equipment: 8" f/5.9 reflector, 6mm Celestron Omni Plössl eyepiece, Samsung Galaxy S7 camera ISO 100, Exp. 1/30 s ISO 64, Exp. 1/180 s ISO 80, Exp. 1/180 s