Marvin Jenkins

1 minute ago, Pete Presland said:

I drove out into the country twice on Saturday morning, either side of imaging the planets, what a stunning sight!!!

I was totally gob smacked that it looked that good. I sent the pic to my brother in Melbourne Australia and he thought I was pulling his leg! And so many people have done way better than me that is for sure.

For something like that it is worth the travel and I congratulate you on your commitment to this amazing addiction.

Ma v

1 hour ago, Pete Presland said:

 A beautiful scene, very nicely captured.

Thank you very much for your kind comments. I have to say that it was better to the naked eye, I actually swore out loud.

I am very fortunate to live in a rural setting but I was hoping a car would come along the road on the right and leave a trail.

It was well worth the early alarm call. If any off you are in doubt go and see it, you will not be disappointed.

Marv

2 hours ago, fwm891 said:

How about boob of the day / month?

I'll kick off with this one...

Forgot to rotate the camera!

 

Thing is I love the picture but how do you get it framed.😁

22 minutes ago, Ags said:

After last night's collimation scare I finally got round to installing the Bob's Knobs I bought 6 months ago. Also I have a new Scope Transport Policy of carrying the OTA out separately from the tripod from now on.

I want to say thank you for completing the picture. I was looking at Neowise this morning at 4am and took in Jupiter, Saturn, Moon and Venus. Completely missed Mars!!!! How did that happen. Cheers.

Marv

I have seen some lovely images on this Comet, far better than I can do but I thought I would throw my penny in the bucket from this morning a little after 4am!
Almost painfull to drag myself out of a bed into a warm morning of clear starry skies without a breath of wind, to stand in splendid isolation in a rural environment with Comet Neowise making my jaw brush the floor. No idea it had got that good.

After some pictures and a look through the binos I just sat down in the field and realised I had Jupiter and Saturn behind me. The moon on my right shoulder and Venus rising in the east. Neowise is the giant cherry on the most amazing cake I ever took a bite of.

19 hours ago, Hallingskies said:

Not saying that anyone here would cheat but it would be too easy (or tempting) to add a few trails in PaintShop, just to make a point! 🤣🤣🤣

Everyone in this community is far too honest for that kind of nonsense. 🤔

11 hours ago, Waddensky said:

Aren't ataxites magnetic? Could be chondrites. But so many small fragments on a single location, each with their own fusion crust... It seems unlikely to me. You can mail the photos to the BIMS for a quick opinion.

I was thinking along your lines at the beginning when I thought they might be NI/FE meteorites which would be magnetic. Because they are not magnetic I think I am right in saying they cannot be Slag, Heamatite or Ferrusmanganese.

My find is a curious one. They all come from one deposit of 20/30 drainage pebble from a gravel pit local to me in France. I ordered several tons too many when installing a septic tank six years ago and the remaining 1 to 2 tons has sat at my place since then.

I noticed a few in the pile and gave a handful (in the picture) To a friend who googled them and said dead ringer for Ataxites. After that I sifted the whole pile and have my own collection. They appear to be water worn which concurs with being in a buried bed of beach pebble extracted for aggregate purposes.

Is it possible that a large Ataxite has been broken up and polished by wave and pebble action then buried, only to be extracted as drainage pebble? I have been a landscape gardener here for twenty years and this concentration of these objects are a first for me. I have never seen any others in the hundreds of tons of granular objects I work and build with, all of which come from the same gravel pit.
 

I also read that Ataxites are extremely high in nickel with grains of silica distributed within them. My friend with the handful of samples has looked at their structure with a micro scope and there appears to be a metal base structure with different colours of tiny crystal grains throughout the body! No veins of crystals just individual specks from one mm and smaller.
 

I will look at your link and thank you very much for getting in contact.

Marvin

5 hours ago, andrew s said:

Had a quick look and it seems to be fairly standard FLWR cosmology as applied to our Universe.  The data current points to our Universe  beging spatially flat so the curved options are not very likely. 

Regards Andrew 

Right on, couldn’t agree more. 

Hello everyone
I need some help identifying what I think maybe a meteorite find. The details of the find is too complex to detail here and may waist too much time if it turns out to be a meteor wrong.

The first picture is a handful of the finds. My description is as follows- Brown to black water polished pebbles. Heavy for there size. Blobby and fluid in there appearence. 
 

Despite looking metallic they are not magnetic. Now, I have more than the handful, so I selected a small unremarkable sample and ground off a corner using a high speed grinding wheel.

It ground just like I was shortening a steel bolt but with no sparks. Within 60 seconds I had to drop it as it was incredibly hot. Upon inspection the ground area looked like metal. Closer inspection with magnifying glass showed what looked like a random metallic structure full of white to brown crystals distributed evenly throughout the ground area.

I dropped it in 23% hydrochloric acid and absolutely no reaction was observed. I did the same thing with other pebbles from the find site and violent fizzing occurred.

The inevitable Google search, results in one candidate, an Ataxite meteorite. I know a little but not enough to identify my finds, any help would be most greatfully appreciated. 
 

Marvin

Your 3200 definitely has video capture off the live view as my 3100 does this. If you have some success, please post, I would be interested to see the results.

I am presuming That Sean’s most helpful advice about taking video is to stack the best images using planetary software?

Marv

4 hours ago, PhotoGav said:

Fascinating discussion folks, thank you for contributing. It's very interesting to see that we are not all of the same opinion.

Anyway, here is a quick data update. I haven't gathered the whole set yet, but thought it would be interesting to see how the rejection gets on with those trails. So, with minimal processing beyond calibrating, stacking and combining the LRGB data sets in APP...

Here it is with no rejection:

 

 

 

And here it is with sigma rejection:

 

 

There is hope after all (as expected!)...

 

(This does not mean I now condone the satellite mega-constellations!)

 

Clear sat-free skies to you all

I am not liking Sigma rejection. That is like a green light to fill our skies with really useful junk. How dare you use a bit of software to Instantly solve a terrible problem and massively lessen my chances of putting forward an idea for the next SGL challenge. I want one of those mugs. (No chance)
Marvin.

Paul M, I know what you mean, I only started with single test shots just over a year ago and only completed my first two night on the same target a couple months ago.

Second thing is I have no idea why I got involved either! But just like you I am. I suggested the sat trails staying in just to show how the bad the problem may become.

I personally have not been photo bombed by Elon’s swarm and at present am averaging only 6 out of 100 subs going in the bin. A good deal of that is sure to be that I am limited to 60 second exposures.

I think the point of all this is how bad this become in say ten years. I am not so sure about the satellites not being a problem in winter. I am sure I have discarded subs from trails in the dead of winter.

Marv

I have been following a thread in imaging about how bad the effect of Star Link has become for imaging.

I suggested we highlight the problem instead of getting rid of the trails. Perhaps a challenge to produce the most stunning image utterly ruined by sat trails and aircraft?

Marvin

This sure has been an interesting read. If I may make a suggestion with regards to the trails in ap pictures?

As with all forms of pollution why not highlight the problem instead of hiding it. Why don’t we produce lovely pictures ruined by star link to show everyone how bad the problem is and how bad it is going to be.

This website is currently asking for challenge suggestions, perhaps this could be the next one. I am going to offer this suggestion.

At the end of the day the best way to show how bad something has become is to display it graphically like a picture of a natural beach covered in ten thousand plastic flip flops or that bit of footage of the dead whale with it’s intestines full of plastic bags.

I am not suggesting that our problem is as big or important as saving sea life but our night skies are still part of our visual environment. From now on I will be going natural, and if there are trails, they are staying in!

Marvin

I have an Orion Space Probe 130 which I have upgraded with the PDS focuser, in effect, making it a 130 pds.

I also have an SW 150 pds and I find both excellent for AP and visual. I have seen all the planets and at present are 108 of 110 Messiers. 
I have seen transits and shadow transits of Jupiter. The Cassini division and ring shadow on Saturn plus moons and surface shading on Mars sometime back. At present I am only using a box of cheap Plossls, so with higher end ep,s the views can only get better. FYI I am bortle 4 skies.

I cannot comment on imaging planets as I have been concentrating on DSO,s since starting AP as the planets are now just coming back to my latitude. 
 

Marvin

Hi Ranger Zeus, I don’t normally reply to these threads as most of them I have no immediate knowledge, this one is on the money.

I started Astro three years ago knowing absolutely nothing. A year in bought an SW NEQ5 Pro SynScan V5 and SW 150 PDS with the intention of doing AP with my DSLR

At first I was horrified that I had made a huge mistake. The whole world says AP starts at HEQ5. Not so!

Now to clarify, really good AP results start at HEQ5. However I am getting usable 60 second subs unguided from my setup with careful polar alignment.

I would however say that in my opinion the 200 PDS is a leap too far and the previous suggestion of 130 and 150 for the same cost makes lots of sense.

I have imaged Nebula, Clusters, Globs and Galaxies including The Whirlpool, Leo Triplet and M81/82 with some success.

Thinking about it.. would you be better off buying an HEQ5 130PDS then getting a 150 in the future? That way you are mount future proofed.
It has taken me a year to learn how to take all the subs darks flats etc and it will take a lot longer to learn processing so you have plenty of time not to mention cloudy skies to look forward to.

Marvin

My advice is to not rush anything. I know it is hard as I remember my first sessions and I was clearly trying to exceed M Messier’s life’s work in one night.

The second thing is that your great choice of scope is one of the best for portability. If you can, move location as the moon is a fabulous waxing crescent right now early in the night.

Once the moon drops below the horizon you can have a look at M13 which is always a treat. Always start with your lowest Magnification eye pieces (biggest number in mm’s) to give you the best view for locating the object. Once you find the treasure you can increase mag.

Happy star gazing.

Marvin

No problem, I could have done with your help on Friday night! Have you got it working with Stellarium or CDC yet? 
M

I use a D3100 as a beginner into AP and it is great. I am well aware that DSLRs are at the bottom of AP compared to cooled CCDs.

At the start DSLRs are light weight and convenient. But if it wasn’t for the fact that I already had the Nikon before the scope I would be Canon all night long. I think there is focus software and extras for Canon for free and nothing for Nikon.

Just look at how many Astro AP are using Canon. Very few ‘choose Nikon’.

Marvin

1 hour ago, dazza007 said:

Hello,

I am trying to get my head around  star alignment when I connect my laptop to my Synscan without the hand controller. I have the EQ5 synscan upgrade. If I star align with the hand controller and then plug in the laptop to the synscan directly (not the hand controller) will the settings be retained? or is it better to directly connect the laptop to the hand controller?

Thanks

D

 

 

If understand correctly, you are using an EQ5 mount with Synscan upgrade kit?? I have the same. If what you are trying to do, is what you describe then it will not work. 
You cannot start your mount and star align with the Synscan handset, then disconnect and plug in a pc/laptop.

You have to operate your mount via the Synscan hand control unit or buy from FLO the dedicated cable, to connect your mount to a computer using the Ascom platform and the Eqmod driver. The cable is Lynx Astro Eqmod.

Just today I have been through this ordeal something akin to the Spanish Inquisition! Don’t be put off as when it works, IT WORKS.
 

The trial by ordeal is as follows- Order correct usb cable for your mount via FLO. Don’t be tempted by alternatives as the quality is important.

Make sure the laptop you are using is Microsoft. Search by your preferred engine “Ascom” and download the Ascom platform. I don’t know the blurb but it is a common interface that allows Astro programs to talk to each other.

Once you have the Ascom platform downloaded, search your preferred engine for EQMOD. Be careful, the top line is for Ascompad, you don’t want that. Next line down is what you need, Eqmod. Be aware that you click on Eqmod but the download button is still for Ascompad. THEY DONT MAKE IT EASY!
 

Once you have downloaded EQMOD you are in the pit of hell fire. At this point you need a good YouTube tutorial on a separate tablet and some Scotch if you are eighteen or older.
The biggest deal with the whole thing, after connecting your mount with the special cable and powering up the mount direct, no handset, is to find out your COM PORT number.

Now I am on Windows ten, so to find this I RIGHT CLICK the Microsoft start button bottom left. A box appears with a big list. Device controller. Half way down USB, double click and it will show you the com port number your cable is assigned.
 

Get out of there and click your start button for your list of programs. Being Windows 10 EQMOD is at the top as a newly downloaded app. Toolbox is what you want! But not yet.    You have to right click on it, select ‘more’ and select administrator. That’s right, you knew that, you were telepathic or part of the design team that created this secret mythical world.

Now you are in to the EQMOD program. Almost there.... you must be joking. More mind reading.  Hit the driver button and ensure that in COM PORT you select the number you found earlier. Didn’t wright it down? Go back start again.

Remembered COM number great. Keep following that YouTube tutorial because you cannot get a refund on the next two days of your life.

M

4 hours ago, vlaiv said:

This one is easy

Although not quite coherent. If you follow the graph from foot to nautical mile, you will conclude that:

nautical mile = 10 cable = 10 x (100 fathom) = 10 x 100 x (2 x yard) = 10 x 100 x 2 x (3 foot) = 10 x 100 x 2 x 3 x foot = 6000 x foot = 6080 x foot (if you go directly)

We have 80 feet (11520 poppy seeds) missing in our calculation - or about one shackle

 

I think most of theses diagrams are just made to con people out of what they think they are buying. I once worked for a guy, for a day that asked me how many hours I had worked? I said eight.
He started in UK pounds per hour, despite being in France. Converted it to Francs despite the recent move to the Euro. Then converted to Euros. I got ripped off at every turn, hence the one day I worked for the guy.

Wasn’t there a collaborative mission to one of the planets In the past that ended in failure because the US was working in their units and Europe was working in metric? Tried to land at 30,000 KLM’s an hour what ever that is in US miles.

M

It’s just a telescope! Drill a hole in it!😂 old school cyclist. Back in the day some of us would drill huge amounts of excess aluminium out of very expensive cycling equipment to save a few grams. Drillium is what I think it is now called.

In all seriousness, my hands would tremble at the idea of drilling a hole in something Astro high end, but they are just telescopes in the end not Holy Grails.

Marvin

11 minutes ago, Cornelius Varley said:

The v3 handset can be powered independently of the mount using the socket on the base of the handset. You can check if the handset works by powering it from a 12v psu.

I powered it up separately from the mount via the power port in the base, using the same power supply for the mount, 12v max5amp but it was still dead.
Had me looking for a secret on off switch, picture me throwing it in the bin only to find out a week later it needed switching on.

Marv

1 minute ago, Jiggy 67 said:

The handset controls illumination. Go to the utilities menu and look for polar scope illumination

Thank you very much. I looked on line for Skywatcher user guides but they appear to be as good on the web as they are in printed form out of the box. Thanks for the info.

Marvin

I am the proud owner of a new to me NEQ6R mount. This mount has been given to me as the previous owner has said it may need a rebuild, which I am entirely happy with. Previous owner said that it was not tracking accurately enough for their needs.

It has been Rowan belt modded. I have connected it to power via an AC to DC 12 v 5amp 60w supply in the house. Flick the switch and solid red power light.
First thing, the V3 handset appears to be dead. I have an EQ5 with V5 handset and I swapped the handsets and the V5 powers up and works fine, so I presume the old handset has died???? Without jumping to conclusions is this reasonable? as I have noticed that the V3 has a power socket in it’s base unlike the V5.

I had one night clear skies to test the mount but once outside I found the azimuth dead stop bolt was missing from the tripod head ahhhh! The mount has only ever been used on a pier I suspect. I was unable to polar align and the weather has been cloudy since.

I have made a dead stop bolt so that problem solved but the second question is polar scope illumination. Because my experience is EQ5 based I have used the little plug in battery illuminator but the NEQ6R appears to have a built in illuminator. 
I can see it, like a little lolly pop stick when looking down the RA hole, but mine does not light up. I assume it should illuminate when the power is turned on? Is there a separate control for this I am missing, or is it just not working.

I have no problem doing any work that is needed. Replacing anything that needs replacing. I will probably go down the EQMOD route and not get a replacement handset, but use a laptop instead.

Any answers to the V3 handset question and polar scope illuminator question would be most welcome.

Marvin