AstroNebulee

I was amazed when I saw it and the small avi file processed ok. Clear skies

Thank you Craig, I did think I've over processed Mars a little but the detail just wasn't coming out in processing with registax so went a bit hard with it.

Thank you, as I said to Kon, I was busy looking through my turn left at orion book and saw that I got the Hadley Rile with Apollo 15's landing site and zoomed in as far as i could to view it. So Happy to get that and the Alpine Valley. Also Rupes Recta (straight wall) in another image. Can't wait to image the moon again. Clear skies

Thank you, definitely great to have a break in the weather to finally get some astronomy in. I was busy looking through my copy of Turn left at Orion whilst processing these to see the names of the craters. I can't wait to image the moon again in a slightly more increased phase for my favourite part the Bay of Rainbows. I've fallen back in love with the moon. Clear skies

Here are my first double star images produced from finally getting my set up outside for the first time ever. As in my observing thread I said I got my skymax 127 and az gti mount outside as this is more portable than my previous set up of sw explorer 150p eq 3-2 which I never got outside. So I was like a child in a sweetshop when I was observing and imaging last night, though very basic imaging. I know they aren't the best but I'm happy to start with and I'm still learning. I should of used my dslr for these bit I already had my zwo asi120mc already in the scope so just went with that. Clear skies.

Here are my first planetary images produced from finally getting my set up outside for the first time ever. As in my observing thread I said I got my skymax 127 and az gti mount outside as this is more portable than my previous set up of sw explorer 150p eq 3-2 which I never got outside. So I was like a child in a sweetshop when I was observing and imaging last night, though very basic imaging. I know they aren't the best but I'm happy to start with Mars is probably a little over processed in Registax. I'm absolutely chuffed to bits to image Uranus, I've never seen let alone image Uranus before. Clear skies.

Here are my first lunar images produced from finally getting my set up outside for the first time ever. As in my observing thread I said I got my skymax 127 and az gti mount outside as this is more portable than my previous set up of sw explorer 150p eq 3-2 which I never got outside. So I was like a child in a sweetshop when I was observing and imaging last night, though very basic imaging. Some of the lunar images are better than others and not properly rotated to give the eyeball view. The close up views are with my zwo asi120mc planetary camera and the other from my canon dslr . I know they aren't the best but I'm happy to start with and some interesting features I'm learning on the moon. Clear skies.

Thank you Heather, it sounds a very impressive setup you have there, your manfrotto tripod does sound amazing, I will keep my eyes peeled for one and in the meantime continue to use my sw az gti tripod as not to shabby at all. Plus will continue to scour the Internet for one and the sw steel tripod for stability, I'll also consider hanging a weight from the sw az gti tripod but as I said for my mak it's a quite a stable thing even fully extended

I left my scope with the caps off and the and the ep end slightly downwards in a cool room and thd ep caps off but shall keep them on loosely from now. I'm loving my Skymax 127 so glad I didn't sell it, it's doing everything I ask of it so far and giving me plenty, I was like a child again last night, hopefully Saturday evening will be good so far for another session and like to test it on small galaxies as andromeda will be to big to fit in clear skies.

Thank you pixies, I've seen one on the bay if dreams at £27 so far, just thinking if it would be more stable than my az gti tripod, or maybe wait and get the Sky-Watcher 3/8" Stainless Steel Tripod?

Thank you, yes, there's always something to forget to do during the excitement of clear skies and setting up. When I brought everything in from outside I kept all the caps off the scope, ep and camera because of fogging up and put them back on this morning was this correct?

Thank you, I'm just going through them now, though my laptop has decided to do updates so going very slow.

I'm not sure but if you turn down the brightness a tad on the rds it may help, it's what I do sometimes for faint stars. As John said keep at it and end on the session on a high take an image of the moon with your smartphone if you have one then it'll give you an image to edit an play with. There are very few times that we in the UK can get out to observe so sometimes just go with the flow or research what object you'd like to observe in your next session and work the route to see it. Keep going and clear skies

Great reports, it was amazing to get to view the night sky last night but got to cold in the end, my report is in another thread here but I'm still buzzing now, got lots of images and captures to look through today, clear skies

Hi Heather, what mak and manfrotto tripod do you pocess, I looked and manfrotto compared to my az gti tripod but not sure how much difference

It's looking fresh on here now, I like the new theme, well done mods 👍

I finally did it! All I can say is Wow! But I'll expand on that if I may. It was the first time I ever got my scope outside to do proper astronomy, only managed to get my Skymax 127 out because of my new sw az gti mount and tripod. The skies were clearing around 17:15 so I got everything together in my back pack and carried my scope and mount/tripod down the stairs to my outside communal area. Put the scope on the tripod with my dew shield to cool down as I set everything up (though in my excitement I forgot to level the tripod properly but it was close enough I think) The moon was high and 59‰ Mars was showing just above it. So I did the North level alignment with my syn scan app on my phone and aligned to Betelguese and Capella and pretty much spot on (would of be exact if I levelled the tripod) Then I went straight to the moon and such a clear sharp view so attached my dslr to the scope and fired off 30 or so images. Then I set Mars to goto and a nice crisp view, I connected my zwo asi120mc and took a few captures of Mars, could just make out a dark band around the middle, then set goto to Uranus and through my 20mm barlowed (I left my 10mm lens in my flat, doh) I saw a light blueish sphere, so centred it up and fitted my zwo again and got a few captures, though so small was hard to hold it steady in view but got there in the end. So chuffed to even see Uranus let alone image which took a while to centre it in the screen. Then I went back to the moon to get close ups with my zwo and so clear and sharp, I took many captures of different areas of the moon, with nice definition of craters and mountains. My last two targets for the session were Castor and Mintaka double stars and split them successfully with the zwo and a few captures, I should of got the dslr on but was to excited. I couldn't resit a quick look at M42 and could clearly see the trapezium stars with my 32mm lens. By this time I was so cold, my toes were going numb. I wish I could of stayed out longer but it was getting colder despite wrapping up and thermal socks. I've got a lot of data to look through moro just hope they stack and process well. Sorry this is a long report but since I got into astronomy in April 2020 this is my first time outside and not through a window. (doing it properly) The az gti and Skymax 127 performed admirably, sturdy and solid, will look into a slight backlash that can be altered in the settings menu. It's looking a bit clear on Saturday evening at the moment so hoping to go out again to view more wonders of the night sky. Clear skies. 🌌🔭📷😁

Going to start popping my scope out now to cool down, by the time it's cooled and I've set up should be OK to start, wish me luck my first light with the scope and mount outside, clear skies

Nice one John, better than here at the moment, but maybe enough gaps to get the scope out

Still be nice if they could still ship to the UK, there's so much stuff on there and several bits I could get really cheap. It wasn't until I saw another member suggest something from astro boot for another member and went to look and 😔, hopefully not to long until they open please. No mention of b word @Stu😉

Taken on board and noted oops 🤐 😁

Good Luck John, CO is saying a fair chance this evening.

Such a shame that Astroboot uk arent shipping to the UK right now because of Brexit and EU trading laws, so much great items on there that would help me immensely . Lets hope that they can be back in UK business soon.

Not managed to get out properly this year yet either. Maybe tonight or Saturday evening is showing a little better for me. I put my hands up its my fault as I've recently received my az gti mount and tripod, to finally get my skymax 127 outside. A clear spell last night around 4 am lasted for 3 minutes , I got all excited and then the clouds rolled in again. I will try my new mount eventually??????

There will be a difference between the amount of light the 200p will gather over the 150pds with the 200p gather more light and in reflectors aperture is king. If you think you can carry the equipment the distance I'd go for the 200p everytime, though as Smf said above it'll a bit to carry about when you take your ep's and in the future dslr. It may be worth comparing both against each other regarding weight of the setups. I can't say which to buy as I'm quite a newbie and only going on my past experiences. I'm sure others will have better advice.