Stu

Jules, flattery will not endear you to the judge

Most certainly Tony

Oops! Must try harder!

You kept that one quiet John. Great scope, glad you are enjoying it.

Lovely! What a kind thought. Nice to have on display in the house too ?

Great stuff Jules. I really hope you like it. Give it time and don't jump to any conclusions which may be seeing related. I've also heard that the SW diagonals supplied as standard can be variable in quality so check this vs your current diagonal if unsure (hope you still have one??)

Lovely looking setup Louise

Thanks Dave, sorted now

Nice effort. That one goes into the next round

Actually, let's cut to the chase. It's been a few days since an award, and I'd like to announce that today's StuPOD goes to Roy! Despite some stiff competition, his moon shot is very sharp, particularly given that lack of processing. The quality of the f13 shines through Well done Roy!

Excellent results there under some quite challenging conditions! Can you let us know how the image was captured? Smartphone handheld at the eyepiece? What settings did you use?

Having had a nice little session last night with the 12", I think the moon is a perfectly decent (and admitable) target for a big dob. The resolution is well worth seeing!

They were 'iPhone Specials' John, handheld at the eyepiece. Thanks for your nice comments

Well, entries are slowing after initial interest has died down. My chances of regaining the crown have increased Tonight's offerings are taken using an Orion Optics VX12L, the full disk shot with a 20mm ES 100 degree eyepiece and the close up using a barlowed 18mm BGO.

Great shot Damo! You could be in with a shout with that one!

My efforts from this evening. Random sections of the lunar surface. Scope was an OMC140, using the iPhone hand held at the eyepiece. 24mm Panoptic and 18m BGO used.

Badum tish Of course Steve, you do get some interesting results that way

Had a session this evening on the moon with the OMC140 on my Vixen GPmount. Skies were pretty hazy, seeingbwas ropet and moon just off full so not ideal, but nice to be out.

Oobydooby, feel free to submit them. I think we may expand this to Afocal imaging in general with a smartphone and camera category. It's all very informal and on an as and when basis so no issues. Jules, drop any adocal images you would like to submit in here too. Stu

I hope so Jules. So long as the images come in, I'll keep choosing Perhaps we can open up to afocal too and have a smartphone and afocal winner? Let's see where it goes

Oobydooby, the slate is clean now, do send in your entry for the next award!

Beautiful setup Rainmaker, the stuff of dreams really At some point I would love to buy a 130 ish mm top end Apo, funds don't allow currently. I love the AZEQ6 too, it's a brilliant mount and one that I would buy again if I could keep it somewhere permanently setup. For now, with my back, the AZEQ5 will have to do. Thanks for posting the pics!!!

Thank you all very much for your entries. I think they accurately represent the challenges which we PhoneAPers (or PAPs as we are often called) face. Over exposure, lack of focus, even complete invisibility of the target object, these are all hallmarks of a PAP who has earned his or her stripes. I must give a highly commended mention to Ant's disqualified Solar halo shot, beautiful, and of course I can see fozzie being a future winner of this competition for obvious reasons. The winner of today's StuPOD however is Joe12345's Mercury transit shot with the 8" dob. It would be hard to imagine a less suitable rig for solar imaging, and I particularly liked the subtle pink and green shading which he has managed to maintain during processing. In addition to this, accurate use of exposure control has maintained the penumbras detail and Mecury itself is sharply defined, not easy to achieve. Well done Joe!!

You will go far young Fozzie, very far indeed

The rules are clear, and stated in this thread. Smartphone images taken through a scope is the simplest I can make it. Apologies, been busy, next winner will be announced later this evening.