Kon

It looks great. Some clouds are coming through in the right hand side image.

I managed a few galaxies around Leo but transparency was awful. Triplet was nicer than the other night, M95/96/M105 and Markarian's chain (not as many visible galaxies as on a clear night). I gave up on trying anything in Ursa major.

That sounds amazing and it must have been a sight! M42 with colours is an amazing experience (I have seen the colours in my 8" under very good transparency). Did you attempt the Flame or HH with your 17.5" yet?

I got the Dob out and although the sky is clear, transparency is awful. M42 looks alright, no colours tonight just grey and stars not pinpoint sharp. I hope seeing might improve for some Leo galaxies later.

I wanted to try shoot Venus this morning but the seeing was awful so I tried a few shots on the moon instead. Seeing was not better either but managed to rescue a few frames. Full moon on prime focus with my DSLR; stacked best of 100 frames in Siril and some editing in Gimp to bring up colours. The close ups are from ASI120mc-s (PIPP, AS!2 and Gimp). At the first closeup I really enjoyed seeing this long shadow at around 6 o clock.

Great result and some clouds are coming through. I tried this morning but I gave up since the seeing was awful.

Well my plan for galaxy hunting is gone up in the clouds...😪....back in since the transparency has dropped a lot. Despite that, I managed my first few galaxies for this season in Leo; Leo triplet (M65, M66, and NGC 3628) looked great in the same FOV in my ES68 24mm EP. M95/M96 and M105 were next. I realised that with this horrible transparency nothing more than mag 10.5 was visible; M65 in the triplet was just about visible. I failed to see NGC3377/3384/3412 (I have seen them in better skies before). Happy for tonight's session and hopefully the rest of the week is looking promising.

Finally got the Dob out after these consecutive storms. It is dead calm. An early start tonight before Orion disappears behind trees. Seeing is pretty good with the nebula showing some greens and reds. Pleiades showing nebulosity as well. Andromeda galaxy magestic. I hope to hunt some galaxies when Ursa major and Leo come towards my southern horizon.

I agree. I think under the current conditions the use of a barlow is not optimal thus this less sharp image.

Thanks Neil. I have seen online that some decide to remove the IR/UV cut that the asi120mc-s has and replace it. Is that what you are suggesting? Kostas

Thanks. Following Neils comment on my previous post, I was going to get a filter but apparently the ASI120mc-s already has a built in IR cut filter.

I managed to image Venus this morning after the storm we had last night. No hint of wind today but seeing was terrible with Venus looking like a disco ball. 8" Dob, asi120mc-s, 2x barlow, PIPP, AS!2. No further editing. Despite the conditions it does not look too bad and the phase is looking different from the other day.

I did a quick moon session last night. Seeing was not very stable despite the clear skies. I spent some time observing Grimaldi/Hevelius and Wargentin/Schickard craters. I was intrigued by the Wargentin and Phocylides craters with their apparent flatness and the way they are next to each other.

Visual seeing was horrible tonight but I had a go at imaging the Grimaldi/Hevelius and Wargentin/Schickard craters. I was intrigued by the Wargentin and Phocylides craters.

You may want to look into a variable polarising one. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/moon-neutral-density-filters/astro-essentials-variable-polarising-moon-filter.html

Nicely captured. The display of colours is fantastic especially the reds!

Thanks, that's great coming from you. By the way, I have noticed many imagers use UV/IR cut filters. Are they worth using/ or what is the benefit?

I was up early to take the dog out for a walk and I could not resist taking a shot at Venus with my new camera. 8" Dob, ZWO ASI120mc-s, gain 20 and exposure 0.7ms, no barlow, preprocess in PIPP and stacked in AS!2. No further editing. The thin crescent appearance looks great.

I had a look at Venus this morning around 630am. A nice thin crescent appearance to it. Very different from the fuller one I had seen in November.

I got myself a new planetary camera, ZWO ASI120mc-s from the SGL classifieds (thanks @rnobleeddy) and I gave it a test trial. I am really impressed with the quality over the DSLR that I have been fighting with. I am still getting my head around the capturing software but processing was done in PIPP and AS!2. No further editing at the moment but very pleased that there is so much less noise compared to the DSLR (I will still use it for the full moon disk capture). These are only 10s videos due to the Dob not tracking but next time I will try capture more videos and stack them. These are around 50% of 600 frames. Top two are with a 2x barlow and the bottom without it.

I managed a quick viewing session through the clouds last night and a few shots on prime focus with my 8" Dob. Letters V and X are nicely showing.

Great first report and a fantastic purchase. Your excitement is really coming through. You will have more of these moments. I have the same 200P. You will not be disappointed at all. I upgraded mine to a RACI and it is so much easier (plus you have the corrected sky view). https://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/skywatcher-9x50-right-angled-erecting-finderscope.html

Despite the very strong winds, I managed to capture the moon in the late afternoon as the sun was setting and in darkness. The differences are so striking, especially at the N (dob view) during day light, capturing more of the moon. More features around the craters in the night shot. 8" Dob, prime focus.

I had a look at the moon earlier; despite the strong wind there were moments of very good seeing. I think the rain helped as well. I am not going to bother with anteing else tonight as the wind is shacking the Dob like crazy.