Kon

With predicted clear skies tonight and an ISS transit, I was ready to capture some shots with my 8" Dob and Nikon D3200 on prime focus (unfortunately i cannot reach focus with a 2x barlow which can give me more details). I think that has been the best capture I had for a long time. My kids were super excited 'guiding' me where to shoot. I tracked it manually with my finderscope. I shot nearly 300 frames at iso 3200, 1/4000s exposure. I need to find a way to stack them since i can get better quality and also try make a little gif. But these just the crops of the best frames. From left to right is the W to E travel; quite nice seeing the different angles during the transit. (since I posted, I managed to make an animation using PIPP; I quite like how the sun shines towards the end in one of the panels)

Amazing, especially the second and last one!

Not sure it counts as 'tonight' but today I was working from home and I had a nice 30min session looking at the new sun spots that have developed. It was nice seeing all of them scattered around rather than clustered on one side. Tonight is looking promising and the moon is out of the way, so it should be a treat for some DSOs.

@JOC gave a very good explanation and in addition, Retina with age declines and colour perception decreases especially at low light. I similarly see Aldebaran and Betelgeuse dark orange/ reddish. The double cluster in Persei show some dark yellows/orange. Regarding M42 I have seen reds,pinks and teal green when transparency is extremely good. Very subtle no AP colours. It mostly appears greenish/grey in so-so nights. Light pollution and transparency will affect colours.

True, early morning so I didn't do the conversion. Time for more ☕

Thanks a lot for the suggestions. I will try next time. Although, iso 50 might a bit dark do you just play with the levels/curves to brighten it up later?

Very nice report Joe and I am glad the clouds did not ruin the fun. When I saw the IC417 around NGC1893 a few weeks back I had to use my OIII filter. Without it I could see the cluster nicely but no hint of the nebula, but with the filter it brought it up nicely. Similarly M38 and NGC1907 look quite nice together if you have a wide FOV EP. I agree the smaller cluster does not reveal much details at low mag.

A few shots of the moon with my 8" Dob. Seeing was really nice tonight. Prime focus, iso 200, 1/400s, stacked 15/180 frames in Siril, some editing in Gimp. I have played with the wavelet decompose in Gimp and some sharpening; the equivalent in Gimp seems to much in my eyes, unless I overdo it there as well. I always wonder if the sharpening is too much in my images (happy for feedback/criticism); I am aware of the limitations of my setup.

Excellent seeing tonight. Moon looked really sharp. I did not really bother with any DSOs, apart from M42 and Pleiades very quickly, since they are completely washed out. It's really freezing as well. Let's hope to same or better conditions when we have the new moon. I miss observing some nebulas.

I tried to see the (7482) 1994 PC1 asteroid earlier but failed due to light haze. Things cleared now but the moon is too bright to try for it. The moon took magnification quite well, 6.7mm EP, although 8.8mm was better due to some 'boiling' effect. I spent some time in Mare Crisium. Petavious and Langrenus looked really nice and I enjoyed the central peak in both. I got a quick snapshot at the EP as well. Looking all the smaller craters scattered further up is rather mesmerising, in my eyes.

Have you managed to see it again tonight?

Thanks and the timing was perfect as I got back from work. I got in the area but unfortunately light haze made transparency awful and I did not see anything faint moving. I could see the stars in your screenshot around mag 8-8.5 but nothing beyond that really 😢. At least your description in the other post makes it up for the unsuccessful attempt last light and tonight.

@Stu could you post a screenshot of the relative position for tonight please? Skies are clear for now so I want to give it another go.

Just a suggestion, if you are upgrading, it might be better to go for right angled erecting since you have the correction orientation. I find it handy when I look at maps. On my 200P I got this one. I never installed/used the straight through one. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/skywatcher-9x50-right-angled-erecting-finderscope.html

Fantastic result! I am very envious. It must have been an awesome moment from your description, well done again. I got out my Dob as well but combination of the bright moon and light haze made it impossible to get in the area. Maybe tomorrow night.

Very nice report. I think the 13th was the best seeing I had of the moon as well; it easily took x360 magnification in my 8" Dob and it remained sharp.

I captured the first full moon of 2022. Not much details but it is good to have it for the record. I like the inverted colours since it gives a real sense of all the impact zones.

I have not got into the doubles, yet, so my session has been cut sort due to everything else been washed out. Enjoy the rest of the night.

I had a quick look at the moon, pretty featureless tonight. Prime focus with my 8" Dob. Stack of 15 out of 100 frames from prime focus. I like how the mineral colours are coming through as the moon is getting 'bigger' since last week. Should I push the saturation more?

Unexpected clear skies tonight. Looked mostly at the moon but not that many features tonight.

Nice going despite the bright moon. I never got to see Leonard in UK, did you manage to make the tail as well?

First image has some really nice details. I am enjoying the mineral colours in my moon pics from the DSLR and in your first one they are coming through; you could try play with hue saturation and bring them out more as a different version of it.

Very nice captures and very sharp, like flying over the moon.

Nicely captured and a lot of details. Very envious reading your report and seeing your last pic while I am stack in my office ☹️.

....well visually, not sure about my shots 🤣Seeing was the best for a long time. I just packed my Dob but I could not resist a few shots down the eyepiece. Pixel 4a, no editing. It shows how good the seeing was tonight.