Kon

I was out observing the moon earlier this evening and despite the lack of any details due to the glare, I took a few shots with my DSLR; upon inverting the colours more craters and impact zones are becoming apparent. I quite enjoying going back to the moon maps and comparing my observation, including my photos , to see what I have seen.

It used to be 25mm box standard plossl that came with the Dob, 15mm and 8mm BST with my 8" Dob. I have recently upgraded all of them to ES including 24mm 68 degrees, 14 and 8.8 mm 82 degrees. (If seeing is good I might use the 6.7mm 82 degrees). I have decided to stick with 1.25" format for now.

That's the only action my Dob is getting the past few days 😪☁️☁️

As a newbie in this hobby, I got a televue OIII filter for my 8" Dob based on recommendations from this forum. I have fairly dark skies and even the Veil is visible without one but the filter makes it pop better. I have found it useful for the low surface brightness nebulas that makes them standout more. I prefer the unfiltered views for most of the brighter nebulas and I tend not to use it as often. I usually use low magnification with it. With your choice are you fighting light pollution or want things to stand from the background? I also have a polarising filter for the moon since my wife does not like the brightness close to full moon, again I prefer unfiltered views. I found the polarising one useful on Jupiter one night when seeing was okish since it brought up some of the bands. Reading through reports and reviews try go for a good quality one

That's with my NexYZ as well using a 200P Dob and a pixel 4a with so so seeing. Without tracking it is unlikely you will manage much more than the planets/moon. Star trailing will show at >0.5s in my Dob so if you want to capture 100-1000s frames and stack them for just few s to maybe a 1-2min of total data , it is going to be a lot of work. If you want to give it a try, start with some of the much brighter targets.

Absolutely overdue. I have nothing against robotic explorations of the Moon or other planets/moons, but if you want to capture the imagination and excitement of the next generation including future astronauts something more than space tourism is needed.

Fantastic drawings!

I managed a quick observation of the nearly full moon tonight and it made me feel awry. Seeing was very stable and it took magnification quite well. I was drawn at the ridges of Phocylides and Schickard since they seem to be the only prominent craters visible. The impact area of the Mare Insularum is quite impressive considering the size of the comet that created such debris scatter. I also took a quick shot of the moon using my mobile and upon observing the picture a noticed a dark patch between Mare Serenitatis and Tranquillitatis (i thought it was noise from the pic) but looking up at some online resources, it daunted to me that the Apollo 17 landing site was near there. I went back at the EP and took a moment to observe a bit more and mesmerise that we have been there. More Apollo missions are around there, so I want to revisit when they are not fully washed out. Quite a session considering I am still new to moon observing and I underappreciate it over the DSOs.

@Epick CromI have no 2" EP at the moment, since I do not fancy swapping the focuser midway observing. I suppose I could get adapters for the 1.25" ones to fit the 2" focuser. Although the 24mm is ok for most of my observing, I would love to have some of the very large nebulas showing in the FOV without panning around. So a 2" 82 degree EP in the 30s mm might be a future purchase. I agree it is never ending buying things. I am dreaming of the 100 degree EPs but soooo expensive.

I found that with my Dob things stay in FOV for longer before I need to nudge it. I have the ES 24mm 68 degree as my widest low power EP since I do not want to swap between 2 and 1.25" during observing.

Nice report and good to get clear skies to test the new EPs. Since I upgraded my EPs to ES82, I am not sure I can go at lower FOV ones. I love the fact when I look at nebulas that I can see the surrounding as well. I found that it darkens the background nicer . I found that with the tighter eye relief that I find the sweet spot for diffuse nebulas much easier. @Epick CromI bought mine from AliExpress and they were much cheaper than UK/EU suppliers and delivered quickly. Stock is hit or miss.

Thansk for the info; Since my message, I have acquired a NexYZ. I agree it is heavy even on my 200P Dob but I quite like that i can adjust the z axis to get closer to the eyepiece. I got some nice moon shots the other night. I tried with Jupiter but it was all washed out so i may have to pay with the phone settings a bit.

Stunning image! The many hours have paid out with exquisite amount of details. Nice subtle colours as well.

Very nice report with interesting targets there. I have not seen NGC 1535 before so on my to see list. I think the lighting in the moon at the moment is bringing really nice details out. It is turning to be one of my favourite planets although not much going on but i like the colour; in my eyes it is bluish rather than green.

@ONIKKINENThank you very much! That looks fantastic! Your colour calibration seems to have brought some more reds out (my camera is not modified). This is why i was limited to 0.5s exposures to limit star trailing. Still fun to have captured it. I want to have another go in processing the images with your suggestions and tips and see if i can get any closer to your result. Thanks again for taking the time.

Thank you, you have been kind on my very basic attempt. Thanks for taking the time to look at the images and the huge improvement you did; you seem to be pulling some more of these reds (my camera is not modified). I realise that this was the stretched file. I have uploaded the non stretched file if you fancy taking another look. r_orion-n_stacked-nostretch.tiff

I had a play with Startools and I think the newer version has more details, not sure if it is over processed now.

I had another go on M42 last night after my visual. I know the limitations of capturing DSO with a Dob without any tracking but it is keeping me occupied at rainy nights. I shot 1000 frames, iso3200, 0.5s that gave me only 8min of data!! I am not expecting miracles but quite pleased to see it coming through. I used siril and gimp; some light pollution at the bottom until M42 moves to my S horizon later in the winter. It took forever to convert and stack them in my mac book pro. I think there is more data into it, so I would appreciate if anyone can pull something more after the pain of capturing 1000 frames manually (i have attached the stacked tiff). r_orion-n_stacked.tiff

I did not expect to do much seeing last night with clouds coming fast and thick. I left my Dob out and tried to do some seeing as I was getting some clear spells. What really drew my attention last night was the moon and location of Jupiter 'above' it. I started with the 'half' moon. Somehow the position of the equator gave an elegant appearance along it. I used my 8.8mm EP and fantastic amount of details on the craters. I spent more time observing N (Dob view); less amount of craters that were easier to follow. I then took a look at Jupiter and I was quite surprised that nice equatorial bands were seen despite the presence of the moon out. Clouds came in and I waited until 12am or so. The sky had really cleared. I looked at pleiades with some nebulosity around some of the stars. I finished with Orion. I spent a few minutes observing the orange colour of Betelgeuse before moving to M42. The nebulosity was nice with filaments but mostly greenish/greyish this time. I felt a bit underwhelmed considering my OWO observation the other night (I think it will be hard to replicate soon). Quite pleased with getting some observing done. I think my highlight was the moon and its apparent symmetry along the equator.

@Marvin JenkinsThanks and I am glad you found it helpful. I really enjoyed observing the moon last night, and that apparent symmetry was nice as well.

Moon on 11 Nov using my pixel 4a on a 8" Dob. I quite like the apparent 'symmetry' of the terminator on the moon.

I recently bought a Celestron Nexyz phone holder from a fellow SGL member and I had a got the moon tonight. I used my 8" Dob and ES 8.8mm EP. Very pleased with the easiness of attaching the phone and panning around without worrying to lose the sweet spot.

Nice one Joe! It is always thrilling when you spot something new on the night sky. I hope it met your expectations.

Stunning! Nice details and the colours come through nicely.

A few frames stacked together since I wanted to capture the moment.