Kon

I am really sorry to hear Ian. I hope nothing serious and you can be under the skies (whenever they clear) soon. Thanks for comment too.

Thanks. I almost gave up as the clouds kept coming but it cleared in the end.

My 'youngest' new moon at 0.9 days and 1.45% illumination. Captured at daylight. The earthshine was captured at 7 degrees elevation when it was starting to get dark; 20 frames were stacked. I am really surprised how well it came out considering I could not see any details in the raw images apart from the overall moon shape. Skywatcher 300P FlexTube GoTo, Nikon D3200.

Spectacular image and no noise at all. You should be very happy with these. Apart from the craterlets, it's the fine details of rilles in many of the larger craters including Clavius, I am not sure I have seen them in photos before. By the way are these with IR pass?

Excellent processing Neil. I see you haven't lost your touch been away for a while. Nice resolution on the craterlets.

Thanks John. Nice snap with your mobile. It's a nice sight with the phase. My young kids always confuse the crescent Mercury and Venus for the moon 😆 when they look at the eyepiece.

Thanks. I only get a small observing/imaging window between my neighbour's house and a big tree. It's worth getting somewhere to see it once.

I managed to see and image Mercury on the 29th March.

Mercury from a few days ago. Awful conditions at the low elevation. The crescent phase is showing but no chance to pull surface details. 300P Flextube GoTo, asi462mm, IR pass 685, 2.5x TV powermate.

I had a go at Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks yesterday. Visually it looked quite bright and I managed to do some imaging too. I had to use my Nikon on prime focus but I still could not get the full beauty of this comet. 120x4s stacked. 300P FexTube GoTo worked a treat with the tracking. Processed in Siril and Gimp. It is a bit noisy as I did not get any flats and I have pushed a bit hard to reveal the tail.

These have come out really nice. M13 seems much sharper, probably better focusing.

Good to see you back at SGL. I hope to do some close up imaging soon.

Sorry Mark, but I do not know as I do not do DSO imaging. You might want to ask the DSO experts.

What Geof said above (it was me who suggested the 715mc on the other post; you are looking 5x the pixel size of the camera and your telescope is f10 so the 715 will not need a barlow to get the correct sampling). You will also need an ADC as Saturn is fairly low in UK to cut through the atmosphere. Yes the camera will be good for all the planets (and moon) not just Saturn.

For the price of a powermate, I would get a 715mc as you will be at the correct sampling without the need for a barlow.

I think your setup is fine. You want to be at 5x the pixel size, so for your camera around f19 so the 2x barlow is right (your 8" SCT is f10). An ADC will also help with targets that are low. Jupiter and Mars are ok without one for the next apparition assuming you capture when they are high up. In most cases, it is down to the seeing. The 224 is an excellent camera and the barlow is fine too. The barlow coatings might make a difference when you start doing UV imaging. If seeing is good, it is worth getting as many videos as you can and derotate them in winjupos as it will help with noise. If seeing is bad, you will not be able to save the session and it will always be a soft image. Collimation is also key to pull the fine details.

Not the best seeing last night despite the clear skies. Waxing Gibbous at 97% illumination. Stacked 40 images and pushed the saturation a bit to reveal the mineral colours. 8" Skywatcher 200P Dob, Nikon D3200.

Another set of excellent images Mike. I really enjoy your images with their very natural appearance.

Great images. You have done an excellent job under the conditions as you have resolved the small craterlets very nicely. Nice delicate colours too.

Yes hard to miss his images. From what we discussed offline and what you want to do, the seeing will be your major limitation. A summer house in Barbados or Spain will give you the weather you need 😜.

I am not a DSO imager, but have you seen the posts/discoveries from Bray Falls of filamentous like structures (nor sure if it is in the same area)? Could it be something similar? He seems to be going quite deep with his imaging. Fantastic images by the way.

What will limit you in UK in terms of imaging is the weather and location as planets do not rise high very often. I am envious of friends from mainland Europe with constant good seeing. Some short of tracking will make your life easier.

Nice images. It seems you had better seeing for your colour capture as it is sharper. Lovely subtle mineral colours.

Nice images. You have resolved the craterlets and rilles very nicely on the close ups.

Although I do not have a VX 10 or 12, I have been extremely happy with my Skywatcher 200P (8") Dob. It is hard work and at time frustrating but you can push it to its limits. These are a few of my manual captures on Jupiter, Saturn, Venus and ISS. I have recently got a 12" GoTo but I have not had good weather to test it properly but I love the fact it keeps the planets at the centre of the camera without nudging it every so often. And, yes it is big compared to my 8". Have a look for Tom Williams at Astrobin, possibly one of the best planetary imagers. He is using a 16" GoTo Dob. Loads of good examples in SGL too with Dobs (most GoTo) so it is a bit unfair to say this. Have a look at the planetary imaging section at SGL from @Space Cowboy who is using a Skywatcher 10" GoTo.