PeterStudz

Seeing decent, well, compared to what it has been (terrible) for what seems like forever! I really enjoy shadow transits, but mainly due to the weather this is only the second one I’ve observed this year. I was concentrating on visual and these images were from iPhone videos which I took just before and during the event. Seeing improved slightly as Jupiter got higher and the shadow transit of Io was underway. Wide-field using a BST StarGuider 5mm. The other two using a BST StarGuider 3.2mm which has proved surprisingly good when trying to capture Jupiter, even if visually the magnification is far too much. Although visually I could make out Io against the SEB it hasn’t come out in the final image. Might have been more obvious when Io was nearer Jupiters limb. However, the actual shadow is clear and obvious. There’s also a “bite/notch” in the NEB which visually popped. Recently there seems to be a lot going on in the NEB. Several areas of turbulence following the GSR which could be seen visually have also come out in the images. I’ve done a double exposure/layer to get the moons. They might be a bit on the large side, but I can work on that. Southampton urban back-garden, Bortle 7. SkyWatcher 200p Dob on DIY EQ platform. BST StarGuider 5mm & 3.2mm. iPhone 14 Pro using no-brand smartphone adapter. Videos of around 45 seconds - 4K at 60fps plus x2 zoom, taken via stock camera app, edited using stock camera app. All processing on the phone. Stacked using the app VideoStock, WaveletCam, Snapseed and Lightroom.

Good to see others giving Jupiter a go. And they are getting better! I’m about to post something from earlier in the week.

Nice on and off session with Jupiter tonight with my 200p Dob from my back garden in Southampton. For once (it’s been a while) the seeing was decent and I watched the GRS transit. Colour contrast noticeably good. Best with a 7mm for approximately x170. I could see the shape of the GRS clearly defined plus several areas of turbulence following behind, looking like white swirls. Details in the SEB and especially the NEB which looked more undulating than it has been. Also an interesting and obvious “bite” out of the lower edge of the NEB. I could also make out banding in the southern polar region. My daughter came out for a look and was suitable impressed. But a school night so she couldn’t stay out long. Went inside for a break as Io was nearing the limb. Went out again in time for the shadow transit of Io. I could just make out Io itself on the edge of the SEB. The shadow itself really obvious and well defined. Seeing improved slightly, maybe because Jupiter was now higher in the sky. I watched the shadow transit for ages. I do find these mesmerising. The sky for me was very clear for my Bortle 7 location and Orion was especially tempting, but work tomorrow.

I think that this would be a good idea for an SGL Challenge. In the past I’ve tried to do similar using smartphone images which I use to record my visual observations/what I’ve seen. Eg this, from back in September 2021, which is an animate GIF taken from an iPhone video, to try and illustrate Jupiter moving through the eyepiece of my DOB, plus the far too often atmospheric wobbles. Could do something better now but you get the idea. All editing and processing done on the phone.

Exactly that. I was also on full English break duty this morning. Managed to see the start of the shadow transit between clouds before it finally got too much. I do really enjoy shadow transits - mesmerising to watch - and any is better than nothing! Not sure why but for some reason just before or after clouds can improve the seeing.

Spoke too soon. I was about to pack up for the night but the cloud suddenly cleared. Now the views of Jupiter are far better . I believe that there’s going to be a shadow transit of Europa in about an hour. But will it remain clear!

Interesting. I had a go at Jupiter tonight but anything much above x100 it was a wobbly mess. The worse views I’ve had in a long time. I could just make out the GRS as it came around the limb. But I’ve come in now as I have variable clouds overhead which are rapidly thickening!

Like @Nik271 the seeing did improve, but after the shadow transit of Io. Earlier there was an annoying “boiling” which did improve but too late for the main event. Still, watching the shadow move across the disk was fascinating. And around the GRS, to one side, I could make out a couple of swirls. Not convinced I could see Io itself, but the shadow was really obvious. I also took a short smartphone video and created this quick illustration using the iPhone app VideoStack. Considering the seeing at the time it’s OK. The moon is Ganymede and it does do a good job of showing what I could see in my 200p Dob. Eventually clouded over and now it’s chucking it down!

I can see the shadow transit on Jupiter here in Southampton. Just come in. Very obvious shadow (like a small hole punch in the surface) But the seeing is poor. Still, the first I’ve seen this year!

I’ve put together some of my Venus images into one simple picture. Been meaning to this for a while and could probably do it differently, but I haven’t had much time. I think it’s a good little record of my time observing Venus during the period which was a surprising amount of fun! All taken via iPhone video using a SkyWatcher 200p Dob from my garden in Southampton in my usual way. Then stacked on the phone using the iPhone app VideoStack, which works very well for this planet. All but one taken during daylight. All processing & editing done on iPhone 14 Pro and an iPad. The last, on the 15th August, was tricky. Due to the weather I was unable to able to observe near or at inferior conjunction. So this is slightly after and rather close to the sun. Some more information about this here… https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/412694-venus-barely-there-with-iphone-150823/ And as it’s after inferior conjunction it should really be inverted relative to the other phases. But that didn’t look quite right! Phases of Venus Feb to Aug 2023

Sounds fantastic and a great write up. I’m in Southampton, my daughter also interested in astronomy. Only been out to the New Forest once with binoculars and been looking for suitable sites to try and take a telescope. Turfhill sounds a good spot and I’ll look into it.

Have an old university friend (that’s a long time ago!) over from the States. For him it’s the first time looking through a telescope. Just had a good session between beers observing the moon, saturn and jupiter with the 200p. Clouds coming and going but seeing surprisingly good. Could make out the Cassini division at the ring tips of saturn and make out three moons. Good detail on jupiter’s bands. A lot of dew here tonight. Interesting, but you can soon tell when someone is more into astronomy than others especially when they say things like “I could look at this for ages”. Total cloud cover now here in Southampton and it’s actually started drizzling - so back inside. Think that’s it for the night!

I’ve been busy recently so haven’t posted for a while. But still been at the telescope and messing with a phone camera, although the weather has generally been terrible! I now have quite a few images of Jupiter and here a a few relatively recent examples. All done towards the end of observation sessions. All processing on the phone or an iPad. I’ve deliberately kept the processing soft - it’s easy to be tempted to over-sharpen! I think the first is interesting. Around the GRS there were 3 white swirls easily seen at the eyepiece. And a relatively large odd/out-of-place looking blue-ish disruption off the north editorial band. It was (probably due to contrast) far more obvious that the GRS and could be seen even when way out of focus. Maybe part of a festoon? Never seen anything like it before and the only mention of it I can find is by @Nigella Bryant who describes it perfectly in “What did you see tonight” (see post on 8th October)… https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/385898-what-did-you-see-tonight/page/156/ Anyway here’s the resulting image. Seeing was decent but something “transparency” made the images flick briefly in/out of focus. There was high clouds around so maybe that. However, the blue-ish area off the NEB shows up well as do the swirls around the GRS. Sunday 8th October at 4:40am The second image was captured just over a week later. Although I’ve gone a slightly different way with processing the swirls around the GRS are gone as is the blue-ish disturbance. The moon is Io and I’ve done a separate layer in order to increase exposure. I also whacked up the saturation which gave Io colour - I was surprised by this. It’s a mobile after all! Again, seeing was rather average. Monday 16th October at 1:16am One area where these can work is wide-field as the resolution isn’t so obvious. This on the same date/time. A few things I’ve noticed. These were all taken using a BST StarGuider 3.5mm. Which with my 200p gives x375. Far too much power, certainly visually, and at the eyepiece Jupiter looks fuzzy. But it produces a better video than a lower power eyepiece (I have BST StarGuiders). Colours and colour contrast is better too and I struggle with colours anyway. Why, I don’t know. Maybe pixel size? I find it tricky to get colours/colour balance to the way I like it. Sometimes Jupiter turns out rather brown. If only I could get some good seeing! The last time that happened with Jupiter was back in the summer and then I didn’t bother taking any pictures. The latest version of the VideoStack phone app is far more stable and I’ve run/stacked 120sec videos without it crashing. Well done to the developer. Although anything more than 60sec doesn’t make much difference and might make things worse due to rotation. With a tiny camera and none of the PC apps you are up against it. But I find it fun! Skywatcher 200p Dob on DIY EQ platform. iPhone 14 Pro held at the eyepiece with a basic no-brand smartphone adapter. BST StarGuider 3.2mm & 5mm. 4K video at 60 fps using stock camera app. All processing on the phone/iPad. Stacked using the VideoStack app. Edited/processed using the stock camera app, WaveletCam, Lightroom and occasionally SnapSeed.

Hi @IB20, I’ve been very busy recently so haven’t posted on here for a while. But I have been messing around with telescope and smartphone so maybe time to post some results. The updated version of VideoStack is much more stable and I’ve been able to stack 120 second videos, although that’s probably going a bit far due to rotation and around 50-60 seconds seems to be fine. Now the app hardly ever crashes. Still, I haven’t got any/much better images of Saturn than the above. Probably due to seeing and I stopped for the time being, concentrating more on Jupiter which is obviously higher in the sky and is giving more interesting results. For video capture I just use the stock iPhone camera app. With video set to 4K at 60 fps. Adjusting exposure and brightness in the app and usually using the iPhone x2 zoom. One other thing I’ve found is when doing a capture is to use a magnification higher than seeing seems to suggest. Visually the planet will look “fuzzy” but the resulting video when stacked is often better. Why, I don’t know. Eg on Jupiter (sometimes Saturn too) I’ve used a BST StarGuider 3.2mm with my 200p giving a silly magnification of x375. It shouldn’t work but it often does. Colours are often better too. I’ll post some images I’ve taken of Jupiter soon.

My EQ1 motor certainly isn’t loud. As @mdstuart says - it “quietly ticks..and hums..”

A few random observations about wearing glasses at the eyepiece… I’m very short sighted with slight astigmatism. But I don’t find observing without my glasses an issue. Apart from the fact that my finder won’t focus with glasses off - I’m too short sighted. I also have contact lenses which I occasionally use while observing. However, my daughter prefers to observe wearing her glasses. So I often wear mine so that I can see how she sees. I have a few BST StarGuiders. These have a big rubber eyecup. I find that with glasses the view is more comfortable if the eyecup on these is removed. On bright objects (eg the moon & planets) glasses can cause glare and reflections. A variable polarising filter can cut these down. And in the daytime (white light solar and daytime Venus) you can get annoying rejections from stray light. An observing hood or hoody helps here. I also suffer from floaters. Although still there when wearing glasses I definitely notice fewer floaters. Why I haven’t a clue.

Although it’s obviously made for a small telescope it looks like the tripod and mount have had some action and love in the past - eg it’s been marked up and had spirt levels added.

@Louis D is correct. I/we started out at the end of 2020 when my then 9yr old daughter started getting into astronomy and wanted a telescope for Christmas. I thought that this would be a great thing to do together, which it turned out to be. But it is was far from easy sailing. Someone on this forum said that “astronomy is a hobby that rewards patience” and this is very true. At the time there was a chronic shortage of telescopes. I wanted a small table top Dob but just could not get anything new or second hand. So I ended up getting her a Skywatcher Skyhawk 1145p. Now, this is a step-up from the Skyhawk 114/1000 that you mention but it’s still totally inappropriate for a young kid. I did know that, but thought if it didn’t work out we could sell it and get something more appropriate later on. Interestingly we still have it. Although it’s been significantly upgraded as a grab-and-go plus travel scope. We’ve even taken it on an aircraft. The picture in my profile is of my daughter plus telescope on Christmas Day. I can’t remember much about that Christmas, but looking at the moon with Alice on Christmas night sticks in my mind as if it were yesterday. Just the enthusiasm was fantastic. Several months later we got hold of a Skywatcher 200p Dob for free via a member from this site. It needed some work but it’s been more than excellent. And just shows that with patience you don’t need to spend a lot of cash. To cut a long story short some things we’ve learnt… Getting a small cheap telescope can be frustrating and if not careful might put you both off for life. Be patient and choose targets wisely. Alice is definitely a night owl and likes being outdoors which helps. But it’s certainly not something where you can stick her in the garden and assume she’ll be happy to get on with it. It’s something that we both do together. But personally I like that. A lot of astronomy in the UK is done in the winter months. Getting a young kid to sit out in the cold plus staying out long enough to get eyes use to the dark isn’t easy. One way I’ve got over this is to make the whole thing an event. Eg we’ve camped out in the garden (no tent), looked up at the constellations and looked for shooting stars. Watched for the International Space Station, toasted marshmallows, drunk hot chocolate, listened to the dawn chorus, watched for foxes and hedgehogs… the looking through the telescope just the icing on the cake. Camping also has the advantage that your eyes are always use to the dark. She’s also had astronomy based sleep-overs with friends. Don’t forget solar and viewing the sun in white light. You’ll need a decent solar filter (I made one) and MUST take precautions especially with kids around. But for us it’s been great. And a small telescope will work well. Also has the great advantage that it can be done in daylight and when it’s warm. We’re in town with far too much light pollution (Bortle 7) so for us the moon and planets have been best. But for that you will need a more substantial telescope. Planets also have the advantage that they are relatively bright and on the whole you don’t need to get your eyes use to the dark. We’ve also had a lot of fun taking pictures with a smartphone using a £10 adapter to hold it onto the eyepiece. The moon is an easy target to start with. Hope that helps!

That’s what I have. And it fits and handles the 200p really well. I didn’t need to change/modify anything. The nice thing about this platform is that you can make it with very basic tools - eg electric drill, hacksaw, panel saw, file, screwdrivers and pliers. The instructions are excellent too. Although initially I found it hard to visualise. So what I did was cut everything out first so that I had a “kit of parts”. Having all the bits in my hands helped here. After that it all went together surprisingly fast. If you do decided to make it and have any questions just ask!

Once again these are fab. Although I don’t know where you have the energy for all the late nights/early mornings. I was observing in the early hours of today. Great seeing but rubbish transparency… well mist and fog… so I went back to bed. I don’t image but as you know I have a 200p. I also have a EQ platform. To me that sounds like a good compromise - very little setup time, just plonk your Dob ontop and push it about in the time honoured way.

We missed that bit. But seeing only three moons I assumed that one must be behind Jupiter. It was only when Europa pooped out of seemingly nowhere that I looked it up. It’s really nice when you get a surprise like this!

Southampton back garden 09/09/23 - 10/09/23. Skywatcher 200p Dob on DIY EQ platform. Had a nice little 2.5 hour session with my daughter on Saturday night - Sunday morning observing Saturn, Neptune, Jupiter and Uranus. Seeing was good although not quite as good as the night before. Transparency was average. Might have been due to hazy cloud or dust. Colours weren’t as clear as they could be with a slight yellow/brown tint. Saturn - Could make out subtle cloud banding, three moons and the Cassini Divison at the tips. At times it could take x240 before things started to get fuzzy. Neptune - First time Alice has seen Neptune (I’ve only seen it a few times) and of course whatever you do it’s still a very little blue dot even at x240. Although when you know what you are looking at… And even if tiny it’s obviously not a star. Uranus - a light pastel blue slightly bigger dot. I enjoy observing this and we both tried to spot a moon(s) but no joy here. Jupiter - a favourite of my daughters. The GRS was in view and there was considerable detail in the banding and around the GRS. Although a little washed out and not quite as good as the previous night. There was a “missing” moon and a quick look at a simple phone app appropriately called “Gas Giants” showed that Europa was being eclipsed by Jupiter’s shadow. We observed Jupiter for some time and the views improved as it got higher. Again, x240 possible and it was still sharp. Then, a surprise - In a split second Europa became visible again just before it traveled behind the disc! I’ve never seen this before and had assumed that Europa would not be visible again until it got to the other side of Jupiter. To illustrated what I mean I’ve created a little GIF from the Gas Giant app. I guess it’s all down to angles, where the sun is and relative positions. At this point Europa was very bright and “kissing” Jupiters limb. It only lasted around 4 mins before the moon disappeared behind the planet. I also just had time to take a short smartphone video and create this image using the smartphone app “VideoStack”. A sketch would have been ideal by I’m useless at sketching. And although it doesn’t do it justice it does give a reasonable idea of what we could see at the eyepiece. Europa, the tiny dot bottom left against the limb. GRS near the limb. It’s even starting to pick out some ovals in the Southern Hemisphere. A good end to an excellent night.

Morning of Saturday 9th Sept. in Southampton. I decided to get up early at silly o’clock in order to try and spot Comet Nishimura. Although in my Bortle 7 location plus trees in the way it was a tall order. Not too much of a surprise but I failed here. I had the 200p Dob out and took a look a Jupiter before trying for the comet. The seeing was excellent! and I could easily push it to 240x with banding nice and sharp. I also played around with a BST StarGuider 3.2mm for 375x and on occasions that actually worked. Watched the GRS swing into view at about 3:20pm - loads of detail too. Some of the best views of Jupiter that I’ve had. Saturn was too low for me which was a shame - should have got out of bed earlier. Had a quick look at the Pleiades but not dark enough to show it at its best. The moon looked great too and it was nice to see Orion back! Well worth getting up for.

I have a FB account but stopped using it about 3 years ago - I found it too annoying, decided to give it a rest/break and haven’t been back! But it does sound refreshing. I do use Twitter - now X and Instagram. Of course X is just short text plus maybe an image. Instagram is imaged based but quite easy to write a full report. Whatever, both X and Instagram encourage images over text which doesn’t help!

I completely agree. Also the rise of social media where it’s easy to post a picture of, for example, Jupiter with not much more than a comment along the lines of “Jupiter, taken through I telescope from my back garden”. I have yet to see a single observation report (with picture or without) on social media. And I don’t believe the majority of people on social media would be interested in that kind of thing. Social media is driven by image and pictures. But that doesn’t mean that there are more imagers than visual observers, or that visual observation is in decline without a future.