PeterStudz

49 minutes ago, Astro_Dad said:

That's an impressive capture - was it with iPhone in standard video mode, or an Android device? Something I keep meaning to try.

Thanks, although I didn’t do much. It was through my Skywatcher 200p Dob, using a Starguider 5mm. I used a standard (not Pro) iPhone 12, which is obviously over 2 yrs old now, but upped the video to 4K at 60fps. Had to take the brightness right down using the slider in standard video mode - no fancy app. There’s a guy on here who used an Android phone with similar results. 

I was in a rush as I could see clouds coming in. The video was just 12 seconds long and all I did was crop the video and then manually select what looked like a good frame, screen shot it, adjusting contrast a tad using the stock iPhone video editing app. That’s it. Getting a better result is surely possible and why I haven’t given it a go before I don’t know!

Just come in after an off and on session on Mars in Southampton, Hoped to do a bit more but had high cloud coming and going. Now total cloud cover. 

After inspiration from a member on here I tried a quick smartphone video capture. Despite seeing being rather average and after a very quick look at a best frame I got this. You can actually recognise it! The north polar hood stands out well. 

Off to bed now. I’ll have a better look at the video tomorrow.

Just now, AstroMuni said:

Thats exactly how I started my journey 🙂 but only tried lunar & planetary imaging with my phone.

I did find that the motor got in the way in certain positions on my Astromaster 130, so thats one thing for the OP to watch out for!

Yes, that’s a good point. It’s not that well thought out and can get in the way in certain positions. But at home, as my view from my garden is E-SE-SW (house blocks the north) I mounted it on the other side of the mount to  “normal” and never had a problem from them on. 

I did get the little motor for my old EQ1 as mentioned by @AstroMuni. And it’s been the best bit of Astro kit I’ve purchased. Certainly for the price. Visually it’ll let you track objects for a good 10 minutes. And once you have it tracking there’s no need to touch anything which (as long as it’s not too windy!) means no more wobbles.

I also used the motor to take simple smartphone snaps. At low-ish magnification I found that I could get about 30sec exposures without star trailing. This allowed pictures of the bright DSO and even the brighter galaxies. A lot of fun and it teaches you the basics. 

I find that the Pleiades looks best in my 8x40 binoculars. For me it helps when it’s surrounded by a decent amount of dark sky.

@Mart29 - thanks! You certainly did capture it at a good time. I was observing Mars on the same night. The seeing was good.

It’s given me some enthusiasm to give it a go. Why I haven’t tried I don’t know, but probably down to just enjoying what I could see.

I’m not sure that many have actually tried a smartphone video on Mars and then manually selected a frame. Yours is the first I’ve seen, certainly for this year. 

@Mart29 What phone do you have? With my iPhone 12 I found that I got better results if I zoomed in a little (about 1.8x) at the eyepiece rather than after. Not sure why. Here’s an unedited video that I took of Jupiter last year directly from the eyepiece with my 200p Dob.

Very nice, especially Mars! I’ve not done much with the planets this year, even though Jupiter and Saturn have been in a better position and obviously Mars is very well placed. Just been taking my time enjoying the views without taking snaps. Although last year I had a go with my phone on Jupiter using my 200p Dob.

This was one result from last October. I just went though the video manually, selecting the best frame and doing some basic processing on the phone. I don’t own a PC so for me this is the only option. The black dot over Jupiter is Ganymede.

I might give Mars a go, although the weather after tonight doesn’t look great. And tonight I was a a Christmas party so missed out

From the video the mount looks like an EQ1. These are designed for visual and not astrophotography. Even so they are basic and usually give a “wobbly” experienced. I did own one. Yours doesn’t seem to have a motor drive which you would need to follow the rotation of the earth. You can’t manually do it accurately. You can get a simple and cheap motor drive for an EQ1 but again it’s designed for visual only. 

How fast an object moves in the eyepiece depends on the magnification. At very low power and by eye, you hardly notice it. At high magnification (like you’d need for planets) it’s obvious. Here’s a little simple smartphone animation that I did a while back that shows Jupiter in the eyepiece of a Dobsonian with no tracking. As you can see it won’t stay in view for long.

23 hours ago, Kon said:

Thanks Peter. Yes it has been a nice journey and I am really enjoying it. I give it another few weeks before I take a break from imaging and enjoy the visual aspect again.

Seeing must have been really good to spot the clouds at the eyepiece. I just saw your report on it. These are some fantastic observing skills. Was that with your platform?

Observing techniques and skills are a whole topic in itself, something I enjoy and am still learning (do you ever stop?!). 

It helped in that I’ve got familiar with Mars. If it was the first time I’d seen it, or hadn’t seen it for some time, I probably would have missed it. The clouds were also over a darker albedo feature. Over or near Mare Sirenum I think. This did help too. 

I’ve tried to do everything in order to improve contrast. Eg flocking everything including the inside & outside of the draw tube. And I used a dew shield, obviously to try and keep dew away but also to try and keep stray light out. Originally I did this with the idea of helping with DSO in my light polluted garden. But in practice any befits here are so subtle that you don’t really notice. But with bright objects (basically the planets and moon) it does  give a tiny improvement. And here we are tying to look a something really subtle.

Although I don’t like to use it for very long I have a blue filter. I don’t think it helps with albedo areas at all, but it brings out anything white. And once I’ve noticed it using the filter I can notice it more without.

Making sure my eyes are NOT use to the dark (I’ll look at my phone screen for a while, then go back to the eyepiece) helps with colour contrast on small bright objects like Mars. 

Yes, I was using my DIY EQ platform. It’s really handy not having to nudge the Dob especially at high magnification. Having Mars sit in the centre of the FOV for minutes on end does help with picking out subtle features. Also when near zenith. I don’t know about others but I find nudging when the OTA is getting towards the vertical far from straightforward. And obviously it’s at this stage when you can get the best seeing. So once I’ve got Mars in the FOV I can let the platform do the work. It’s more relaxing too and if I’m relaxed I tend to see more. 

Very nice @Kon. Although I haven’t much of a clue re processing it’s been interesting to see how you’ve got into this over the recent months and how your results have improved - well done! 

I was out observing Mars at the same time. The seeing was good and helped by  Mars facing us in a more “interesting” way. Certainly for visual. I could also just make out those clouds that you mention at “8 o’clock” and briefly mentioned  it in “what did you see tonight”.  It’s nice to know that I wasn’t imagining it!

Just packed up and come in. Definitely some clouds to the south east edge on Mars. Faint but I’m sure that’s what it was. Amazing when you think about it. 

Had a moment when a couple of my eyepieces dewed up but at least I kept the dew and ice off the mirrors. Also had a look at M42, the 3 clusters in Auriga (these are my favourite), M44 and M45. 

In this weather my 8” Dob takes about a hour to fully cool. You can really notice it on Mars and Jupiter. 

10 minutes ago, HollyHound said:

Ah, that Polar Hood must have been what I saw earlier then… thanks 😀👍

Basically clouds over the pole. From my limited experience it’s not as bright as when you see ice at the poles. I managed to catch that back in the summer and even though Mars was very small the ice at the South Pole almost glowed. 

Some nice views of Jupiter, the GRS and Ganymede. Also lovely views of Mars with the North Polar Hood and albedo features clear and obvious. Possible clouds to the south too. Nice seeing for once! 

It does seem good. I was out sorting are rabbits out for the night and saw two, one very bright, within 5 mins. This was from Southampton and with thin high cloud. I wouldn’t call the sky  clear.

Far too tired to do anything tonight, high cloud coming and going so doesn’t look ideal. But just been out to put our rabbits to bed and during that short time (about 5mins) I saw a couple of Geminids. One of which was certainly bright.

19 hours ago, Kon said:

Thanks Peter. Somehow seeing has been awful but last night it was better.

Yes the 200P even on manual tracking is extremely capable as long as you are patient and understand the limitations we have but with your platform you should be able to get a lot better images than me. I remember that you did not have a computer, so if you decide to go down that route you will need one.

I feel that the planetary photography has recently taken me away from observing but I plan to take a break after Mars and enjoy the winter nebulas.

Yes, I don’t own a “computer” at the moment. Just a phone & iPad. I use to work in IT but took voluntary redundancy some years ago and decided to have a total break from the damn things! 

However, my daughter would find it useful to have one especially as she gets older and for school. So that’ll be an excuse! I also have a possible idea where I can do the bulk of the imaging and she can to the bulk of processing. That’s if she wants to and if it works. She really likes and is good at drawing, video and media creation on the iPad and has started to dabble with programming. Anyway, it’s just an idea.

I really do enjoy sitting outside and doing simple observations. Using Mars as an example (first year on Mars for me). It’s been fascinating and rewarding watching it from not much more than a dot in the summer (way back in June I think) to now. interestingly, with the occasional good seeing back in the summer I could see just as much, maybe actually more, than recently when it’s been near/at opposition.

But it would be nice to have some images to go along with what I’ve seen. 

Fantastic images @Kon! When I started I did not realise something like this was possible. Almost makes me want to give it a go as I also have a 200p. Maybe next year on the likes of Jupiter and Saturn. We’ll see. At the moment I’m really enjoying observing.

Out of interest I was looking at Mars on the same night and into the early hours of the 10th Dec. Seeing was better than the night of opposition. But like you I still found it difficult to focus. I also noticed that given the cold my 200p took a good hour to cool down and give a stable image. Although the ample dew shield I was using might have played a part.

I got the best views just before and just after mid-night. After that it did start to degrade slightly. Your images are close to what I was seeing, but they are obviously sharper and with far more contrast. Still, I could make out some clouds (7-8 o’clock) just like on your images. I couldn’t see these on opposition night.

I also tried hard to see if I could possibly eyeball any hint of Olympus Mons. I couldn’t - a tall ask at the best of times but you never know. 

I agree with @AstroKeith. With regards to the solar filter it does depend on how much you enjoy solar viewing in white light. When I started I didn’t think I’d be that interested but in the end it’s turned out to be one of the things both me and my daughter really like. And to save costs I ended up doing some DIY and making my own.

As for the fan. It’ll will speed up cool down time. However, I almost always spend that time with binoculars, scanning the sky. Maybe planning a star hop, relaxing (that’s surprisingly important) and learning my way around the nights sky. I’ve found that in itself quite rewarding.

I have a Skywatcher Skyliner 200p Dob. But it was given to me free, without a base and with other issues. Over time I put it back together, and customised it to my requirements. This Dob has been around for a while so quite a few bargains come up on the second hand market. If you are lucky enough to find one of these then you can use the money saved on customisation and upgrades. And doing so over time spreads out the costs and will hopefully give you something that works for you. Eg I love a carry handle on my Dob. So I drilled a couple of holes in the tube and fitted one. 

Good luck with what ever you purchase. In the end I don’t think you can go far wrong with the above choices. 

Just got in after observing the Moon and Mars. In this weather the 200p took a good hour to cool down, more like freeze down, before things got steady. Seeing excellent (for once) but I’m frozen solid and will go straight to bed.

Superb! That’s the best imaging of Mars I’ve seen!

Location Southampton, Bortle 7, 1st December 2022.

I took this picture at the end of a session. I’ve been using a DIY EQ platform for a while and this was more of a test than anything else. Of course an EQ platform is just for visual and it’s been very useful for that. Without any fiddling I found that I could get around 15 seconds exposure after which star trailing started to spoil things. Might be able to get a little more out of it, although for a single exposure sky glow from my light polluted garden tends to take over. Anyway, a bit of fun.

iPhone 12, stock camera app, BST  Starguider 25mm, simple no-brand basic smartphone mount, single 15sec exposure, basic editing in the camera app and on the phone using Lightroom.

1 hour ago, Nik271 said:

Thanks, Kon! It turned out better than I expected when trying to focus on the camera display this morning.

I'm really puzzled why the seeing is not good, usually high pressure and dry air over UK is a winning combination. Well, there are a few more clear nights ahead, perhaps it will improve.

Very nice results! Unfortunately the moon was behind a neighbour’s house from about 4:30am onwards

However, I was out observing Mars before that. Here at least I think that the poor seeing was partly down to thermal turbulence. We went from about 6C to -3C in a very short space of time - unusually fast. And despite allowing my Dob to cool for an age I could see thermal disturbance when doing a star test. Mind, it did improve after mid-night as temperatures settled down, but it was still there. Still, I got some good views later on with the disc sharp and the edge of the now shrinking north polar hood really well defined. So worth braving the cold. 

Great reports on here! Mars occultation difficult from my house as at around 5am the moon was over the back of my neighbour house Still, managed to see it with binoculars by going out in the front road, but couldn’t get a snap. 

Haven’t had much sleep as also had a good look at Mars earlier in the night. From about 10pm to after mid-night in Southampton with the 200p Dob. As it was a school night I had sent my daughter to bed. But she appeared at the back door at about 11pm saying she couldn’t sleep, so out she came. Never complained about the freezing -3C temperatures too and actually told me “it’s not that cold”

Although the now full disc was crisp and sharp it was hard to get many features. Could get to 300x which is really as far as I can go and it wasn’t the seeing which seemed to be excellent. The boundary of the north polar hood was sharp (best I’ve seen that), but it was the albedo features which seemed to be somewhat lacking. Still, we could see a band running east/west towards the south and it still got a “wow” from Alice. For a moment I thought it could be a large dust storm, but looking at the “Mars Mapper” I think it’s just the way Mars was facing. Looking at the image below it was simply a bit “bland” when we were observing.

When we looked last month the way Mars was facing was more interesting - could start to see dark features at just 100x - the north polar hood more extensive (it’s definitely got smaller) and we could see small areas of what I’m sure were clouds to the south. These are now gone. Mind, it was still a lovely night and what we were seeing certainly wasn’t bad!

Packed up around 12:30, gear coated in ice. Then gave my daughter a bedtime story which consisted of answering questions about Mars, many of which we’d talked about before but that I probably hasn’t explained very well.  Eg what are albedo features? What is a polar hood? How thick is the ice on the cap? Are the clouds like clouds on earth? How tall are the tallest mountains? How cold is it on Mars? Why doesn’t the South Pole have ice or hood?… I did have to look some of them up

PS - some of the “seeing” issues might have been down to rising heat. We rapidly went from about 6C to -3C. And the view’s definitely improved later in the night. Mars was higher and for me over less urban areas at that point. 

54 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

You can fit these left or right 

Indeed, I have a Lacerta. But is his focuser even a Crayford? The Skywatcher Crayford on my 200p has a distance of 85mm between its fixing screws. The OP says his are 65mm. It could be a rack and pinion like this…

https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/skywatcher-1252-rack-pinion-focuser.html

If it’s a Crayford then the Lacerta should fit and would be a good solution. If not then it won’t!