PeterStudz

Venus from Southampton, taken during the day. Monday, 13th February 2023 at 13:52 UTC. Skywatcher 200p Dob on EQ platform using iPhone 14 pro. After viewing the sun, there are a great selection of sunspots at the moment, and after lunch at about 13:30pm I decided to have a look to see if I could locate Venus. Using the PushTo feature in the iPhone app PSAlign Pro I carefully moved the Dob in the direction of Venus. Solar filter and caps still on. When I’d lined up on Venus I removed the caps on the RACI and immediately I could easily make out the small dot of Venus. Solar filter removed and using a BST StarGuider 5mm I could easily see the phase of the planet, even some very, very subtle surface shading. Of course not much else in the way of features (that’s Venus) but still being relatively high in the sky seeing wasn’t too bad. After that I took a short video (stock camera app) using the iPhone 14 Pro. A few seconds of which were stacked using the iPhone app VideoStack. Then finished off using Lightroom. All done in a few minutes on the phone while sitting at the telescope. And I’m pleased with the results - you can clearly see the current phase of Venus. I had planed to do some more viewing tonight but despite the favourable forecast I’m currently clouded in.

I got around Venus being bright by looking at it during the day. Some of the best views of Venus that I’ve had. I even got a smartphone snap taken at 13:50pm. Just as well as I’m now clouded out

The whole sky is fuzzy here as I now have total cloud cover. And it was a lovely sunny day with a forecast for a clear night. Just as well I did some solar and gut a look at Venus.

Same here. I’ve also found that around dawn the air is much stiller than in the early part of the night. Could be that being in an urban environment buildings etc have had a time to cool down. I too think that Jupiter looks at its best with some light in the sky. Maybe because your eyes are better at seeing colours then. And at the end of January my daughter had a couple of friends over. However, they were leaving at 5:30pm so not to be outdone I managed to locate Jupiter in the afternoon (at about 3:45pm). The kids thought it was amazing that you could see a planet in the eyepiece but look up at the sky and then there appeared to be nothing. As it got darker we watched the 4 Galilean moons appear like magic and we were also treated to the GRS. Some of the best views of Jupiter that I’ve had and a lot of that was in daylight.

I love cider! But it has to be good cider. Which in Southampton is impossible to buy. So I make my own

Although as is often the case it wasn’t as simple as it sounds. The foam I bought was fine on its for my little 4.5” reflector but would sag (it’s only 4mm after all) when I tried it out on my 8”. Not wanting to buy another bit of foam - what thickness would work? - I thought of doing other things, eg doubling up the foam, stiffing with card… in the end I found the veneer down my shed from my model aircraft days. In other words - I was a bit lucky. Dew shields are great and I couldn’t do without them now. PS - one thing that can be forgotten is that for a Dob it’s useful if your dew shield is not too heavy. The thin veneer that I used doesn’t weight much but getting a really thick piece of foam so that it doesn’t sag can be surprisingly heavy.

Although I’m no expert on imagining I like it. I prefer the moon to look as close as possible to the way I see it visually at the eyepiece. Otherwise to me it starts to look a little false.

I’ve really enjoyed viewing Mars over the last 7 months and it’s exceeded my expectations. Although maybe my expectations weren’t high! This has been my first Mars opposition having started in this hobby just after the last - 2 years ago. The only other time I’ve seen Mars was in a small refractor that my parents bought me as a boy back in mid 1970-something. Then Mars was no more than a disappointing, small featureless orangey dot. So this time I was determined to give it a really good go using my 200p Dob. I started looking back in late June & early July, getting up in the early hours. Then it was obviously tiny and far from a complete disc. But back then there was a very distinctive icecap at the South Pole. You just could not miss it - it glowed and very different from the later Polar Hood (clouds) that have a more frosted appearance. Sometime around early August that icecap vanished. I’m sure that observing Mars over and over again has helped. Of course some nights were disappointing, some better than others. But I’ve been able to make out albedo features most of the time. As has been pointed out - some sides/faces of Mars are far more interesting than others. For me these are some things that have helped. Although you might already know some or all of these… I have a DIY EQ platform. Having Mars hang in the centre of the FOV without having to constantly nudge really helps with picking out details. I’ve fully flocked the OTA. The difference it makes is subtle and usually I can’t see any difference, but I’m convinced it helps when trying to see the subtle details in contrast with objects like Mars. Make sure your telescope is fully cooled. Most of the time I can get away with 30mins. But for Mars I found that I needed my Dob cooling for a good hour. The difference here was really significant. Use a dew shield to help keep out any stray light. I’m in a urban environment and unfortunately there’s plenty of that. When Mars was really bright, eg around opposition I found that a variable polarising filter helped. But not so much before & after. Apart from a blue filter, which would occasionally help bring out anything white, I didn’t find colour filters made much difference. And this last one has been very important for me - do NOT get your eyes use to the dark. When your eyes are dark adapted you lose most of your ability to see any contrast in colours. And you are looking for subtle contrast on something small. I’d look at the screen on my phone, or go back inside the house for a bit, then back at the eyepiece. Of course Mars is getting small now and is no longer a full disc. But it’s still worth giving a go. I wonder when a polar ice cap will return and if we’ll be able to see it? I last saw Mars on Monday, 6th Feb. and I was surprised how good the seeing was. I was able to get the magnification up to x375 which is a first for me. I even got a smartphone snap too. It does show the phase that Mars is in, Syrtis Major, the North Polar hood (at the top) plus a few other albedo features. It’s a higher contrast image of what I could visually see on the night.

Can’t be worse than cows. I was once charged by a heard of cows and literally had to run for my life. It was terrifying!

Sadly I’ve had total cloud cover here in Southampton today 😟

@DocEE this is interesting, please let us know how you get on. I have made one of these for my 8” Dob mainly for visual but I have played around with using it for taking short 30 second exposures using an iPhone. As is it works fine for this. It’s also possible to polar align. I’ve tired using the method here (scroll to the end)… http://www.astrosurf.com/aheijkoop/Equipment/EqPlatfor2.htm Then marking the position of the platform on the ground. Out of interest here’s a short video of Jupiter with just a rough alignment taken on 21st Jan 2023 with my iPhone 14 Pro. These phone cameras are getting good! And it’s quite steady even at high magnification plus zooming in. FullSizeRender.MOV I’ve also thought (it’s got no further than that) of using one of these motors in place of the EQ1 motor drive… https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-starquest/sky-watcher-ra-motor-drive-for-starquest-and-az-eq-avant-mounts.html I already have one on a small reflector… As it is it’s single speed but does have the advantage of a clutch and an Auto Guide port. Although whether I can be bothered with the extra complication of this (I like to keep things simple) I’m not sure. I know nothing about Auto Guiding and my electronic knowledge is poor!

This… I’d certainly try a dew shield first. I’m in the UK and since using a dew shield I’ve never had an issue with dew on the secondary despite the telescope being left out all night during some nights of very heavy dew. And as @Zermelo suggests it helps keep out stray light which for me, in an urban environment, is important too.

Not sure how I missed that! There’s also some discussion and lots of details on CloudyNights… https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/857117-astroshader-ios-ap-app-intro-beta-testers-wanted/ I’ve downloaded it and will give it a go when we get a clear night.

This has turned out to be a report too. When I take pictures I never know whether to write a report or just stick the images in here with some general details. Didn’t intend to be too long outside as I had (still do) an unpleasant chest infection. I started out trying to view Comet ZTF but the moon was washing it out and I could only just make it out in my rather light polluted Southampton sky. I was going to have a look at the moon but decided to first have a quick look at Mars. Of course Mars is getting rather small now so I wasn’t expecting much. However, the seeing was rather good, in fact close to if not the best I’ve had on Mars. I had the magnification up at x300 and things were still surprisingly sharp. So I decided to try my BST StarGuider 3.2mm which up to now had been rather useless - at x375 it’s a bit too much for my Skywatcher 200p Dob - and I was thinking of selling it. And to my pleasant surprise the views were still good. A bit wobbly but not at all fuzzy. I could see Mars in gibbous phase with Syrtis Major, other albedo features and the North Polar Hood quite obvious. At times there was also a hint of a white dot at the South Pole but that wasn’t clear so could have imaged it. If there it didn’t show on the images but then it is a phone camera. I noticed some high cloud coming in from the SE so thought that I wouldn’t have much longer. To finish off I decided to practice taking some videos of Mars with my relatively new phone but wasn’t expecting much. Interestingly (although it was wobbly) by playing around with the phone settings I could see more in the way of albedo features on the screen in live view than I could visually at the eyepiece. I couldn’t do that with my old iPhone 12. Using the EQ platform allowed me to wait for a window in the seeing before taking a short video. I took five 30 second-ish videos before going back to visual. High cloud was increasing as well as some mist. At one point this acted like a filter and gave Mars a real red tint. After that I called it a night. This is the result of a single frame taken from one video. And personally I’m pleased with it especially as Mars is getting so small. No stacking although I have been experimenting with an iPhone app that does basic stacking of planets. However, it didn’t work well here. Southampton back garden, Bortle 7. Skywatcher 200p Dob on a DIY EQ platform. BST StarGuider 3.2mm, basic smartphone adapter, iPhone 14 Pro with video using the stock camera app set to 4K, 60fps. Edited in the stock camera app, Lightroom and Snapseed. First image as seen, second rotated so north is up.

Just out of interest… The one I made for my 8” Dob had thin veneer (for model aircraft foam wings) to stiffen it. Stuck to the foam mat which was just 4mm thick. It’s as stiff as a very stiff thing

Only just noticed this thread so you’ve probably made yours by now. But I found that good old Evo-Stik contact adhesive stuck foam mat together really well. I’ve made a couple of dew shields with it and the bond has held for over a year. You can buy Evo-Stik in smaller size tubes too.

It’s nice that you’ve got a bit of colour in there!

Just to make it clear… do you want to image planets or DSO? It’s probably both. I’m not into imagining but I know that @Kon has done some amazing planetary imaging with his manual 8” Dob. So it’s possible. If the clock drive is the one I’m thinking of then I have one. First on a little EQ mount. Now it’s on my DIY EQ platform for my 8” Dob. On an EQ it’ll be fine for short 30 sec exposures at relatively low magnification. Anything more than that you’ll need something better.

Must be something to do with height/position in the sky. I didn’t look at the moon but at times I had a combination of drifting high cloud and developing mist. As I mentioned at one point it turned Mars very red, so much so that I took the eyepiece out to make sure I hadn’t left a filter on it. Of course I’m not in the same location.

It’s basically this. If the telescope is poorly collimated you’ll really notice it when you are at the limits - eg at high magnification and/or when you need good contrast. So is the bit about seeing. It always amazes me how much more you can see on a night of good seeing (transparency too) - no night is the same - which always makes me want to take a look. As for holding collimation. Once the secondary is done you rarely need to touch it. The primary might need a tweak before a session but once it’s settled down I generally don’t need to touch anything. One example - I took a small reflector on an aircraft. After a car/taxi journey lasting a total of 3.5 hours, rattling through an airport, 4 hour flight, 45 min ferry journey… I was pleasantly surprised to find that collimation was still spot on. But it doesn’t mean it’ll always be that way.

Interesting how it can change (after seeing being good) so quickly.

Yes, I’ve heard that mentioned but don’t know why. I could see a very small dot of white at the South Pole too. I’m no imaging guru but if I look at the video I can very occasionally see it there as well. Looks like it’s coming and going with the seeing. But it’s more than that. Eg Anything white in colour isn’t nearly as obvious in the video or images. The North Polar Hood is in the image but it’s far less obvious. While the albedo features have more contrast. Of course I haven’t done any stacking but I’d put money on that having some sort of effect. PS - I also fiddled with camera settings so maybe that didn’t help. It’s also a smartphone camera so you can expect too much!

I’ve had an off and in session this evening with the Skywatcher 200p Dob plus EQ platform in Southampton. Mostly off as I have somehow acquired an unpleasant chest infection. Started off looking for Comet ZTF. Found it but it was very faint. The moon was up by now and the neighbours had their back garden lights on at full blast Them had a look at Mars for what I thought was going to be a quick look and go. Mars is now obviously getting small and not a full disc so I thought I’d had my lot. But to my surprise seeing was excellent. Put in the BST StarGuider 5mm and I could make out the North Polar Hood plus surface details, especially Syrtis Major. Then put in a 4mm for 300x and still sharp. So I got out my secret weapon which up until now had been far too much fir anything useful and I was thinking of selling - the BST StarGuider 3.2mm for 375x - still sharp which is a first so maybe this is a keeper! I then played around with my new phone and took some videos of Mars. Didn’t expect much but just playing around with the camera settings actually showed more detail in the live view than what I could see visually. Surprising, these phone cameras are getting good. I’ve posted a single frame from the video that’s had some very basic and crude editing. I reckon I can get more out of that with a bit of a play. High clouds and a little fog started rolling in which acted as a red filter and occasionally changed the colour of Mars. At that point I called it a night.

From my experience I’ve found annoying play in both the mount and tripod. I had a similar setup and at first upgraded the mount. It was an improvement but that aluminium tripod was terrible at damping out the slightest vibration & movement. The dual legs vibrated kind of like guitar strings - once they started it took an age for the vibrations to damp down. Upgrading the tripod to a secondhand EQ5 steel tripod sorted that out! I still have the aluminium tripod - it’s makes a great travel tripod and I’ve taken it on aircraft too.

It’s flat calm here and crystal clear. Although I’m exhausted after last nights session so I’m staying in tonight