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Hawksmoor
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Everything posted by Hawksmoor
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As the ISS was visible and being chased by SpaceX quite low to my horizon , I abandoned the backyard and sat in a bedroom to watch from an elevated position. With time on my hands I wondered what might be achieved image wise just by pointing my Canon 600d plus telephoto lens (f=240mm.) at it. I was surprised that you could acquire a recognizable image of sorts. The picture is a rough composite of radical enlargements of star like dots on the original widefield images. Exposure times and ISO ratings were varied. The best images being obtained at 1/500 sec at ISO 6400. Not pretty but remarkable what a relatively inexpensive camera hand-held by an old man hanging out of an upstairs window can achieve! -
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From the album: Backyard Astronomy
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Watched the ISS go over Lowestoft followed by the much fainter Crew Dragon capsule. Could just see the latter and might have got a handheld image or two whilst hanging out the bedroom window.
Last night I set up my big refractor and captured some video clips of the Moon at first quarter (at f=2250mm and f=2700mm). Some time consuming processing awaits!
Lovely clear night this evening after a really beautiful sunny day. Nighty night stargazers.
George still socially isolated on the East Coast.
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Excellent image Reggie. I have had mixed weather so missed this. Thanks for sharing. Best regards George
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Been a 'good' old boy and managed to get my very old QHY5v to talk to an old copy of PHD2 in order that I might use it for guiding. This frees my QHY5L-11 colour planetary camera, which I had been using for guiding, for other uses. Been a 'bad' old boy this week and purchased a QHY5L-11 mono camera for spectral application in combination with a 'homemade' transmission grating Mark 3. It is my understanding that an under £200 purchase in lock-down is acceptable behaviour for the 'older retired gentleman' in 'not upsetting long-suffering life partner' mode.
This new camera - Peak QE 74% and pixel size 3.75 um- might also be used in combination with it's colour variant to take some images of brighter DSOs - probably worth a try out on M27 and M57 later in the summer, as long as it doesn't get too hot. (not much chance of that on the UK's desirable East Coast!)
Very excited awaiting a package from Modern Astronomy. Come on Bernie!
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Crescent Moon in Blue Sky small.png
Hawksmoor commented on Hawksmoor's gallery image in Member's Album
Thank you very much for your kind comment. I did not set out to image the Moon. I was setting up to image Venus and noticed the Moon much lower down and just above the false horizon created by the kitchen extension roof. It was so beautiful I decided to capture a composite image. I never think you can do justice to the quality of light and colour when you capture the Moon in twilight. But I keep trying! George -
Best widefield PANSTARRSsmall stars.png
Hawksmoor commented on Hawksmoor's gallery image in Member's Album
Comet C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS) 127mm Apo refractor and Canon 600d DSLR. 30x 2min lights at ISO1600. -
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From the album: Comets, Meteors and Asteroids
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ATLASvery best widefield crop copy.png
Hawksmoor commented on Hawksmoor's gallery image in Member's Album
Comet C/2019 Y1 (ATLAS) -127mm Apo refractor and Canon 600d DSLR 30x2min lights at ISO 1600. Very nice clear dark night and all my kit worked! Pretty much my last chance to point my big scope at this before it goes behind my house roof. Nice comet! -
From the album: Comets, Meteors and Asteroids
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Crescent Moon in Blue Sky small.png
Hawksmoor commented on Hawksmoor's gallery image in Member's Album
127mm Apo-refractor and QHY video camera. A composite of 4 videos stitched together using ICE. Very new crescent Moon in a blue sky. -
From the album: The Moon
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127mm Apo Refractor and QHY colour video camera. Composite of two 1 minute clips - one captured using a Dark blue Wratten filter. Very beautiful and mysterious phase.
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From the album: Venus
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I dont know!
I decide to get my 5inch refractor out and on its pier, first time in a while. Lovely sunny day here on the coast. Beautiful blue sky, as you can see on the photograph from this pm. Within literally minutes the sky turned as black as thunder and has remained that way. 'Metcheck clear sky' completely ignored by the weather. This hobby is not for the faint hearted. You can probably work that out for yourself if you noticed my 'tidy' wiring festooned over the scope and its locale. Don't do this at home kids!
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I am well and hope you are too, my friend. Been having some really nice skies my way with less pollution and aircraft (but still those bothersome geo satellites). I can't wait to see your images. I've taken several widefield shots of the waxing crescent and Venus. Did you see Venus cross the Pleiades earlier this month? I got some cool pictures of that.
Clear skies,
Reggie
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Glad you are keeping well. I did see your sequence of images of Venus crossing the Pleiades. I thought they were a very good set. I missed the event as weather was poor here. My last good weather window was either the 28th or 29th and just before the Venus Pleiades conjunction. I saw Elon's Starlink Satellites for the first time on that night. It was quite spectacular as they crossed the sky on either side of the ISS.
I've also noted the reduction in planes and improvement in air quality. I also observed that the signal to noise ratings on PHD whilst I was 'guiding' the other night were really good. I guess that is a measure of good seeing and improved air quality.
I've been processing the images today but not quite finished them. Tomorrow I'm providing support for my grand children on 'lock down' in three separate towns around the UK. I'm hosting an internet 'art class' for them. My partner did a 'cooking class' for them today.
Hopefully, I will get some time to finish my image processing tomorrow and get them 'posted'.
Best regards and stay safe.
George
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Hi Craig - Just remarkable! George
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Nice set of images Reggie. I particularly liked the image from April 03. I managed a widefield photo on the 29th March but weather here on the East Coast of the UK was very poor for the first few days in April. I reckon April 2028 is a bit optimistic for a stargazer of my age. I can but hope that I'm still going strong and remain enthusiastic for astronomy at the end of the decade. Best regards from George in Lowestoft.
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Conjunction Moon Venus Hyades Pleiades.png
Hawksmoor commented on Hawksmoor's gallery image in Member's Album
Two very noisy images with different exposures combined. Canon 600d DSLR with standard 18-55mm EFS handheld over our waterbutt. A real pretty sight last night with a bit of 'scenic' cloud. The Hyades, Pleiades, waxing Moon with earthshine and Venus at half phase. -
From the album: Backyard Astronomy
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After another day in isolation we decided to go for a walk at about 21:00 BST. After a morning on which we had a short snow shower and lots of cloud, we were surprised to see some stars. The crescent Moon, Venus, Hyades and Pleiades conjunction was a real visual treat. Quite unexpectedly, the Space Station went over accompanied by a retinue of Elon Musk's Stsrlink Satellites. By heck there were a lot of them and quite bright!
When we got home I grabbed a camera and tried to get a handheld image of the conjunction before the clouds rolled in. I hope to post something tomorrow.
Quite excited as we have made our first batch of yoghurt today and will be trying it in the morning for breakfast. We could have made one small step towards dairy self sufficiency or a biological weapon of mass destruction. Only time will tell!
Now in bed awaiting sleep in Lowestoft
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Central area of Mellotte 111 - Altair Astro 66 mm refractor with 0.6x focal reducer and field flattener on a Star Adventurer equatorial mount. Canon 600d DSLR at f=240mm. 60x60sec lights at ISO1600. This cluster covers such a large area of sky!
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