Hawksmoor
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M57 & Live Stacking App - AstroShader
Hawksmoor replied to PeterStudz's topic in Imaging - Smartphone / Tablets
Thank you for your reply which is helpful. My issue is all about attaching the phone to the Star Adventurer mount. I have an iPhone clip from a cheap tripod which works well if you can reverse the camera. I will have to improvise. Probably have something in the shed which will work or I could 3d print something. I was just being lazy. Thank you very much for your kind response. George -
M57 & Live Stacking App - AstroShader
Hawksmoor replied to PeterStudz's topic in Imaging - Smartphone / Tablets
Hi Peter very interesting and have downloaded the App to my phone. I was quite keen to try using it on my Star Adventurer EQ mount to take some widefield shots of the Summer Night Sky but cannot find a way of reversing the camera so that I can lay the phone on its back. Whatever button I seem to push the camera faces the other way to the screen. I am a family legend at using my iphone as little more than a fancy paperweight, so wonder if I am missing something really simple. I have been trying out NightCap app and this allows me to reverse the camera. Any help would be appreciated. Best regards George -
Tried out a low light app on my iPhone and had a go at the Scorpion rising over the Med. Loads of light pollution from Hotel we are staying at. Overall a bit of fun and preferable to the ‘evening entertainment’ by the pool. Ted Bovis, Spike and the comedy octopus weren’t as bad in retrospect 🤣
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Currently in North Cyprus, very dark skies but quite a lot of wispy cloud. In a moment of transparency I saw Venus at about maximum magnitude. Absolutely stunning! Looked like a bright lamp hung within a dusting of faint stars. You can see why the ancient civilisations gave it goddess status!
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Venus Using the Baader Semi APO/#82A/Meade Variable Polarizer
Hawksmoor replied to orion25's topic in Imaging - Planetary
I reckon you got some cloud detail there Reggie! George -
From the album: Backyard Astronomy
A rework of old data taken with 127mm Meade Apo Refractor and Canon 600d DSLR. Processed with Starnet GUI, RC Astro GradientXterminator, Topaz Denoise AI and AffinityPhoto2. -
From the album: The Sun
Sunspot group 3282 captured with Meade 127mm Apo Refractor, 3x Televue Barlow and a QHY5-llc planetary camera. All a bit noisy as I pushed the processing quite hard. I think this is my best sunspot capture to date. My older laptop struggled with the capture because of the size of the frames. Will have to use the newer and faster Lenovo in future but haven't loaded the camera drivers yet.. -
Strange day weather wise. Started off with loads of high wispy cloud then it cleared. Managed to capture some good video clips of sunspots in white light. Old Dell laptop that I use for capture and guiding started playing up so didn't get any clips of Venus as intended. Also my ancient NEQ 6 ended the night by not 'parking' properly. Hopefully it isn't expiring. If it does die on me I think my days with the 5inch refractor will be over as at 73 years I don't think spending over a £1000 on a new mount is a sensible use of the cash. Anyway, I am finding getting the covers off and on the beast in the dark balancing on rickety steps a bit scary, so going astro-lite with my mini rig is probably more 'old bloke' friendly!
George considering his future and health & safety issues in Lowestoft
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Our son Chrissy managed to catch Venus, Mercury and the Pleiades over the fields near his house just outside Cambridge. He used his iPhone with a low light app. I denoised it a bit and removed a TV aerial using Affinity Photo 2
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From the album: Backyard Astronomy
Mrs H spotted this atmospheric and perfect demonstration of the reflection and refraction of sunlight when she went into the backyard to peg out some washing. She captured this great image with her iPhone. Cropped and tidied up a bit using AffinityPhoto2 software. -
From the album: Backyard Astronomy
Still wasn't happy with the Pleiades so had another go. Happier with this one which is heavy on the reflection nebula! -
Thanks for taking the photo. We had a great time at the Practical Astronomy Show and admired the quality of your engineering on display. Best regards George -
From the album: Backyard Astronomy
Using StarnetGUI and Affinity2 etc to rework M31 and chums data captured with my tiny Altair 66mm Doublet and Canon 600d DSLR on Star Adventurer eq mount. Amazed that it brought out an outer spiral. -
From the album: Out and About
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Mrs H and I had a great day, today at the Practical Astronomy Show Kettering. Excellent venue, interesting talks and lots of exhibitors with great kit to look at and buy? I resisted a fan cooled colour CMOS camera but I'm sure my resolve not to buy anymore kit is weakening!
George back home in Lowestoft
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Thank you very much for your kind comment! George -
From the album: Aurora
I wondered whether I would actually live long enough to image the Aurora from Lowestoft. The night of maximum activity on the 26th of February was rather spoiled by cloud. The night of the 27th of February was much clearer and although the auroral activity was less I managed to capture one or two 15 second lights at ISO 6400. I used a fixed tripod mounted Canon 600d DSLR with a standard EOS lens at f=18mm. The best single RAW image was processed with Affinity Photo2, Starnet GUI, Fitswork4 and Topaz Denoise AI. -
Jupiter and Venus having a moment over the garden fence. Quick snap with my iPhone.
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Thanks Reggie. I don't remember seeing these before but old age is definitely making me a bit forgetful! 🤣
Excellent work to capture the Jovian moons. Huge dynamic range there, which is always tricky to deal with. I bet you are pleased with these
I would be!
Hope you are keeping well and getting better weather than we are. If the snow holds off until after the weekend, we shall go to the Astronomy Show in Kettering this coming Saturday. It is a long drive for us oldies, being halfway across the UK from where we live on the East Coast. Our daughter lives nearer to Kettering than we do, so we will stop a night with her and her family on the way.
Best regards from me and Mrs H.
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Through a brief break in cloud I observed the ‘old Moon in the arms of the new’ with Venus and Jupiter nearby. Quite beautiful without any visual aids!
George just off to bed in Lowestoft
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Practical Astronomy Show. Kettering. March 11th 2023
Hawksmoor replied to Carbon Brush's topic in Star Parties & Astro Events
Mrs. H and I are planning to go for an astro day out in Kettering. That poor woman has suffered my hobbies without complaint for over fifty years. She is quite literally a saint. George currently in bed in Lowestoft as there is horizon to horizon cloud outside. -
From the album: Backyard Astronomy
Messier 37. Stars are very hard and I've spent far too long messing with this old data. -
From the album: Comets, Meteors and Asteroids
Managed to catch the Comet E3 amongst the 'kids' in Auriga last night before the Moon came out from behind my neighbour's roof and the clouds rolled in. Canon600d with standard Canon EOS Lens at f=18mm. mounted on a Star Adventurer EQ. A stack of 35x60sec lights at ISO1600. -
Brief window just after 18:00, before the cloud and whilst the Moon was still behind our neighbour's roof, during which I managed to see the comet through my 8x40mm bins. E3 sitting nicely in the triangle formed by the 'kids' in Auriga. Managed to capture a few widefield images of Auriga at f=18mm . Will process tomorrow if worth the time and effort. Lots of light pollution and sky plus small dim comet!
George in bed in Lowestoft
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Really nice and lots of wispy nebulosity with lovely soft use of colour. George -
From the album: Comets, Meteors and Asteroids
The thing about memory and age is that the relationship is not linear. When I imaged the comet, I left my timer snapping away whilst I sat indoors in the warm. When I returned to my camera the sky had clouded over from horizon to horizon. After a lot of fiddling about trying to remove moonlight and light pollution from good light frames, time passed and I suddenly thought what if I use the clouded out frames as flats? With any luck the moonlight and pollution would be reflected in the uniformly illuminated sky. Lo and behold it worked!
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I would be!
