Astro Noodles

Whether you like it or not, it's how free markets are supposed to function. If there is demand, then someone will provide the supply.

That's some excellent tinkering and DIY you've done there. Thanks for sharing it with us. Welcome to SGL

Sailed across once and rode at anchor for a few days, Don't remember any dark skies, but I do remember a pub. I think it is called The Turk's Head. 🙂

So in answer to my original question: How long to get first decent image? Answer - Depends on the weather. I think that with clear nights and some decent budget equipment, the answer would be a few weeks. But not in the UK. I have been working on M31 and have a total of about 5 hours of subs taken in 4 sessions starting on 8th July. I've actually had about 11 hours on this target but had to discard more than half due to out of focus, poorly framed, too much moonlight. With a few more clear night, it wouldn't be much of an issue, but in the UK image capture time can't be wasted like that.

Hi Lem. My route into higher education was through an access course which I did back in about 1990, so it was nice to read your post. Going to university as a mature student, having had to really work hard to get there gave me more of an appreciation of the privilege of a university education. I hope you get as much out of the experience it as I did.

I'm just grateful to see anything at all after the last few weeks. 🙂

A double-jointed neck would be useful for polar alignment.😄

Its just a wind-up. 😄

You could get a Raspberry Pi instead of the ASIair and save yourself some money. There are plenty of posts on here about using one for guiding. I have one myself, but like you I need some clear sky to use it.🙂

You will want to get the ASAIR and guide camera/scope at some point but you should be able to get good results with the Star Adventurer. It will need precise polar alignment and balancing. Remember, the longer focal length, the shorter the exposure you will be able to get unguided. As an example, I can get 90 seconds at f5.9 with an iOptron Skyguider Pro.

Hi Rustang. Which star did you use for focusing? It wasn't a double star was it?

Hi Craig. The EQ5 mount isn't motorised. To make it into an EQ star tracker you would need to add motors. The ASIairpro and guide camera are only necessary if you want to take long exposures or very narrow FOV exposures through a telescope of with a high f number. For the equipment you have, a Star Adventurer would be a good starting point.

I'm not sure what to do with them. There is definitely a pair of bins in there somewhere but it is beyond my skill to fix them. I'm reluctant to bin them, so if anyone would like them, drop me a PM and I'll send them to you.

I wonder if you could make a pier and artfully disguise it as a bird bath/table or other patio feature.

It's still clear here, but the full moon is killing me. I'm reluctant to give up a clear night but I can't see Mu Andromedae with the naked eye.

Clear outside is red for me. but it is a clear night at the moment. Just waiting for it to get a little bit darker and then I'm in business. 😁

Or indeed any human input at all.

I was reading about the disagreement in cosmology over what came first, the galaxy or the supermassive black hole at the centre of it. It would seem logical to believe that it was the black hole which drew all the matter to it because of the gravity. but this is not certain. My understanding is that there is a limit to the amount of stuff which can go into a black hole in a given timescale. And further to this, that there is not enough time for a stellar mass black hole to accumulate mass. So supermassive black holes at the centres of galaxies must have started as supermassive black holes and not grown from stellar mass black holes. That got me thinking about how black holes consume stuff. They are very messy eaters as far as I can see. Rather than swallow stuff across the event horizon, they reduce their food to an energetic 'soup' through gravity, friction, pressure etc which then spins around the black hole. A good deal of that 'soup' then escapes the black hole in the form of light and other energy. Besides that, we have observed jets of matter and energy hundreds or thousands of light years long shooting out of the poles of feeding supermassive black holes. Not content with stuff in their immediate vicinity, black holes often gravitationally catapult stars off into interstellar space or ricocheting along the plane of the galaxy. The chances of falling into a black hole seem fairly slim. It seems more likely that a body would be torn into it's most basic particular state and most of that would be flung or squirted off back into the universe. They seem to throw their food around like characters from 'Animal House'.😄

Is that the paper which suggests that our methods of measurement based on 'standard candles' may be incorrect or inconsistent ?

That's an interesting observation. Although our imaging time is restricted, our processing should be second to none. 😄

I believe that we get about a 10% chance on average of a night which is clear enough for astronomy in the UK for at least part of the night. When you take away full moon nights, lack of darkness in the summer etc, you might expect about 20 or so ideal nights. So think on average 3-4 nights a month when astronomy is possible and 1-2 when conditions are ideal in an average year. Not really enough to satisfy an obsession. I don't think that astronomy in the UK is viable as someone's only hobby. The frustration of fixating on weather forecasts in the hope of a clear night surely will lead to madness. I am just glad that I didn't rush out and buy thousands of pounds of kit. It just isn't justifiable with our weather. Just make the most of the clear nights. 👍🙂

It's showing amber for me now on CO with 14mph wind. There isn't a cloud in the sky or a breath of wind. Always worth taking a look outside.

Here's mine. It just slips over the viewfinder. Should be attached to the strap somewhere.

It's true, Vlaiv pointed that out to me. It's especially detrimental to calibration frames if the viewfinder isn't covered. There should be a small rubber or plastic cap attached to the strap somewhere.

I apologise Vlaiv. I was being deliberately provocative in order to generate a response. I understand why you started this thread and accept the validity of your scientific approach to colour. I also understand why the Hubble image is the way it is. I just have a different perspective, and presumably different motivation for photographing celestial objects than you appear to have. It is my opinion that Science and Art both have their place in photography. It is up to the photographer to decide on the balance.