Ags

I am using the T2 converter from TS. FLO are selling it too now.

In addition, the long photo-thread bolt counterweight on the back of the camera is really great for sighting alignment stars. Not quite as good as an RDF but still pretty nifty.

To my great surprise, my ASI178MM connects to my 100mm macro lens, and I got the spacing correct, and it comes to focus!

Anyone know when SpaceX Starship is taking its next test flight?

In the end I did this. €140 all told. The counterweight is temporary and too light, but it fits into the "budget" category and I think it will double as a neat sighting bar (in the absence of an RDF). Gotta paint that wall one day...

Informative, friendly, surprising.

I got a Canon lens to T2 adapter today, with two 5mm T2 tubes, two 1.5mm tuning rings, and two 0.5 mm tuning rings. Initial impressions are it is really solid and seems to hold my heavy 100mm macro lens well. https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p7835_TS-Optics-Optics-Adapter-for-Canon-EOS-Lenses-to-T2-for-CCD-cameras---with-1-4--photo-thread.html I actually made an error in my order and only ordered one 0.5 mm ring, but the Teleskop Service people threw in a second one for free! I also got a T2 to 1.25" adapter to turn my macro lens into a spotting scope. With a barlow lens screwed to the front of the mirror diagonal I could focus out to about 10 meters. The views were very good indeed - all I need to do is get a prism diagonal to shorten the optical path and I should have enough back focus! Another thing I need to get eventually: https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p5547_TS-Optics-T2-Thread-360--Rotation-and-Quick-Changer---5-5mm-short.html

Why not use the local temperature gradient caused by radiative heat loss to charge your phone? These researchers turned the cold blackness of outer space into more light pollution: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190912111015.htm

It is the KELT (Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope) in the Karoo, South Africa.

This is a very serious telescope:

Actually it might not work so well as the structures can be quite small: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191002.html These are only light months across - not many stars in front or behind?

Dark nebula don't block all light. so Stars behind the nebula are visible in near IR. So you can get distance to the stars in front of the nebula and distances to stars within and beyond the nebula, which surely gives us the distance to the nebula? I don't know if GAIA measures distances in Near IR however.

Yes, PNG is much better than JPG format. PNG was actually invented to replace GIF and JPG formats.

I find when I am doing a visual session, I wish I was doing imaging, and when i am doing imaging, I really regret it and wish I was doing visual 😃

Yeah, but how big were the photosites? I'm guessing you could land a helicopter on them... 😀

I like that the Starship is made of steel. Proper ships have rivets! Musk claims he can expand annual launch capacity by a factor of 1000 with this system. It is hard to imagine demand at that level. But maybe the Japanese can finally build the orbital solar power arrays they have been talking about for decades? Forget James Webb Telescope. This thing gonna put up the the BFT (Big Falcon Telescope) 😀 Also, regarding the famous SpaceX graphic showing four stages of Mars terraforming - in my opinion if they get to stage 2 (significant bodies of liquid water) they can say "job done" already. No idea what kind of tech could get us to stage 3 or 4...

The first prototype of this rocket exists and is sitting under the Texas stars right now.

Updated time: midnight UTC. And there is a live stream: https://www.space.com/17933-nasa-television-webcasts-live-space-tv.html

Elon Musk is giving his annual Starship update tonight at 18.00-19.00 EDT. (midnight here in Holland) There is no link for a live stream yet.

Yeah, I have heard that trick works well - but it doesn't have the aesthetic refinement I require from my setup 😃

I have been slowly putting together a flexible setup consisting of a Berlebach Report 112 short tripod, and a Castor alt-az for undriven visual dual scope DSO hunting, and an AZ-GTi for goto and planetary viewing and imaging. I am looking at upgrading my planetary/lunar scope from a Skymax 102 to something a bit bigger that still falls into the grab and go category and can still be carried by the AZ-GTi. I keep coming back to the C6: weighing around 3.8 kgs it would fit in the carry capacity of the mount when loaded up with accessories. At F10 it is a better fit for my ASI178MM camera (2.4 um pixels) than the F13 Mak, and 6 inches of aperture would be much better for planetary imaging. The greater aperture would be kinder on my eyes for visual planetary observing. It would go nicely on the Castor opposite my ST80 for DSO hunting, particularly with 6.3 reducer. But it's a lot of money - am I missing something?

Thanks. I tried using smaller alignment points this time and I think it made a big improvement. I can't see a green splotch but I'll take your word 😃

It was clear tonight so I thought I would have another go at shooting a color Saturn - my last effort was too noisy for my liking and there was no surface detail on the planet. I shot at 480x480 10ms (100fps), doing 3 minutes Red, 3 minutes Green and 5 minutes Blue. Why more blue? In my limited experience it is much more blurry so I thought more time on blue would help. Also it looked like i could squeeze in 5 minutes before losing Saturn to the skyscraper due south of me. I only had time between twilight and the skyscraper for one set of subs, so this is probably the last Saturn this year for me. When I got in I realized I had left 2x2 software binning on, but maybe that was a happy accident as I wanted to minimize noise and the camera oversamples for my telescope anyway. Shot with Skymax 102 and ASI178MM and manual filter wheel. Upsized 50%:

I have completed my eyepiece collection, but I want these! https://www.takahashiamerica.com/starbase-or-14-mm-ep.html Just the 20, 14 amd 9mm, and a 72mm apo to put in front of them... Knowing takahashi, do you think they will include end caps?

Complete! I just realized that every one of those eyepieces came from SGL members with the exception of the 16mm Nirvana.