lunator

Hi Keith I have firecapture on the laptop. I might have to give it a go. Hoping to process something tomorrow. Cheers Ian

I managed a short time with my ZWO a couple of nights ago. Conditions were pretty rubbish so I am sure the images won't be great but it was useful to practice focussing and have bit a mess around with Sharpcap settings. Cheers Ian

Cheers Moonshed yep I recently got my rocket flying licence I have just got a ZWO camera so I am very keen to give that a go.

Here is the first pic of the moon taken with a webcam flashed to SPC900nc OMC250 processed in AS!3, Registax. Any comments and advice welcome. Cheers Ian

Had another go on the 10th. Played around with gain, exposure time and the focus on the webcam. It might have made a small difference. Cheers Ian

Hi Pete For the money they give good results. I might be slowly slipping into the dark-side I have think of pressing the button on a ZWO120 just to dip my toe in the water so to speak. I took some more video last night. I messed around with the settings a bit. It will be interesting to see if it made any difference. Cheers Ian

Hi Neil Good first attempt. You have captured some good detail. I can't give you advice as I am completely new to this myself. But you have make a good start 🙂 Cheers Ian

Hi Dave I don't have the nosepiece. I could only use webcam as it came. I think it was having a go and hoping for the best. Cheers Ian

here is an image of Mars I took yesterday. I haven't managed a decent pic using phone afocally so I decided to try something different. Scope OMC250 Eyepiece Pentax 14mm XW. and x2 barlow giving x300 Mag. An old Win7 laptop and SPC880 upgraded to 900nc. set at 640x480. 30fps in sharpcap. messed around with gain to see what would happen. Used quick capture. Stacked in Autostakkert and a bit of wavelet in registax and a final tweak in GIMP2. The data was collected by holding the webcam up to the eyepiece and standing very still I can see the colour is a bit off but overall I am happy with a 1st go. Any feedback appreciated. Cheers Ian Mars_02-11-20.bmp

Hi David I have 3 culprits in mind .Martian dust, Atmospheric moisture or the bright Moon. I just don't know which one it is Cheers Ian

Hi Mark, Never under-estimate the power of the ortho I think it's low number of elements mean you lose less light as it travels through the optical train. Not as issue usually but on something right at the margins it can make all the difference. I keep meaning to have a go at this SN but I forget whilst trying to tease out details in Mars. Cheers Ian

Hi David Very good sketch It looks very similar to what I could see around 8.30 last night. The details were quite low contrast last night, although there part of the I think it was Aeria appeared quite orange. Cheers Ian

Hi Mark Very nice pics. I put mostvof the mushiness last night down to lack of scope cool down time, But the seeing might have been deteriorating as well. You got some nice detail in there cheers Ian

I decided to have a go at sketching Mars last night. Gut back from work about 10.30pm and the ckouds were clearing. The scope did not really have enough time to cool down but there wasn't much I could do about that. The first sketch is the pencil drawing the second on I have added some colour. I might have another go if we have a clear spell next week. Scope OMC250 Eyepiece 6mm ortho. Magnification x375 Seeing 3/5 Transparency 3/5 Time 22.55-23.15 UT 23/10

Hi Steve Very good pic. It reminds me of the detail I could see on the 15th. Cheers Ian

Hi Graham Very good pics Cheers Ian

Hi mark Very good sketch The seeing was a bit variable last night but there were periods where it was excellent. What amazed me last night was when the seeing improved the edges of the features were very obvious. Cheers Ian

Very good sketches Glob Some good detail in them. I had some excellent views of Mars last night. I had spent some time on collimation and it paid off.😀 Keep the sketches coming. Cheers Ian

Excellent result, well done

I would recommend "observer's guide to stellar evolution" by Mike Inglis. Published by Springer. It combines the theory of stellar evolution with actual examples we can observe. Cheers Ian

I have answered yes as my skies at home are ok but if I can go somewhere with darker skies I will. Cheers Ian

Hi, Welcome to SGL. I'm just up the road from you Doubles are good targets when you have significant LP. Enjoy the scope Cheers Ian

Good catch Jeremy 👍 I had a fairly good view of the conjunction using my 15x70's. I decided to keep the scopes tucked away given the breeze ☺️

It was a fairly easy spot in my 15x70's last night just to the left of Venus. It was nice the clouds got out of the way for once 😊

Hi Stu, great pics. seeing was pretty good last night. Thanks for highlighting the crater names. I am still learning them Cheers Ian