mcrowle

I may try a morning in the next few days, if the weather looks promising. Saturday morning looks best at the moment.

With the comet only a few degrees above the horizon in bright twilight, I'll need to head to a beach 30-minutes walk away to have any hope.

Regards, Mike.

Beautiful captures! I went out several times as the alerts came in, but gave up at around 03:45 as nothing was showing on camera above the moonlight. Looks like I should have persevered 😀.

Regards, Mike.

3 hours ago, FenlandPaul said:

Lovely shots, Mike, and a stunning part of the world that’s very definitely on my list!!

Thanks, Paul. Scenically the region is extremely well worth visiting, though clear nights are far from guaranteed!

I based myself a few miles from where I went last year, and always planned to do some landscape-astro imaging if the opportunity arose. I checked the Moon phases when I booked, but in my haste I somehow confused the full and new Moon symbols on the diagram! So, instead of a waning gibbous Moon, I had a waxing crescent encroaching on the Milky Way. Luckily there was a clear night early on, before the Moon became too dominant.

Regards, Mike.

The same night I took the following, looking more towards the North to see Cassiopeia, Perseus and Andromeda over the Furcela ridge. Equipment, settings and processing were all similar to the above post, except that I used f/2.5 and ISO 3200.

Regards, Mike.

The image below shows the Milky Way Core setting over Sassolungo, also known as Langofel, in the Dolomites. It was taken from Tubla, above the village of Selva di Val Gardena. The Ciampinoi gondola top-station can be seen at left, and light from the recently-set crescent Moon is to the right.

I used a Canon EOS 5D mkIII and Sigma 35mm f/1.4 on a static tripod, taking 7 x 13-sec exposures at f/2.2 and ISO 1600. Frames were stacked using Sequator, before curves and colour-balance adjustment.

Regards, Mike.

I had my (unmodded) EOS 5D MkIII with me that night, too, for some landscape-astro shots.

The image below was taken with a 14mm lens, from the same spot as my original post. Light from the hamlet of Polkerris can be seen beyond the headland at left; the fishing village of Mevagissey is in the distance at right. The foreground and headland are lit by industrial lights at the old port of Par, some distance behind my imaging location.

Regards, Mike.

Here’s what may be the final result, having stacked 20 x 30-sec ISO 3200 exposures of the sky, and then manually added and aligned the meteor frame as a new layer before applying some star reduction.

Hopefully it’s not dramatically different to the single sub posted initially, but the Milky Way is better defined.

Regards, Mike.

5 hours ago, trailer said:

I had a search on here and elsewhere and there doesn't seem to be too many folk doing the mods over this side of the pond. Many thanks for the reply!

I later remembered the website that I ordered the modded 600D from in 2013. It was dslrastromod.co.uk, but I see that the site no longer exists.

Regards, Mike.

Many thanks, @trailer!
I bought my 600D pre-modded over a decade ago. I’m afraid I no longer have the details to hand, but I’m not sure that the individual does mods any more. I got the impression at the time that he was winding down the service. No doubt there are others on the forum with more recent experience of modding services.

Regards, Mike.

And another one, it seems! This frame was a 30-sec test exposure, taken before I settled on my final composition. Unlike the one posted above, I did not see this meteor, though it does look like one (rather than a satellite).

Regards, Mike.

While doing some tracked and untracked imaging at Booley Bay, near Par, last night I was delighted to see a bright meteor pass in front of the Milky Way just as I was taking a 30-second sub!

Here is that frame, taken at f/2.2 and ISO 3200, with a modded EOS 600D and Sigma 35mm f/1.4 lens. I’ve applied some noise reduction using the Canon RAW software. Note the meteor’s colour reflected in the sea 😀.

Regards, Mike.

I’ve set up for no less than 4 imaging sessions already in August, but each was limited to different extents by unexpected cloud. In one case, thick cloud arrived after I’d spent an age carefully refining my wide field composition, and before I could take a single sub!

In another session, on 1 August, I managed just 3 x 12-minute subs, of the region from Cassiopeia to Cygnus, before cloud rolled in several hours earlier than forecast. I was going to delete the data, but during the rainy day yesterday I decided to stack and process the subs anyway. With some extra noise reduction, and having used Starnet++ to create a starless layer to process before recombining, the result is below. It’s not perfect, but I was delighted to see what can be done with such limited data. (3 x 4-minute ISO 1600 exposures at f/4. Astro-modified Canon 600D and Samyang 24mm f/1.4 lens piggybacked on a Celestron C8 telescope for tracking).

Regards, Mike.

Nope  - more cloud, and this time the weather radar indicates it’s time to pack up. Just 3 usable 4-minute exposures captured and about 7 Perseids seen. Hope everyone else has a more worthwhile session!

Regards, Mike.

Looking clearer here now, so back in action 😄.

Regards, Mike.

I’d set up to repeat last night’s combined Perseid viewing and wide field imaging, thinking how much better the conditions were compared to last night, when all of a sudden the sky is filled with high cloud! The forecast had the cloud coming in much later.

I’ll wait and see if things improve. If not, that will be 3 of my last 4 sessions having ended just after setting up.

Regards, Mike.

Marginal conditions here in Cornwall last night, with much clear sky but slow-moving cloud patches, average transparency, wind gusts around 30mph and the threat of showers. Still, it’s a clear night, kind of 😄.

I opted to keep an eye out for Perseids while doing some wide field imaging with a camera piggybacked on a stubby C8 to minimise wind effects. However, my garden limits how much sky is visible, so only a handful of meteors were seen from there.

When I saw the aurora alert at about 1am I headed out to a spot a few hundred yards from home with a more open view, and in particular a view North. From here I saw many more Perseids, and the aurora was just visible as a faint glow, with no colour or structure. A friend and colleague in West Cornwall has said he could see aurora pillars, though he was at a darker location.

I returned home around 2am, by when the cloud was increasing. Finally, at 02:30 I had to rush to pack up my ‘scope, mount and camera under a heavy shower!

Regards, Mike.

I was determined to capture something during the limited darkness between twilight and moonrise last night, and decided on Comet 13P/Olbers, now in Ursa Major. However, with the comet now beginning to fade, I’m not sure this adds anything to my 10/11 July result, posted above.

I stacked 17 x 30-sec frames, taken at f/4 and ISO 3200. The equipment was the same as previously, an Astro-modded EOS 600D, Zeiss Jena 135mm and Vixen Polarie star tracker. Again the result was cropped (btw I don’t think the crop was consistent with the previous image, so please don’t compare the apparent size of the comet). Finally I didn’t use a starless layer in post-processing this time, as Starnet++ destroyed the comet’s pseudo-nucleus! 😄

It does look like a little run of clear nights is coming up here, so hopefully more sessions will follow. Clear skies, all!

Regards, Mike. 

Yes, that does look more hopeful, fingers-crossed 🫰!

Regards, Mike.

Yes, from the June 1989 article:

”…the 1946 outburst of this object was detected by Frank Knight, who was observing R CrB with binoculars, just before dawn on the night of February 8/9, when he noticed T CrB bright at mag. 3.4.

Although it was Knight’s report that alerted astronomers to the outburst, the first detection was by a 15-year-old boy, M.H.J. Woodman, before 3 a.m. on the same morning; he reported his observation by letter to the Astronomer Royal”.

Regards, Mike.

Contrary to my previous post, I've now located AN issues back to Oct 1987, which must have been my first! I've found the June 1988 article, and I think the June 1989 one must be the follow-up.

Regards, Mike.

I still have the first AN issue that I bought, June 1989. This has a feature on R Corona Borealis, but it refers to an article on T in the June 1988 issue. Maybe that's the one you need, but it's from before I became a reader. Good luck in your search!

Regards, Mike.

Thanks, Lee! Yes, it was a good night, with better transparency than some forecasts had. I have my fingers crossed for Saturday night, too!

Regards, Mike.

Having last captured Comet Olbers on 20 June, and then having observed and not imaged it in subsequent sessions, I was determined to obtain a better image if the weather permitted. The comet is still in Lynx, and very low in the twilight, so I'm limited to using a camera lens on a star tracker, rather than my 'scope, from a location a few minutes from home.

This was the result, taken around midnight on 10/11 July, and comprising 16 x 30-sec exposures at ISO 3200 and F/4.5. Astro-modded EOS 600D and 1980s Zeiss Jena 135mm f/4 lens on a Vixen Polarie star-tracker. Post processing increased contrast and reduced noise, though the result is still rather noisy, given the limited data, high ISO and heavy cropping. I also used Starnet++ to temporarily remove the stars and help bring out the comet a little more.

Regards, Mike.

The skies only stayed clear until about 01:30, but I did see Comet Olbers, low in the NW, in the same 29x field as 31 Lyn. The comet is passing South of that star. A short length of tail was visible, and I was unsure whether or not I could see more via averted vision.

I walked to the same spot again (I don’t have much of a view W or NW from home) after receiving an amber alert for aurora. By then (01:30 - 01:45) there were few gaps in the cloud, though a little purple was showing on camera through the small and diminishing gaps to the North.

Regards, Mike

Looks like hopefully a bonus clear night so far, the forecast having changed from mainly cloudy earlier.

I plan to have another look later at Comet 13P Olbers, with an 80mm refractor, from a spot close to home with a low enough horizon, leaving also a rig taking wide field images at home. I did the same last night, but was only able to view the comet when extremely low, due to a cloudy spell.

Good viewing, all! Mike