mcrowle

Cloud was thickening all the while for me. I went to bed at 1:30am, having done nothing astronomy-related (except reading threads here on SGL of course ). However, CO and the Met Office both have Wednesday night forecast clear - it's a work night, so an early morning start, but I'll try to get an hour or two in if possible. Regards, Mike.

Like Ouroboros, I'm in Cornwall - and totally clouded out. Disappointing, as I had high hopes for this bank holiday weekend. I did get the opportunity to view and image Comet C/2018 W2 Africano on Friday night, at least until the waning Moon rose, but it looks like that will be it for now. Good luck, all, anyway! Regards, Mike.

Wow - 20 years ago today, that's hard to believe. I was at home in mid Cornwall, under the grey stuff. Like Gus I did get a glimpse of the partial eclipse some time after 3rd contact, but that was it. Fortunately, inspired by that disappointment, I have been able to travel and see a hand-full of subsequent eclipses. Regards, Mike.

I was there last month, for a week of fantastically clear nights and glorious Milky Way views! I intend to post a selection of the resulting astrophotos at some point. In the meantime, hope you too have clear skies, John, and enjoy your visit to Mt Teide! Regards, Mike.

Many thanks, Dave and Swoop1! I have pushed the contrast a fair bit, but yes, the Milky Way was wonderfully prominent more or less right down to the horizon - it was an extraordinarily clear morning! I love this location, as it's only a short walk away and has a Southern horizon over the sea. I don't think the light pollution is much better than home (both locations are Bortle 4), but the unobstructed views make all the difference for wide-angle captures. Best regards, Mike.

Below is my image of the Milky Way core, taken from a beach near Par in Cornwall, early on 5 May. I used a Canon EOS 7D and Samyang 14mm f/2.8 lens on a static tripod. 5 x 25-sec exposures were taken with the lens wide-open and ISO at 3200. I stacked the frames in Sequator software, used Cyberlink PhotoDirector to reduce noise and adjusted the contrast and colour balance in an ancient version of Paint Shop Pro that I still like to use 😀. Regards, Mike.

If it helps, Mark, I have imaged Antares and the Rho Ophiuchi region from just under 50.4 deg. N. here in Cornwall. The location was a beach, with the view South entirely over the sea. It was around 1:30 am in mid June. I used a Vixen Polarie star tracker, 100mm lens and modded EOS 600D DSLR. It's not the sharpest image I'm afraid, as I had used the lens with the aperture wide open rather than stopping down a little. I hope to get a better image from Tenerife later this year, but this is what I have from home: Regards, Mike.

Thanks, Chris. Yes, the mount is a Losmandy G-11, which I like a lot: it's so solid and yet not too heavy to manage! Regards, Mike Crowle

Here's my Meade 127mm ED Apo, bought in 2009. I've balanced the colour here for the white telescope tube, which is lit by house lights while the background is lit by the Moon. A Meade 5x Barlow is fitted, as I'd planned to image Mars and Saturn via a webcam (though in the event it clouded up before I could do anything). Regards, Mike Crowle.

By the way, I too, like Craig above, was hanging an extra weight off the counterweight bar for balance. It didn't seem ideal but worked surprisingly well :). I've since added a gym weight instead. Regards, Mike

My Revelation/GSO 12" Newt on a Losmandy G11. Wish I'd fitted the finder and eyepiece before taking the photo so it looked more ready for action, but never mind! The proportions are a little distorted, as the photo was taken at close-quarters with a wide-angle lens.

Things started to look promising by 6pm, so I packed the 70-300mm lens (with filter) and Coronado SolarMax 40 and headed to a nearby footpath where I could (in theory) see the Sun. The cloud closed in again before it could expose the Sun, but I decided to wait until the end of the event - just in case. Luckily, around 7:30pm the Sun shone through the cloud for just long enough to get a couple of images that showed Mercury very close to the southern limb! I didn't even try to set up the SolarMax, unfortunately, in those cloudy conditions.

Congratulations to those having seen and/or photographed the Transit. I've been enjoying the images, and the on-line coverage. I still have my fingers crossed here in Cornwall. I've been keeping an eye on the weather radar all afternoon: it does look like more broken cloud will move in later - but will it be soon enough? Still raining at the moment, but I have my lens filtered up and ready to go!

Morning all. I've taken a day's holiday for the transit, but the forecast has been very poor down here in Cornwall. Current forecast is 100% cloud for the duration of the event, before starting to clear 1 hour after fourth contact : http://clearoutside.com/forecast/50.36/-4.74 I suppose I used up all my weather luck last year, with the March partial solar eclipse and September total lunar eclipse being cloud-free. Good luck, all, with the transit!