Simon128D

What a show last night folks. Truly incredible! One of the best of all time.

Yeah! We all wish we had scopes and the planetary cameras we have now for Shoemaker Levi! This is very exicting on its own and we can only hope there is an impact scar for us to enjoy for a while.

Just caught this on Twitter and seems to be real. Recorded on the 29th in Japan https://twitter.com/MASA_06R/status/1696613936534360293?s=20

I see very little wrong here. You might be a smidge out of focus but the blurry look is all about poor seeing and transparancy conditons but mostly the seeing. Using the moons to focus on is a good tip. I do this and increase the gain and exposure so Jupiter is well blown out but the moons look like stars and when they seem nice and round then I bring my levels back down and Jupiter looks sharp but if seeing is poor this can also feel like an impossible task.

Thanks for your advice all. Filter arrived yesterday, now I just need a clear night.

Okay so I am thinking this might be the best option for me. Hoping this will be a nice match for my CPC1100 and ASI 290MC https://www.firstlightoptics.com/uv-ir-filters/astronomik-proplanet-642-bp-ir-pass-filter.html

Thank very much indeed Kon. Based on what you said there I will go with your advice. Am I correct in saying that I would be removing my IR-Cut filter and using the IR-Pass instead? I know this seems like a dumb a very obvious thing but I have seen conflicting posts in several places saying they use their IR pass along with their IR cut but that seems illogical to me!?

Thank you both for your input. That has been really helpful and making me unserdtand it a bit better. I did not stop to think or realise that longer wavelengths would have less resolution and vice versa. With that in mind and applying my own logic would somewhere in the middle be a good trade of? I was thinking of this filter. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/uv-ir-filters/ak_pp_742-ir_125.html I typically get poor to average seeing at my location and with Saturn so slow I mainly want to have a chance at getting some good imagages and not have to battle with terrible atmospheric condtions. I do currently have an IR-Cut filter on the nose piece of the camera but surely I would remove that in place of the IR Pass when wanting to image in IR?

Hi all, I am thinking of getting a filter or two to aid me in my planetary and lunar imaging. I use a CPC1100 with an ZWO ASI 290MC I notice there are several IR pass filters that have different band passes, for eg 642, 742 and 807 being the most common. I don't seem to have the head on me to figure out which filter will work best for me. I mainly want to use an IR pass on Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and the Moon. Is there any one IR pass filter that does a great job on all objects? Lastly, would I be correct in assuming that when imaging in IR the use of an ADC is not longer needed as you are only working with one wave length? Thanks Simon

Yes it is, I was surprised by how well it was standing out. Even appeared well seen on the laptop screen at times.

Thanks to you both. Yeah, having such bad seeing in jet stream free conditions is just a kick between the legs really. I suppose at this time of year it needs to get silly cold to get the moisutre out of the air.

Seeing was really bad. Trying to achieve focus was so, so difficult, the image was boiling and doubling so much but I noticed micro moments of okay views so took 300 second exposures and then processed the hell out of the images. Of all that I got this is the best one. Not great sadly but for how bad the sky was I am pleased I was able to pull out any details at all. CPC1100 ASI 290MC ZWO ADC 1.5x Barlow Exp = 3 Gain = 290 Record time = 300 Stacked in AS3 Waveletts in Registax Colour balance and curves in GIMP

Sorry, I should have added that. CPC1100 at stock FL ZWO ADC ZWO ASI290MC

Seeing was absolutley horrendous this night, the air was just laden with heavy moisture and everything in the sky was a flicking soup. View at the eyepiece as expected, an oasis like shimmer but there were some good moments of seeing to make visual pleasureable. I left imaging as late as I could in the hopes conditions would improve but no such luck. This is the best I got but at least you can see Callisto approaching the north pole of Jupiter, with Io nicely sitting up at 23:00/

I am using Stellarium, just the free version.

I thought I would take some pics so you can see my hack job. Our tube size and mirror size would appear to be the same. As you can see with the rings I just got foam insulation for water pipes and cut it to shape and size to suit my needs. It's not tidy looking but it was the best I could do 15 odd years ago and has held together. If I ever need to redo this I will likely try door frame draft exclusion foam tape as the ahdeasive is decent and the foam really soft, and easier to work with.

Thanks Kon, yeah the very start had the best seeing and from my first caputre onwards it was a fight against building moisture that then turned into heavy fog. I imaged Mars thorugh light cloud and a lot of low ground mist. My scope was soaked and kept having to blow dry the secondary mirror. At least the struggles were not all for naught

Brilliant blue sky day with assured clear skies for the majority of the night had me hyped for more imaging. This time I pulled out my 14" Skywatcher Flextube GOTO. I did some tweaking to the base as slewing and tracking were getting stiff and bad, thus wanted to test my repair work. I got all setup and was imaging by 18:30. Everything started great with good to very good seeing but as the evening drew in the moisutre issues begun and I was battling dew on my secondary all evening until eventually the fog rolled in just as I was getting my first grab at Mars. So Mars was a one and done attempt but I at least got 60k frames and was an okay result in the end. I was mighty surprised by how nice this scope is to image with. I do love fast mirrors and found working with this 14" f4.7 miorror so much easier than my CPC1100. The brighter, cripser image is what jumps out at you first. Anyway, below are my best results for the night.

Yeah I have the same yucky primary mirror cell but for being so basic it does hold collimation well. I've always meant to get bobs knobs for the primary and seconday but never got around to it. Yes you are right, the rings are Skywatcher, 288mm I think, too big but a thin layer of foam around them did the job and gives a nice fit. The extra bonus of using the foam is when you place the scope on the ring while setting up they give great grip with no sliding up or down, so easily hold with one hand while reaching over to pull the rings over. I can measure my tube later today but I am sure it's going to be the very same as yours.

Thank you very much, hoping to do better tonight.

Thanks, great old scope indeed, still gives incredible views at the eyepice. Mines the F4.7 version. I had to get rid of the original tube rings as they were straching the heck out of the tube. I got those from FLO a long time ago, I got the EQ6 Pro just as they came out and got the rings as well, some generic brand. They didn't fit, they were too big so I used pipe foam insulation and cut it to shaped and stuck on with hot glue. It did the job and has held up all these years. I got the scope in November 2001 I had to change the spider as the cast single vane spider that it came with was horrific and impossibel to keep good collimation Also the vane being so thick the defraction spikes were like swords coming out of stars. I love my defraction spikes but that was too much, moving to a four vane was much nicer. The original focuser was made of pound store quality plastic and the draw tube just wobbled everwhere. I hate the focuser that I have in it now. Its a rubbish Orion - USA - branded crayford style. It works well enoug bu if you have to extend the extention tube then your collimation is totally ruined and you have to do it again.

I got a bit nostalgic yesterday for my first true love, so I got her down from the loft and thought I would like to spend some time together again. My first ever scope and we'll never part. EDIT just noticed I typoed the wrong date. Its the 15-11-22 I only have a 2x Barlow so I wasn't able to get the desired FL but for the awful condtions we had I am happy enought with the result.

Wonderful to see images of this high quality with the same camera I use. It gives me something to aspire to.

I happened to notice that on the evening of Friday the 18th, Jupiters moons Io and Europa will travel behind the planet disk in the space of a few hours, while Callisto will kiss the northern hemisphere very closesly. It should be quite the show. The view at 17:30 will be like so First to go is Io at 18:50ish Then Europa at 20:05ish Callisto's closest approach to the north disk will be about 23:05, upon which the GRS will also delight us with its precense. Should be quite the show and also imaging opportunity. For the moment forecast to Friday is looking favourable for me but those of you in the mainland will get better seeing as the jet stream is expect to hold back from you until past midnight.

One word review here... Stunning!