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todd8137

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Blog Entries posted by todd8137

  2. todd8137
    hi all just a few more pics they on photo bucket so a can keep them full size done with cannon 10D and 12 reflector cheers pat heres the link
    http://s473.photobucket.com/albums/rr93/todd8137/MOON%20AND%20SATURN%2012TH%20APRIL%202011/
    Theres about 93 pics please view them all and let me no what ya think and how a could improve themam obssesed with the moon at the min try in to spot all the craters mountain ranges and what ever else a can see its a pure delight dso`s are great but every one forgets about are moon
    thanks pat
    heres a link for a bit of moon drifting with the 90mm meade frac
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOzpEY-GRZA
  3. todd8137

    15/16/17 moon pics

    By todd8137,

    i am do in these a few a day i took alot of video what a did with a couple was shoot 10x 3mins ,registaxed them,got 10 good pics ,then staked all ten pics which out of 10 a seven average pics some filtered some not on photobucket heres the link
    http://s473.photobucket.com/albums/rr93/todd8137/16%2017%20th%20APRIL%20FILTERS/
  4. todd8137
    Oct 1st
    hi to all was out last night was play in with the web cam and 12" reflector ,i got a bit a vid of Jupiter but its was rubbish seeing smoggy is what it was .
    i tried for 10 mins and gave up got the camera out D10 and 18mm lens and a way a went ,these pics are raw and have not been touched theres to many . mars was up hard to miss its rise in early now still to low for me and to late.Jupiter pics are edited a bit to bring the banding out cheers
    Jupiter video

    wide-field pic


  5. todd8137
    Last night and this afternoon.i got some shots of the sun,and some video of the moon and mars they are below my image voyage as begun
    i have posted the pics in all relevant threads
    webcam phillips
    10d for sun
    mars webcam
  6. todd8137
    May 23rd
    Hi all was out last night in the cold ,temp 7c 5% clouds and windy i took the frac out to test the cannon eos utility software out as it lets you view the pics you took on the screen of the laptop with in seconds focus was a issue i made some home made masks wich can be see below
    1 and 3 do the job just fine 2 was a fail,the thought of the volcanoe ash put me of take in the reflector out side last night did get a few tests 5x5sec subs and darks run final pics were ok on photo bucket will leave link below for a look
    link for polaris and vega and ursa major 10d iso 800, 5x5subs 5x5 darks
    http://s473.photobucket.com/albums/rr93/todd8137/23rd%20May%202011/

  7. todd8137

    27th nov 2011

    By todd8137,

    Hi all well been do in all sorts since me last adventure,i finished the barn door tracker works great pics will follow when the skies decide to clear,i set about make in a fan after spend in months with tube currents and reading endless amount on this subject ,i got a group average on the pros and cons of a fan,i cut a circle out of clear plastic cut the notchs out for the col screws and glued the Velcro to both parts and trimmed up that all done the cloud came down for weeks till the 27th,i gave it a whirl when run at 12v the was some shake not sure if it was the wind or the fan i dropped it down to 9v wich gave me a steady picture,but when i put the webcam in the vibe was obvious
    so whilst recording i left it on by mistake which gave me not great pics i have put the links in the planet section on sgl
    i used the 12" heres the link to the other post i did with links for the pics and video thanks for looking
    http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-planetary/165354-jupiter-27th-still-not-got-perfect-night.html
  8. todd8137

    2nd April pics

    By todd8137,

    hi all i gave up try in to get m57 with the dob,i got one pic thats so so,in the end i got the tripod and decided to just stick the camera on it and a way i went heres the efforts from last night
    pat
    http://s473.photobucket.com/albums/rr93/todd8137/2nd%20april%2001%2030hours/
    the shot of lyra was stacked 7subs forgot the subs time but overdid it on the curves
  13. todd8137

    ANOTHER NIGHT OF 1st

    By todd8137,

    ANOTHER NIGHT OF 1st
    Well what a great night i have which started around 18:30, -1.5c and no wind clear skies .MO1 (the scope) had been out side for a good hour and was ready to go .my first thing of the night was
    Andromedae galaxy
    which until tonight i have never seen the telrad came into its own again and saved me this was better than expected because a was not expecting to see much had the 20mm ep and ding there it was a big grey smudge at last there she was, i looked at this for ages just looking in and around the grey smudge before me. what a sight this was great it blew me away and i will come back to this time and time again for any one who says its just a smudge then that's crazy
    Cassiopeia
    This beautiful constellation at the edge of the Milky Way has definitely the shape of a "W" and tonight was no exception, M52 can be found quite easily by extending the line from Alpha over Beta Cassiopeia by 6 1/2 degrees to the NW to 5th mag 4 Cassiopeiae; M52 is roughly 1 degree south and slightly west of this star. and what a great open cluster this was 32mm ep first then the 25mm it was a great sight and a first for me next came ngc663,654 .double clusters ngc 869,884 very big lots of stars and not just white yellows and what looked like light blue.just to the right of Caph is 2 great ones ngc 7790and 7788 they are both full and lots of brightly clumped stars
    i then had triangulum galaxy in and ,no joy there not not a thing ngc 752 was easy and a do like that one a did try for crab neb but can never seem to see this m34 was easy a always take a spin in and around this one,Auriga was next M36,37,38 east to find that telrad sure earns its keep so does the compass and spirit level .
    whilst looking to night half froze and spinning still from Andromeda galaxy i always look at each thing with a range of eps and like to try them all and note down which gave me the best view for reference next time.
    i also looked at Jupiter tonight and it was the first time i have seen this in great detail at least 4 bands could be seen a tried the light blue filter because it was real bright 3 bands were seen with this,i next put the moon filter in that killed it only the lower thick band could be seen .
    tonight was a great night for me and have got a few more things under my belt and am starting to feel a lot more confident finding them this is the best thousand pound have ever spent also on the market for a refractor as well i am gonna find a star party some were because a nee to see a few things my back garden will not let me on wards and upwards
    "CLEAR SKIES ALWAYS "
  14. todd8137
    hi all ,if it could go wrong it did deleted all the darks flats to start of with,then about 20 wide field shots of about 45 secs of cygnus then went for andromeda galaxy got a few but not enough the light morning was on me and yet again a forgot to clip the lpf filter in to the camera arghhhhhhhhh
    tried the moon it was boiling got a bit but it was daylight jupiter was up and tried with cam to much light wobblwe boil hope to try again tonight if this rain decides to stop
    heres the link for the pics
    http://s473.photobucket.com/albums/rr93/todd8137/27th%20june%202011/
  15. todd8137

    another night out

    By todd8137,

    a few more images did these last night.webcam and c gem sc9.25 xlt was a clouds damp night .but mars was out and the moon i did try for a M45 took one 55 sec and the cloud came
  16. todd8137
    HI to every one well tonight was another great night 9 1 2011,set the dob up around 17:30 and there was a little cloud,tea in hand at around 18:20 a took my first look of the night jupiter was in a clear part
    Jupiter
    this was a great view tonight with the 10mm ep i could see 3 clear bands and all 4 moons with no trouble drew a pic which a will post to my pics after a while a put a blue filter 82a in and one of the the bands about a quarter of the way from the bottom really caught my eye this time i then drew a quick sketch and moved on
    Orion
    i waited about 19:20 to view this again i looked at the great neb and m43 drew a quick pic i had a great view the dust and gas was really bright i hd no probs pic in 4 stars out in the centre that were in a little group,above that was a group of 3 almost in a line around the edges of the great neb there was lots of stars,at around 23:40 i looked again this time with 0III filter and orion was high in the south i could see even more detail in the great neb and m43 with all its trapezium was easy to spot and all its doubles a wish a had more knowledge to tell you about the rest but that will come with time also there ws a bout 5 shootin stars just to the left of orion which made me jump more than once
    Taurus
    at around 12:00 i spun to aldebaran which was a orange/red color tauri the doubles were visible to my eye they were great lots of groups around them as well m1 was not there or a missed it the doubles if never seen before were just thing a did not expect at all the amount of stars around the double was crazy
    Pleiades
    m45 was easy 5 stars visible with the naked eye with 20mm ep a could look around and see lots with in this group the 7 sisters were easy to spot it was all the little ones in and amongst this lot that was great for me and try in to spot them
    AURIGA
    capella was nice but for just above elnath were a double and a few other little stars
    i did have a look for Andromeda m31 but yet again my lack of knowledge let me down again ursa major mizar and alcor were good i found it east to separate them m97 was not to be seen at all not even a smudge no m81/82 either but plenty of doubles just above were they should have been use indubhe as a pointer up were lots of doubles a very frosty and cold night and a was freeze in at the end a came in the house wiped the dob dry put every thing a way and went to bed very happy
    thanks pat
    ps my lack of knowledge as let me down the things a seen tonight would have made a man weep home work is the key for me
    links of what a seen on star maps

    i have no removed the drawings thanks pat

  19. todd8137
    Barn door tracker
    HI all thanks for take in a look,
    well i started with idea to make one for ages but had not a pice that a needed to make it ,to the shed i went . i looked in a few boxes to find what may or may not work,finding a piece of old hoover pipe was the first thing i thought theirs the mount for the camera and so on,till i found everything apart from the bolt which i got from a diy place,i set to work
    job done i set it up tested it ,reset it up tested tracked a few shots lens got dew on it so i came in the house left the camera in a plastic bag in the shed went out 20 mins later low thin cloud ect, i aimed the camera for for Lyra in the bottom right corner and took a 2 min sub as a massive cloud was drifting across here a short video of the mount and some of the pics i took
    this is truly a back yard build,i stick one of the pics and the video,
    video
    http://www.youtube.com/user/todd8137?feature=mhee
    update 23 nov
    well things are not go in smooth,some times it works perfect,but most of the times it does not work at all i think the bodge job is no good a new model is in the pipeline as this one is ok but does not work all the time i some times do not see the benifits of it ,but i will struggle on as any one else had problems with barndoor trackers

  21. todd8137
    i intend to have a good look again tonight that depends on the moon of course, and the clouds i will take a few wide field shots shots as well and get the pens and black card out .
    but i fear dew may be a problem not on the scope but the camera even with the home made plant pot dew shield but will give it ago the temp at the min is 5 c ,so the camera may stay in the house we will see will finish this blog later
    epic fail
    i did a bit of moon and Jupiter with the webcam,came in the house watched a bit of tv when i next went out35 mins later it was foggy and every thing was covered in dew what a pain here is one of Jupiter and the first time i decide not to put the dew shield on the 300p i had a foggy mirror
  22. todd8137
    hi everyone just thought a would add these so you can save and print out after weeks of try in find some on sgl to no avail i got these feel free to save and print i am keen on drawing what a see as wll as take in pictures ,but i love to keep a record this way
    clear skies always
    pat
  23. todd8137

    crayford hell

    By todd8137,

    well were do a start,i decided to by a low profile crayford to better the scope and help with my pics adventure,well just put in a normal 1.25 ep in is a hassle and takes a good 5 mins to get focus because not only ,do you have to pull the ext tube all the way out,but also the 1.25:holderthat the ep sits in what a hassle the 12"dob was so easy to set up with the rack and pinion focuser.i had a long 2" skywatcher t adapter which was just to long when use in the cannon camera and ended up by in the short 2"one from flo.that was fun and games in its self but got that sorted all was fine the camera gets great focus.
    so my next headache started with the cape instrument uw80 f30mm ep , i thought this would make a great first 2"ep and after a bit of "duff advice decided to buy it for near on 55 quid, only to find out this time it can not get far enough away from the crayford even with the tube fully out, it would get focus if a held it just above the focuser so what to do ,do a by a ext ring just for one ep or by a star diagonal and use it in the 90mm meade frac ?. when a did end up getting focus it was usless the stars in the middle were fine,but round the edges rubbish the pain in side was welling up so a called it a night.a see flo do Baader T2 Extension Tube
    am not sure if these would screw on to the bottom of the 2 inch ep, to give me a bit more lenght am sure some one will put me straight ,as these ext tubes come in all lenghts but i do not think these are what they are for . (add in lenght to my 2" ep) so my troubles will end with this some day any ideas why the 2:cape will not get focus a no it needs to be longer at the bottom so it van,get further away from the low profile crayford .
    update 5th April
    hi got a 80mm exttnsion tube delivered and theres no prob at all nowthe 2"eps get perfect focus the web cam is 100 times better the cameras are fine a was gona get the 50mm one glad a did not now after get in the tape measure out and some card just to see how much travel was needed it was 53mm phew,every thing works fine now and i take back all what a said about the crayford but think befor ya buy this may be a prob for you to .........


  25. todd8137

    Deneb Fail

    By todd8137,

    june 17th
    fail
    DENEB/ Cygnus
    hi all
    failed last night from the word go!, forgot the filters for the camera (10d) i wrote down what a was gonna do,subs times iso`s darks ect,but this all went to the dogs a sat on the sheet .the moon came up and the night skies got lighter ,a brill gold color the moon ,any way got to it and started ,2 hours later (01:20) i came in i noticed the camera lens had lots of dew then no filter checked the darks and noticed they were all 45secs and not 1 min corr what a pain stacked them this morning no joy at all
    iso400,subs 1 min/45 secs
    heres a link to the pics and heres one for now i did not get the american neb or the pelican neb in my shots a good two hours in the cold a real lesson learnt !
    v
    link
    v
    v
    17th June fail Deneb pictures by todd8137 - Photobucket

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