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It was time to make up for lost time last night and put some hours in on the spring sky. What a session it was and a great way to kick off the Bank Holiday weekend. The main targets were: Venus (daylight), Luna (twilight transition), the supernova SN-2023ixf, and then whatever else the sky would support till the early hours. In the end the session was fabulous - seeing became awesome in the late early hours and i ended up observing blue sky to blue sky - starting with Venus last night and finishing with Saturn this morning. Everything that follows is via a 5" refractor and various TV wide angles and Tak ortho EPs and observed from a nice quiet semi-rural location (a not very dark SQM 20.7 last night though). Venus was lovely at 54% phase. The terminator was soft and uneven but it was impossible to pin down exactly where and how uneven. Nothing clear to bring into a sketch. It didn't help that i'd forgotten my filters and its a great shame because seeing seamed to be very steady (supporting x303 even while x200 was sharper) and Venus presented as a perfectly sharp icy (hah - probably not actually icy) white ball. Damn. Next up the moon. I wanted to pick some small detail out on the terminator to sketch with more magnification than usual; result posted here: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/410111-joes-luna-scribbles/#comment-4383227. Unfortunately the forgetfulness had continued as i hadn't taken an atlas out and now i can't identify what i sketched! The big refractor was awesome though - presenting a rock steady sharp view of tinier details than i could ever get down on paper. With it now dark it was time for the main event. - SN-2023ixf. This is my first supernova and i don't know the sky well at this micro level so i was a bit concerned about achieving a good ID that didn't need an asterix next to it in the logbook (I hate asterix). I planned to follow directions kindly posted on here in other threads and i had put the stars TYC-3852-0274-1 and HD 122601 in a sky safari pro list bookending NGC 5461. SN-2023ixf is on top of NGC 5461 but that doesn't help if you can't see it so the two stars work great as a track to move along. Well it took me an hour and four sketches to be confident i had it securely - my first two sketches being in slightly the wrong place so... ahem. I was also sketching while kneeling on the floor because had hadn't put my tripod up high enough for viewing at Zenith. Doh! Here's my record of the event. My 3rd and 4th sketches offer up quite well to the star chart published by AAVSO if i hold them back to front against a computer screen (for the effect of the star diagonal) so i'm super happy - secure ID, no asterix! I tried a few faint fuzzies after this as the moon was getting pretty low but stuff was either a no show or a poor version of itself (even showcases like M57, M56, M27, M82 and M81). M82 and M81 were both grey and very subdued even versus how i had seen this back in February with a little grab n go scope so there's no shortcutting the sky conditions. Bizarrely I could see the Eastern part of the Veil Nebula though and i saw it much larger than i did in the Cassegrain last year (my only other observation of it). A 31mm EP with UHC at ~4mm exit pupil and even better a 24mm EP with O-III at ~ 3mm exit pupil were both very effective. The 24mm EP is a Panoptic and i could see the eastern veil crescent as long or longer than half the width of the EP (so about 45...50' in extent) and following a curve roughly equal to the 24 Pan field stop. While faint - the outline was raggedy not smudgy and i was over the moon. Strangely i couldn't see anything of the western veil though nor any other nebula in this area. While occupied high up it was becoming apparent that seeing had really become terrific. Tiny tiny pin prick stars and, as the smudgy stuff other than NGC 6992 wasn't really happening even though by now the moon was fully set, i moved over to a list of "tight" double stars i have. A double star aficionado would laugh at the description tight but basically these are doubles on the Astro League programme that i suspect i can't split in my GnG scope or i have already tried and failed to do so in it (my GnG being my main tool for this programme). I haven't written my notes up but basically these are pairs or systems in the 2"...5" range and all presented absolutely beautifully. I was using a 12mm Delos at 83x for its wider field of view to get on target (and some targets split very aesthetically at this magnification) but i was swapping out to 200x or 300x anyway for the joy of perfect spots and sharp steady diffraction rings (with some nice blue and bronze colour too). Doubles include TW Dra, Mu1/Mu2 Bootis, Delta Bootis, Sigma Coronae Borealis, Alpha Herc, Zeta Aqr, and others. Brilliant. It was basically light now and my last double was Zeta1 Aquarii. This wasn't far above Saturn so i thought i would take a quick look while accompanied by the dawn chorus. I had a x200 Tak 5mm ortho in as i did swing onto it and i couldn't believe what i saw. Etched sharp (no hint of atmospheric wobble), a prominent Jupiter like ruddy belt on the planet in the northern hemisphere more distinct than anything i've seen on Saturn before and best of all - a distinct black shadow of Saturn on its own rings to the west - i didn't even look for it it - it was sharp and obvious. I love Saturn and didn't expect this treat so early in the year. So blue sky to blue sky - what a treat.

I enjoyed two bites of the cherry last night and this morning. A first early evening session with GnG kit to attempt a low contrast full Luna sketch then later a for a close up attempt on an eye-catching twin crater arrangement seen while making the full sketch (little did i know)... i'm quite happy with this one: The eye-catching craters are those in Oceanus Procellarum - newbie alert - I sketched the below later without knowing what it was at the time. I'm not happy with the "sketch" (ahem) but it has helped me identify Valles Shroteri, Aristarchus, Aristarchus B, Aristarchus Z, Herodotus, Herodotus N, & Vaisala "after the fact" oh dear oh dear oh dear: I was super happy with the TOA and AZ100 at 400x using a Tak 5LE and TV 2x PM. All balanced and quickly settling. It was all flying by with just an 8' FOV though!

Lunar sketch just now 5th Feb. A first for me sketching the moon for its own sake rather than as part of a conjunction or similar.

The Moon, imaged last night at about 23:47. Nikon D800, 600mm, f/8, 1/160s, ISO-100. 50% stack.

The Moon photographed last Friday night with Nikon D800 and 300 mm prime lens. Single frame, no stacking. For some reason the images would not produce a good stack, despite none being below 90% of the image quality of this one.

The Moon and Mars close together in the sky in a single exposure. (Mars is top right of photo)

I had a look to see how Jupiter and our Moon were lining up last night ready for tonight's closer encounter and managed to get Jupiter, the four Gallilean moons and our own Moon in a single image. The photo was taken at 22:45, about five minutes before the start of Europa's transit across the disc of Jupiter. In the cropped and enlarged (2x) image, you can just make out Europa touching the edge of Jupiter. Hoping for clear skies tonight, so I can tackle this with a much longer focal length and have all four Gallilean moons lined up to the left, well away from Jupiter . In last night's image, the order of the moons is, Callisto, Ganymede, Europa, Io, Luna(!) - the latter, of course missing in my second image! Nikon D800, 135 mm, f/2, ISO-400, 1/4s

I spotted Jupiter hanging out with our Moon in the early morning sky today and grabbed my camera to get a few shots. Jupiter, it's entourage of satellites and our Moon fitted nicely within the frame, but to show Jupiter's moons I had to over-expose the Moon. So, this image is made up from two photos to get the exposures right for everything. Io and Ganymede are present, but you will have to zoom in fully to see them.

Mare Fecunditatis and crater Langrenus. Saturation has been increased to show the different surface material/colours. C9.25; CGEM; ASI385MC; Baader Neodymium filter.

Hi All I have recently bought a QHY163C and sold my original square QHY8 which I had had for a few years Nothing wrong with the QHY8 and I was reasonably pleased with the stuff I did with it...but itchy fingers/wanting to try something new/set cooling point/ heated window etc tempted me and I have just sold the QHY8 Most of the Photography I do is deep sky but I have had a dabble at Luna and Jupiter with various webcam type cameras and currently have an Imaging Source DBK21 AU04 (colour) What I want to know is how will the QHY163 compare to the DBK21 on planetary and moon pics? I have read that the 163 is suitable as a planetary cam as it is capable of high frame rates and 2x2 binning and wondered if anyone had used both types...ie a Largish Chip DSO cam that can also do planetary against a dedicated small chip Planetary cam. If I can expect as good or better pics with the 163 then I might as well sell the DBK21 Unfortunately due to weather etc other than bench testing the QHY163 I havnt used it all on anything yet. Thanks Tom Start new topic

Another clear evening on Saturday near Preston, Lancashire. Although, it was pretty cold. 7 shots into this one (plus one dark), stacked within Photoshop and some level adjustments to brighten it up a little. Camera: Canon 600D Scope: Skywatcher 127 w/AZ-GTI mount ISO: 800 Shutter speed: 1/400s

a few single frames from last nights effort logitech web-cam it had a mode called 720p large wide-screen was all so selected auto it was strange as it would only record at a lower fps in this mode doing this type of video heres a link to the video as well

Hi all after fixing the issue of not get focus with this test webcam ( rather try in to prove i could use any webcam to a friend) i did not have enough inwards travel with the low profile 10/1 focuser so my fix was to cut the threaded part on the web cam adapter lightly sanded it smoothed clean and hot glued in to place fingers crossed and all the rest . you can see the video i took these from in the video astronomy section here on sgl its not pretty as the photo shows but it works and it records well mainly for moon drift videos for my self ,now i can grab stills from these videos gave it ago and got these lightly edited as they are j pegs and full of noise as you would expect but i like them and i wonder if you do the web cam will be rehoused in a little box i have just for the job will update that next time clear skies Pat

I can't believe how long it is since I have been out with my 'scope! This is a quick process of 1000 frames using the best 5% processed in AS2! and then tweaked in PS CS4. Scope: Celestron C9.25 Mount: Celestron CGEM Camera: QHY5LII colour

Whilst I was at work today, Parcelforce delivered 2 large boxes and a little jiffy bag. The two boxes contained my first scope- Sky watcher explorer 150P complete with 10mm and 25mm eyepieces, a X2 Barlow and my EQ3-2 mount. The jiffy bag was my planetary and moon filter set. I unpacked the gear and spent some time setting the equipment up then had dinner. As soon as I had eaten, the excitement got the better of me and I was outside where the cloud had cleared and the Moon was high and bright. I aligned the mount with Polaris and used the moon to centre my finder scope with the main scope. I then set to having a look at our nearest neighbour. Wow! I am hooked. I spent a good 40 minutes swapping between eyepieces and the Barlow, getting a feel for how they perform and the relative merits of each combination. Having fallen back in love with the moon, I decided to try for a DSO and, utilising Starlight for guidance along with some remembered tips from on here over the last few days, I located the rough vicinity of Andromeda. I aligned the scope using the finder and then started to do a bit of 'fishing'. After a few minutes of using the slow motion controls on the mount, a hazy blob came into view. I centred it and, again falling back on advice from here, relaxed into looking through the eyepiece and averting my gaze slightly. Before I knew it, the hazy blob had resolved into a milky cloud with a brighter heart. I was looking at my first ever galaxy! Another 40 minutes exploring the effects of the optics on my view of M31 and I then had to call it a night. I dedicate this report to all who have advised and guided me since my arrival in the lounge. Thank you all! P.S. Is there another smaller fuzzy feature in close proximity to M31 (i think right and slightly up as my view moved so slightly left and down in real orientation)? If so, I may have seen this also but it could well have been tired eyes playing tricks.

This image was captured on the evening of 08 April 2017 Scope: Celestron C9.25 Mount: Celestron CGEM Camera: QHY5LIIc Capture Software: EZPlanetary Filter: None Stacking Software: Registax6 Extra Processing: Photoshop CS4 Extended