Lighter Nights...........weekends only ?

[Mak One]

Agreed on the "weekend" point. I've done the solar filter thing and very good it is too, although seeing the laptop screen to do any imaging is a challenge in full sunlight...

The moon tends to be my most frequent subject - lighter or pitch dark doesn't make a great deal of difference and the scope is best suited to that sort of work anyway.

As for lighter skies, I am in the bizarre situation where my garden is actually darker in summer evenings than in the winter, as the leaves on the trees help reduce the direct LP from the streetlights, meaning I can actually get close to getting my eyes dark-adapted. No chance of that in the winter until I find a convenient (and safe) dark site...

...for which the search continues.

[Horus]

I would like to have a go at Solar observing but am not very confident

[kalon]

Weekends for me too really, but the warmer days make for a more enjoyable time collecting fossils:)

[Viv]

Agreed on the "weekend" point. I've done the solar filter thing and very good it is too, although seeing the laptop screen to do any imaging is a challenge in full sunlight...

I've just had a bit of time with the sun this afternoon.

The old dark cloth over the head works well.

[chemtom24]

can you use neximage to image the sun once you have the filter in place? ive brought some baader solar filter film to make my own filter. will i be able to get the whole sun in view on neximage? will it reveal any sun spots? or will it just be a white disc, and no amount of stacking with registax will reap any clearer detail????

[Jack123456]

As i work late shift a lot (2-10pm) i have the advantange of setting up when i get home from work, then observing through the night and have a good lay in in the mornings.

well... that's the plan

[inksmithy]

The image you get through one of those filters looks like this: http://yfrog.com/gz6x7axj

That image was taken today buy a guy called David Dickinson, who runs a site called www.astroguyz.com and is an utter gentleman.

That site also shows the best way to make the filter to go on the scope, have a look around.

Alan

[Mak One]

The old dark cloth over the head works well.

Yep, but I'd get the urge to grow a handle bar 'tache, wear a cape and a stovepipe hat and shout "watch the birdie!"...

I get enough rolled eyes from those that don't understand the interest anyway. If they saw photos of me under that get-up I'm sure they'd be calling the men with white coats sharpish...

..but what the heck. Black cloth over head it is!

[Mak One]

can you use neximage to image the sun once you have the filter in place? ive brought some baader solar filter film to make my own filter. will i be able to get the whole sun in view on neximage? will it reveal any sun spots? or will it just be a white disc, and no amount of stacking with registax will reap any clearer detail????

This might answer your question best...

Taken with the neximage with the filter in place, no barlow. 200 frames through Registax, no other processing.

Field of view will depend on your scope. I get the whole disc in the SW28mm ep. The Neximage is akin to a 6mm ep so has a narrow FOV.

HTH

[blinky]

Think yourselves lucky you can still do some imaging/observing - up here in Edinburgh we only have a few weeks left then we dont get ANY ASTRO DARKNESS for a few MONTHS!!!!!

[brianb]

up here in Edinburgh we only have a few weeks left then we dont get ANY ASTRO DARKNESS for a few MONTHS!!!!!

At my location (55N) true astronomical darkness (sun 18 deg below horizon) is just about gone, till the first week in August (a notoriously cloudy month).

However many types of observation can be done with twilight ... I find the sky "observable" for the purpose of variable star observations once the sun is down 10 degrees, and planets & moon can be good with much brighter twilight than that, even with the sun above the horizon.

[inksmithy]

I am at 54 N, I suspect the same is true for me as well. Should get enough tonight to let my new scope see first light though.

Alan

[twotter]

I don't usually go out to observe until 22:00 or later anyway, until my neighbours go to bed

I'm looking forward to 1) being mobile again , 2) the Summer Triangle coming back into view from my garden