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Finally got the Triffid nebula phew..

Quatermass

By Quatermass
in Imaging - Deep Sky

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AndyUK

AndyUK

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I take my hat off to you Mark - Putting up with things that growl in the night (oh hang on - that reminds me of somebody... but they were here at home last night. Nope, wasn't my growly thing :(!).

Seriously, that's a great job to be able to get all of these summer objects in the murk this early in the year, and this one in particular is SO colourful... I love nebulae that contain both emission and reflection areas - If I can just move the house 40 feet to the left (or right), I'd just about be able to get to it. Let's hope I can get mobile soon!

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Quatermass

Quatermass

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If I can just move the house 40 feet to the left (or right), I'd just about be able to get to it. Let's hope I can get mobile soon!

Cheers Andy

I was going out again last night but the thought of the growler kept me at home plus I was tired out. This one is well worth traveling to a dark site for and to be honest its only just a lay by on a back road tucked away behind a big field. I tryed another spot but it was too windy so just took a drive around the back roads of my area then pulled up the car and got my telescope out.

Its not ideal just using the eq5 with a dual axis kit and my canon 350d but it does work. If I had a decent battery in my laptop I would take that but its nice to keep everthing portable so you can quickly set up, often think its far to complicated setting up to do astrophotography. Rather liked the idea of just getting a better lens for the canon and doing wide field shots piggy backing the camera again. Put the gear in the car take a flask of coffee and get out there with the growlers I say :(

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Quatermass

Quatermass

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I'll never be able to image this from my location - boo!

Thanks Shibby, you will have to do what I did and get your telescope in the car for a dark site session. I found the best time was between 1 and 3am got there for midnight and was ready to get started by 12.30 the Eagle Nebula and the Swan Nebula are really easy to see with binoculars and the Lagoon Nebula and Trifid really stand out one darkness sets in.

I have never seen 4 nebula stand out so well against the night sky. The lagoon and Trifid form a large glowing shape that looks like an open pair of scissors easy to find if you start off looking at the very bright star Anteres and move over along that line horizontal until you see them. The constellation of Sagittarius is very faint so I tend to use Anteres as my guiding point.

Its been a glut of Galaxys the last few months so its really nice to work in a part of the sky that has 4 brilliant Nebula to image and well worth a trip out in the car.

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AndyUK

AndyUK

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I envy you - I only have my NEQ6, and setting that up from scratch it takes me over an hour to be able to start an imaging run... and that's when at home in the garden! I do have a nice 100Ah leisure battery though, which will easily see me through a night's session, even in winter and even with a 3.5A laptop attached. I just need the weather (and a safe site, preferably without growlers!)

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Quatermass

Quatermass

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Its nice to be light and portable but I envy you the EQ6 they may be a bit heavy but they are brilliant mounts. This is just like fishing really sometimes I would take very little and need to be portable other time I would have to take everything with me a portable set up and a permanent set up is the answer..more money sigh..

As for those growlers I think it was a frisky hedgehog, pretty scary noise for such a small animal.

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Quatermass

Quatermass

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I have a bahtinov mask but the problem that night was the wind and short subs I was tucked behind the trees but everynow and then a gust would ruin my subs and this was unguided as well. Will be going back for another go next month once I have overcome my fear of hedgehog growlers:)

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Gina

Gina

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Its not ideal just using the eq5 with a dual axis kit and my canon 350d but it does work. If I had a decent battery in my laptop I would take that
I can definitely recommend a netbook (I have an EeePC bought second hand from Morgans). The battery lasts 5 or 6 hours and the machine itself is delightfully small and light. That's what I use for my AP and love it :( Plenty powerful enough for the imaging side if rather lacking for processing.
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Quatermass

Quatermass

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Well I was considering powering my dell laptop but not sure how to set it up with a battery power unit for trips out. It needs a new battery but it would be good to power it from a portable power pack as well.

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AndyUK

AndyUK

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Mark - I have a 100Ah Numax CXV27MF marine leisure battery (£75) and then bought some cables from astronomiser (http://astronomiser.co.uk/pwrhbx.htm#btadapt - £20) to which I also attach a 4-port hub from Maplins - It works really well. The laptop attaches via an inverter (otherwise known as a car power adapter)

I then also bought a CTEK 4003 multi-phase charger (so that I didn't have to remember to unplug the battery once charged and then charge it up again every other week or so - £45).

It's all money though, and for portability, the battery weighs 25Kg, but even with my power requirements it'll easily last me a full 13+ hours if necessary :(. Now I just need to take it into a field as opposed to into my back garden... :(

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Quatermass

Quatermass

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Thanks for that Andy if I keep going out to this site later on I might just invest in the battery for powering it all up. I am trying hard to save up for an Heq5 mount at the moment though so all my spare cash is going into that. Having got the shot of the Trifid I am happy to go back in my garden for a while. It will be popping around the tree in my garden by july so can have another crack at it then. I like the safety of my garden away from scary beastys.

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