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JamesF

By JamesF
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JamesF

JamesF

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I've been happy until now, imaging planets. It's all fairly quick and I have the occasional late night, but nothing major.

But now I've been playing at imaging DSOs. At first it was just going to be one quick little test on M13 and I'd stop there. But you know how it is. Everyone does the Dumbell, right? How could I stop before trying that? And once I'd finished there, M31 had cleared the roof of the house and, well, just one more wouldn't really hurt, would it?

So here I am at 3am sitting waiting for another imaging run to finish. And then I should do some darks. And we know where it ends, too, don't we? Penury, that's where. And it's all your fault. When the day of reckoning comes, I shall blame it on the bad people in my television screen. They made me do it.

Sleepy.

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JamesF

JamesF

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The worst thing, apart from how I feel this morning, is that as I was packing up I could see Jupiter just moving over the ridge line of the house and I found myself thinking "I could just mount up the Mak and get a few imaging runs done"

And then the cockerels started crowing before I fell asleep...

Anyhow, once my brain has sorted itself out from the useless puddle of jelly that it appears to be this morning I shall see what the images look like.

James

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JamesF

JamesF

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I might have to have a crafty snooze this afternoon on the pretext that I have some work to do for a client this evening. It is actually true. I just need to get the prep work all sorted early enough.

When my family returns from their holiday in Cornwall I shall claim that on account of the heat I have gone all continental and started taking a siesta after lunch :)

James

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Ant

Ant

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When the bug really bites, you get your data and do a quick rough process before bed just to see what you've got :)

Look forward to seeing the images!!!!

I have to be honest and say that I was all astronomed out last night. After all day sunday in the sun and then two complete evenings processing - I was knackered and just layed on the settee :)

Ant

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JamesF

JamesF

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It's all a bit of a bodge job, to be honest. I wanted to test my LX-modded SPC900, so I used that in my ST120 on my EQ3-2. No guiding, no focusing aids and no safety net. Not the ideal setup, but it was fun.

Haven't got around to looking at the data yet. I seem to have picked up some sort of minor irritation this morning. I think it's called "work".

James

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JamesF

JamesF

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I totally respect and revere the amazing images produced but what exactly do you do for 3.5 hours while the imaging rig does it's work? it's a genuine question.

I spent it trying to work out how exactly I'm going to make the mount for my 10" dob work, having discovered that the balance point is so far forward that the alt bearings will foul just about everything. But that's for another thread :)

James

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Tinker1947

Tinker1947

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If i had a 2nd scope (big Dob) for viewing i would spend some time learning Photoshop run QM's tutorials until i know them backwards, that's a lot of money for a Dob and Auto Guiding then a quality CCD so maybe next year, i still have a bit of normal kit on my to buy list...

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jgs001

jgs001

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Sounds good James, not been out yet... not getting enough sleep as it is, and by the time it's actually getting dark, I've normally dozed off on the sofa.

I totally respect and revere the amazing images produced but what exactly do you do for 3.5 hours while the imaging rig does it's work? it's a genuine question.

Drink some tea, and have a good wander around with a pair of Bino's...

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Naemeth

Naemeth

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The scary thing is that I can imagine myself doing this one day.

You could set up two scopes for when the imaging is doing it's thing, one for the imaging and one to look at more Messiers if any more can be ticked off, after all, 3.5 hours is enough time to find them if they are in the sky :).

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JamesF

JamesF

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For my last imaging run (on M31) I switched from camera to eyepiece, but left the focuser at the same position, aligning everything based on the heavily out of focus white blob I could see in the eyepiece. I do that quite a bit for planetary imaging. I then switched back to the camera and captured a load of 30 second images. Now I've stacked them, M31 seems to have taken on an exceptionally similar appearance to M32. That's going to be very confusing for newcomers.

James

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Ant

Ant

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I totally respect and revere the amazing images produced but what exactly do you do for 3.5 hours while the imaging rig does it's work? it's a genuine question.

That is a blinding question. In the past when I lived in LP central - there was no point in doing any visual. Now that moved somewhere darker I do plan at some point to get another scope. I do have a spare Skymax127 - but my nephew (doing a GCSE in Astronomy) is borrowing it.

I tend to come onto SGL, or go for a run. If it's an all nighter than maybe try for some sleep.

Ant

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