experiences from my own garden

[skywatcher250]

fantastic... finally seen jupiter + moons (and 1 blocking the spot - unless i saw that wrong) - just amazing

however unlike dengie i cant align not doing anything different from then - are we daylight savings now or not (since the clocks went back- unsure)

dont know what im doing wrong.

at least ive seen the largest planet and it looked just fine

great night of viewing the planet & moon - just cant work out why it wouldnt align - the ones i used to align last time were arcturus and vega, neither which were in the list this time.... hmmmm anyone else with align issues or ideas pls ?

FINALLY clear SKIES !!!!

[David Smith]

We are no longer in daylight saving if that helps! Have never used a goto so probably can't help more than that, sorry.

[Simms]

I generally stick to UTC time throughout the year - I usually forget how to set it once the clock have gone forwards/back.

[skywatcher250]

Well I'm def doing something different to that time at dengie

maybe it only works well with some stars

[zakkhogan]

if youve not adjusted for the clocks going back that will def be the cause of the alignment issues, as the internal computer\mapping will be wrong and not align to the stars you sellect

[skywatcher250]

Doesn't that mean I could leave as Gmt -1 now with Daylight savings on then ? Thanks

[knobby]

popped out for a quickie in MY back garden Sunday !

had a good look at Orion through both scopes, first time I've seen it through the 250 ! really impressed.

Even Mrs Knobby was impressed by Orions faint smokey nebula.

Hope you're all well see you soon ...

[skywatcher250]

hey mate - so did you actually see the neb clearly ?

[knobby]

Well, I thought so ... suppose its subjective though

[skywatcher250]

i cant wait to see it from a dark site sometime soon !!!! the winter will be over before long haha

[knobby]

Just had a really weak feeble attempt at imaging... In my back garden

Celestron 4se, asda £4 webcam roughly 800 frames via sharp cap and into Registax.

Sounds clever doesn't it but I really haven't got a clue.

I think focus may be off or it could be seeing and only 30 minutes cooling.

[Dave Dubya]

I went out earlier as it turned out to be clear, although the seeing was pretty rubbish. Other than testing out a new scope, I didn't do much other than look at the Moon and Jupiter.

[zakkhogan]

thanks not bad gary, do you know what frame rae you used? there shoulf be a txt file produced with the avi

[knobby]

Target was 9 but actual was 6

[zakkhogan]

i would say that you want to up that 2 at least 15fps,

The hire frame rate will introduce 'onioning' to your final image (i'll upload an example in a min), it basically means reduced image quality but you should also be ale to get some finer detail in there, its a compromise with these sort of webcams, mines exactly the same

[zakkhogan]

can you remember what the final stack size was?

[bus_ter]

Doesn't that mean I could leave as Gmt -1 now with Daylight savings on then ? Thanks

No we're 0 now. In the summer we are GMT+1 (which is BST).

I just set mine at standard time, UTC =0 and put in the time of day.

[skywatcher250]

i am SO lost right now with all this !!! back to the drawing board

[zakkhogan]

Gary here 's what im mean by onioning

and heres last night image, taken from the garden,

we have have Ganymede, Jupiter, Io and Europa

[skywatcher250]

wow love that pic, moons look great !

[knobby]

really must have another go, thanks for the mask template Craig

[zakkhogan]

i look forward to seeing your pics, have you used the mask yet?

[knobby]

no chance yet, too cold and been getting in late !

[skywatcher250]

(seemed silly to start a new post when this thread is still here...)

so i went out again yesterday, about 6pm - took the skywatcher 250px out after charging the tank, set up, pointed north, did the usually doodahs with setting up GOTO - worked first time... realised my house was actually in the way of Orion, 7 sisters, Jupiter and just about the rest of the heavens, so set up in a different spot and got the GOTO working 1st time again... annoyingly i ended up not using it as i knew where everything was that i wanted to look at

1) Jupiter - it always amazes me with my Zoom ep, how at 24 its bright and tiny but at 8 its massive and STILL bright !!!! something certainly can be said about buying an excellent EP - so at 8x i saw clearly the 2 major cloud bands with the smaller bands also visible and 2 moon flailing around, i must have come back to this target 12 times over the few hours i was out there... always draws my gaze

2) betelguise - not much to say... hasnt blown up yet - still red, still there... annoying (in some ways)

3) the orion neb - didnt get to see this as i spent ages waiting for it to come up and then the baby started going into one and it took both of us to deal with ! kids PAH ! - ill get u next time

4) andromeda galaxy - for the first time i saw detail and not just a fuzz.... unsure why ! isnt it usually awful ?

5) Pleiades - binoculars only as its just too close !

all in all a good night - all the equiptment got wet after just 2 hours though and fogged up totally at the end !!!

happy viewing

[knobby]

Experience from my own garden... Not Si's

Finally got to give the SW 127 Mak on its new home, the EQ5 a quick go tonight!

rough polar align ( we're talking guess work here) levelled tripod and see to home position (I actually sound like I know what I'm talking about ) set the date ,time, location etc. Did one star align on Rigel (was in a hurry before clouds came over) goto to Jupiter and wahey, result and it followed it nicely for a good 20 minutes.

must say I'm very happy with this set up that has evolved from what started as an ETX 70 to a Celestron 4se as a grab n go

Jupiter looked good tonight... Happy bunny.

now then, have any of you dodgers got the firmware update cable, I'm on 3.27

Cheers all, see you soon hopefully:D