Watch the birdie.

[Baz Pearce]

Hi All,

A good week for Sunspots coupled with a few days of clear enough weather to get some imaging done.

Monday, i had to dodge 25mph gusts, lots of big clouds and a couple of blizzards! Didn't dare put the Newt on the mount in that wind, just got more comfortable with the refractor with the Barlow at 1.5 and 2X, and 0.6X focal reducer i have. Finished with a few hours live on NSN, barring nipping off for 5 minutes to grab a few captures of AR1696 growing some new spots.

Tuesday, a lot less windy and clearer. Enough time to do a run on the 70mm with the Barlow/ reducer again, this time with the max 2.3X also. Then a comparison with the 130mm Newtonian. Another hour of broadcasting too.

Conclusions from the comparison:-

The Newt does produce closer views, the colour is more vivid (much more capable on planets), but it's harder to focus and the detail seems a bit ragged compared to the frac. I feel the need to try and improve the images at higher power with GIMP before i'm happy with them.

The refractor is definitely the better of the 2 where light gathering power isn't an issue, ie. Lunar/ Solar . The images are smoother and more contrasty, and about 50% less processing is needed when stacking. The wider field of view is just big enough to keep a full disk in, which is great for what i do most, which is broadcasting live on NSN (what the internet was really invented for lol).

Wednesday, another full set of captures with the refractor/Barlow/reducer before lunch. The gathering clouds kept me from going live. Suddenly cleared near Sunset so i watched for PANSTARRS out the back window. Could see the Moon very well but no comet due to 1 stupid big ugly cloud right where it should have been.

Thursday, Knew some cloud was going to arrive. So i got to bed early last night. Up just before Sunrise. Once up, trained the refractor on the Sun hoping to catch a plane or 2 passing by. No no silver birds this morning, but i caught quite a few of the feathered kind.

Here's a small collection of GIFs i made up using the free video to GIF converter http://www.video-gif-converter.com/

A bit of fun while i got some breakfast. Got another quick set of images and 20 minutes observing in at the eyepiece with a 15mm Celestron OMNI EP and 2X Barlow with number 11 green filter for contrast. Was treated to an excellent and steady view similar in size to the 70mm with no Barlow and the webcam.

Still have to process all this morning's captures. I will post a link to them when i'm done.

Baz.

[Montana]

Beautiful series of images where are the birdies?

Alexandra

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Love the birdies in that last animated gif.

[Baz Pearce]

They only seem to run when you click on an image Alexandra. Then hit next to see them in turn.

[Montana]

Oh yes!!! super I love birds so long as they don't poop on the scope.

I don't get a next button though?

Alexandra

[sologuitarist61]

Excellent!