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WADAS (Wakefield and District Astronomical Society)

stonemonkeylives

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Morning Guys,

Not been up long but was an interesting 3 hours. Got there just gone 9 and Kieran was already set up imaging Comet lovejoy.

I set up (took me longer to get my hat on!) and went for a trawl of the skies.

First up a look at Comet lovejoy which is now well up just entering the constellation of Cassiopeia. Still a magnificent sight

I then had the usual look at M31 Andromeda which isn't too far away.

The beehive (M44!!!) was easily naked eye so had a quick peek and looked fab with Jupiter just trailing to the east. M67 was also quite easy but only small

So next onto a couple of Globular clusters

M3 in Canes Venatici was an easy spot being quite large and bright. Whilst there I also had a look at La Superba a bright red carbon star which has somewhat dimmed since I last viewed it.

M53 in Coma Berenices was a tad more difficult but also by the side of it another glob NGC5053 which was a slightly averted vision target

I went for a few clusters next for ease

M41 canis major quite a nice tight open cluster

In Monoceros M46 which has a lot of Nebulosity and also M47 and M50 which are both small tight open cluster. M48 was nice being wider

So down to being a bit more ambitious

The galaxies M81 and M82 up in Ursa Major were quite easy although I struggled with NGC3077 at the side with not quite enough light grasp.

M94 the large galaxy in Canes Venatici was an averted vision spot but with persistence I managed it as was M51 which took real dedication to tease it out.

Lastly M64 in Coma Berenices was the one I pondered over most and really struggled to get with averted vision but managed it in the end!

Not bad for three hours and the little 2" finder!

Oh and I also did some imaging too

post-28847-0-27461000-1424170258_thumb.j

Ha ha

Damian

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Mark62

Mark62

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Had a good night in wark last night clear as a bell. As I was setting up there was a meridian flair in Cassiopeia. To say I'm in a the village it's realtors dark and clear. The last two nights have been worth every penny

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Sam Baker

Sam Baker

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I managed to get a full hour at winscar last night was definitely one of the best observing sessions I've had -

M44 naked eye and bins

M82 which looked amazing, i was surprised at the amount of detail.

M81

M106

M94

M51

M13

I was thoroughly satisfied with the session and so glad i managed to make it out after such a long time. Shame it was a bit late to meet Damien and Kieren though.

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I managed to get a full hour at winscar last night was definitely one of the best observing sessions I've had -

M44 naked eye and bins

M82 which looked amazing, i was surprised at the amount of detail.

M81

M106

M94

M51

M13

I was thoroughly satisfied with the session and so glad i managed to make it out after such a long time. Shame it was a bit late to meet Damien and Kieren though.

It was a shame Sam as we had both gone at just gone 12.

M13 must've been quite low as Vega was still behind the trees as me and Kieran left.

Was a good session and awaiting Kierans image

Damian

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Mark62

Mark62

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Mark if I had of know you were in Wark we could have met up. How long you up for?[/quote

I'm here till Saturday I'm at the one further up Paul not as local as you think. I'm on the tweed bye Coldstream. Best of both worlds really birds by day stars at night. There are feeders right out side the window.

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Late night then Sam.

Loving the image Damian, I can almost just make out the flame and horse head nebula. ;)

Mark if I had of know you were in Wark we could have met up. How long you up for?

Yeah I think you may have to use averted imagination for those.

If its clear tonight I may add more data to it see if I can draw out the nebulousity ;-)

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Yeah m13 was literally peeking out about the trees when i viewed it but it was so crisp and big as well. I didnt get there until 1.30am

Viewing conditions or transparency was about 85% I'd say last night Sam so you've more to come and will know when its crystal clear.

I've had two night's at winscarr that were.

There was a quite a bit of murk about when I viewed Leo and Virgo that's why I tended to view a lot of the overhead stuff and to the south.

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stonemonkeylives

stonemonkeylives

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Morning Guys,

Not been up long but was an interesting 3 hours. Got there just gone 9 and Kieran was already set up imaging Comet lovejoy.

I set up (took me longer to get my hat on!) and went for a trawl of the skies.

First up a look at Comet lovejoy which is now well up just entering the constellation of Cassiopeia. Still a magnificent sight

I then had the usual look at M31 Andromeda which isn't too far away.

The beehive (M44!!!) was easily naked eye so had a quick peek and looked fab with Jupiter just trailing to the east. M67 was also quite easy but only small

So next onto a couple of Globular clusters

M3 in Canes Venatici was an easy spot being quite large and bright. Whilst there I also had a look at La Superba a bright red carbon star which has somewhat dimmed since I last viewed it.

M53 in Coma Berenices was a tad more difficult but also by the side of it another glob NGC5053 which was a slightly averted vision target

I went for a few clusters next for ease

M41 canis major quite a nice tight open cluster

In Monoceros M46 which has a lot of Nebulosity and also M47 and M50 which are both small tight open cluster. M48 was nice being wider

So down to being a bit more ambitious

The galaxies M81 and M82 up in Ursa Major were quite easy although I struggled with NGC3077 at the side with not quite enough light grasp.

M94 the large galaxy in Canes Venatici was an averted vision spot but with persistence I managed it as was M51 which took real dedication to tease it out.

Lastly M64 in Coma Berenices was the one I pondered over most and really struggled to get with averted vision but managed it in the end!

Not bad for three hours and the little 2" finder!

Oh and I also did some imaging too

attachicon.gifSDC12077.JPG

Ha ha

Damian

Nice write up Damian, sounds like you had a good session.

Jeremy

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Vicky050373

Vicky050373

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OK guys, I know it's not the Moon, a planet, or a DSO, but here is my very FIRST image recorded, stacked and saved using my DMK21 CCD left as monochrome. Used the 80mm frac in the conservatory to just have a play, and I am quite pleased that I have managed an image! Hope you all enjoy my neighbours tree :)

Tree 17.02.bmp

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Soupy

Soupy

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All in order I've got another circle ready on the other page! Software I use is 2B ;-)

Make sure you have proper alignment, and use of a softer 4B might help with the fainter smudges that are averted vision! Are you not going to use RGB or are you gonna stick to just L ? ;)

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Vicky050373

Vicky050373

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Thanks Soupy and Sam :) I went to see Lee at Green Witch on Monday as I have been offered two CCD cameras very cheaply, which I have snapped up to start my journey into astrophotography. Nothing like chucking myself in at the deep end! I got a DMK21AU04.AS and an Atik 161C-S, both monochrome, however I have also got the IR and RGB filters and filter wheel. I know absolutely zero and did not even know what kit I had or how to assemble and use it. Anyway, Lee advised me to put everything away for now and to start on trying to image the moon with the DMK, as it is a relatively large target. As the moon is basically monochrome, he advised me to put away the RGB filters and filter wheel and just connect the DMK to the scope. The software for the DMK is so straight forward and user friendly, even I have worked out the basic controls. He advised to play around with the software, experiment with frame speed, exposure, gain etc. To take images of something static, but far enough away to allow the scope to focus. He said that the focus through an eyepiece will be quite different to what the camera sees, so to play around with the focus. I found the little 80mm frac easier for this as we have that on a manual alt-az tripod at the minute, however I will be mounting it onto an EQ mount once I get it sorted. For trying out the software on a static item in the daylight, the 80mm frac was perfect. I would recommend having a play around, so at least when you get out to try imaging "the real thing" you aren't losing valuable viewing/imaging time trying to work out the software. I found Lee's advise so helpful, and has really given me confidence to give it a go! Sounds like we have got similar cameras Sam, so maybe we can compare notes, but I won't be trying DSO photography for quite some time yet :)

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