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WADAS (Wakefield and District Astronomical Society)

stonemonkeylives

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mapstar

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I've really got the stargazing bug now! It's all Luke's fault lol :) Picked up my copy of Turn Left at Orion and 2015 Guide to the Sky at Night from my local friendly bookshop in Horbury, who informed me that someone had ordered exactly the same books this morning. Was it any of you guys? Richard thought it was funny that he had an order for the same two books just as he was unpacking my copies. Looking forward to the next clear night so I can get out and get cracking finding the objects using the star charts.

I haven't managed to get on with the moons course this week - don't know where the week has gone! Hopefully i might have time tomorrow to catch up :)

Turn left is a great book Vicky and an absolute pleasure to use.

The seasonal guide is good and You'll be into star hopping very quickly as the guides are very detailed, informative and realistic.

I enjoyed it a lot and still glance back at it.

Star charts are like treasure maps and we'll have to chat next time and I'll give you a few pointers on star hopping but I'm sure you'll be well on your way by then

Damian

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It looks great, and I have only had a quick flick through it this evening. I can see myself getting a bit geeky and making notes in the margins when I am out viewing...... what is happening to me? :)

You'll have to get a little observing hand book to make your notes in ;-)

Date

Location

Equipment used

Temperature

Sky transparency

Who you viewed with?

What objects

Just a few suggestions as to what to put in there,

Got to admit wish I'd started one when I got my scope.

It's always good to look back :-)

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Vicky050373

Vicky050373

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You'll have to get a little observing hand book to make your notes in ;-)

Date

Location

Equipment used

Temperature

Sky transparency

Who you viewed with?

What objects

Just a few suggestions as to what to put in there,

Got to admit wish I'd started one when I got my scope.

It's always good to look back :-)

Already got a notebook going, but not got much in there at the moment. Just notes on a couple of Messier objects I viewed through the binoculars. Astronomy and stationery - my two favourite interests lol. Oh dear, I'm hooked! :)

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Soupy

Soupy

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For £20 Dave you can't go wrong... The mirror is probably spherical rather than parabolic but I am sure it should give reasonable views of the Moon and brighter planets as well as maybe some brighter Messier and DSOs. Stick a decent eyepiece in it and let us know how it performs.

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Soupy

Soupy

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Oh and just finished week two of the Moons course... Quiz was a little difficult this week and I dropped one silly question but still got 96%, told you 100% record would be hard to keep up ;) impressed with it so far. Roll on week 3.

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MattGoo

MattGoo

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Sam, do you not fancy a ZWO?

USB2 version (£207): http://www.365astronomy.com/ZWO-ASI120MM-Monochrome-1-3-CMOS-USB2.0-Camera-with-Autoguider-Port.html

USB3 version (£249): http://www.365astronomy.com/ZWO-ASI120MM-S-USB3.0-Monochrome-1-3-CMOS-Camera-with-Autoguider-Port.html

They both have a ST4 guideport on them, whereas the Imaging Source cameras don't. Something to consider.

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MattGoo

MattGoo

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You could use the Imaging Source camera as a guider, but you'd need an additional interface from PC to mount to carry the guide signal, like this: http://www.firstlightoptics.com/guide-cameras/hitecastro-usb-guider.html

Ages ago I built one myself, from this topic: http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/43628-simplegpusb-a-home-brew-auto-guider/

There's probably an aurdino/raspberry Pi version now or other such things.

The ZWO cameras (and the QHY5L-II that I own) have built in ST4 ports, it does make it a bit easier.

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Sammyb

Sammyb

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So sammyb - I'd like some advice - imaging source Dmk21 mono au618 as planetary camera. £275 bnib is it a good deal and will i get great images of jupiter?

I think that's what about I paid. Monochrome though so you'll need to fork out for filter wheels etc for colour. The planetary images in the link in my signature were taken with an imaging source camera and an 8" scope. I quite like them but a lot of people are now favouring the ZWO cameras as I think you get 120 fps compared to a max of 60 with an imaging source.

What camera are you using at the moment? Buying an expensive planetary camera won't automatically get you great images unless you get the process right of getting good focus, capturing a 2-3 min avi and then processing correctly.

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Sam Baker

Sam Baker

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I'm using a canon 600d. I'm really struggling with it. Someone recommended the zwo as i can get the better frame rate and also guide without add ons. Just plug in an st4 cable. I have got so much to learn really and i don't know the best way forward. I know I'm doing something wrong

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MattGoo

MattGoo

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Here's a good guide to Planetary processing: http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/184821-beginners-guide-to-stacking-planetary-images-with-autostakkert2/

If there's a way of you passing your data across to me, I'd have a look at what I can process out of it.

Sammy's right though, we could just be polishing a t*rd here unless your source data is of sufficient quality :)

If that's the case then all this reading up on capturing and processing might help you when you're next out!

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Soupy

Soupy

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Sam just take your time with things there are prob plenty of cloudy nights coming up that can be used to process... The learning curve is very steep but Sam and Matt and anyone else here are an excellent source of help and info :)

Cheers for yesterday Damian, the mirror is looking amazing!

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