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West Sussex Observing Group formed!

bradfrankshaw

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Christopher Davenport

Christopher Davenport

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Headsup,

Met office shows Thursday late-night, Friday morning as a nice hole in the clouds.

Checked astro forecast on astro panel, looks like things will clear after the midnight shower.

http://www.7timer.com/v4/bin/astro.php?lon=-0.273&lat=50.991〈=en&ac=0&unit=metric&tzshift=0

I am thinking of taking Friday off anyway, could be a good opportunity.

Any takers?

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hobsey

hobsey

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If not the one Anthony uses??

Albury cricket ground? Treading on dangerous grounds there, thats where Astonomy for Everyone and Guildford Astronomers go but it is open to public so should still be ok.

We may have to do a Westside Story style gang dance off if they turn up though.  :laugh:

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Christopher Davenport

Christopher Davenport

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Albury cricket ground? Treading on dangerous grounds there, thats where Astonomy for Everyone and Guildford Astronomers go but it is open to public so should still be ok.

We may have to do a Westside Story style gang dance off if they turn up though.  :laugh:

Lol, West sides the best side, Init! :) 

The way I see it, the more the merrier. Are there power sockets about? Otherwise I need to setup near my car for juice.

(Don't have power tank yet and judging by the -2C I might want to sneak into the car for heat during long exposures.)

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Christopher Davenport

Christopher Davenport

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Nudge ... Great weather tonight if anyone is interested? 

Will be cold -2 and very good visability from 3am through to sunrise, close to new moon should be nice and dark.

For observing the usual M-Catalogue will be on show. 

My imagining targets are Moon Crescent & dark side, Jupiter, Orion Nebula.

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bradfrankshaw

bradfrankshaw

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Hi guys! Hope you all had a good Christmas - with the weather one minute crazy and the next good, it's been on nigh on impossible to judge a good date. Last night we were out at friends until about 11pm when I noticed the sky was crystal clear - so I just had to get the scope out and take some images; dew got bad around 1am and TWICE I knocked the car charger cable out of the portable power supply - the air turned blue as well as cold after doing two three-star alignments!!! 

Anyhow I managed to get these two pictures - we will have to do another meet up soon; if bad weather is a constant for a bit, we should just do a pub meet up to get some new people together and see some new faces! :)

11629808935_14d3a386db_b.jpg

The Pleiades

Canon 350d

199 seconds (3min 30 seconds)

ISO 1600

11630574246_18312c0b59_b.jpg

The Orion Nebula

Canon 350d

ISO 1600

306 seconds (5 mins)

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Christopher Davenport

Christopher Davenport

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Last night was a Pearl for capturing images, I woke at 1am, to find the sky crystal clear, post the midnight rains. (Temp was about zero degrees.)


Quickly dressed warmly and moved my kit out side and setup with Polar and 2 star align by 2am. I did some pre-setup before bed  ;)


 


First up was my Sky at Night tour through my 80ED Frac - Orion, Chrismass Tree, M35, NGC 2301 and 2244. (Gave running man a skip.)


Did a quick sweep of the usual suspects, Andromeda, Pleiades and Jupiter was particularly beautiful in a wide format 28mm eyepiece. 


 


Next I switched to my 127 Mak and my QHY5L (1hr of cooling to -2C) for Imaging of Jupiter.


Laptop booted, RamDisk Initialised at 3GB, EzPlanatery started, camera connected and get focus.


 


Over the next 1 hour recorded 12.5GB of Data and +- 19000 frames, before pack up and heading in for fear of loosing my toes to frost bight. (-8C)


This was done in 5 data streams where settings where changed and the front of Mak defogged with a blowdry.


 


My final output after much toil in the cold last night a couple hours processing today!


gallery_32740_2903_80460.png


 


I am up for meeting the lads and lasses of Sussex in a pub soon!


BTW - Tomorrow night is predicted to be clear from sundown till about 11pm.

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Christopher Davenport

Christopher Davenport

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Good effort Frank, think you need to turn the ISO down a tad especially if you're doing 5 mins on Orion. The center is a little over exposed.

Chris, that image from a 127mak is spot on.

Thanks, it almost cost me a toe to frost bight. Camera registered -8C at 4am.

Called it a night and headed indoors.

Glad to hear you saw Saturn, I was hoping to push through, but it was just to cold!

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bradfrankshaw

bradfrankshaw

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Fantastic shot of Jupiter Chris! Need to learn your post capture techniques! Thanks Anthony - yes was experimenting until I pulled the power supply cord out grr. Then again....grrrrrrr. Astronomy Now has a one pager on imaging the nebula using a three shot process then Photoshop layering. That's next. This was a literal "Max all the settings and see what happens after 5 minutes!" lol. 

This weather is doing my nut :( Can't wait for the more stable Jan/Feb. 

We should do a get together soon down the pub again. 

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denisorionxt6

denisorionxt6

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Hello, I might be interested in joining in some of your meetings. I was thinking a good place to view from would be up the top of leith hill, bit of a hill climb but I'm sure light pollution wouldn't be a problem

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

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hobsey

hobsey

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I was thinking a good place to view from would be up the top of leith hill, bit of a hill climb.

Leith Hill is mentioned on the Surrey national trust website for stargazing.

If you're thinking of going up to the cricket pitch, there is no way I'm climbing up there. I will drive up there in the 4x4.

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Christopher Davenport

Christopher Davenport

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Only thing that concerns me about Leith Hill is lugging my kit out 1/4 mile climb to the top of a hill :) 

I will be up for putting the 4x4 through her paces! :)

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/article-1356401373154/

Lists of nearby sites mentioned above (Worth investigating)

- Leith Hill (45 min)

- Box hill in Surrey (45 min)

- Bignor (50 min)

- Black Down (1hr)

I would like to investigate some rural sites as well, in the dark spots around us.

http://www.cpre.org.uk/resources/countryside/dark-skies/item/1981-

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denisorionxt6

denisorionxt6

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Looking at that link is saying about the top of the tower, if you've been up that Tower up those cramped winding steep steps, can you imagine trying to take an orion dobsonian up there? Not sure about that lol. Picnic area for me I think

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

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