Seen Jupiter but night was a shambles

[petergc]

I went out last night, and it was an absolute catastrophe,!!!

First time out in a while by along way. Couldn't get scope aligned (1st time I've actually tried )

Went to piggy back my camera on scope. Couldn't get it to sit firm. Tried mounting it direct to scope, and I snapped Jupiter a few times. Shots just look like a massive star with two tiny stars right by its side. ( disappointment). To top it all off my mount had masses of play in it and was so wobbly. Have sorted that now thank to a post on here.

So In the end I abandoned astrophotography (not for ever) and just had a good look about the skies until my battery pack to my dual axis motors gave up. ( face palm )

The high light of my night, right after seeing the the whispy Orion Nebula was seeing Jupiter in all it's glory, full of colour and right by its side a couple of its moons. ( couldn't name ) that actually made me smile. I only who's hi could of snapped it better.

Lots of lessons learnt from yesterday. Mistakes not to be made again. But we all start somewhere

[Sandancer10]

Hi Peter, you echo a frequent complaint - like why do I never get to do what I set out to do. Because taking complaicated kit along with a smigeon of knowledge mixed in with a few gremlins and cloud and or dew point and you have the perfect reciepe not to succeed.Thankfully us stalwart astronomer types can take it on the chin and hope next time out will be better.

[petergc]

Hi Peter, you echo a frequent complaint - like why do I never get to do what I set out to do. Because taking complaicated kit along with a smigeon of knowledge mixed in with a few gremlins and cloud and or dew point and you have the perfect reciepe not to succeed.Thankfully us stalwart astronomer types can take it on the chin and hope next time out will be better.

I understand fully, and will not be beaten by a few mistakes or the odd cloud or a bit of dew in the air, I will have to be dragged from my scope kicking and screaming. I'm actually really enjoying the challenge I will succeed but jus need to iron a few things along the mysterious learning curve. Thank fully you experienced astronomers seen to be a nice bunch who love to help. When I have processed my shots of the mighty Jupiter I shall post fir all to see

[petergc]

So here is my shot of Jupiter, I snapped this in the middle of my session with my 60d mounted to the back of my Skywatcher Evostar 120 refractor.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Nice snap of the moons, but you'll need a much shorter exposure to show detail on Jupiter, which has a higher surface brightness than the Moon. It can be frustrating, but it's all part of the learning process really. I've had a few false starts at every stage.

[pel]

Astrophotography isn't easy at all. It's a very steep learning curve, especially on the processing side.

If you put a lot of time and effort in you will get rewards. I personally didn't have the time to spend on it.

[petergc]

 

Nice snap of the moons, but you'll need a much shorter exposure to show detail on Jupiter, which has a higher surface brightness than the Moon. It can be frustrating, but it's all part of the learning process really. I've had a few false starts at every stage.

I know I am learning all the time, I just pray for clear skies to get a bit of experience on setting up my gear correctly

[Pete Presland]

All part of part of the trails of life. Sent to test our resolve, congrats on the orion nebula and jupiter though. The worst part of all this poor weather for me is getting a little "ring rusty"

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[Stargazer 2013]

I know all about failing in astrophotography lol..I can't even get my scope to focus on anything,the black plastic stops the focuser from going any further..I hope you do better next time

[Astro Imp]

I'm not into astro photography, I have enough trouble just observing 

I remember when I started out I was pleased if I found one object in an evenings viewing. It all seemed so difficult, just getting the hang of a GEM seemed to take me for ever. 

Brenda hits the nail on the head when she says that next time will be better, we need to be optimists to pursue this hobby.

Good luck to you all.