Obsmaging or imserving? Mintron 12V6 first test outside

[rikyuu]

I was wondering whether this should go in imaging or observing, as I was observing an image through the Mintron, but not capturing it?!! :? Decided to go for observing!

There were some breaks in the cloud last night so I thought I'd give the Mintron a first test looking at the stars. It was about 10:30pm so the sky was not completely dark.

I just tried the Mintron with a simple 12.5mm, F1.4 lens attached without the scope, it was far too windy for the scope last night, plus I can use the Mintron from the bedroom window, cosy!. I'm slowly trying to learn some stars and constellations, I managed to spot Vega in the east (virtually no other stars were visible) and pointed the Mintron at it. I set the gain to about 3/4 so as not to introduce too much noise and set the integration to 128x, although it didn't reach this level as the sky was too bright, it got to about 1sec integration ie. about 50 frames.

It was then easy to make out the Lyra constellation on the monitor screen and some stars around Vega, including some down to mag 6.5-7 were clearly visible.

I was quite impressed with the camera's performance even without a scope, I can tell it's going to be a struggle with the light nights through the summer as the camera is so sensitive and I expect especially when coupled with a 10" newt. Roll on winter (well it's the same as summer, just the nights are darker !!).

[rikyuu]

just looking on Stellarium, I've realised Bode's nebula is only Mag 6.9, which I was just able to see several weeks ago with the 10" dobs. So was I really seeing mag 6.5-7 stars around Vega with the Mintron and a simple lens? According to Stellarium, there's nothing any brighter in the vicinity around Vega so presumably I must have been. I think the stars were HP91373 mag 6 and an unamed star top right of Vega mag 6.95. Could also see the double type star (although only resolved as one), Epsilon 1 in Lyra, mag 5. Perhaps dim stars are easier to see than faint DSOs.

[ngc2403]

I've realised Bode's nebula is only Mag 6.9, Perhaps dim stars are easier to see than faint DSOs.

star are point likes ources of light and as such under perfect skies or short focal lenghts are focused onto a single pixel. DSO are not point like sources and as such there light is spread out over a large area and so more than one pixel.

if you took a small bag of sugar and piled it up then it would be clear to see it. however if you spread the sugar then the background would begin to come through and the more you spread the darker it would get. the more you spread light using focal length fainter it gets.

not the clearest description but hey you might get the idea

ally

[Talitha]

Rikyuu, 'surface brightness' is the astronomical term, and I can't think of a better way to explain it than Ally already did. Great job, Ally, and thanks! :thumbup:

Electronically-assisted observing is a relatively new area, and I'm honestly not too sure whether it best fits into the observing zone or the imaging zone.

On the one hand, you were observing through the equipment, but on the other hand the tech-talk might be better appreciated/understood in the imaging zone.

I'll ask around, ok?