Show us your set up in action at night.

[Stardust Dave]

Lots of beautiful equipment and shelters here! 

No shelter so I usually observe out -Does an artsy dusk photo count?

 

Thats "COMET" at the EP ... Long tail and very hard to locate,

 

 

 

Edited September 1, 2016 by Stardust Dave

[Bart]

One of my favourites, that, the Cat's Eye

[DHEB]

On 09/01/2016 at 23:35, Stardust Dave said:

Lots of beautiful equipment and shelters here! 

No shelter so I usually observe out -Does an artsy dusk photo count?

 

Thats "COMET" at the EP ... Long tail and very hard to locate,

 

 

 

Was the line "No cats were hurt during the production of this picture" missing from the footnote?

[iPeace]

The full suite of dew control makes this setup look cumbersome, but it is wonderfully easy to assemble and stow and a lot of fun to use. The Ercole Mini easily carries the TV85 without a counterweight, and the Induro tripod, surplus from @Stu, completes the package. Go anywhere and stay out all night without fogging up. Good times.

[laser_jock99]

Some good shots posted so far of everybodies scopes 'at work'.

 

Here is my 6" F4 Newtonian - the inset is the picture it was taking at the time.

 

 

Another one of the same scope - all the red light is coming from the LED on the intervalometer!

Edited November 1, 2016 by laser_jock99

[the_laughing_crow]

Moonshot

The heritage is a very special wee scope. Recently upgraded to an SCT. Will upload a pic of that in due course

[Bobby1970]

My new Opticstar EQ goto mount with Skywatcher ST120. 

 

[Bart]

Last night was a decent night, not great transparency though, hedge has a bit to grow yet! Might be ready as a wind break next year...

Edited November 2, 2016 by Bart

[wheresthetorch?]

Not exactly at night, but cooling ready. 

[DaveS]

Here is my rig getting a trial run of 12 x 5 min subs on M33. Nothing special, but I've just done a 20 point model and refined my PA a bit so here goes.

Hand-held with my Fuji X-T1 at iso 6400 and a stupidly long exposure. The TV has the Maxim DL capture window and Cartes du Ciel, the laptop has Autoslew, Sequence, and the Maxim CCD control. Both red-light shielded. Scope is TS Photoline 130mm f/7. What looks like a finder / guider is, in fact the 80mm f/4.4 riding piggy-back. The lights either side are dimmable LED lanterns shield with Lee 026 red lighting gel.

[niallk]

On 02/11/2016 at 13:44, Bart said:

Last night was a decent night, not great transparency though, hedge has a bit to grow yet! Might be ready as a wind break next year...

Very nice indeed Barry! Observing pad looks great - it's a fine size, and like the wheelbarrow system you've added 

[Stub Mandrel]

44 minutes ago, DaveS said:

20 point model

I keep reading posts from people who are spending ages 'building their models' I assume these aren't airfix kits, so what are they? Mapping errors in the mount?

[ChrisLX200]

7 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I keep reading posts from people who are spending ages 'building their models' I assume these aren't airfix kits, so what are they? Mapping errors in the mount?

Yes, pointing models - they map the flexure/errors in pointing accuracy, and that is also fed back into the tracking algorithm when using dual-axis tracking. Basically you point to lots of random places in the visible sky and plate-solve a quick (4seconds in my case) image, the result is then compared to where the mount 'thinks' it is pointing and the error noted and included in the model. Just run one myself earlier tonight, waste of time trying to image anything with all the flashes and bangs so I updated the mount model instead. Imaging now though.

 

ChrisH

[DaveS]

Pretty much. Asking the mount to point the 'scope at a series of stars and telling the mount how far off it is and in what direction. From that the mount will calculate the PA and collimation error. Really high end mounts that guide on encoders will then use the model to track without needing a guider.

[Stub Mandrel]

Ah, I'd guessed the basic idea but not understood exactly what it was used for.

[CrashedOnEarth]

Hello everyone, this is my first post, just joined.  This past week, synchronicity led me to looking at the Owl Cluster and Andromeda for the first time through a huge telescope about the size of a little alien.  I'm hooked.....  I'm new to astronomy, and already have been watching many Youtube videos and am looking forward to building a Dobsonian with a 10 foot mirror!!!  Simple, right?  Dream big.   Anyway......been using these lately, they're from Nike, bout to go get my Meade 102 StarNavigator out of storage that I got as a present years ago and used for 1 week to look at the moon.  Really looking forward to learning from y'all, and seeing the heavens!!!

 

 

Edited November 7, 2016 by CrashedOnEarth

[Dave In Vermont]

Greetings, C-O-E, and welcome to SGL - it's nice of you to join us all!

We love questions, and helping to find their answers - so don't be shy in these many forums!

Enjoy -

Dave

[CrashedOnEarth]

7 minutes ago, Dave In Vermont said:

Greetings, C-O-E, and welcome to SGL - it's nice of you to join us all!

We love questions, and helping to find their answers - so don't be shy in these many forums!

Enjoy -

Dave

Thanks little green dude Dave!!  I'll have plenty of questions soon, and I'll keep you all updated on the StarNavigator too, should have it in about 2 weeks.

[Linda]

Here is a picture that my husband took of me last winter with my Maksutov under a dark sky. Not much scope to see, but it's my only picture of scope in action.

[CrashedOnEarth]

6 hours ago, Linda said:

Here is a picture that my husband took of me last winter with my Maksutov under a dark sky. Not much scope to see, but it's my only picture of scope in action.

 

Cool pic!! This may be a silly question, I'm new to photography.....but what is that strip of evenly spaced lights going between the trees just above your head to the left?   Camera effects?..... Mothership maybe? 

[ChrisLX200]

It's one of them new-fangled aeroplane things...

ChrisH

[Linda]

1 hour ago, CrashedOnEarth said:

 

<>....but what is that strip of evenly spaced lights going between the trees just above your head to the left?   Camera effects?..... Mothership maybe? 

Indeed, it was an airplane. Perhaps it was the Santa Claus route from London to Rovaniemi , which should be flying over that area.

Above the tree in the middle you see a red spot. That is just a camera artifact that sometimes appears.

The green light low at the northern horizon, in the right part of the picture is a bit of northern light. :-) Only visible on camera with 10 sec shutter time. With the naked eye it looked like there was a city in that direction, but there is nothing in over there for many, many kms.

[Astro Imp]

1 hour ago, Linda said:

 

Above the tree in the middle you see a red spot. That is just a camera artifact that sometimes appears.

 

And there was me wondering what nebula you had captured lol

[CrashedOnEarth]

1 hour ago, Linda said:

Indeed, it was an airplane. Perhaps it was the Santa Claus route from London to Rovaniemi , which should be flying over that area.

Above the tree in the middle you see a red spot. That is just a camera artifact that sometimes appears.

The green light low at the northern horizon, in the right part of the picture is a bit of northern light. :-) Only visible on camera with 10 sec shutter time. With the naked eye it looked like there was a city in that direction, but there is nothing in over there for many, many kms.

I though that looked like the northern lights!!  So how does a single picture of you also capture an airplane in 13-14 different spots?  Wouldn't the airplane just be in one spot?  (yeah, I'm that new)

Edited November 7, 2016 by CrashedOnEarth

[niallk]

10 hours ago, Linda said:

Here is a picture that my husband took of me last winter with my Maksutov under a dark sky. Not much scope to see, but it's my only picture of scope in action.

Great pic! What a sky