Show us your set up in action at night.

[Xsubmariner]

Early this year I captured, “back to bed” after a long night. Interestingly this thread started the year I took up Astronomy.

Edited July 4, 2023 by Xsubmariner

[Vroobel]

2 hours ago, Xsubmariner said:

Early this year I captured, “back to bed” after a long night. Interestingly this thread started the year I took up Astronomy.

Interesting rig. Could you tell us what's that mount and the rest of the setup? 

[Xsubmariner]

1 hour ago, Vroobel said:

Interesting rig. Could you tell us what's that mount and the rest of the setup

The setup consists of a Mesu200 mount with CFF RC and refractor fitted with the usual imaging automation ancillaries. 

[John]

No electronics involved here but it suits me just fine 😁

Waiting for darkness on a warm summer evening.

 

[russ]

30 minutes ago, John said:

No electronics involved here but it suits me just fine 😁

Waiting for darkness on a warm summer evening.

 

Wow I bet that's stunning to look through.

[bosun21]

On 26/06/2023 at 06:35, Stu said:

Looking at the lunar X and V through the Tak and MaxBright IIs. Very nice it was too.

How do you find using the bino bandit on the Maxbright II Stu? I have two bandits, one lives on my Apollo 15x70’s and the other in a drawer somewhere. Sorry for going off topic for the thread. I’m going to ask about eyepieces for the Maxbright in the relevant section.

[Stu]

5 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

How do you find using the bino bandit on the Maxbright II Stu? I have two bandits, one lives on my Apollo 15x70’s and the other in a drawer somewhere. Sorry for going off topic for the thread. I’m going to ask about eyepieces for the Maxbright in the relevant section.

I like it! I find it cuts out stray light and glare for Solar viewing very well.

[Guest]

We are all in.  2 light buckets and the robot.  Now if the skies cooperate.  Waiting for darkness. 

[Sunshine]

2 hours ago, Mike Q said:

the robot.

The robot? I want one!

Edited July 8, 2023 by Sunshine

[Ratlet]

4 hours ago, Mike Q said:

We are all in.  2 light buckets and the robot.  Now if the skies cooperate.  Waiting for darkness. 

Really hoping you got a good run of it.

I think what I need is something like the robot.  Not sure if I've got the patience for a big astroimaging rig, but being able to put something like this down and get some decent images out would be fantastic.

[John]

13 hours ago, russ said:

Wow I bet that's stunning to look through.

It is, but not last night. I got clouded out about 30 minutes after I took that pic 😬

[JeremyS]

14 hours ago, John said:

No electronics involved here but it suits me just fine 😁

Waiting for darkness on a warm summer evening.

 

I never realised before what the REX in T-REX stood for 👍🏻

[John]

5 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

I never realised before what the REX in T-REX stood for 👍🏻

It's a bit contrived but I guess the people behind the mount were very excited about it.

Sadly, the production of the T-Rex ceased in 2016 when the sole engineer passed away. 

 

[JeremyS]

15 minutes ago, John said:

It's a bit contrived but I guess the people behind the mount were very excited about it.

Sadly, the production of the T-Rex ceased in 2016 when the sole engineer passed away. 

 

Maybe the owner was a Marc Bolan fan 🤔

[Guest]

6 hours ago, Ratlet said:

Really hoping you got a good run of it.

I think what I need is something like the robot.  Not sure if I've got the patience for a big astroimaging rig, but being able to put something like this down and get some decent images out would be fantastic.

It was a so so night.  The air is pretty thick this time of year and a touch of haze up there, but all in all not bad.  It was a fairly short session since i had been up since 0430 but on the productive side.  

The robot is a Stellina.  The wife spent 5 grand on it and a new 12 inch tablet for it.  Expensive.... Yep, but it is so easy to use.  Its AP for dummies.  Set it up, let it figure out where it is and it will tell you what it can see, then pick your poison and press go. 

[Guest]

8 hours ago, Sunshine said:

The robot? I want one!

Its a Stellina.  I call it the robot. 

[Vroobel]

42 minutes ago, Mike Q said:

It was a so so night.  The air is pretty thick this time of year and a touch of haze up there, but all in all not bad.  It was a fairly short session since i had been up since 0430 but on the productive side.  

The robot is a Stellina.  The wife spent 5 grand on it and a new 12 inch tablet for it.  Expensive.... Yep, but it is so easy to use.  Its AP for dummies.  Set it up, let it figure out where it is and it will tell you what it can see, then pick your poison and press go. 

Can you share any pictures taken with that? Something well-known and easy to compare with typical AP. Thanks.

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Vroobel said:

Can you share any pictures taken with that? Something well-known and easy to compare with typical AP. Thanks.

Sure.  The only thing that was done to these pictures was done on my phone, i pressed the enhance button to bring up the color and contrast a bit.  I leave the playing with the data to the AP gang.  They have way more talent and patience then I do. 

 

Edited July 8, 2023 by Mike Q

[bosun21]

1 hour ago, Mike Q said:

Sure.  The only thing that was done to these pictures was done on my phone, i pressed the enhance button to bring up the color and contrast a bit.  I leave the playing with the data to the AP gang.  They have way more talent and patience then I do. 

How come the Horsehead has reflector diffraction spikes? I’ve never seen that with an 80mm refractor.

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

How come the Horsehead has reflector diffraction spikes? I’ve never seen that with an 80mm refractor.

No idea.  The wife takes the picturs and sends them to me.  I have a couple pictures of the Horsehead that i got from somewhere else.  I may have gotten it mixed in with hers. 

[bosun21]

1 minute ago, Mike Q said:

No idea.  The wife takes the picturs and sends them to me.  I have a couple pictures of the Horsehead that i got from somewhere else.  I may have gotten it mixed in with hers. 

I think you must have as it has totally different stars with diffraction spikes. All the others are fine and look great by the way.

[Guest]

I try and keep stuff seperated but getting stuff mixed happens 

[russ]

8 hours ago, John said:

It is, but not last night. I got clouded out about 30 minutes after I took that pic 😬

That's a shame John. The forecast was a bit off that night. I set the alarm for 2:30am and woke up to total cloud cover. Was supposed to be 100% clear.

[gorann]

On 08/06/2023 at 18:12, Saganite said:

Andromeda was a planet killer and for more than seven years I had superb views of most objects, but, she was just too big to put an Observatory around, or to be absolutely correct too big to get it past the planning dept at home, so, sadly, I had to make a decision last summer. A new owner has Andromeda and I have my Pulsar Obsy with two fine scopes inside, so the correct decision in the end.

I still have Arcturus though..

Out of curiosity: what company made the "Andromeda" telescope. It is impossible to google "Andromeda telescope" and getting anything but M31 images.....

[andrew s]

6 hours ago, gorann said:

Out of curiosity: what company made the "Andromeda" telescope. It is impossible to google "Andromeda telescope" and getting anything but M31 images.....

To exclude things from a search put a - sign in front if it e.g. -m31 -galaxy. Make sure there is a space before the - sign.

Regards Andrew 

Edited July 9, 2023 by andrew s