WADAS forum 3

[astrotyke]

Clear skies tonight guys, i hope some of you get out for some observing 

[Mark62]

There's a lot of moon tonight. About 84% at 9 o'clock 

[astrotyke]

i know, but its better than nothing  i havnt been out with the scope since 1995 lol 

[mapstar]

I'm on nights and as mark says waxing gibbous at 80+% will make things difficult. Full DLB in 4 days time then were on the way back  new moon for me and Neil at the Peak Star Party

[Mark62]

I know what you mean Chris having said that I did get out last week for 5 hours ?  

Psp, hope it clears up for then Damian 

[astrotyke]

Yea, i might just get the scope out to see if i can remember how it works lol. Theres a chance of some clear skies tomorrow night too, jsut a shame the Moon is up atm

[nicks90]

i dont care if the moon is up - its been sooooooooooooooooooo long since i had my scope out i ts not funny!

battery is on charge and i;ve just cleaned my UHC and O2 filters for some nebula hunting. they should squash out most of the moon glare.

[astrotyke]

im not even prepared, i think the scope is charged, but if not ill just run some mains power to it in the garden. im out till 8pm tonight so prob wont get setup till 8:30 either

[Mark62]

i might pop out for a hour or so tonight just to look at the moon, sorry Damian but it has to be done some times 

[Vicky050373]

2 hours ago, nicks90 said:

i dont care if the moon is up - its been sooooooooooooooooooo long since i had my scope out i ts not funny!

battery is on charge and i;ve just cleaned my UHC and O2 filters for some nebula hunting. they should squash out most of the moon glare.

Are you stopping at home to view tonight Nick? Hope you get out. I treated myself to an OIII filter before Christmas. Also found a UHC filter in my "spare" kit box that came with the 8SE which was a nice surprise. Honestly, can't believe the difference the filters make when viewing. Might see if I can get one scope set up imaging whilst I stick the other one on the AZ manual mount for a bit of viewing

[adam_sage]

Is anyone heading out at all tonight then lol 

[Mark62]

Think it's just going to be the garden Adam with all the moon. Sorry 

[nicks90]

Utter waste of time!

Even with 12" of mirror, m81/82 were appalling with that stupid rediculous pointless blooming moon!

Spent 10 minutes looking at the moon, got utterly bored and then spent another 10 minutes seeing how high my magnification would go on the trapezium in Orion before it broke down - x295 - and then packed up in utter disgust.

[Vicky050373]

I've at up at my mates but the sit is washed or and actually quite hazy. My 120 subs are washed out but I'm persevering with the Leo triplet as I've got then all on my CCD chip. Having a go at LRGB but I'm not expecting great results to be honest. First time I've used the coloured filters so it'll be practice to have a go at processing them if nothing else.

[Mark62]

I never even bothered going out what with LP from the moon and street lights around here now my sky's were just yellow  

[2STAR]

17 hours ago, Mark62 said:

Think it's just going to be the garden Adam with all the moon. Sorry 

I managed a couple of hours on the top patio so my views were limited but I wanted to get the Focal Train correct for the Meade 3.3 FR to camera Chip, was happy with distance at 65mm giving my f10 scope a faster minus f5 , I managed M31 easily on the screen which I could not do before, it went off the edges, I has a go at a difficult NGC 3718 as I wanted to see if I could get the smaller galaxy below it ? on screen with my new set up, really pleased although the image is not good. 

[rockystar]

I had a look at the moon for a while (might as well, as it ruins everything else). Then I had M35 which was nice and tried star hopping to M37 and get the Auriga clusters, but several times I tried following my star map, without success, before I realised that I was starting at the wrong star! I was on Beta Trauri insread of iota Aurigi! idiot! Even when I got the right starting star there were so few stars that I could see in the finder that I gave up.

Was nice to get out though and see some stars, even if the moon ruined the best of it.

[mapstar]

1 hour ago, 2STAR said:

I managed a couple of hours on the top patio so my views were limited but I wanted to get the Focal Train correct for the Meade 3.3 FR to camera Chip, was happy with distance at 65mm giving my f10 scope a faster minus f5 , I managed M31 easily on the screen which I could not do before, it went off the edges, I has a go at a difficult NGC 3718 as I wanted to see if I could get the smaller galaxy below it ? on screen with my new set up, really pleased although the image is not good. 

Some good stuff in there Eric. Glad you got out. Incidentally here's the galaxy from a bit of software I was recently sent (90deg out of rotation) by a great observer I have the pleasure of knowing. 

Complete with the NGC ID of each of the galaxies.  Looks like you caught the smaller NGC-3729 but also if you check to the right of the image a four UGC and PGC galaxies. All these reside south/East of Phad/Phecda in Ursa Major

Well done I really enjoyed that image.

 

 

[2STAR]

1 hour ago, mapstar said:

Some good stuff in there Eric. Glad you got out. Incidentally here's the galaxy from a bit of software I was recently sent (90deg out of rotation) by a great observer I have the pleasure of knowing. 

Complete with the NGC ID of each of the galaxies.  Looks like you caught the smaller NGC-3729 but also if you check to the right of the image a four UGC and PGC galaxies. All these reside south/East of Phad/Phecda in Ursa Major

Well done I really enjoyed that image.

 

 

Thanks  Damian,I was thinking that they may be galaxies in that bunch to the right, but not sure, now I know cheers  

[Vicky050373]

Cracking image Eric! I've not had a go at looking for that one yet. Nice work

The Leo Triplet of galaxies - M65, M66 & NGC 3628
Imaged 08.03.17 under a bright moon and an awful hazy sky
I have no idea what is causing the dark banding.... Gain is helping me to investigate.

Subs pretty much just stacked in DSS and stretched in PS as there is no point wasting time with further processing on this one.

[mapstar]

2 minutes ago, Vicky050373 said:

Cracking image Eric! I've not had a go at looking for that one yet. Nice work

The Leo Triplet of galaxies - M65, M66 & NGC 3628
Imaged 08.03.17 under a bright moon and an awful hazy sky
I have no idea what is causing the dark banding.... Gain is helping me to investigate.

Subs pretty much just stacked in DSS and stretched in PS as there is no point wasting time with further processing on this one.

Are you sure you didnt have a hair or streak on the lenses? 

[Vicky050373]

7 hours ago, mapstar said:

Are you sure you didnt have a hair or streak on the lenses? 

It's in exactly the same place on my M81&M82 image. After the M81&M82 image I cleaned the sensor on the CCD. Then it did it again so I thought it was something on the L filter, such as a hair. However, it is even there on the RG&B subs. Really frustrating. It can't be the scope as the camera was at a different orientation for each session. It can't be the filters as it's in exactly the same place for each data set. Just concerned it is something wrong with the camera but I am stumped as to what. I've sent Gain a few subs from each night to see if he can work out what's going on. I'll keep you posted....

[Mark62]

It's a good image considering the viewing that night Vicky. 

I hope it's something easily sorted 

[mapstar]

4 hours ago, Vicky050373 said:

It's in exactly the same place on my M81&M82 image. After the M81&M82 image I cleaned the sensor on the CCD. Then it did it again so I thought it was something on the L filter, such as a hair. However, it is even there on the RG&B subs. Really frustrating. It can't be the scope as the camera was at a different orientation for each session. It can't be the filters as it's in exactly the same place for each data set. Just concerned it is something wrong with the camera but I am stumped as to what. I've sent Gain a few subs from each night to see if he can work out what's going on. I'll keep you posted....

It has to be something in the optical train as you also have two round dots, one below left of NGC 3628 and also one to the top right of the large line through the middle.

Also there are two more lines above left of NGC 3628.

I would set up again take a few subs then turn the camera 90° and take some more. If the line turns with the camera it is this at fault if not it is in the optics which you could then go through the same routine turning those. 

If you do I'd mark everything up say with tape at the top then write down which bit is where so you can tally it to each test sub. 

[Physopto]

14 hours ago, mapstar said:

Are you sure you didnt have a hair or streak on the lenses? 

 

14 hours ago, Vicky050373 said:

Cracking image Eric! I've not had a go at looking for that one yet. Nice work

The Leo Triplet of galaxies - M65, M66 & NGC 3628
Imaged 08.03.17 under a bright moon and an awful hazy sky
I have no idea what is causing the dark banding.... Gain is helping me to investigate.

Subs pretty much just stacked in DSS and stretched in PS as there is no point wasting time with further processing on this one.

Looks well out of focus so possibly something  a good distance from the camera. Also it looks like it is radiating from a central point as there are FOUR  shadows (visible to me) in the photo.

Derek