WADAS forum 4

[2STAR]

4 hours ago, mapstar said:

Where abouts are you looking eric? BBC has a better forecast than the others I use

BBC and Met look ok, but you never know it till you have tried it Damian haha

[mapstar]

2 hours ago, astrotyke said:

ive had a long day at work today, id like to get out tonight somewhere with dark skies but looks like i might be staying in the back garden 

Me too, 14 hours door to door 

[astrotyke]

You win. I did 7:30am to 6:30pm 

[mapstar]

Total bust tonight. Clouds and more clouds 

[astrotyke]

yea, i went out, scope stayed inside

[mapstar]

Typically crystal clear this morning 

[Dec]

8 hours ago, mapstar said:

Total bust tonight. Clouds and more clouds 

Clouds didn't move Damian... we stayed until after midnight but no joy.... then to top it off... got home not a cloud in the sky and stayed clear until this morning ... opened the curtains to be greeted with a clear view  of Orion!! I'm sure it was laughing at me ?

[Vicky050373]

I'm on holiday in Scotland this week and we've had cloud, showers, sunshine, showers, drizzle..... a real mixed bag, however it's been clouded out every night. Had my first semi-clear evening last night so popped out with the DSLR for a few quick shots. Wasn't worth getting the scope out as there seemed to be a lot of high haze/mist around making it quite milky. Anyhow, or any-hoo as they say up here LOL, here are a couple of my images. Apologies D for the DLB shot, however it looked really lovely early evening just above the mountainside. The Milky Way images are all 15 seconds at ISO 1600. Weather isn't looking too bad today so we may attempt the 3 mile walk up Ben Cruachan to see the dam, as we have never had the weather/energy to attempt it on our previous trips this way.

[2STAR]

Me, Dec, Damian & a mate of mine Matt spent a few hours at Winscar cloud watching, me and Dec stayed till midnight, after a couple of hours i did manage to get focus and a few stars on my 102mm Refractor with no fringing or curvature noticeable. Looks promising married up to my camera anyway.

eric 

[2STAR]

BBC and Met has it clear tonight, fingers crossed haha

[mapstar]

Hope some of you got out the DLB was up so I gave it a miss being up for work early.

First frosty morning was a good sign and the skies looked decent with Venus bright on the eastern horizon. 

Hope the next new moon has skies as clear. 

[Vicky050373]

It was clear over my way last night, but that moon was incredibly bright for just over first quarter! Think I must have had a touch of the post-holiday and back-to-work-in-the-morning blues as I really couldn't be bothered setting up. Terry kept nattering me to go out as it was so clear, but I really couldn't be bothered which isn't like me. Back to total cloud again today, and the moon will be getting brighter with every passing night. Hope some of you did get out and capitalise on the clear night.

[Mark62]

You were not on your own I think Vicky and Damian. I got watching loard of the rings and couldn’t be bothered when it finished at 10pm 

[2STAR]

I went out in the backyard, out over an hour and couldn't figure out why the Scope thought Polaris was at the bottom of my garden and Capella half way down the garage.

Threw the set up in the garage and got my small Skywatcher Synscan goto set up out with the 102m  Frac on it.

Spot on alignment and everything I slewed to was bang in the eyepiece, so I bobbed the Camera on and captured images of M1 Crab Nebula, M37 Star Cluster, M45 pleiades, and M108 Surfboard Galaxy , not very good but at least something despite near 70% Moonglow.

Will look at darkening the others later but here is the Surfboard  

[Dec]

1 hour ago, 2STAR said:

I went out in the backyard, out over an hour and couldn't figure out why the Scope thought Polaris was at the bottom of my garden and Capella half way down the garage.

Threw the set up in the garage and got my small Skywatcher Synscan goto set up out with the 102m  Frac on it.

Spot on alignment and everything I slewed to was bang in the eyepiece, so I bobbed the Camera on and captured images of M1 Crab Nebula, M37 Star Cluster, M45 pleiades, and M108 Surfboard Galaxy , not very good but at least something despite near 70% Moonglow.

Will look at darkening the others later but here is the Surfboard  

Nice work Eric. You did well to pick up M108. I tried some galaxies in Ursa major NGC3718 & 3729 but couldn't pick them out of the LP.

I set up at home last night but spent most of the early evening messing with the mount. In the end I thought Id try the cocoon nebula. With it being a Ha image and high in the sky, I thought I could get some definition. I left everything running to early morning and managed 17 x 10min subs. Just need to add some colour in the next few weeks clouds permitting.

 

[UKJay1971]

Finally got out for a play on Saturday - my camera has an issue where the sensor window is no longer heating so, on Friday, I ended up with several dozen subs, all with dew condensation halos. I reset on Saturday and went after M33 again in LRGB. 240 subs in total (120 x 20 sec Lum plus 60 x 40 sec RGB each). I ran the camera at -5c and ran a dew heater strap near the sensor window which seems to have helped. Am waiting for a replacement part from QHY in China to remedy the problem properly.

Anyway, here is my end result: M33 Triangulum Galaxy from light polluted Wakefield

M33 Triangulum Galaxy by Jay Bolt, on Flickr

[2STAR]

1 hour ago, Dec said:

Nice work Eric. You did well to pick up M108. I tried some galaxies in Ursa major NGC3718 & 3729 but couldn't pick them out of the LP.

I set up at home last night but spent most of the early evening messing with the mount. In the end I thought Id try the cocoon nebula. With it being a Ha image and high in the sky, I thought I could get some definition. I left everything running to early morning and managed 17 x 10min subs. Just need to add some colour in the next few weeks clouds permitting.

 

Superb image Dec

[2STAR]

From last night M1 Crab Nebula, first time I have viewed this ,  30 x 2secs

[2STAR]

I am really pleased with M1 under the conditions last night.

eric

[Dec]

5 minutes ago, 2STAR said:

From last night M1 Crab Nebula, first time I have viewed this ,  30 x 2secs

Nice images Eric, looks like you've cracked the focus with the refractor. 

[Vicky050373]

Ooh, lovely images coming through on here tonight. Great to see you getting out and making the most of the clear skies. 

[procky1845]

Hi all,

I haven't posted on here in a while but did manage to get out a couple of times in the back garden over the weekend (Fri/Sun).

Friday was particularly clear (if a bit breezy) so took the opportunity to scout out a few galaxies around Pegasus. Managed NGC7331 (Stephan's Quintet, although could only spot the main galaxy), NGC2217, NGC7332 (but not 7339 next door). Finished off with a look at M34 in Perseus.

Sunday again was relatively clear for a couple of hours although the moon was very bright. Spent some time observing around Cepheus this time. Bagged a couple of planetary nebulae NGC40 (Bowtie Nebula) and NGC7008 (Fetus Nebula). A couple of Double Stars, Beta Cephei and STF3051. Open Cluster NGC188. The Garnet Star Mu Cephei. Also tried for the Iris Nebula (NGC7023) and the galaxy NGC6951 but was too much of a stretch given the conditions.

Good couple of nights though. My observing has picked up again in anger now the nights are darker again!

It also helps when the weather is kind enough to be clear on a weekend!

Lee

 

 

[Mark62]

Lovely images every one excellent work. I need a night out it’s been a while now Kelling was the last time. Let’s get the moon out of the way and some clear sky’s hopefully 

[2STAR]

11 hours ago, Dec said:

Nice images Eric, looks like you've cracked the focus with the refractor. 

I was quite happy with the Focus, but may get a Bhatinov Mask for the Frac to sharpen it up

[2STAR]

My theory was correct regarding the Celestron Mount/HC going haywire, I should have turned off the WIFI on the mount, as the house WIFI was messing it up, lesson learned haha, having said that the small Skywatcher tripod and GOTO was excellent on both Aligning and Tracking !!!

Eric