Back to square 1 qhy8l

[Stu Wilson]

Tonight the sky looked clear.

After getting new leads and spending yet more money. Last week I got the veil nebula.

Tonight everything in the same place I couldn't even find a star to focus on the screen.

Question is.... If there is a very thin cloud layer that I'm sure there was and my guide camera can see stars could it be my qhy8l can't see through the thin cloud layer so it shows nothing or on 2 short occasions extremely dim?

This is getting very frustrating and expensive ?

 

stu

[MarsG76]

This is a patience testing and expensive hobby but rewarding when results are reached...

good luck

 

[Stu Wilson]

Yeah like I say last week I got my 1st big reward with the veil nebula.

The reason I asked the above question was that back in the dslr days I had a couple of nights where I got stars on my guide camera but nothing on dslr and put it down to very thin cloud layers that I presumed the dslr could not see through. I'm thinking this is the exact same issue with my qhy8l.

[geoflewis]

7 hours ago, Stu Wilson said:

If there is a very thin cloud layer that I'm sure there was and my guide camera can see stars could it be my qhy8l can't see through the thin cloud layer so it shows nothing or on 2 short occasions extremely dim?

This is getting very frustrating and expensive

Stu,

Yes, this can be both a frustrating and rewarding hobby and not always in equal measure...!! You were trying in very challenging conditions with the UK now in permanent astronomocal twilight, plus a full Moon in the sky further brightening the background and if you did have high hazy cloud then...., well do I need to say more....!! What target were you trying to shoot, how faint is it?  Also with the Moon available you could check your focus on that first, then move back to your intended target. Keep trying, your excellent Veil Nebula image proves that you have the cabability, so it will all start to come together for you. In my experience patience is the biggest ingredient that we all need, more so than deep pockets....

Good luck, Geof

[Stu Wilson]

Cheers Geoff.

It didn't matter what I tried to focus on.

Even the brightest stars I could see were not showing on the ezcap screen for the qhy8l.

Like I say I had similar issues last year with DSLR and very thin clouds blocking everything but the guide camera could still see them.

1 thing I did notice the same as those bad night's last year though was that images on the guide camera of bright stars appeared very bloated and the next time on a Crystal clear night they were back nice and sharp again so at this moment in time I'm definatly putting it down to very thin cloud layers of cloud.

I couldn't try the moon as even at 1 this morning she was too low in the sky for my scope to view over the back garden fence.

 

Stu