Wow!

[Dan13]

I've always imaged the night sky from the early days but for some reason I've never viewed and appreciated with my own eyes the beauty up there.

This week I bought a 127 mak from an SGL  member (thanks dave for the pleasant transaction) and got out last nice to observe jupiter.

I looked up and see its position, looked through my finder scope and when it came into view.....WOW!! I was stunned! This was just my finder scope and I could see its moons already! With full excitement I ran in the house and woke the wife up ( wasnt overly happy at first 🤣) and dragged her outside to look.

 

I popped the 25mm eye piece in adjusted the focus and pretty much was gob smacked!! We both sat in awe for a good 15 mins just taking turns to look before popping a 2x barlow in for a little more grunt. 

What a fantastic experience and one I know I should have done a long time ago.

My eye pieces are basic but I have a hyperflex zoom on order ( thanks John SGL) for the recommendation. 

All in all I had a very special moment last night with the jight sky that I can't wait to share with my son when he's older and a memory I wont forget! 

Ill be viewing a lot more now and am eagerly awaiting oct for mars.

 

Questions...

I would like to grab some images of the planets, I have a 120 mms and a 294mc pro will either of these suffice? 

I had great trouble trying to line the planet up with stellarium as its always miles off and I just plate solve but due to a lack of stars around the planets how would one usually tune stellarium to the correct position ( use eq mod not hand controller) I have a HEQ5 Pro.

 

Many thanks and clear skies everyone 

What a magical hobby we have. 

Edited July 12, 2020 by Dan13

[barkingsteve]

I think we all had that 'wow' moment some time or other    I use my 294mc pro for imaging planets, you just need to use the region of interest to get rid of the vast nothingness and improve frame rate.

[Dan13]

3 minutes ago, barkingsteve said:

I think we all had that 'wow' moment some time or other    I use my 294mc pro for imaging planets, you just need to use the region of interest to get rid of the vast nothingness and improve frame rate.

Excellent thank you, do you any other attachments or spacers at all steve? 

What acquisition software do you use for planetary ? 

[barkingsteve]

I have used a 2.5x barlow if 'seeing' allows. I use sharpcap to capture a .ser file, usually around 3,000 frames then stack in AS3 and sharpen in registax. I am by no means an expert, i am still experimenting with gain, exposure, etc.  Planets are low and an ADC ( atmospheric dispersion corrector ) will help, but i haven't had much success with mine, others have. Take a look at the planetary imaging section.

[Dan13]

27 minutes ago, barkingsteve said:

I have used a 2.5x barlow if 'seeing' allows. I use sharpcap to capture a .ser file, usually around 3,000 frames then stack in AS3 and sharpen in registax. I am by no means an expert, i am still experimenting with gain, exposure, etc.  Planets are low and an ADC ( atmospheric dispersion corrector ) will help, but i haven't had much success with mine, others have. Take a look at the planetary imaging section.

No thats great info. I did try my barlow and mono cam as its smaller but didn't really give me much joy. Might try the mc Pro tonight with the barlow in and see how I get in. 

 

Thank you Steve will do 

[FaB-Bo-Peep]

I can relate. For me the WOW! moment was with a blue Skywatcher 130PM and the planet in question was Saturn which I purely stumbled on by chance. My wife was equally unimpressed about being woken up and dragged out into the garden in the dead of night 🙂

[Dan13]

44 minutes ago, FaB-Bo-Peep said:

I can relate. For me the WOW! moment was with a blue Skywatcher 130PM and the planet in question was Saturn which I purely stumbled on by chance. My wife was equally unimpressed about being woken up and dragged out into the garden in the dead of night 🙂

Haha brilliant! Such a feeling isn't it, a great hobby we endure for sure! Has its ups and downs but the rewards are fantastic. 

[Mariner74]

Bit late but fully relate to that 'wow' moment. Decades ago with a small three inch cheap refractor on Saturn for the first time, to the moon through binoviwer on a twelve inch dob' a few months ago and last night with Neowise on a simple pair of 8 x 40s, followed by Jupiter and Saturn with my new scope. 'Wow' moments never end. Cheers!

[Captain Scarlet]

I've only been into this pastime for 3 years or so, but I still fully get that wow moment every time I look at Jupiter and Saturn. And they're not even close to full crispness yet being so low down to the horizon from the UK.

M

[Dan13]

39 minutes ago, Mariner74 said:

Bit late but fully relate to that 'wow' moment. Decades ago with a small three inch cheap refractor on Saturn for the first time, to the moon through binoviwer on a twelve inch dob' a few months ago and last night with Neowise on a simple pair of 8 x 40s, followed by Jupiter and Saturn with my new scope. 'Wow' moments never end. Cheers!

Excellent  such a good feeling and as you have shown, one that sticks forever!

[Dan13]

33 minutes ago, Captain Magenta said:

I've only been into this pastime for 3 years or so, but I still fully get that wow moment every time I look at Jupiter and Saturn. And they're not even close to full crispness yet being so low down to the horizon from the UK.

M

very surreal at times isnt it! and yes a joy to behold when there at the best! clear skies