Woohoo - Freedom !!

[powerlord]

9 months since I've been allowed to use motorhome. But from today can do !!

360 degree views, clear skies forecast all night - bring it on ! Im gonna try for andromeda with the 72ed and DSLR, and the whirlpool nebula/galaxy with the skymax102 and asi224 - prob get nowt with that, but I'll get it a try.

Gonna take some widefields too - see if I can get the milkyway and the motorhome in the shot.

stu

 

[powerlord]

Well, it turned into a totally cloudless night last night, and miles from anywhere, crystal clear skies.

Saying that, I ended up with nothing much to show for it images wise, but was a good experience.

Easily put down to poor planning, and too many new gadgets I tried to test for the first time in the dark.

I tried to capture M51.. but with my ASI224 I'd only just got on my skymax102 - I didn't expect much, but quickly realised I didn't even have any reliable way of knowing I was pointing at it with not other stars in the area... I ended up going to Mars, which worked as a 'dot' - trying to add a barlow and failing miserably at getting that working at all (again never tried before even in daylight!)

I then tried my new ed72 -- again never tried before... realised I hadn't even fitted and aligned a rdf so spent ages getting that aligned to anything. In the end I attached the DSLR and got some shots of the Soul nebula, but not very good ones - 2 min subs with some star trails as hadn't got a good enough alignment.

that said, it was a lovely clear night to see the stars, and not too cold. I saw my first burning red meteor, and my first satellite.

All in all, an experience I will repeat in a few weeks time - next time with a bit more preperation and planning!

stu

[callisto]

Who poured concrete around your motorhome?  🤣

[bish]

Clear dark sky. I'm trying to remember what it looks like...

[reezeh]

When I saw the title, I thought that you'd either retired, won the lottery or got a divorce! 😄

[reezeh]

1 hour ago, bish said:

Clear dark sky. I'm trying to remember what it looks like...

What's a dark sky? 

I've seen unicorns, fairies, the loch Ness monster and Bigfoot, but I've never seen one of those mythical things!