Shall I give up now?

[Viktiste]

Posting an Astro picture to get back on track. One of my first successes, after days of failures messing around with equipment in both clear and cloudy weather. My father would have smiled in his grave had he seen this!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mike73]

@AstroNebulee I just noticed your location, when its clear and not too windy you have some amazing dark skies.

I used to observe around Crackington and Davidstow, now I have my van and I have everything I need for astro photography (apart from knowledge😅) I can't wait to head up again (I'm in SE Cornwall, Bortle 4 😕).

 

Edited August 17, 2021 by Mike73

[Ags]

34 minutes ago, nephilim said:

I just kept wanting fish that needed a lot of space

I just went for heavy planting, some celestial pearl danios and a couple of snails. The fish are breeding so they obviously like their home.

  

On the subject of giving up astronomy, I lose motivation from time to time but always come back. Nothing beats sitting outside in the dark, being bitten by mosquitoes, squinting at the sky hopefully!

[nephilim]

26 minutes ago, Viktiste said:

Totally going off topic here: 

Beer brewing (in the glass). 3D printing - the DIY feeder on the top and the flag inside the aquarium. CNC macining - the  PCB inside the DIY feeder. 

Sorry  AstroNebulee  - just goes towards thinking there is more than one hobby

Nice tank there. I look at AP as my nice brain engaging hobby & my mountain biking as the opposite, then theres the alpine mountaineering 😂

[Mike73]

I haven't got a clue about mountaineering or fish but at least its taking my mind of the clouds 👍

[nephilim]

3 minutes ago, Mike73 said:

I haven't got a clue about mountaineering or fish but at least its taking my mind of the clouds 👍

Yep, its still thick cloud up here. In fact I think its actually always been thick cloud & my very few imaging sessions are just fantasy.......

 

[Craney]

..and you can combine Alpine mountaineering with astrophotography.....

This is taken under the Pigne D'Arolla in Switzerland.

[Viktiste]

28 minutes ago, nephilim said:

Nice tank there. I look at AP as my nice brain engaging hobby & my mountain biking as the opposite, then theres the alpine mountaineering 😂

Cool! Were is that if you don't mind me asking?

[AstroNebulee]

44 minutes ago, Mike73 said:

@AstroNebulee I just noticed your location, when its clear and not too windy you have some amazing dark skies.

I used to observe around Crackington and Davidstow, now I have my van and I have everything I need for astro photography (apart from knowledge😅) I can't wait to head up again (I'm in SE Cornwall, Bortle 4 😕).

 

Hi Mike 

I was going to ask where you are in Cornwall. There's not many of us in here. Sadly I don't drive so cannot get to those locations but I'm bortle 3 ish where I am in my village. Your van is perfect for some serious astrophotography on the road and looking good. Clear skies. 👍

[Andy R]

End of September last year to the end of March this year before I had a suitable nights imaging, patient is very much a virtue sometimes in this hobby. 

[nephilim]

55 minutes ago, Ags said:

I just went for heavy planting, some celestial pearl danios and a couple of snails. The fish are breeding so they obviously like their home.

  

On the subject of giving up astronomy, I lose motivation from time to time but always come back. Nothing beats sitting outside in the dark, being bitten by mosquitoes, squinting at the sky hopefully!

Nice little set up there @Ags 🙂 I'm similar with astronomy but now I've finally (after many years) got an AP set up i'm very happy with my enthusiasm is back again. 

[nephilim]

3 hours ago, Craney said:

..and you can combine Alpine mountaineering with astrophotography.....

This is taken under the Pigne D'Arolla in Switzerland.

Nice. I've climbed a fair bit in the Valais region including the Dent de Perroc and the Aiguille de la tsa which is near there. 7 Skiers tragically died on the Pigne back in the April of 2018, we were there that July & it was a sombre affair.

Steve

Edited August 17, 2021 by nephilim

[nephilim]

3 hours ago, Viktiste said:

Cool! Were is that if you don't mind me asking?

@Viktiste The first & third arnt Alpine, first is on the way up to Helvellyn & third is topping out of Pinnacle Ridge on St Sunday Crag, both the Lakes. The second photo is crossing the Bergshrund on Mont Blanc du Tacul on the way to Mont Blanc summit via the Three Monts Traverse route & the fourth is below the Epron des Cosmiques heading to climb the Rebuffat Pierre route (Chamonix) This one is me on the actual Rebuffat route itself. You can make out my friends shadow on the glacier belaying me & i'm just left of the centre on the route

Edited August 17, 2021 by nephilim

[BCN_Sean]

The more something frustrates, the more rewarding it is when it comes together.

This summer I've had not a sniff of anything since June, not for the fact it's been cloudy as it hasn't... It's been so hot and dry that the haze looks like fog and the dust/fire ash is turning the sky an milky grey colour with about mag 3 - 3.5 being the limit of what can be seen (though the moon has chased the murk off now); it's not been a wasted time, though as spent a lot of time looking through some older threads on here, noodling some faults out on Astroberry, chasing down a couple of lenses for the astrograph and sucking up holiday cover.

[david_taurus83]

Sorry folks, I've ordered a new mount so you'll all have to suffer the clouds for at least another 6 weeks!

As has already been said, it's definitely a long term hobby. Especially if your shooting mono. I'm looking to set up a permanent pier in my back garden now though so should make it easier and hopefully if weather is clear can leave things running all night. For the last 3 years or so I've had to stay up and babysit the kit as my last garden wasn't exactly secure. New garden is much better and darker to boot.

[nephilim]

6 hours ago, david_taurus83 said:

Sorry folks, I've ordered a new mount so you'll all have to suffer the clouds for at least another 6 weeks!

As has already been said, it's definitely a long term hobby. Especially if your shooting mono. I'm looking to set up a permanent pier in my back garden now though so should make it easier and hopefully if weather is clear can leave things running all night. For the last 3 years or so I've had to stay up and babysit the kit as my last garden wasn't exactly secure. New garden is much better and darker to boot.

@david_taurus83 Going mono in the uk takes the meaning of patience to a whole new level.

I'd love to get a mono camera, I hate the idea of losing hard fought for photons to the wrong colour well on my OSC sensor but just the thought of having to collect 3x the amount of signal (even though that signal is 3 times stronger........now i've actually written that down there seems to be no real good reason to not have a mono camera 🙄) sends shivers down my spine 😂 
If I lived in a more AP friendly country it would be a no brainer but unfortunately I have to grab those very infrequent clear nights when I can & I like to be able to have enough integration time to start processing an image after each session & then keep adding to it rather than waiting x amount of months just to collect the 'Red' channel I was missing.

Steve 

Edited August 18, 2021 by nephilim

[powerlord]

Hi Steve, I made the addition of mono about 2 months ago - I went straight from DSLR though - I see you already have a cooled OSC. But I've found it awesome. Especially narrowband. Not shot much RGBL tbh.

30 mins each on HSO gets me awesome results on most targets - that was never possible with the DSLR.

stu

[bish]

I'll have breaks from using my scope  of a few months sometimes due to weather/work etc. 

[nephilim]

14 minutes ago, powerlord said:

Hi Steve, I made the addition of mono about 2 months ago - I went straight from DSLR though - I see you already have a cooled OSC. But I've found it awesome. Especially narrowband. Not shot much RGBL tbh.

30 mins each on HSO gets me awesome results on most targets - that was never possible with the DSLR.

stu

Hi Stu, I've only just finished completing my OSC set up (although theres a refractor needed to be bought soon for those Winter/ Spring galaxies) I am tempted by Mono but I think I need to get a good year under my belt,  especially with processing, before I think too seriously about taking the plunge into mono. I can certainly see it been something I'd be looking at though.

Steve

Edited August 18, 2021 by nephilim

[chiltonstar]

On 16/08/2021 at 21:19, powerlord said:

All u need is a really long dew shield. Around 6000ft should do it?

Or a pier the same length.....

Chris

[powerlord]

21 minutes ago, chiltonstar said:

Or a pier the same length.....

Chris

good point. Or, a 6000ft FL OTA ?

stu

[glafnazur]

6 minutes ago, bish said:

I'll have breaks from using my scope  of a few months sometimes due to weather/work etc. 

Me too, weeknights are usually a no go for me due to work so I'm generally relying on a clear Friday or Saturday night.

[nephilim]

13 hours ago, Viktiste said:

Posting an Astro picture to get back on track. One of my first successes, after days of failures messing around with equipment in both clear and cloudy weather. My father would have smiled in his grave had he seen this!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

@Viktiste Thats a really nice image mate & its definitely a target I'll be looking at come winter. My Samyang 135mm lens can fit M42 & the Horsehead in one frame so it's probably the main  group i'll be looking at imaging. I think the hardest part will be processing. As I know it's really easy to blow out the core. I know I'll have to combine long exposures with short exposures. I dont have a clue how to go about doing that in PI but as we've been saying in this thread, its good to have something to do when the clouds roll in 😂

Talking of first images, this one is mine although you may have seen it as i've posted it all over the place in the forum  as I was so happy to have finally taken a proper AP image 🤣. This was also my first time trying to process an image. I took this about 2 or 3 weeks ago & then I spent around 40 hours the weekend before last cramming YouTube videos on how things worked in PixInsight. I found a really good tutorial on transforming OSC data into a Hubble Palette image. I gave myself a massive headache by the end of it all but have to say that i'm over the moon with the end result & that'll keep me going until the next clear night. Unfortunately that will be a long way off yet as I've just ordered a Bahtinov Mask which should arrive tomorrow & keep the skies up here black for a while 😒

Steve

[Helical]

On 16/08/2021 at 19:49, AstroNebulee said:

6 weeks and counting for a clear night and this is the forecast for the 7th week, just hope it changes for the better 😔😔

Judging by your location you will probably catch the tail end  of the odd Pembrokeshire Dangler.(  https://youtu.be/YqE2RKr03j8

Knowing it's probably clear a few miles down the road is sooooo frustrating.

Still it is quite cool having our own named weather phenomenonmenom.

Hope that's cheered you up!!

 

 

[AstroNebulee]

2 hours ago, Helical said:

Judging by your location you will probably catch the tail end  of the odd Pembrokeshire Dangler.(  https://youtu.be/YqE2RKr03j8

Knowing it's probably clear a few miles down the road is sooooo frustrating.

Still it is quite cool having our own named weather phenomenonmenom.

Hope that's cheered you up!!

 

 

That did make me smile, definitely think the Pembrokeshire dangler is here now and has been for sometime. As its usually due in autumn and winter, but we seem to have it now here's hoping autumn and winter will be without one. I'll talk in hushed tones but next week the weather appears to be clearing up with clear skies too, shame its a full moon week but I'll take anything right now haha