Shall I give up now?

[AstroNebulee]

Resurrecting this post as thinking of going back to visual astronomy with the odd bit of lunar and astrophotography for a while. I think I'll strip my az gti mount from its eq mode back to alt az mode for a bit and see if that gets my mojo back. We had a few clear days back in the earliest part of September but 4 weeks later and still not a sausage again. I must be missing out on so much by not doing visual at the moment and with the part cloudy skies I can still do this and quickly set up the az gti mount and hook the dslr or if at a push my zwo asi120mc-s on the back if I want to for a quick unguided photo, not lost my love for astrophotography atall but missing astronomy in generak. Living in first floor flat and lugging everything down 2 flights of stairs, dangly a extension lead of my window to power everything and then partial clouds roll in and then go is frustrating to say the least. Its an age old battle visual v astrophotography I know, I love astronomy but my mojo has taken a knock in the latter part of the year. 

Edited September 30, 2021 by AstroNebulee

[Mike73]

11 minutes ago, AstroNebulee said:

Resurrecting this post as thinking of going back to visual astronomy with the odd bit of lunar and astrophotography, I think I'll strip my az gti mount from its eq mode back to alt az mode for a bit and see if that gets my mojo back. We had a few clear days back in the earliest part of September but 4 weeks later and still not a sausage again. I must be missing out on so much by not doing visual at the moment and with the part cloudy skies I can still do this and quickly set up the az gti mount, not lost my love for astrophotography atall but missing astronomy in general. 

Yep I completely understand. The last couple weeks have been frustrating with part cloudy conditions and those clouds always appear just as you've got your guiding settled😂.

When I was a visual observer I just didn't understand imaging, couldn't see the point of it when if I wanted to see what an object looks like I'd just Google it but at the end of the day whether you enjoy visual or imaging you do it because you enjoy astronomy. After taking a break from it for a few years I realised just how fortunate and a enjoyable hobby it is no matter what you do, I think you've just got to go with your gut on this one.

 

Anyway........😉🤣

[AstroNebulee]

1 minute ago, Mike73 said:

Yep I completely understand. The last couple weeks have been frustrating with part cloudy conditions and those clouds always appear just as you've got your guiding settled😂.

When I was a visual observer I just didn't understand imaging, couldn't see the point of it when if I wanted to see what an object looks like I'd just Google it but at the end of the day whether you enjoy visual or imaging you do it because you enjoy astronomy. After taking a break from it for a few years I realised just how fortunate and a enjoyable hobby it is no matter what you do, I think you've just got to go with your gut on this one.

 

Anyway........😉🤣

Thanks Mike, yes I know what you mean just do what you enjoy. As I said I love astrophotography but feel I need to reconnect with the heavens again, I know I'll have started off a war between imagers and visuals but as long as we are all doing sonething astronomy wise who cares, we are all in it for one thing and it's the love of astronomy. 😊

[boulderbelly]

 Frustrating as the clouds have loomed once again.. went and bought all my new gear and as usual the heavens have opened🌧️🌧️ still never mind we'll get there!👍👍

[AstroNebulee]

Like I've said in other posts, I cannot leave my set up unattended for one moment as it's in a communal area out my flats and even in rural Cornwall things develop legs and walk. So unlike a lot of other imagers who can leave their set ups for long periods whilst being indoors, just not feasible for me atm I think. When Orion pops around again on the early evening and a decent clear night then I'll image but until then think my gut is correct. 

[Neil27]

I feel your pain. It really hasn’t been great viewing / imaging weather of late.

Since buying my Mesu, Esprit and 268c camera, I’ve had 4 decent nights when everything has aligned.

First 2 nights spent getting the mount and ageing laptop trying to talk to each other and get a handle of how to use this mount, third night getting the camera drivers and focus sorted out. 4th night (last night) trying to start the PA process.

All this since July, it’s a real struggle.  If I didn’t have my observatory I would struggle even more so I understand your comments about leaving your Astro equipment unattended. At least strictly has started so maybe dance classes instead?😂 💃 🕺 

[AstroNebulee]

1 hour ago, Neil27 said:

Since buying my Mesu, Esprit and 268c camera, I’ve had 4 decent nights when everything has aligned.

That's what scares me to as the osc is like to buy zwo asi 294 mc pro is just shy of £1000, I'm not sure how much use I'd get from it. I have a asiair pro which I use to get my images but with rubbish nights no good. 

1 hour ago, Neil27 said:

.  If I didn’t have my observatory I would struggle even more so I understand your comments about leaving your Astro equipment unattended. At least strictly has started so maybe dance classes instead?😂 💃 🕺 

If I had a permanent set up like an obsy or private back garden I'd have no issue as could let it run all night and gain hours of data but I only grab an hours data at most after dithering settling of an evening, so takes me 3 or 4 good nights to match a permanent set up. I'm still hoping to get a ground floor flat I've my eye on if the council let me but tried other ground floor flats before and never got them or a swap. I'm not giving up astro, just thinking of a hiatus from deep sky astrophotography. With my 2 left feet dancing is a no go, I've no rhythm either haha 

Edited September 30, 2021 by AstroNebulee

[boulderbelly]

leave nothing unattended!  I have a hotel across the back from me separated by a 5 foot high wall and  i have seen folk at the windows  looking across the back green  i was out the back one night  last month with my Nikon D4 with the 80-400vr on the pro tripod  taking photos of the local mouse on the forage and i heard someone say from one of the rooms  i wonder if he's going to leave that outside!! 😈 just goes to show it would have walked given the chance!!  TRUST NO ONE!!!