Sunday night/Monday morning Ganymede transit

[mcrowle]

Thought I'd quickly process one AVI of tonight's Ganymede transit, before I go back out and continue watching.

Meade ED 127mm refractor, 5x Barlow and ZWO ASI120MC.

Regards, Mike.

Edited August 30, 2021 by mcrowle

[CraigT82]

Nice shot. Was hoping to get an image of this last night too but clouds had other plans despite clear forecast... c'est la vie! 

Is that the Meade 127mm triplet? How do you find it? They pop up used every now and then and I'm often tempted, seem to be decent value for money. 

[JeremyS]

Great capture 👍🏻

[si@nite]

Well caught, i like the wide field shots showing the moons.

[astroman001]

Well done, it was cloudy in Sussex.

[mcrowle]

2 hours ago, CraigT82 said:

Nice shot. Was hoping to get an image of this last night too but clouds had other plans despite clear forecast... c'est la vie! 

Is that the Meade 127mm triplet? How do you find it? They pop up used every now and then and I'm often tempted, seem to be decent value for money. 

Thanks, Craig. For me it clouded up during the evening after a mostly sunny day, but luckily was clear again after 11pm. Then, once the 'scope was allowed to cool outside for a while the views were superb.

Yes, it is the triplet. I like it a lot, and have taken my best astrophotos through it over the years, and had some of my best views of the Moon and planets. Only my Meade 12" Dobsonian bettered it, though very sadly that one is long gone.

Unfortunately it gets less use these days for deep sky imaging, as I normally employ either a 12" f/4 Newtonian for shorter subs, or a Sky Watcher 80mm for the wider field. That's a pity, really, because the Meade has a far flatter field than either of those and always produced superior results (all be it with longer subs being required, especially compared to the Newt).

I think a lot of users of the triplet replace the focuser with a Moonlight one that has better weight handling. I had some issues early on, but tightened up all the screws - to the extent that there's now no unwanted movement at all (though this has marred the finish on the draw tube).

To be fair there is a little purple fringing on the Moon's limb and bright stars, no doubt something absent on the more prestigious (and expensive) refractors, though I've never found it an issue when viewing or imaging.

Regards, Mike.

[mcrowle]

I mentioned my disappointment with attempts to image the planets with a 12" Newtonian on another thread, but for the record here's my far inferior capture of the closing stages of the Io transit the previous night with that 'scope. I really should stick to the 127mm refractor  .

12" GSO/Revelation Newtonian, 3x Televue Barlow and ZWO ASI120MC.

Regards, Mike.

Edited August 30, 2021 by mcrowle
Added equipment details

[U Cyg]

Well caught!

Nothing but thick cloud here.

[Sunshine]

Nice image!

[Pete Presland]

Veery nicely captured, no chance from here for ages the cloud seems to have been constant for most of the summer months.