Some thoughts from my last session

[imakebeer]

I'm not really sure where to post this so feel free to give me a nudge if somewhere else would be more appropriate...

I was finally blessed with a few hours of clear dark(ish) skies on Wednesday night and managed to get out again and do some telescoping for a couple of hours 😁

Up to now I've done my polar alignment directly on Polaris, but this time I used Stellarium on my phone and aimed slightly offset to where I reckoned the pole was. Not sure if it was luck or judgement but the subsequent planetary images floated pretty much horizontally across the view instead of diagonally, and didn't seem to drift as much. Hopefully a small step in the right direction.

I was a bit late getting out so Saturn had disappeared already, though I'm still hoping to have another bash before it's gone completely. But Jupiter was sitting nice and high for me so I started there and tried 3000 frames (about 2.5mins worth) at 3 different ISO's and shutter speeds. Then I moved round to Mars which is sitting a little higher now and did 2 x 3000 frames there. I've posted some pics of Jupiter and Mars here. Not amazing but I think I've got the hang of the general process for planets now. There may be a few minor tweaks I can do in the software, and hopefully upgrade the scope in the near future.

I also did 3000 frames on the moon but I wasn't happy with the results so I need to check the process in Autostakkert and Registax, I'm not sure if you need different settings for Lunar vs. planets? Learning point though - for this stage I removed the eyepiece from the adapter to give a wider FOV and hopefully fit in the entire disc (which I did eventually). Initially I wondered why I couldn't see anything until I realised I hadn't refocused 🤣 But in doing so I found I didn't have enough inward travel to focus until I completely removed the eyepiece projection adapter and attached my DSLR directly to the OTA - maybe not surprising but I find you remember best when you learn from your own mistakes.

The other day I was asking about the Andromeda Galaxy M31 and I've decided now I'm on a mission to image it. Not going to be easy with my current basic setup, but you have to start somewhere. But it was near as dammit full moon and one thing I noticed was while I could see Beta-And. (Mirach), I couldn't even make out Mu-And unaided. I tried some 30s exposures with a DSLR on a static tripod - wide open I can capture the rough constellation but with M31 more or less at zenith I couldn't get it lined up to zoom in, and when I tried I got star trailing as expected. It may be beyond my reach for now with my current gear but I'd like to make whatever progress I can, even if it's just to understand the process and how to drive the software.

By the time I packed up around 11.30pm (I don't think all-night sessions will be very compatible with family life!) Orion had appeared, a reminder for next time to take a look at the Orion Nebula too.

Onwards and upwards! 👍🔭