EAA in the Summer?

[Fir Chlis]

This is the time of year when I'd normally be putting my scope away until September for visual observing, but now I'm doing EAA I'm hoping to be able to extend my astronomy further into the Summer (without losing too much sleep!), so I was wondering about advice /tips for EAA during the Summer months - e.g. suitable target types.

I'm guessing that it may be the equivalent of going up a few Bortle levels.

I'm wondering also whether to switch to more of an astrophotography mode, but using typical EAA exposures /durations, with the SharpCap Sequencer - e.g. capture a set of targets in the middle of the night, and then play back the raw frames with the Folder Monitor Camera to simulate a live session the next day.

 

Geoff

[PeterC65]

I don't do even EAA between the middle of May and the end of July when it's not astronomically dark, but in August I concentrate on widefield as the Milky Way is more above the horizon for me. I already have the FMA135 which gives me 4.7° and this year I've bought an old Pentax 55mm M42 lens that will give me 11.6°.

I'd be very wary about leaving the kit outside unattended, but I have used SharpCap to play back live EAA sessions (for a demo to my local astro club) and that works well. If you set the playback frame rate to match the exposure time then the experience is identical to live.

 

[Jonathan_Shields]

Even in June its darkish by 11, so globular clusters, open clusters, brighter planetary nebulae and planets are still viable although staying up till then is a weekend only endeavour for me. To be honest last year I still did nebulae etc in the summer and just saw what I could see. A filter like the Baader Neodymium or L Pro at least gives you a bit more constrast. A narrowband filter maybe even better although neither is going to alleviate things entirely.