Freeezing.

[Theninjagecko]

Was sooo cold last night!

Some close up, 2x Barlow shots

1

2

3

And a couple of mosaics.

4

5

[brianb]

Cold - where are you?

Warmth is the enemy of astro imagers, the noise is CCD chips doubles with every 7C increase in temperature. So if it's -5C instead of 10C you get about a quarter the noise. A very useful performance boost .... Cope with the cold by wearing adequate clothing.

Personally I found a thin cotton shirt & summer weight trousers completely adequate last night in all respects except keeping the midges off my skin.

[AztecastroMcJ]

nice pics got same scope

[Ant]

Very very nice!

I love those lunar mosaics.

Keep'em coming.

Ant

[Beyond_Vision]

cold tee shirt and shorts weather .

Nice set of shots and a great looking mosiac

Regards

Kevin

[Theninjagecko]

cold tee shirt and shorts weather .

Nice set of shots and a great looking mosiac

Regards

Kevin

Thats wjhat i had on ... Im serious... lol

[Aza]

Good shots!

You have a nice set of images, but the focus seems a bit hit and miss, or its my tired eyes not recovered from last night yet?!

Have you tried a Bahtinov mask for focussing? Nails it every time, quick and easy

[Psychobilly]

Good shots!

You have a nice set of images, but the focus seems a bit hit and miss, or its my tired eyes not recovered from last night yet?!

Have you tried a Bahtinov mask for focussing? Nails it every time, quick and easy

Just a reminder ... need to focus on a star then come back to the moon when using the masks - they dont work on "extended" objects...

Peter...

[Aza]

Ah yes, should have mentioned that

astrojargon - Bahtinov Focusing Mask Generator: Overview

[steve_bham]

Cold!!!! its almost tropical wicked shots, 3rd one is my fav.

[Theninjagecko]

Not tryed a mask no, but going to look into it now, thanks.

[Aza]

No worries

Its the cheapest and yet most essential bit of kit I have!

[Theninjagecko]

No worries

Its the cheapest and yet most essential bit of kit I have!

ok so i print this off, after putting my scope specs in and then.... ?

[Aza]

Glue to a bit of card and get a very sharp craft knife to carefully cut it out.

Just make sure you have some excess card around the mask which you can use to attach it to the scope.

[Aza]

Something like this:

http://www.nightskyimages.co.uk/bahtinov_mask_80.jpg

[Theninjagecko]

Glue to a bit of card and get a very sharp craft knife to carefully cut it out.

Just make sure you have some excess card around the mask which you can use to attach it to the scope.

got any images if yours? How do i use it ?

[Theninjagecko]

ok i sussed it out now. so i get the correct defraction spike sona star, then slew to the moon and it should be bang in focus? .. Bit of a ball ache with a dew shield but i guess tis worth it.

[Aza]

Yeah you got it.

Put the dew shield on after.

[Tim]

Those are good pics. With a bit of software magickery they could be even better I feel, I really like that up close crater shot.

As for the bahtinov masks, I recommend looking at this ebay shop.

eBay My World - im-a-geekasaurus-and-i-dont-care

I got one of his masks for my SCT, and can vouch for the quality. (I have no connection with the seller)

Every time I have tried with the mask either mounted to the front of the tube, or to the front of the dewshield, the focus has been the same, which makes it easy to check focus as the temperature drops through the night. The bahtinovs really are a godsend.

Cold! LOL

[Theninjagecko]

Thanks for the bay link I will get intouch with him.

I just amde one.... 10 for effort I guess... lol

[Aza]

Looks fine to me mate.

Mine is flimsy as hell, but it works!

Just make sure you focus on a star first, this will not work directly on the moon.

Look forward to your next images, and hopefully a report on the mask

[steve_bham]

theres an article in this months sky at night magazine about this if your intrested.