|
Venusian Weasel posted:Finally have a clear sky and some time for photography while Comet Lovejoy's at a high altitude for the first time since the 23rd. Lucky Friday the 13th birthday wishes do come true! Good luck tonight and happy birthday!
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2015 03:32
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 29, 2024 08:58 |
|
|
Slightly missed focus on the 135mm shot :/ Had better luck with the 70mm shot. Its tail has gotten a lot shorter since I last saw it, kinda wish I'd been able to track it better.  Last night's probably the last clear night for a week (not to mention last snow-free night for the yard for a while), but I've already planned Valentine's dinner. Important things, you know?
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2015 07:55
|
|
|
We finally had good weather and a free night on Friday, so I had a chance to take out the 100mm refractor I got from my dad. Went out about 40 minutes outside of town and set up at a picnic area during a star party. We got some beautiful views of Jupiter and I was able to get some excellent detail in the bands, even at 200x. Amazing how quick it moves through the eyepiece at that power! We also had some good views of some of the Orion Nebula. I also got to see some other great scopes. One gentleman had a system hooked up to a monitor to get a four second integration shots. Really excellent colors. As an educator I can really appreciate the usefulness. I really want to teach an astronomy class now.
|
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2015 03:14
|
|
|
Dammit, the cold tonight killed my camera and my startracker pretty quick tonight. Only got 85 (20 of which were focusing/framing shots) shots out of the camera before the tracker died, and about 20 more dark frames before the camera followed its example. Sucks, the cold *is* good for lowering the sensor noise, and the skies are really clear. I'm just hoping to get something good out of the shortened imaging schedule.
|
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2015 04:01
|
|
|
Not really viewing-related, but I just bought one of these for my walls and thought astronomy thread might be interested in them too: Several other ink/paper/size combinations here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/alittlelark?section_id=6731340
|
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2015 04:20
|
|
|
Heads up: a bright sungrazing comet swooped in and survived its pass around the Sun last night. Karl Battams, the main comet scientist who runs the spacecraft that discovered it, said the preliminary orbit put perihelion at ~4 solar radii. If it holds together (it's been flaring in brightness which could signal a breakup so this is a big if), it should be emerging from the evening twilight in the next few days. Could still be bright enough to be visible through binoculars at least. Figures that the clouds are supposed to hang around most of the week.
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2015 18:25
|
|
|
Update on that sungrazer: astronomers have been searching for it low in twilight. A loose orbit has been calculated from SOHO data which has it ascending through the circlet of Pisces today and into the Great Square of Pegasus by the start of March. Yesterday's search turned up nothing, and I got in on the game today since it was clear along the horizon. Here's my stacked image of 31x8 second exposures: What I'm curious about is that fuzzy spot just right of center. The bright star to its right is Theta Piscium ( astrometry.net version of the image here), which isn't far from the comet's predicted location. I'm kind of surprised how deep that stack managed to get; checking the Millenium Star Atlas I can ID stars of 10th magnitude in the vicinity of that cloud. If that cloud is indeed the comet, it might explain why attempts to find it lower in twilight yesterday failed - the surface brightness was way too low to pick up. Anyway I tweeted the astrometry.net image to Karl Battams so hopefully he can make heads or tails of it. E: Another update: apparently this is the comet, or what's left of it. The cloud is more or less on top of the predicted location, and has been tentatively ID'd by Battams as the comet. Won't know more until others get a picture, I'm the first person to report getting one. This marks the first recovery of a SOHO-discovered sungrazer (or a sunskimmer more accurately in this case) since the satellite was launched. I feel accomplished! Venusian Weasel fucked around with this message at 23:15 on Feb 26, 2015 |
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2015 07:38
|
|
|
I've had my dob for a couple years now and I'm thinking of upgrading. Does this sound like it will all work together? Orion 110mm EON f/6.0 Orion Atlas EG-Q mount Orion Autoguider Package Looks like all of this is about $3000. Anything else I should look at? I've used some of our clubs SCTs and didn't like them very much. I also have an irrational hate for Celestron's Cleveland Browns color scheme but I could make it work. I'm within driving distance of Astronomics so anything they have would actually be preferable to Orion (if its comparable) just for convenience. Edit: After looking around some more, it looks like another option might be the Explore Scientific ES 102mm Triplet APO with the Celestron AVX mount. Both are available from Astronomics so that might be better if the equipment is roughly equivalent and the mount can handle that. I'm more concerned about getting a suitable mount that I can grow with than the scope, but obviously I don't want a lovely scope. I've heard some people complain about Hoya glass but can't actually find any reasons as to WHY they don't like it. Obsolete fucked around with this message at 20:00 on Feb 28, 2015 |
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2015 02:39
|
|
|
I got out a couple nights ago and took a couple more pictures of Jupiter. The weather's been awesome lately. That's as clear as I can see it, and stacking shots doesn't seem to make any difference. It might just be my camera, since it seemed a little clearer through the eyepiece before I strapped my camera to the scope. I doubt that my Canon T3i was meant for anything like this... It may be time to invest in a dedicated monochrome CCD and a filter wheel. My first attempt at a wide-field shot of Jupiter, overexposed to see a few of its moons:  Next time I'll take a couple shots of the wide-field and stack them, so Jupiter is visible.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 19:41
|
|
|
Golden-i posted:It may be time to invest in a dedicated monochrome CCD and a filter wheel. did you really need an excuse?
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 19:48
|
|
|
Pukestain Pal posted:did you really need an excuse? Fair point. I'm still not 100% sure that the camera is the issue, so it would suck to spend $500+ on a new camera and not make a difference. It might just be something I get this summer regardless, though.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 19:52
|
|
|
Does anyone have any advice on getting a more accurate polar alignment? Even after a 2-star align, my scope tends to be at least a bit off from the target when I slew, and when I find things they tend to slowly drift out of view. I'm thinking my initial polar alignment might be off or something like that.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 14:24
|
|
|
Two nights ago we finally had a night in South Jersey that allowed me to spend more than a few minutes outside. I managed to get about two minutes of video on my Nikon DSLR and pushed it through Registax to come up with an image that I'm pretty proud of: With a 130mm / ~5in scope, should I be able to see the Cassini division? This was with a 9mm eyepiece and a 2x Barlow.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 18:35
|
|
|
Golden-i posted:Does anyone have any advice on getting a more accurate polar alignment? Even after a 2-star align, my scope tends to be at least a bit off from the target when I slew, and when I find things they tend to slowly drift out of view. I'm thinking my initial polar alignment might be off or something like that. What kind of mount is it and how are you setting your polar alignment? If it's just a alt-azimuth fork mount the way I usually did it was point the scope at Polaris and then push the tube down so it was level with the ground. It generally worked for me. I'd have to bump the motors when I was doing high-power observing every few minutes, but that wasn't too bad. Amish posted:Two nights ago we finally had a night in South Jersey that allowed me to spend more than a few minutes outside. I managed to get about two minutes of video on my Nikon DSLR and pushed it through Registax to come up with an image that I'm pretty proud of: Yeah, I think the Cassini division is theoretically visible in a 3-inch telescope, and you shouldn't have much of a problem seeing it in a 5-inch scope visually. It might be hard to get a picture of if the sky's really turbulent, though.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 19:01
|
|
|
My wife and I have set up a darkroom in our house and I'm looking forward to the weather being a bit more hospitable at night for me to take my old 35mm film SLR camera out and taking some pictures. I have no idea what to expect but I'm hoping that with the effective resolution of film I'm going to be able to get some pretty good and pretty detailed pictures of the moon and other solar system objects and not have them be a pixellated mess, since the objects are just so small in the photo. Both of my cameras, the film SLR and the digital SLR are Nikons and I already have the T ring and adapter for prime focus photography. I'm expecting to use the DSLR with it's live view to achieve a good focus on the object I'm going to take a picture of, then switch camera bodies to the film SLR. If I get some decent pictures I'll use the enlarger to print them, then scan them and do the whole registax thing. The only difference is that I only have a darkroom setup for black and white. Shouldn't matter with the moon, but planets won't show any color. GutBomb fucked around with this message at 19:12 on Mar 13, 2015 |
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 19:07
|
|
|
Venusian Weasel posted:What kind of mount is it and how are you setting your polar alignment? It's an equatorial mount. I usually start by pointing at polaris, then adjust the mount to my latitude. I'm wondering if it's a problem because I'm not finding polar north, but I'm not really sure how to find it...
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 19:07
|
|
|
Golden-i posted:It's an equatorial mount. I usually start by pointing at polaris, then adjust the mount to my latitude. I'm wondering if it's a problem because I'm not finding polar north, but I'm not really sure how to find it... Yeah, that's the problem. Polaris is about 3/4 of a degree from the actual north celestial pole, which is why you and me get tracking errors. Here's a good source explaining how to get a more precise alignment if you really need it.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 19:25
|
|
|
Venusian Weasel posted:Yeah, that's the problem. Polaris is about 3/4 of a degree from the actual north celestial pole, which is why you and me get tracking errors. Here's a good source explaining how to get a more precise alignment if you really need it. This is exactly what I need. Thanks!
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 19:32
|
|
|
Amish posted:Two nights ago we finally had a night in South Jersey that allowed me to spend more than a few minutes outside. I managed to get about two minutes of video on my Nikon DSLR and pushed it through Registax to come up with an image that I'm pretty proud of: Just want you to know that this picture fills me with the same magical feeling that looking right at Saturn through the eyepiece of a small scope does, where it sinks in that Saturn is a real place that's actually out there, and not just a collection of abstract characteristics or a special effect created in a studio. 
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2015 03:13
|
|
|
Satellites go here right? Iridium 19. -7.4 mag. Tonight. I forgot I had a two second delay on my camera so I missed the initial but got the maximum.  35mm 13s f5.0 ISO400 Canon 550D, EF-S 18-55mm
|
|
#
?
Mar 29, 2015 11:05
|
|
|
Kommando posted:Satellites go here right? This is really awesome, I've always wanted to try and get a shot of one of those. I tried my first ever video-to-stacked shot of the moon, from last night: 
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2015 22:38
|
|
|
Golden-i posted:This is really awesome, I've always wanted to try and get a shot of one of those. drat thats sharp. What did you use? As for ISS and Iridium, theres an Android app called ISS Detector. Its free version will tell you when and where to look. Paid version adds some other objects like Ham radio and comets.
|
|
#
?
Mar 31, 2015 02:16
|
|
|
Kommando posted:drat thats sharp. What did you use? 8" reflector, Canon T3i. 1080p video through Registax, I think it was about 240 frames in the end.
|
|
#
?
Mar 31, 2015 02:43
|
|
|
So do you all live like way out in the boonies to get these pictures and what not or is this sort of thing possible living near a major city? Just curious really.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2015 21:02
|
|
|
Planetary and lunar imaging is easy inside cities. They're bright and they have a lot of contrast against skyglow. For comets and stuff, it's possible to take pictures in suburban skies, but the results won't be all that great because all the faint detail gets washed out. I'm a bit luckier and live in a mostly rural area, so the worst skyglow is mostly confined to near the horizon and everything else is pretty dark.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2015 21:19
|
|
|
I didn't realize how bad I had it (light pollution wise) till I went to a mountain top. Been thinking about getting a semi cheap telescope because I wanna look at the moon and stuff a bit more. Good to know that isn't a fever dream.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2015 22:02
|
|
|
ZeusCannon posted:So do you all live like way out in the boonies to get these pictures and what not or is this sort of thing possible living near a major city? Just curious really. I live in Australia, there's nothing here but boonies.
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2015 00:20
|
|
|
Partial eclipse is starting. Clouded over here in Seattle, but it should clear up soonish. Got my 90mm setup in the kitchen out the window and grabbing some snaps with my point and shoot camera. Good 'ol ghetto (lazy) setup. Anyone who doesn't have a view due to geography or weather: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-msfc
|
|
#
?
Apr 4, 2015 11:28
|
|
|
Watching it in tucson on my 100mm. A little bit of high clouds, but it still looks great!
|
|
#
?
Apr 4, 2015 11:45
|
|
|
I stumbled on BackyardEOS and all these people mention it but nowhere on the page does it say simply what it does. http://www.otelescope.com/index.php?/store/product/2-backyardeos-31-premium-edition.html
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2015 07:54
|
|
|
Of course it's raining today.
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2015 15:25
|
|
|
That's pretty cool. I have a question say I have a canon eos and wanted to edge into astrophotography (or whatever its real name is ) what are good beginner steps to take?
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2015 17:26
|
|
|
ZeusCannon posted:That's pretty cool. I have a question say I have a canon eos and wanted to edge into astrophotography (or whatever its real name is ) what are good beginner steps to take? Get a wide angle lens and point it at the sky with like a 17 second exposure or something. If you like that, also look up making a simple barn door tracker.
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2015 13:36
|
|
|
Anyone gonna be up at NEAF this weekend? Second time going so I'm pretty excited
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2015 18:28
|
|
|
I did some deep sky exploring with my 8" tonight. It's really been a while since I checked out the spring sky - looking in my old notebooks I haven't done any observing since 2009. Aside from not using my telescope much since I started college, the weather is usually both lovely 2/3 of the time, and really humid and cool the nights the weather's actually good. I don't have a dew heater or a dew shield, so it basically amounts to me having to wipe off the glass on my SCT with a microfiber cloth every few minutes once 11pm hits and everything starts dewing up. Not the greatest for the optics, so I generally just avoid using it. I kind of did some "spring" observing back in the first week of March, it was still kind of cold and dry and I tracked down the M65 and M95 groups. Tonight I changed gears a little and started with M3. I felt like I was on the verge of resolving the central fuzz into stars, but I think the slight haziness of the sky kept me from doing so. That said I was able to hold 3 or 4 brighter member stars on the outside edges of the cluster with direct vision fairly easily, and a few dozen with indirect vision. Sat in a little pentagram of stars and reminded me of a little house for a big family! I checked out M97, the Owl Nebula next. Was somewhat above the skyglow and was in and out of direct vision. Indirect vision didn't give me much more detail, except for a faint wedge of brighter nebulosity that hinted at where the eyes might be. Wasn't able to see the eyes themselves. After that I moved on to M51, because I wanted to see if I could make out any of the spiral structure. M51 itself had a fuzzy core, slightly fainter and more diffuse than its companion, but was overall the brighter galaxy. I wasn't really able to see any spiral structure, except for an arc of light that ran about halfway around the outer edge of the galaxy opposite its companion. Probably will need clearer skies than what I had tonight to make out much more than that, just because the skies were hazing up by the time I got to M51 and there wasn't a great deal of contrast. Visual observing is challenging. I think I'll give myself eyestrain if I keep it up!
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2015 07:37
|
|
|
Spaced God posted:Anyone gonna be up at NEAF this weekend? Second time going so I'm pretty excited Went yesterday, got a pair of Celestron 12 X 70 Cometron binoculars for only $55, it comes with carrying case and tripod adapter.. pretty solid and $8 cheaper than Amazon. Also picked up the EZ Binoc Kit from Peterson Engineering, all I need is to get the pipe cut and I'm going to be sitting/standing pretty with those binocs.
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2015 18:22
|
|
|
ZeusCannon posted:That's pretty cool. I have a question say I have a canon eos and wanted to edge into astrophotography (or whatever its real name is ) what are good beginner steps to take? The mount you get is crucial. Optics are a distant second to the tracking system you muster up. Focusing with telescope optics can be a bear, and I've found the best way is to set it with a Bahtinov mask made out of cardboard. BackyardEOS is some awesome imaging software and will make the transition less insanely difficult. You also need some sort of post-processing image stacker. Be prepared to take a shitload of pictures to be able to create one good one out of them. Correct ISO and shutter are crucial. As far as hardware, you need a threaded camera ring specific to your camera and a 1.25" to threaded camera adapter to mount it like I have in the previous picture.
|
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2015 14:15
|
|
|
Almost done DIYing our telescope accessories. I wanted to have it all ready for International Day of Astronomy, but this weekend is looking to be really crummy for weather.   Did the dew controller a month or two ago, finished the battery last week and just did the dewshield today. I love the way the shield looks, but I made it fit a bit too snug. While it fits perfectly with a layer of black felt on the inside, I wasn't able to wrap that super-cool astronaut fabric around the edges, so it's already beginning to fray a bit. It's also so snug that I don't think I'll be able to wrap a dewstrap around the outside of the tube. Would it be fine to run the dewstrap along the inside lip of the OTA, right next to the corrector plate? I'll be making the straps myself out of 330 ohm resistors.
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2015 04:40
|
|
|
That battery box owns. Mind posting up the features? I see a low voltage disconnect and a fuse block. What are those six connectors? They look to be at least two different styles. How do you plan on charging the battery? Trickle charger on the main terminals?
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2015 14:22
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 29, 2024 08:58 |
|
|
Went out last night for some visual galaxy observing and did way better than I expected! Nailed M51, M81 and M82, M65 and M66 (couldn't seem to find the other one in the Leo Triplet, but I wasn't looking too hard), M87, M104, M106(my favorite), and M63.
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2015 15:41
|
|
