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I've been goofing around with a homemade filter that only lets through light at a wavelength of 393.3nm. Actually I was wondering if there was anything that lets through more UV light than Baader Solar Film since I tried to look at the sun with this filter + Baader Film and Baader seems to slaughter UV and IR light and I was curious to see what the sun would look like when viewed at the calcium K line? Anyway, here are some results. Using this wavelength a camera can see trees through fog and also indoor lighting is pitch black. Flowers would probably look fly as heck in UV too but I've been too busy to investigate.    
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Dec 28, 2016 14:54
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So the GF got me This Accessory Kit for my 70MM scope and while the scope is great for the price for stuff I can keep in it's view, I badly need a new tripod for actual usage. What would anyone recommend as an upgrade tripod short of a motorized one? Hell if a motorized one would be within a reasonable price for this scope that would be an option as well. This scope doesn't weigh anything to move which is both a blessing and a curse I suppose as the lack of weight makes aiming a bit less stable against the friction mounts.
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Dec 28, 2016 18:36
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ZeusCannon posted:So dumb question but one I'm curious about. What causes those much darker patches on the moon? Just different types of.. Moon sediments? I would assume shadowed craters but those stains look separate from craters. Cooled lava flows from when the moon was still geologically active.
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Dec 28, 2016 22:53
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They're called Mare, right?
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Dec 29, 2016 05:16
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PerrineClostermann posted:They're called Mare, right? Correct. It's Latin, so it's pronounced MAH-ray, with the plurial maria (MAH-ree-uh). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_mare
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Dec 29, 2016 05:22
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that'd be the moon seas, upon which the moon men ply the waves in their moon galleons
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Dec 29, 2016 09:38
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OMGVBFLOL posted:that'd be the moon seas, upon which the moon men ply the waves in their moon galleons 🎜 We're whalers on the Moon, we carry a harpoon 🎜 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doJj5hKyXuw
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Dec 29, 2016 10:00
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OMGVBFLOL posted:that'd be the moon seas, upon which the moon men ply the waves in their moon galleons Welp cooled lava mare is pretty cool. But this is what I'm telling my son when he is older. ZeusCannon fucked around with this message at 00:04 on Jan 3, 2017 |
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Jan 2, 2017 22:55
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FINALLY got all my equipment working, and had a free evening on a clear night. First "real" non-moon shot through my telescope. M42 because it's big, bright, beautiful, and easy! Astroview EQ 6 on an Orion Atlas Canon SL1 ISO 1600 25 @ 45 Seconds 5 @ 15 Seconds 5 @ 8 Seconds 5 @ 3 seconds 5 Dark 10 Bias Had some issues with tracking I think; had to throw away a non-trivial amount of subs. Other than that, proud of it!
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Jan 25, 2017 18:24
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Low-Pass Filter posted:FINALLY got all my equipment working, and had a free evening on a clear night. First "real" non-moon shot through my telescope. M42 because it's big, bright, beautiful, and easy! That is stunning.
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Jan 25, 2017 18:55
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Low-Pass Filter posted:FINALLY got all my equipment working, and had a free evening on a clear night. First "real" non-moon shot through my telescope. M42 because it's big, bright, beautiful, and easy! That looks like a damned painting. Incredible.
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Jan 26, 2017 01:51
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Low-Pass Filter posted:FINALLY got all my equipment working, and had a free evening on a clear night. First "real" non-moon shot through my telescope. M42 because it's big, bright, beautiful, and easy! good poo poo
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Jan 26, 2017 07:16
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World's dumbest man attempts telescope: So I just picked up a Williams Optics Star 71 II imaging refractor. I can't seem to lock the focus. It has a 2.5" rack and pinion focuser with a locking thumbscrew, just like my Orion 80ED, but I can't seem to get the focus to lock. Tightened down all the way, I can still rack the focus in and out. I feel like this is an incredibly stupid issue and I'm like 95% sure I'm just missing something completely obvious, but I can't seem to sort this out. Any ideas? EDIT: I think it's just a tensioner and not an actual focus lock. Apparently that's a thing. I got it outside last night and didn't notice the focus drifting. Obsolete fucked around with this message at 22:30 on Feb 18, 2017 |
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Feb 17, 2017 16:03
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Low-Pass Filter posted:FINALLY got all my equipment working, and had a free evening on a clear night. First "real" non-moon shot through my telescope. M42 because it's big, bright, beautiful, and easy! Wow you sure got your money's worth! (Esp. considering just the scope is 1.5K on Amazon)
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Feb 24, 2017 21:20
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I took the aforementioned William Optics Star 71 out on Saturday night. Since it's February and everyone loving loves Orion, I pointed it at that region for a few hours. I took some 30s and some 5s to eventually blend into the core but honestly I'll probably never get around to it.
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Feb 27, 2017 20:00
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Really awesome picture. Last weekend I had my scope trained on the Orion/Taurus region for about 5 hours. I've had this scope for a little over a year now and that's definitely my favourite bit of the sky right now. It's a shame it's a winter constellation because no one ever wants to come look with me! I really need to get a clock drive for my dob or something
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Feb 28, 2017 03:30
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Obsolete posted:I took the aforementioned William Optics Star 71 out on Saturday night. Since it's February and everyone loving loves Orion, I pointed it at that region for a few hours. I took some 30s and some 5s to eventually blend into the core but honestly I'll probably never get around to it. drat, looks phenomenal
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Feb 28, 2017 04:14
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Obsolete posted:I took the aforementioned William Optics Star 71 out on Saturday night. Since it's February and everyone loving loves Orion, I pointed it at that region for a few hours. I took some 30s and some 5s to eventually blend into the core but honestly I'll probably never get around to it. Pictures like this make me want to get into this so bad.
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Feb 28, 2017 23:06
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So after getting pissed off at DeepSkyStacker for the thousandth time, I bought Inside PixInsight and that program has finally clicked for me. I had read some stuff a while back (the usual recommended tutorials) but never quite put the time into learning it, but the book is pretty good and straightforward and walks you through a full workflow (although I have a few issues with it here and there, nothing major though). It's too bad PI is so expensive, I feel like most of the image processing algorithms probably exist out there in Python libraries or whatever, they just don't have a fancy UI wrapped around them. Someone make an open source PI clone so I don't have to.
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Mar 3, 2017 06:22
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Just a reminder that the next four weeks are a really good time to view Jupiter, since it hits opposition on April 7. Also, Saturn hits its solstice in May sometime, providing the most dramatic views of its rings. It's a bit inconvenient to see in April and May since it rises pretty late and you really only get decent views between like 2-4 AM, but by early June it will be rising in the southeast around 9:30 PM (and the moon will be in the west). Saturn's next solstice will be in 2032, so catch the rings this year if you can! Van Dis fucked around with this message at 19:07 on Mar 25, 2017 |
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Mar 25, 2017 18:10
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Thanks for the heads up. Apparently Saturn's solstice is May 24 (thread).
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Mar 25, 2017 18:59
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Oh cool, I'm glad someone did the actual calculations for Saturn's "seasons". Thanks for finding that!
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Mar 25, 2017 19:08
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last time jupiter was in opposition, while it was directly overhead i was able to see bands in its atmosphere with a 12-60x spotting scope zoomed in all the way. felt cool as hell
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Mar 25, 2017 20:30
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What does "opposition" mean in this context?
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Mar 27, 2017 16:47
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hogmartin posted:What does "opposition" mean in this context? It's directly opposite the Sun in the sky. It's a good time to observe an outer planet, since it's about as close as it ever gets (we're passing it on our "inside track") and it's visible all night, rising at sunset and setting at sunrise. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_(planets)
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Mar 27, 2017 16:53
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and it's "full"
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Mar 27, 2017 17:29
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Van Dis posted:Just a reminder that the next four weeks are a really good time to view Jupiter, since it hits opposition on April 7. Oh that's cool, it's just in time for spring break! I just bought my first scope (Zhumell Z8) and was planning on getting familiar with it over spring break. I hope I get some good views of Jupiter.
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Mar 29, 2017 03:01
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Obsolete posted:I took the aforementioned William Optics Star 71 out on Saturday night. Since it's February and everyone loving loves Orion, I pointed it at that region for a few hours. I took some 30s and some 5s to eventually blend into the core but honestly I'll probably never get around to it.
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Mar 29, 2017 03:14
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I haven't looked at the sky with more than the naked eye in years. Found this thread hoping for some pointers on getting started, ordered the book mentioned in the OP and I'm hoping to pick up a pair of binoculars later this week. I just wanted to say that the pictures you guys are posting are mind blowing and beyond what I thought was possible without government agency levels of funding and work.
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Apr 3, 2017 18:04
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Speaking of binoculars, is there some kind of universal mount that will attach them to e.g. a camera tripod? I have some decent Fujinon 7x50s that work just fine on a boat, but my hands are unsteady enough that looking at planets gets a little frustrating, even bracing with the neckstrap.
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Apr 4, 2017 18:42
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This site is a good starting point regarding binocular-mount options for astronomy.
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Apr 6, 2017 09:37
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I was going to post that NEAF 2017 was coming, but it's actually come and gone and by the time I realized it was last weekend, I was already making a mad dash to get to the bus going there. One good thing about shows like this is how you can get a feel for the companies. I'm still shopping for a decent computer-driven scope, but I got a LOT of good info at the show just by talking to the vendors. Will probably wind up getting a Meade ETX 80 or 90. Did I look at the Celestrons? Yeah, I did, but the models Celestron was showing off were being shown by sales superstars who were too busy talking to magazines and astrocurmudgeons and could give a poo poo less about me. And they were literally giving away jack poo poo, and you had to go to their little talk in another part of RCC (Rockland Community College) to sign up for giveaway raffles. Meade, however, had several sales staff completely open, and all of them actually walked me through different parts of a typical alignment session with an ETX 90, showed how all I had to do was point the scope to either true or magnetic north, then center two stars in the scope using nothing but the hand controller, and the scope did everything else. They gave me tips like picking up a Celestron Power Tank (rather than keep eight AA batteries handy) , recommended eyepiece accessories, showed me how the carrying case gets packed, how sturdy the provided tripod was, how much it all weight, pretty much everything short of waiting for night and setting up the scope. They even pointed out how I couldn't use, but didn't need a laser colliminator to align the mirror because it's a Maksutov-Cassegrain design. To top it off, they gave me two stress balls (the sun and an asteroid,) a catalog, some free stickers, and a free Coronado tote bag and said they couldn't sell me one direct but cheerfully pointed out the booths where I could buy their scope and get a show price if I wanted.
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Apr 14, 2017 19:25
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So is this JO25 asteroid going to be hard for me to spot tonight with my telescope or should it be fairly easy? I'm not a pro with it and wonder if it's going to be too hard to find. I'm in Utah and it's supposedly visible but I'm not seeing anywhere telling me where to look in the sky Edit: found some info http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/large-asteroid-2014-jo25-close-april-19-2017-how-to-see GutBomb fucked around with this message at 19:25 on Apr 19, 2017 |
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Apr 19, 2017 19:22
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GutBomb posted:So is this JO25 asteroid going to be hard for me to spot tonight with my telescope or should it be fairly easy? I'm not a pro with it and wonder if it's going to be too hard to find. I'm in Utah and it's supposedly visible but I'm not seeing anywhere telling me where to look in the sky Did you manage to get a look at it? I wanted to see it too, but I'm a total noob and had no idea how to even go about finding it. I was excited because I thought it was going to be visible to the naked eye and therefore easy to find.
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Apr 21, 2017 03:01
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I tried but I just couldn't find it.
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Apr 21, 2017 05:02
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I took out my celestron nexstar 9.25 out last night for the first time since last year what can I say I'm a wimp when it comes to cold weather and took some pictures with it. Now I've half assed astrophotography before, just taking the lights never flats or darks or really any post processing since I know it's not the easiest to do it with my telescope but I've decided to start getting serious about it so I have just ordered a ed80 so I thought I would start practicing until it gets here. I think my first serious attempt turned out ok. the Whirlpool galaxy 10 unguided exposers at 1 minute 50 seconds 1600 iso each And the Sombrero Galaxy 10 exposures 80 seconds each 800 iso 
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May 14, 2017 22:22
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Is anyone looking at Tabby's Star?
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May 17, 2017 06:43
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Double posting because gently caress: https://twitter.com/Astro_Wright/status/865528682114203648 quote:ALERT:  That's totally a dyson sphere.
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May 20, 2017 06:45
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Wow, just devoured this entire thread over the last few days... Not exactly a high-traffic thread but thought I'd  anyway.I got into astrophotography last winter after getting an iOptron SkyTracker and using my Nikon DSLR and telephoto zoom lens, and managed to get some decent shots...   But I started to get the feeling my optics were letting me down, in that I'd get significant distortion towards the edges of the frame, and getting what I wanted to shoot in the centre of the frame was really hard with the ball head mount. Small adjustments were insanely frustrating. So I thought I'd take the plunge and go for a proper telescope and mount to do AP with! Can any of you guys sanity check this little shopping list to see if this'll get me further into this ridiculous hobby? Is this all I'll need to attach my D500 body to the mount and get started? SkyWatcher HEQ5 mount SkyWatcher Evostar 80 ED DS PRO refractor telescope 0.85x reducer/field flattener m48->Nikon T ring adaptor + leisure battery and wires/connectors to power the mount while I'm out at my dark site.
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Jul 5, 2017 20:49
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i'm no pro in this, but all of that checks out! You seem to be following the "recommended" path of a relatively short refractor and that pretty much the standard kit. You'll probably bump into wanting a guide camera pretty quickly, because that mount is certainly solid enough base to get some long exposures. That said, with a little polar alignment care, you should get 45-60 sec subs out of that unguided. Your DLSR images look great! How many subs/darks is that Andromeda image?
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Jul 6, 2017 19:36
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