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Astronomy Photographer of the Year shortlist https://www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/astronomy-photographer-year/galleries/2023-shortlist
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Jun 28, 2023 23:11
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| # ? May 18, 2024 00:51 |
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A lot of gorgeous shots there, but that composite moon photo is amazing.
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Jun 28, 2023 23:45
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may be old news, but NASA has an amateur astrophotography contest, this time focusing on Messier 74: https://mo-www.cfa.harvard.edu/OWN/astrophoto/index.html
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Jul 1, 2023 13:47
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As most of us know: OPT the major astronomy vendor is history and there was an large auction that sold off it's good. The digital assets have been purchased by Agena Astro which includes the brands, website, mailing list, etc. Liabilities and unsettled claims against OPT is being handled by another company. https://optcorp.com/pages/opt-closure-announcement I've always been pleased with Agena Astro's service and selection so I guess this is a good thing.
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Jul 7, 2023 15:43
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Agena is my favorite retailer to deal with. Manish runs a really tight ship and they're always a joy.
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Jul 7, 2023 16:24
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 big Another North America/Pelican. 5.5 hours of narrowband
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Jul 7, 2023 21:15
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I saved up the cash for an Apertura AD10 and a case for it. I bought it. Oh god.
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Jul 10, 2023 04:36
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Star Man posted:I saved up the cash for an Apertura AD10 and a case for it. I bought it. Congrats! If your skies are fairly dark or better you'll be able to see quite a few things. I have 10" Sky-Watcher under Bortle 4 skies and can see quite a bit - lots of grey fuzzies when it comes to many DSOs. You 10" dob comes with a dual focuser which is a nice instant upgrade. I had to upgrade mine. You also will have the RACI which is nice (more ergonomic than most finders) , but if you find it hard to use it to point at something think of adding something like a Telrad or even switching to a dual bracket to add even a red dot or green laser. Also make sure to something to sit on to save your back and neck. My 10" dob is my sit on my rear end and relax scope.
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Jul 10, 2023 15:05
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Star Man posted:I saved up the cash for an Apertura AD10 and a case for it. I bought it. Welcome to the dobsonian club. Got my first one 25 years ago and they've been my favorite possessions ever since.
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Jul 11, 2023 14:33
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IT'S HERE
Star Man fucked around with this message at 00:35 on Jul 13, 2023 |
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Jul 13, 2023 00:26
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gently caress. Yes.
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Jul 13, 2023 22:40
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Easiest piece of Ikea furniture I ever built
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Jul 20, 2023 05:28
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Star Man posted:Easiest piece of Ikea furniture I ever built That's gorgeous! Did you get any accessories with it?
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Jul 20, 2023 06:42
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fondue posted:That's gorgeous! Did you get any accessories with it? Only what it came with. I'll build up to aftermarket accessories. First I need to get a case for eyepieces and other equipment 
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Jul 20, 2023 06:59
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I did an image a couple of days ago
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Jul 20, 2023 13:19
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I also tried to catch a target which is more of a North hemisphere target, as it only just gets above our horizon down south Veil nebula   It was pretty low
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Jul 22, 2023 08:45
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I got my telescope collimated and ready to go.
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Jul 24, 2023 05:59
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Did a couple of images over the weekend 
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Jul 31, 2023 02:26
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What's that second one? Gorgeous.
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Jul 31, 2023 18:35
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that's a picture of space, phanatic
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Jul 31, 2023 19:04
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Achmed Jones posted:that's a picture of space, phanatic 
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Jul 31, 2023 19:10
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It's the Fighting Dragons of Ara , aka NGC 6188, aka Rim nebula Taken with a ASI294MC camera + canon 600mm lens, 105 x 120sec
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Aug 1, 2023 01:27
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As much as light pollution sucks, I feel like an even bigger killer of night sky observing is trees.
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Aug 5, 2023 23:13
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Okay, why in loving hell does Celestron still use Java and jar files?!? I really haven't bothered to update the firmware in the hand controllers until now, but I cannot for the life of me to get the Celestron File Manager to open. I have Windows 10, I downloaded CFM and extracted the files into another folder. I have Java™ Platform SE bit. I used the properties of the CFM.jar file to use the java program to open the jar program. I get loving nothing. I did read about Jarfix, but that program is a nightmare webpage as virtually every "download" link is some BS. I found it on fileplanet and it was bundled with one of those browser hijackings. Windows Security was able to remove it. I looked through CloudyNights and haven't seen any fix to get further than I have. I'm trying to update to version 5.35 for the hand controller NexStar +. Any real fixes out there? It's probably something simple, but I'm stupid with computers it seems.
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Aug 10, 2023 23:42
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I just saw a starlink conga line streak past for the first time and man, Elon sucks rear end. They were brighter than everything in the Big Dipper.
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Aug 12, 2023 05:00
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It was cloudy tonight, but the only thing of note that I saw all night was of course a Starlink train. Go to hell, Musk.
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Aug 12, 2023 05:18
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I replaced the hosed ring gear on my ZEQ mount. See if you can spot the difference! I also renewed the motor at the same time and it is working properly now. I am very happy.     Given the state of the ring gear I expected the worm to be trashed, but nope, looking pretty good.  I suspect there either wasn't enough, or no lubricant so I made sure to grease both the ring and the worm liberally. 
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Aug 14, 2023 01:51
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I had good luck Saturday night. Except for the part where I fell asleep around 2:30 and my intervalometer shut off for some reason, lost about an hour of shooting time. Oops. perseid meteor shower over the boar's tusk I struggled with processing decisions. I wanted it to look as if I was there, and it was dark as poo poo. I tried to tone down the stars to get closer to the human eye but my slider wiggling skills to get rid of dimmer stars were not up to snuff. I really should have taken some shorter exposures to simply not capture the dimmer stars, but I can't rewind time unfortunately. Obviously this deletes the shape of the milky way too, you can see if it you know it's there but my eyes are at the point where I can barely see it anyways so I guess this makes it more "eye accurate." I'm pretty bad at astro processing though so if anyone's got tips I'd love to hear them.
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Aug 14, 2023 17:56
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That is wild. Looks like we just hit warp speed.
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Aug 14, 2023 20:22
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I love how you can see the double cluster and Andromeda.
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Aug 14, 2023 20:50
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How long do the Perseids last? Saturday night and last night we didn't get to go look at anything because of reasons, wondering if it's worth getting out of the city for an hour or so tonight
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Aug 14, 2023 22:33
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After going to monthly star parties since 2022, I've realized that I'm an absolute weirdo among other amateur astronomers because my familiarity with the sky is in constellations and their mythology.
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Aug 16, 2023 15:28
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Star Man posted:After going to monthly star parties since 2022, I've realized that I'm an absolute weirdo among other amateur astronomers because my familiarity with the sky is in constellations and their mythology. As long as one doesn't start to prattle on about astrology, you'll be fine. There was finally a good star party in my area last Friday since all the previous ones were rained, clouded or smoked out. It was well attend compared to last year's parties. Most people pretty normal and curious about scopes and/or just want to see some cool stuff.
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Aug 16, 2023 18:31
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Liquid Chicken posted:As long as one doesn't start to prattle on about astrology, you'll be fine. I don't do astrology. I don't even mind people who are into it, unless they use it to make major life decisions. My foundational night sky knowledge came from books like The Space Atlas and Skywatching and beating them into memory in fourth and fifth grade. With it came reading into Greek mythology, and then developed into an interest in classics. In summary, I'm the humanities major among a bunch if STEMlords.
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Aug 16, 2023 19:32
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xzzy posted:
http://soggyastronomer.com/celestron-cgem-mount-hypertune/
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Aug 17, 2023 17:11
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Cygnus region of the Milky Way 35mm Sigma Art Lens f/2.8 Sony A7RIII ISO 1600 iOptron Skyguider Pro 2h integration With work and weather keeping me in all summer I decided to take a good night and break out my 35mm Sigma f/1.4 and try a wide field shot. The Milky Way looks good but I'm really only happy with how the NA nebula looks and I didn't even center it. Stopping it down effectively controlled the coma. I think I'm going to go to a 50mm lens next time.  55mm SMC Takumar f/5.6 Sony A7RIII ISO 3200 iOptron Skyguider Pro 3h integration Broke out a vintage lens for the second night. Fortunately it focused right at infinity, unfortunately it had catastrophic angelwing coma at anything above f/5.6. Dmitri-9 fucked around with this message at 16:44 on Aug 20, 2023 |
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Aug 19, 2023 17:03
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Two years in to the project, and I'm now 20% of the way through the Herschel 400. Made it through twelve objects tonight. Of course it isn't about the destination... Adding Starsense explorer to my dob has made cranking through long observing lists a bit easier and a lot more comfortable. No more craning my neck and back to look through a finderscope or Telrad. Combined with my observing chair, it has made long observing sessions a lot easier on my increasingly middle-aged rear end.
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Aug 21, 2023 06:32
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My first attempt at solar photography. I've reproduced the image desaturated and in colour. I'm very pleased it worked at all but I definitely look forward to developing the technique. Nexstar Evolution 8 with celestron solar filter, 40mm Plössl eyepiece, Samsung s22 Ultra.  
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Aug 27, 2023 02:35
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Good practice for the eclipse in October. Assuming you’re in that part of NA.
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Aug 27, 2023 02:43
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NZ, so.... no, I think I'll miss it.
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Aug 27, 2023 02:45
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