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This forum is a bit cold and dark… it doesn’t have to be. Or maybe it does… If we don’t communicate here, maybe we should jettison it from the website, like two droids escaping a compromised Corvette class starship towards Tatooine, or Spock’s casket shot into deep space. The RAC page could be strictly informational… an internet billboard. Spot it, read it, and drive on by.
If anybody is interested in conversing here, add on with your own recent endeavors. I’ll see if I can get this started with my own current astronomy adventures.
I went through my old journals (after digging them up from various places buried in my abode) and realized I should turn in some of my lists to the AL for certificates. I had been adding to them thinking I’d one day turn them in together. There’s not much I can do to further my journals this week. I haven’t completed the Messier binocular list yet, but it’s much easier from a darker sky than I live under. I know one thing, the Herschel 400 is going to take a while. I only nailed three H400s at my last rendezvous with a dark sky.
My other adventure with astronomy is financial. I’m saving up for an imaging setup. I don’t know why I want to do this, but I do. There are plenty of others taking spectacular images of every object we can possibly focus on… and yet I still want to take my own pictures of the same things. I guess that’s why so many people show up and take pictures of the pyramids, the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, etc…). I want to take my own pictures of these astronomical gems, process them myself, and see how it all turns out. But, it’s expensive and it will take me a while. Honestly, I’m glad it’s taking time because I don’t really know what equipment I want. Refractor or reflector? B&W or color? Fast and wide or deep and narrow? Portable or beefier? I want to do it all, but I have to start somewhere.
Tonight, clouds and Moon… and waiting. Waiting for the next opportunity to enjoy this hobby.
What are you all up to?
I’ve been getting familiar with my new setup of scope and mount (Quattro 150P and HEQ5 pro respectively). Below is my attempt of M33 a popular target for amateurs and professionals. It graces the cover of the November 2024 Sky and Telescope and is a tempting target this time of year.
The photo below is 251, 5 second frames stacked with ASI software for the 183 MC camera. The image is unguided and not filtered. Some enhancement in Photoshop Elements was done.My story today discusses something old and something new. I recently severely cracked the corrector plate of my Meade 10 in SCT while moving it. As corrector plates are not off the shelf items I haven’t found a replacement. This loss triggered me to do something with my old Meade 8 in SCT which was collecting dust in my basement as it has a broken clock drive. It is also 38 years old! So I “deforked” the OTA from the defunct clock drive and its arms and invested in nice tube rings from Rouz Astro and mounted it on my new Sky Watcher mount. I plan to use this setup for planetary observing and photography.
Today I am on the way to the Okie-Tex Star Party! I think Randy and Jerome are going to be there as well.
I am taking my new setup of the Quattro 6 inch f/4 scope and HEQ5 Pro mount and hope to get some nice pics.
I used this combo a few nights ago to get the below picture of the Helix Nebula. I was surprised by the large size and color that one can get with stacking 400+ , 5 second images.Attachments:
Nice. Much shorter setup and all around more manageable I would suspect. I always liked my 8″ SCT and they are great for planetary imaging (and all other angularly small objects).
That should work nicely.
Look at this fantastic pic from SOHO today of a massive CME and the comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS near the sun! We may get another G4 geomagnetic storm on Oct 10 and the comet may lose it’s tail!
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