Astronomy session tonight.

[Jnicholes]

Hi everyone,

Tonight, I am taking my refractor out for an astronomy session. I have made my plan for what I am to do during the session.

First, you need to know I have an 80mm refractor with a 900mm focal length. The eyepiece I got in the mail today is a zoom eyepiece. It can go from 7 mm to 21 mm or anywhere in between.

Tonight, I am heading out at 11 o’clock, going to align my telescope to Vega and Polaris using a two star align. Then, I am going to go to two objects I know very well to see if the telescopes goto mechanism works. They are M21, and the Andromeda Galaxy. Assuming the goto mechanism works, I’m going to look at other objects.

Then, when my phone adapter to connect to the eyepiece comes in the mail, I will post pictures of what I see in the sky. It should be here tomorrow.

Tomorrow, assuming I receive the adapter for my phone, I will go after the Whirlpool Galaxy, the Andromeda Galaxy, M21, the Trifid Nebula, the Lagoon Nebula, and others as they come to mind. I will TRY to get pictures of all of them. I have a phone app for astrophotography that lets me do long exposures.

Jared

[Jnicholes]

Change of plans. I got my phone adapter today, to my surprise. I’ll TRY to bring back photos of the session tonight. Going to try to go after the following:

Whirlpool Galaxy, Ring Nebula, Lagoon Nebula, M21, Andromeda Galaxy, M81 and M82, M22, M27, Trifid Nebula, and M13.

If I get good pictures, I’ll post them.

Jared

[Ylem]

Enjoy, Jared!!

Let us know how it goes

[helicon]

Great in Jared!

[Jnicholes]

11:30. Exhausted. Posting my best photo. It was taken with my phone through an astronomy app. Ring Nebula.

Will post the rest of the pictures tomorrow. I need sleep.

Jared

[KingNothing13]

Ambitious plans, Jared! Keep it up, looking forward to see more of your photos!

[Jnicholes]

Good morning!

Here are all the pictures I took.

Lagoon Nebula and cluster

Lagoon Nebula and Cluster

Hercules globular cluster

Hercules cluster

M21 cluster

M21

M82 Galaxy

M82

More on next post.

[Jnicholes]

More photos

Dumbbell Nebula (very faint.)

Dumbbell nebula

M81

M81 Galaxy

Best photo, the Ring Nebula.

Ring Nebula

And that’s it. That’s all the pictures I could get last night!

Jared

[Bigzmey]

Nice catches Jared, well done! You have a good start on Messier AP challenge.

[Jnicholes]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is the Messier AP challenge?

Yeah, I met a few of my goals for objects to see and photograph. I couldn’t get M51, though, due to the crescent moon being close to it.

Oh well.

[Bigzmey]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is the Messier AP challenge?

Yeah, I met a few of my goals for objects to see and photograph. I couldn’t get M51, though, due to the crescent moon being close to it.

Oh well.

TSS has several challenges, completing of which earns you badges and bragging rights. One of such challenges is to photograph 35 objects from the Messier catalog. One can also complete visual observing or sketching of the Messiers.

viewforum.php?f=87

[turboscrew]

Nice work!

[pakarinen]

Nice work!

True! Those are impressive for a phone camera.

[mikemarotta]

Good morning! Here are all the pictures I took. Lagoon Nebula and cluster ... Hercules globular cluster ... M21 cluster ... M82 Galaxy ... 11:30. Exhausted.

Wow. Very impressive. Thanks and congratulations.

... an 80mm refractor with a 900mm focal length. The eyepiece I got in the mail today is a zoom eyepiece. It can go from 7 mm to 21 mm or anywhere in between. ... my phone adapter to connect to the eyepiece ...

I am truly impressed and inspired. What software do you use to process the image?
Which cellphone do you have? What settings? These must be multiple exposures, rapid shots?
You adapter, is it the NexYZ that is popular? (I have one also.)

[Jnicholes]

I have an iPhone 11. The app I use is called nightcap. I use the maximum exposure setting, 1/1. Used the tracking on my telescope to do a long exposure of about 10 seconds.

I used the minimum power of the eyepiece.

The adapter I used I got off of Amazon. I can’t remember exactly what it’s called.

If you are going to try this, the only thing you have to worry about is the wind and the tracking on the telescope. You need to have good tracking for a long exposure, and wind can easily ruin the tracking and the exposure. I had that happen last night with the wind when I was trying to get a photo of M51.

Good luck!

Jared

[Ylem]

Nice Jared!
I really like the Ring!!!

[mikemarotta]

I have an iPhone 11. The app I use is called nightcap. I use the maximum exposure setting, 1/1. Used the tracking on my telescope ...

Thanks! I do not have tracking. So that limits me. However, I will check out the "Nightcap" application. It may help with other projects. I do not engage in astrophotography though I have taken some snapshots with two different phones and two different telescopes.

iPhone 5 Celestron EQ 130 mm Newtonian.

iPhone 11 Explore Scientific 102 mm achro refractor