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Autumn truly is my favorite time of the year, cool evenings with little to no skeeters. Tonight, is to be another clear night with a low of 52 degrees, humidity is currently a little higher now than it was yesterday, it’s a balmy 70%. Sunset is at 19:03 and moonrise is 20:48. I won’t get to see the Moon until around 22:30 or so once she clears the horizon and the tree line to the east of me. I’ll have plenty of time to get my alignment straight. Batteries for the illuminator are here so that will prove to be a great assistance in the process with the reticle. I will insure I have the correct coordinates set in the mount. After last night, I don’t think that will be a lesson soon forgotten, my legs are still feeling the pain of squatting for close to two hours. I’ve also reconfigured the mount to the tripod to help with rough alignment. I set the single leg so it will be pointing to the north instead of south. I will also eyeball the alignment of the mount with the weight rod extended and made sure it’s centered to the northern facing tripod leg. I can’t get any closer than that until the mount is in place and leveled. I’m going to takes some shots of the Moon using the Optalong L-Pro filter and see how they come out, should be interesting. I suspect I’ll have to increase the exposure time.
EP to be used are 25mm, 12.5mm reticle, and 5mm in conjunction with a 2x Barlow. The 12.5 is lighted with double cross hairs with a 40-degree FOV. Filter to be used is the Optalong L-Pro.
I got outside around sundown and again enjoyed the Autumn air, the fact that there were no skeeters was wonderful. Jupiter came up over the trees to the east and south so I started polar alignment. It went a lot smoother with the reticle now having light. I also figured since I was only going to do a 1-star alignment I didn’t need to wait to for astronomical twilight to end. I made sure the GPS coordinates were set and about 15 minutes later I was done. Tracking wasn’t perfect but definitely a lot better than the previous night. Jupiter still drifted slightly but again, nothing like the night before. When Saturn showed up, I did a Go To and she was in the eye piece though not quite centered. This was her first light through my scope and I was stunned.
I could clearly make out Saturn’s rings, though they all looked like one big one. I switched back and forth between the three EP while occasionally looking at her up in the sky with just my eyes. My blood was rushing and I stared at her until the Moon came up and washed her away., that lasted a little over an hour. I switched to Jupiter and got to see her for another 10 minutes clearly before the Moon’s light turned her into nothing more than a bright dot. That was around 21:50. The AP target for the night was going to be the Moon.
I figured out how to get the 5mm to focus with the 2x Barlow by pulling the barrel back in the Barlow. Figured since the Canon needed some additional back focus in the image train the 5mm would be the same way and I was right. Unfortunately, I didn’t think of it in time to look at Saturn using the 5mm with the Barlow, next time.
The Moon showed herself just starting to peek through the trees above my house to the east around 22:00. I had been sitting for a couple of minutes when my oldest nephew joined me. H was worried that he might have been disturbing me, no, definitely not. We talked for a few moments then I started to show him the scope configuration. I attached the Canon with the L-Pro to the OTA and reestablished my tablet’s connection to the mount PC. I tracked in on the Moon and there she was in Live View. It was an awesome thing to see the trees moving down while the Moon stayed centered in the camera. He thoroughly enjoyed the demonstration and especially enjoyed the live feed of the Moon. He was mesmerized when I zoomed in and could see crater details. He loves tech too. We chatted for a while until the Moon finally emerged from behind the trees. I experimented with several different ISO and exposure settings until I decided on ISO 400 exposure 1/500. The only difference was the ISO setting from the previous night, it was 100. I took 30 light, 10 dark and 10 bias, I’ll set the scope up and take some flats this weekend. We’ll see what we will see.
Clear Skies!
Last edited by chris_g on Sat Sep 25, 2021 3:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
Image Cam: Canon 6D (Ha mod), 600D (Stock), SVBony SV405CC
Image OTA: EvoStar ED80, WO Z73, C8-A XLT
Mount: EQ6-R Pro Pier, AZ-EQ5 Pro Pier
Guide OTA: Orion 60mm, WO 32mm, ZWO OAG, SV501P
Guide Cam: ZWO 120mm, 290mm mini
EAA OTA: Orion ST80
EAA Cam: SVBony SV705C
EP: Baader Hyperion Modular Set
Filters: L-Pro Canon EOS C, L-eNhance, L-Pro, Optolong Ha 7mm, Optolong Oiii 6.5mm, Optolong Sii 6.5mm, ES H-Beta
Session Control: Mini PC/Win11 Pro, APT 4.1, PHD2 2.6.10
Processing: PixInsight, DSS 4.2.6, Adobe PS CC, Astronomy Tools Action Set, Star Spikes Pro
I'm slightly envious: here a clear autumn night would itself be an observation these days. :wink:
- Juha
Senior Embedded SW Designer
Telescope: OrionOptics XV12, Mount: CEM120, Tri-pier 360 and alternative dobson mount.
Grab 'n go: Omegon AC 102/660 on AZ-3 mount
Eyepieces: 26 mm Omegon SWAN 70°, 15 mm TV Plössl, 12.5 mm Baader Morpheus, 10 mm TV Delos, 6 mm Baader Classic Ortho, 5 mm TV DeLite, 4 mm and 3 mm TV Radians
Cameras: ZWO ASI 294MM Pro, Omegon veLOX 178C
OAG: TS-Optics TSOAG09, ZWO EFW 7 x 36 mm, ZWO filter sets: LRGB and Ha/OIII/SII
Explore Scientific HR 2" coma corrector, Meade x3 1.25" Barlow, TV PowerMate 4x 2"
Some filters (#80A, ND-96, ND-09, Astronomik UHC)
Laptop: Acer Enduro Urban N3 semi-rugged, Windows 11
LAT 61° 28' 10.9" N, Bortle 5
I don't suffer from insanity. I'm enjoying every minute of it.
turboscrew wrote: ↑Fri Sep 24, 2021 5:09 pm
I'm slightly envious: here a clear autumn night would itself be an observation these days. :wink:
Not to make you envious but another clear night again tonight, I do love the night. Looking forward to retirement when I can make this my full time "job" that's still a few years out though.
Image Cam: Canon 6D (Ha mod), 600D (Stock), SVBony SV405CC
Image OTA: EvoStar ED80, WO Z73, C8-A XLT
Mount: EQ6-R Pro Pier, AZ-EQ5 Pro Pier
Guide OTA: Orion 60mm, WO 32mm, ZWO OAG, SV501P
Guide Cam: ZWO 120mm, 290mm mini
EAA OTA: Orion ST80
EAA Cam: SVBony SV705C
EP: Baader Hyperion Modular Set
Filters: L-Pro Canon EOS C, L-eNhance, L-Pro, Optolong Ha 7mm, Optolong Oiii 6.5mm, Optolong Sii 6.5mm, ES H-Beta
Session Control: Mini PC/Win11 Pro, APT 4.1, PHD2 2.6.10
Processing: PixInsight, DSS 4.2.6, Adobe PS CC, Astronomy Tools Action Set, Star Spikes Pro
turboscrew wrote: ↑Fri Sep 24, 2021 5:09 pm
I'm slightly envious: here a clear autumn night would itself be an observation these days. :wink:
Not to make you envious but another clear night again tonight, I do love the night. Looking forward to retirement when I can make this my full time "job" that's still a few years out though.
Retirement... don't twist the knife in the wound...
- Juha
Senior Embedded SW Designer
Telescope: OrionOptics XV12, Mount: CEM120, Tri-pier 360 and alternative dobson mount.
Grab 'n go: Omegon AC 102/660 on AZ-3 mount
Eyepieces: 26 mm Omegon SWAN 70°, 15 mm TV Plössl, 12.5 mm Baader Morpheus, 10 mm TV Delos, 6 mm Baader Classic Ortho, 5 mm TV DeLite, 4 mm and 3 mm TV Radians
Cameras: ZWO ASI 294MM Pro, Omegon veLOX 178C
OAG: TS-Optics TSOAG09, ZWO EFW 7 x 36 mm, ZWO filter sets: LRGB and Ha/OIII/SII
Explore Scientific HR 2" coma corrector, Meade x3 1.25" Barlow, TV PowerMate 4x 2"
Some filters (#80A, ND-96, ND-09, Astronomik UHC)
Laptop: Acer Enduro Urban N3 semi-rugged, Windows 11
LAT 61° 28' 10.9" N, Bortle 5
I don't suffer from insanity. I'm enjoying every minute of it.
Not to make you envious but another clear night again tonight, I do love the night. Looking forward to retirement when I can make this my full time "job" that's still a few years out though.
Retirement is absolutely great!!!
Unfortunately, I only get limited amounts of imaging time due to the weather. I am on night 16 tonight so far for the year.
If I had decent weather, I might be able to get good at this!
Retirement is coming Chris!
Jim
Scopes: Explore Scientific ED102 APO, Sharpstar 61 EDPH II APO, Samyang 135 F2 (still on the Nikon).
Mount: Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro with Rowan Belt Mod
Stuff: ASI EAF Focus Motor (x2), ZWO OAG, ZWO 30 mm Guide Scope, ASI 220mm min, ASI 120mm mini, Stellarview 0.8 FR/FF, Sharpstar 0.8 FR/FF, Mele Overloock 3C.
Camera/Filters/Software: ASI 533 mc pro, ASI 120mm mini, ASI 220mm mini , IDAS LPS D-1, Optolong L-Enhance, ZWO UV/IR Cut, N.I.N.A., Green Swamp Server, PHD2, Adobe Photoshop CC, Pixinsight.
Dog and best bud: Jack
Sky: Bortle 6-7
My Astrobin: https://www.astrobin.com/users/Juno16/
Hello Chris. A very nice observing report from you. I am glad that you had nice sky conditions and enjoyed viewing Saturn and the Moon and shared the great views with your nephew too. I too have used that trick when there isn't enough focuser back travel by lifting the Barlow part way out and re-tightening the set screws. Thanks for your enjoyable report Chris and I hope that you have another opportunity like this again soon.
Marshall
Sky-Watcher 90mm f/13.8 Maksutov-Cassegrain on motorized Multimount
Orion Astroview 120ST f/5 Refractor on EQ3 mount
Celestron Comet Catcher 140mm f/3.64 Schmidt-Newtonian on alt-az mount
Celestron Omni XLT150R f/5 Refractor on CG4 mount with dual axis drives.
Orion 180mm f/15 Maksutov-Cassegrain on CG5-GT Goto mount.
Orion XT12i 12" f/4.9 Dobsonian Intelliscope.
Kamakura 7x35 Binoculars and Celestron SkyMaster 15x70 Binoculars. ZWO ASI 120MC camera.
>)))))*>
Nice report Chris, it's great sharing the hobby with others is brilliant - the sudden enthusiasm when they first see targets is very rewarding. Saturn and Jupiter are a bit better position than last year in the UK. But wherever you are the Moon will eventually track you down
Wonderful report @chris_g and congratulations on winning the VROD for your outstanding planetary session.
-Michael Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50 Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl Camera: ZWO ASI 120 Naked Eye: Two Eyeballs Latitude: 48.7229° N
Congrats on the VROD. Nice report. We are entering a rainy stretch here but I won't complain after the drought from the summer. Our aquifers need replenishing.
Keep calm and set SCE To AUX
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