The Moon, Saturn and clouds

[Thefatkitty]

Hi everyone, hope all is good

I've been hoping for some clear skies at least this month. A lot coming up, sky-wise. Thursday night (May 3) the Moon was in conjunction with Jupiter, and of course I had rain. I already have three previous shots of this at different times, but I just wanted yet another


Last night was fairly clear, so I took out my Celestron/Vixen 80mm, Skywatcher 10" and a little Towa 3" reflector I picked up a while ago that is absolutely mint; wooden tripod and all, with my last 1.25 focuser on it. With all three scopes, I had some nice views of the eastern sky, Andromeda in particular, even in that little 3" the view was actually a "wow" moment with my Fujiyama KK 12mm.

I took some shots of the Moon through the 800mm, those turned out great. Then I tried my 10". I found out that if I take the 2" extender and the 1.25 adaptor out, I could just lay the camera on the focuser and it came to focus. The interesting thing was, the pics through the 10" were really not that much bigger in size that the 80mm. I guess that's the difference between focal lengths; the 80mm is f/11.4, wheras the 10" is f/4.9. Is it worth cutting 2 inches off the back of the 10" tube for camera focus? Hmmmm

I tried a wide-field shot of the Moon sitting in between Jupiter and Saturn with the stock 18-55mm lens that came with my T3, but they were all just specks...


And tonight. I have one picture of a conjunction between the Moon and Saturn from a few years ago, and was hoping for another tonight. All my wide-field pictures are taken through my 'Towatron' 60mm at f/7. The poor mans ST80...

I started this at about 9:30 PM. The clouds were still out, but in racing across the sky, I was hoping they would give me a break... Not so for the first 10 minutes:

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Just before Saturn disappeared behind some trees, I caught a bit of a break. At 9:39, with the Moon and Saturn just 17* above the horizon, the clouds mostly cleared. I took 8 shots at ISO 3200, 1/100sec to get Saturn in there, then 8 shots at ISO 3200, but at 1/400sec to not blow out the Moon. This is a merge of the two after stacking:

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At the time I took these, this is what the view was in Stellarium. This scope cost $35 and some time to make, but I love the wide-field views, even for an achro

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And that's it for me. Rain is forecast for the next three days....


Hope you all fare better!!

[Don Quixote]

Very nice report and image, Mark.
The Moon Jupiter image is really cool.

Thank you my friend.

[Lady Fraktor]

Really great lunar images Mark

[bladekeeper]

Fun report and cool captures, Mark!

Rain rain go away. We are under flash flood warnings there and the highway outside of my subdivision is closed due to flooding. Fortunately, we are well stocked on coffee and toilet paper.

I wish I had a wide-field setup. I noted the conjunction of Moon/Jupiter on 3 October. On Friday evening, while the sky was still quite blue and bright (amongst the clouds), Jupiter was gleaming brightly like a wad of tinfoil hanging in the sky. I showed it to my wife too. She humoured me by looking.

Anyway, good to see you getting some sky time in!

[Bigzmey]

I enjoyed your report and pics Mark. Well done!

[helicon]

Nice lunar pics Mark. Glad that you could out and enjoy before the rain shows up.

[terrynak]

Very nice report Mark! I'll need to go back out and take a look at the moon and planets - I haven't been out with my scopes since the end of May.

Could you post a pic of your 3" Towa Newtonian, if you haven't done so already in another thread? Thanks!

[Thefatkitty]

Hi all, thanks for the comments; much appreciated!

Actually Terry, I never have posted a pic of it. So without further ado (these were taken before the addition of the 1.25 focuser)....

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There were two lenses that came with it, .956" 12.5mm and a 5mm.. The sticker on the one lens case tells me the scope is pre-1986; the founding year of Khan Scope.

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And finally, I made a mod to keep the base tight. The bolt on the left tends to loosen when turned to the left, and get tight when turned to the right. I fixed that with a nut and bolt and a rubber bushing from a skateboard truck. Works perfect now

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I paid $40 CDN for it and am quite happy. Now I have a wooden tripod buddy for my '61 Tasco 60mm....

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Hope your skies clear Terry; wow, you haven't been out since May??!! Yeesh. Good to hear from you though!

All the best everyone,

[terrynak]

Beautiful scope and pics Mark - thanks for sharing!

I've made up my mind to get my red Tasco 3T-RB 76/700mm Newtonian from 1985 out TONIGHT. This'll be the first time I'll be using this scope since I got it back in February of this year. Curious to see how it performs on lunar and other solar system objects, possibly deep-sky as well.

I also have a Celestron Astromaster 76/700mm Newtonian on an EQ which I rarely use. Excellent optics though.

[Thefatkitty]

Beautiful scope and pics Mark - thanks for sharing!

I've made up my mind to get my red Tasco 3T-RB 76/700mm Newtonian from 1985 out TONIGHT. This'll be the first time I'll be using this scope since I got it back in February of this year. Curious to see how it performs on lunar and other solar system objects, possibly deep-sky as well.

I also have a Celestron Astromaster 76/700mm Newtonian on an EQ which I rarely use. Excellent optics though.

Nice! I have to admit, what with the size of the secondary and the three rods that are used for spider vanes; I was amazed any light got through This will definitely be a "grab and go" scope for those clear-I'm-feeling-lazy nights....

Looking forward to hearing about your Tasco though. I have to say, I can't find a red tube Tasco for the life of me. I did pick this up in late March, but the tripod is so lousy I have yet to use it. Was going to build a dob base or adapt it to the one for my 4.5", but that never happened, and I have yet to try it.

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Clouds here right now, but glad to hear you have clear skies!! Hope it goes well, and any pics of the scope(s) would be nice

All the best my friend,

[terrynak]

Mark, your white Tasco looks exactly like mine. Looks like a late 70's/early 80's model.

I'd still like to add an 11T 4.5" pre-1986 Tasco to my collection, whether white or red.

[Juno16]

Really nice Moon/Saturn image Mark! The dual exposure times really did the trick!

Thanks,
Jim

[Makuser]

Hi Mark. Thanks for your excellent report and photos of your vintage telescope photos. as us old timers can relate to these old instruments.