Some Friday night fun

[Thefatkitty]

Hope you're all well and getting through this mess. I go out when I have to and that's it. I filled the car almost two weeks ago and it's only at 3/4 tank. I started my truck yesterday just to make sure it still would

Last night I stepped outside just after 8PM and saw Venus hanging above a waxing crescent. Though not perfectly clear, I thought why not, and got my C80 and Canon T3. Even though the sky wasn't completely black yet, I took 50 shots of the Moon before it went behind the trees. Having done that, I turned my sights on Venus. It's a really bright and small target, which makes my f/11.4 achro show its limitations. I thought to get my old japanese-made 2X barlow and Baader Semi-APO filter. The barlow is fairly old, with no threads on the top or bottom. So I ended up taking the barlow apart and putting the filter in back of the barlow lens. This helped immensely with the purple tinge, and of course I had to refocus. I took 115 shots with the filter and 25 without, and threw the whole mess into PIPP and AS2. I tweaked it ever so slightly in Registax as well. Probably my best effort on this planet to date.

The Moon:



Venus:



And my weird barlow...










Fun stuff. By this time it was a lot hazier out; Venus had a nice white glow around it. I went in and did a lot of nothing, and checked outside at 10PM. The haze was gone for the most part, just some occasional clouds. Over the past few days I did some mods to my barn door tracker. I put a spring on for a bit of resistance while turning it, added a RA finderscope I made from a 6X30 straight through and a .965 diagonal to make sighting Polaris easier, and some custom-made handles for adjusting the camera.
It's starting to have this cyberpunk look to it

Long story short, I took seven exposures in the area of the Orion constellation. 5 came out; two had a bit of a sudden blur. I stacked the 5 in DSS.
I also realized I had no flats and darks and whatever else people who know what they're doing use
Yeah, so this is 5 shots at 19,18,16,12 and 9 seconds at ISO 1600...



By this time it was cold and I was getting hungry; time to call it a night. And my long-term forecast has nothing but rain and clouds all weekend and into the week. I seriously hope you fare better than I, and stay healthy

All the best,

[Makuser]

Hello Mark. I am glad that you got some time out under the skies. A nice trio of images from you here of the Moon, Venus, and Orion. I am glad that you posted these Mark, as of lately we can all use some good cheer.

[dagadget]

wow very good indeed.

[Lady Fraktor]

Really great Mark, love your ingenuity using the older barlow (a actual 2x one at that) and filter!
Hopefully you get some really good skies right away.

[Don Quixote]

Nice outing Mark.

[Thefatkitty]

Thanks for the comments all, much appreciated!

I forgot to include some pics of my "evolved" tracker...

Before:



After:






The spring really helps in keeping some resistance while turning the "dial" or whatever you want to call it. Also, the 1/4 thumbscrews are great for holding various scopes on my CG4, but too small for fine adjusting. I used a round 1/4 plastic thing I found, and made the others from wingnuts and bicycle fork races. For added grip, I welded a couple of nuts to the sides of each. My first thought was it looked like Galileo's early drawings of Saturn.... I really need a life/help....
The brackets to hold the camera was replaced with a longer one at the bottom. It was really hard to see the viewfinder on the camera before at anything over 45*. This is much better. And the finderscope is perfectly lined up for Polaris; seeing as how it's butted up against the tracker, it can't help but be... I used a handlebar clamp from a scooter to hold it there.
This whole thing, including the tripod, is mostly scooter, skateboard and bicycle parts... I also have a floor lamp and a chop saw I made from bicycle parts. So many uses.

Things to do during COVID-19. Again, I hope everyone is well, and stay safe. You need to be back on here

All the best,

[Juno16]

Excellent images Mark!
Very nice report!
Very ingenious tracker.

[terrynak]

Beautiful image of Venus, Mark - with the modified Barlow/filter combination to remove the false color.

Also a cool tracker - cleverly devised!

[John Baars]

Very nice image of Venus.
Quite a remarkable and nice tracker!

[bobharmony]

Very nice images, Mark. Venus is always a tough target, and you did really well. Love the look of the 'new' tracker. Thanks for sharing.

Bob

[UlteriorModem]

Glad you were able to get out some Mark. Were still clouded out.

It's been very frustrating as the evenings start out clear but clouds over around 10 pm like clockwork.

[Bigzmey]

Nice shots Mark! I like your barlow mod to.

[Graeme1858]

Hey Mark, don't laugh, it's never occurred to me to put the Barlow in front of the DSLR! Must give that one a go!

Regards

Graeme