I haven't been on here much of late; been busy with a few things. As well, the weather has been either thunderstorms or hot, hazy and humid. Add the constant forest fire smoke into the mix and you get scopes collecting dust...
Yesterday (Saturday) was quite clear out, though. I took a look at the Sun in the AM, but not much to see there; AR2858 was barely discernable. I spent the day puttering around, and at 5PM I started dinner. This consisted of steak, Mexican rice and salad. Nothing beats BBQ steaks...
After that feast, I thought a few beers would be nice. Off to the store where I picked up a case of 12 tall cans. Hey, it was on sale
I sat outside, cracked a beer, and marveled at the lack of humidity. I thought I might actually be able to get some observing time in, which hasn't happened a lot in the past year.
A few weeks ago I made this; things to do with cutlery, an old finder scope and a lot of skateboard wheel bearings
Wishful thinking? Mayhaps. I look at it often and think, Ahhh, memories of clearer nights...
Of course the full Moon was rising tonight, but I still wanted to maybe have a look at Jupiter and Saturn. Well, just before 9PM, guess what started drifting in from the west. Naturally. They know when you're out there, waiting and hoping.
At around 10:30, the Moon was up with Jupiter above and to the left, and I had 5 beers in me. Good times. The clouds were still wreaking havoc, but there were a few clear patches of sky every now and then. Hmmm. Well, maybe I can take a few shots with just my camera. Haven't done that in a bit. I got my Canon 550D and the tripod that came with a Celeston 60mm I hacked into another scope. The mount is stable enough for my camera and the adapter I made for it:
I set the camera to Manual and monochrome mode. Maybe it was the beer; for some reason I wanted to try shooting with that. I opened beer number six, set the stock 18-55mm lens to manual focus, and framed the Moon and Jupiter. I took a few shots during a sort of break in the clouds at various exposures and ISO settings; this one at ISO 800 and 2.5 seconds exposure is probably the best of the lot:
I finished my beer, and brought all that back downstairs. On a whim, I grabbed my C80-HD and T-ring. I put the camera in the scope, and went back outside. I leave my CG4 mount in the shed all year, so I took that out and mounted the scope on it. I have a solar-finder on it; it also works with a full Moon. I set the scope on the Moon, locked the clutches, opened another beer, and waited.
Do you know I had to drink two beers for a break in the clouds to happen? I know, the absurdity of it all. My bladder was informing me I might have to make choices that may involve running when I got a break from the clouds. The camera was still in monochrome, so sitting there cross-legged, I took 15 shots at ISO 800 and 1/800th sec exp.
I put the remote shutter on the ground and raced upstairs
Feeling much better, I came outside and had another beer. Number nine, number nine was going through my head.
You might think I drink a lot to have this tolerance, but I don't. I have two things, be they good or bad; a high metabolism and a high tolerance for beer. This is why I don't drink much, as I easily could every day. I don't drink wine or liquor (except a shot of Bailey's at X-mas) as it doesn't make me a happy person. Don't need that going on. But I do like my beer, and every couple of weeks I'll get a six pack. Last night was an exception; I haven't drank that much in a long time. No excuses here, it's just the way I am.
I finished number nine and took the scope/camera downstairs. I felt a bit wobbly, kinda like the tripod on a department store scope But I'm careful, and all was good.
I cracked another and last beer, and processed my lunar shots.
I think I'm going to take shots of the Moon and maybe even the Sun in monochrome from now on. I have preset settings in PIPP, and it's for monochrome mode, both lunar and solar. As well, for solar I use ImPPG for my white light shots, and ImPPg gives you a monochrome image. Does it make sense to shoot in color only to scale it back to monochrome? Seems like a waste of digital data to me, but what do I know. I do know the mild processing in
This is the resulting shot; the best 50% processed and stacked with PIPP, AS3, and
Full size image here
I finished my beer, made sure the
BTW, I was up at just before 8AM today. No hangover, but hungry and needing coffee...
Thanks for reading my drivel, have a great night and week!
All the best,