I went out last night to do some photography/observing. It was clear, no humidity, and a comfy temp of 55F (~13C).
Twilight starts at 8PMish here, and by 9PM it's pretty dark. There was the threat of clouds later, but for now, grab it while you can
I took out my C80-HD with its CG4 for that. It's the second-best scope I have. I bought it about 5 years ago on a buy and sell site here called Kijiji. I paid $180CAD for it at the time. These scopes were made in 1996/7, and most of them used the last of the old Vixen optics. Rock solid mount, and the R&P focuser is second to none; very smooth with no slop. No plastic here! I also bought my current camera, a Canon 550D from this same site for $120. Great camera, made in Japan (like most of my scopes), with two batteries to boot. So 300 smackers and there you go
The only modifications to this are the mounting system and the handle on top; I made that. The CG4 mount actually carries or can be used with 9 of my scopes; 7 fracs and 2 reflectors. The other two are too big (my 10"/250mm) or in the case of my 4.5", perfect in its
After setting this all up, I focused on Saturn. I took three sets of 15 shots at ISO 1600 and exposure times of 1/100, 1/125, and 1/160th of a second.
Moving on to Jupiter... Same ISO, with again three sets of 15 shots, but at 1/160, 1/200, and 1/250th of a second. Jupiter is brighter.
And then ol' Luna. 25 shots at ISO 200 and 1/160th of a second exposure.
Full size image here
I processed all of these with PIPP, AS3, and some very mild tweaking in
Fun times. I took the scope and camera back downstairs, and got my pride and joy, my old orange tube C80. Pics are fun, but on a night like this that I haven't had in months need to be seen, literally.
The oversize focuser wheel is the lid from a goldfish container. My wife put the rat vinyl removeable stick on the front, and my daughter put the Snoopy on the focuser wheel shaft when she was 11. I's all been there since.
The Pumpkin.
I set that up, got my Fujiyama KK ortho's, cracked a beer, and had a look at Saturn. I started with the 25mm (nice), and just as I went to the 18mm, my daughter-unit (Sarah) came out. We both had a few Wow moments at the 18mm and then 12.5 eyepiece, and got to talking...
Well, in a nutshell, I had 5 beers, she had two, and we ran through both Saturn and Jupiter with the 25, 18, 12.5 and 9mm KK's. We were both amazed at the detail on Jupiter; the cloud bands were so prominent! From our view, the moons Io, Europa and Ganymede were hanging straight down, with Callisto all alone up top in its outer orbit. Sarah said the three Moons hanging below looked like tears; Jupiter is crying
The Moon was a no-go for visual; I don't yet have a polarizing filter. No need to be blinded!
And that was it for us, as the sky was getting noticeably hazy. I was going to do a visual report today, but drinking beer with your daughter and a few glimpses through a scope doesn't probably count for that...
Tonight looks promising, we shall see. Anyways, off to photograph the Sun
All the best and thanks for reading,