Jupiter 30th June 2009

G-RGB

R-RGB

Mars 30th June 2009

Very low on the horizon. And a very long way away.

Jupiter & Io 28th June 2009

The magnification (3 x TV Barlow) was pushing it a bit much for this image. It's a bit washed out ;-)

Below; taken with 2.5 x TV Powermate, as you can see the seeing was off and on.

Jupiter & Io 27th June 2009

Above with IR pass filter... and loads of frames.

Noctilucent clouds from 24th June 2009

Major upgrade - Phase 3.1 - ADM guide rail & rings.

Bought an ADM guide rail and rings system for my Sky-90 to fit on the C9.25.
I can use this as a guider for the C9.25 or a wide field imager with the C9.25 guiding. Bloody dear, but good quality.
All I need now is a Dovetail to fit the CGE, which is driving me nuts because I can't get one anywhere. I even tried to purchase one direct from ADM, but even they've run out of stock. Well they have some, but they haven't been anodised yet, so they'll be a delay of a couple of weeks. Grrrr... so frustrating.
If anyone out there has one please email!!

Major upgrade - Phase Three - New CGE mount.

Well I've done it, I've finally bought a new mount. I had in mind to buy the CGE-Pro but I chickened out in the end. Too much money, too big and too heavy.
So I've opted for the CGE. Even though it may be phased out in the coming years, there's enough of them around for support purposes.
It's bloody huge as well compared to my old AS-GT, and I used to think that the tripod on that was big! this seems double the size.
Big old chunk of metal.
All I need now is a dovetail plate for my C9.25 and a guide rail and ring for my Takahashi.

Venus 24th June 2009 in IR.

Managed to pick up a bit of cloud detail.

Jupiter & Io 24th June 2009

L-RGB

IR

Baader K-Line filter.

Large Binocular Telescope's 111 Mega pixel camera.

A researcher's gloved hands hold a delicate sensor with 111 million light-sensing pixels in a dust- and static-free room at the University of Arizona's Imaging Technology Laboratory. It cost $150,000 and required months to manufacture. Two of these sensors will be installed in one of the Large Binocular Telescope's cameras.
Credit NG

M27 20th June 2009

I went out with my Takahashi the other night to do a test of the new focal reducer.
Here is M27, not really a very good subject for a wide field scope, but there are a lot of stars in that area.
This is 19 x 20sec frames @ 800ISO, darks and bias applied, but no flats. I needed a lot more but it clouded over :-(
The focal reducer has cured the star smearing almost, I think the focus could have been a tad better though.

Animation of my observatory using Google SketchUp.

Here's an animation of my observatory that I've just made using Google SketchUp.
I'm in the process of making an extension for it and SketchUp is a very quick and easy way to visualise some ideas. New mount don't ya know.
The nice thing about the roof is that you can keep one side virtually shut whilst observing from the other, so in the winter you can keep nice and warm.
The roof is held on by 8 hook and eyelets, but screwed down during very stormy weather!

Jupiter & Io 19th June 2009

More Noctilucent clouds - 19th June 2009.

On the way to another Jupiter session... Bingo! the Moon Mars and Venus all in one shot.



Hehe... CS4 and autostitch had fun putting this one together ;-)

Jupiter 19th June 2009

Blast from the past.. well, last year.

Messing about with processing, so I thought I'd do my best Saturn from last year again.

Jupiter & Io - 18th June 2009

Jupiter 18th June 2009

Venus 16th June 2009

I think I picked up some cloud detail using my Ha filter.

Copernicus - 16th June 2009

Couldn't resist imaging Copernicus at the end of my Jupiter session :-)

Jupiter 16th June 2009

Noctilucent clouds over Swindon, UK - 16th June 2009

The last time I saw these clouds was on 14th July 2006.

Jupiter 16th June 2009

Sun 14th June 2009

A small feature on each towards the edge.


Feature imaged with C9.25 later.