Jupiter 12th June 2009

Not very good seeing in between the clouds this morning. They said it wouldn't be cloudy!

Below you can just about see Io left of center.

Takahashi - Flattener/Reducer

I bought a flattener/reducer for the Tak today.
The Sky-90 is usable for visual without it... just, but for imaging you've gotta have one. Turns the scope into an f/4.5.
Great service from Green-Witch and Lee :-)

Below are the results from a very quick test that I carried out at lunch-time.

Without flattener/reducer.

... and with flattener/reducer.

BTW, you can't use a Meade f/6.3 reducer on these scopes, it doesn't work, I've tried it.

Mars from 2007 & 2008

Thought I'd have a go at processing some old Mars images.
Go easy on that sharpening!

OT: River Kennet & widescreen desktop background.

Went for a nice walk today around Chilton Foliat.


Click here for a 1920 x 1080 widescreen desktop background of the shack picture.

Jupiter 3rd June 2009

Another one from the 3rd.
I think it's pushing it a bit using a 4x Imagemate on Jupiter this low in the sky, but you've gotta push the envelope!

Jupiter & Moons animation - 2nd June 2009

A very small aniamated GIF taken from some red filter images earlier.

Large 'Daylight' Moon mosaic - 1st June 2009

Again this was shot in a blue sky before sunset, so it was tricky to sort out the correct tonal balance.

Large version here, watch out though it's over 5Mb!

Jupiter & IO - 4th June 2009

Venus 4th June.

Very low in the sky, C9.25, 4x Imagemate, red filter.

Half-Moon - 1st June 2009

Captured this the other day, can't seem to get the whole mosaic working together at present... so here's the first and last bit, just need to sort out the bit in the middle.
NB. The backgroud sky was blue.

Strange eh?

Jupiter & Europa 3rd June 2009

2x TV Barlow.


2.5x TV Powermate.


3x TV Barlow, Red filter.

4x Imagemate.

See filenames for timestamp.

Jupiter 2nd June re-processed.

Using 3x TV Barlow converted to a 2x by unscrewing the lens and inserting it into an empty barlow tube, with the DMK holding it in place... works a treat :-)

Ah ha! I just noticed that the entry below was dated 3rd June... more sleeeep.
Below is an image taken with my 2.5x TV barlow, I don't think the seeing was quite up to it. Remembering that in the UK Jupiter is very low to the horizon.

Jupiter 31st May 2009

All we need now is some good seeing ;-)

C9.25, 2.5x TV Powermate, L-RGB Astronomic filters, DMK camera, processed in Registax 5 and CS4.

Moon 30th May 2009.

Large version over 4Mb.

Langrenus to Petavius.

While I'm up, I might as well image Venus.

First Jupiter of the season.

Still very low in the sky.
The red spot is just to the right.
Red filter.


L-RGB.

The moon - 29th May 2009

Taken with my Takahashi, 3x TV Barlow and Canon 50D. 10 shots combined in Registax 5.0
An hour or so before sunset. Average seeing.

(Middle) 2.5x TV Powermate

(Bottom) Prime focus.

M13 - 25th May 2009

20 minutes worth of images, uncropped. C9.25 prime focus & guided with PHD.
Although the seeing wasn't very good, I think it turned out OK :-)

M13 colour version from quick 2500ISO test.

Two versions using slightly different processing techniques.

Test shot of M13.

21 x 10sec frames using Canon 50D @ 2500ISO.
C9.25 prime focus, unguided.
I had problems with the colour, so I converted it to B&W.

Strange clouds today.

Yet another M13 from the other night.

11 minutes @ 400ISO.

Ceres - 19th & 20th May 2009

I managed to capture the dwarf planet Ceres the other night. Well, over two nights.
I found its position in RA & DEC using my copy of Celestrons 'The Sky' and the scopes GOTO to get it into the field of view. It was to the edge of the first image, but I didn't know at the time because I wasn't sure what point of light was what.
This is the closest that it will be for a 1000 years!
I hope to use my C9.25 and DMK to get a clearer view later, weather permitting.

Hotshot of the month - June Sky at Night magazine.

Big thank you to the people at "Sky at Night magazine" for the June Hotshot of the month, and the filters.