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AstroZamboni posted:Well there wasn't any visible impact bruise in Jupiter's atmosphere last night that I could see. I bumped it to 400x under pretty decent seeing and tried a bunch of filters and nothing popped out. Permethrin? I've had good luck with it here. My brother in law does culvert surveys in Wisconsin and bought a 5 gallon pails worth this summer. He swears by it.
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Sep 16, 2021 01:06
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Alright, he's my latest. I'm still really so bad at all this. Honestly, I'm still at the point where I'm happy when I can get the mechanics lined up and have something to play around with in processing.  Taken with a Fuji XT-20, Star Adventurer, and the Rokinon 135mm/F2. Stacked with DeepSkyStacker, edited in Photoshop. I think it's about 60 exposures, 2 mins, no dark/flats/bias shots. I feel like I can never get the red nebulosity out from the stars.
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Sep 17, 2021 01:15
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Royal Observatory’s Best Astronomy Photos of 2021 https://www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/astronomy-photographer-year/galleries/2021-overall-winners
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Sep 17, 2021 18:05
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Internet Explorer posted:
Normal digital cameras *strongly* filter out those red wavelengths because they're so sensitive to them. If you're looking to get a lot of hydrogen-alpha light you probably want to consider having your camera modded to remove the IR filter.
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Sep 17, 2021 18:56
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Pablo Bluth posted:Royal Observatory’s Best Astronomy Photos of 2021 tilt-shift astrophotography is the best kind of wizardry https://www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/astronomy-photographer-year/galleries/past-winners?asset=2812-wl-39f8f911-a8f0-47aa-b891-edd063501d7d
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Sep 17, 2021 18:58
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Phanatic posted:Normal digital cameras *strongly* filter out those red wavelengths because they're so sensitive to them. If you're looking to get a lot of hydrogen-alpha light you probably want to consider having your camera modded to remove the IR filter. I actually just did an order with Lifepixel a few days ago so I can get my camera modded. Super excited about that! Also I finally bit the bullet on a telescope and ordered a Radian Raptor 61. I know it's overpriced and there's cheaper equivalent solutions, but something that's well put together is worth it to me while I'm learning.
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Sep 17, 2021 19:06
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What do you guys image when it's near full moon? I did a variety of globular clusters last night that turned out pretty well. Curious as to other potential targets.  No real processing on that stack, just a quick auto stretch. I'm happy with the detail at only one hour.
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Sep 18, 2021 14:34
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Double post, more full moon poo poo! Or at least 1 day prior to full moon. I used Telescopius to find targets away from the moon, but it was still crazy bright. Then my humidity sensor decided to declare the humidity to be 20% instead of 80% or whatever, so I lost the last couple of hours. Any reason I don't want the dew heaters to run full bore? M13, note the baby galaxy in the upper left.  M15  M56  NGC2403 All were 90 minutes total time, 60 sec subs, dithering every 4th frame. Blotchiness is noticeable on the stacks closer to the moon.
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Sep 19, 2021 15:51
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Enos Cabell posted:tilt-shift astrophotography is the best kind of wizardry
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Sep 19, 2021 16:05
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Pablo Bluth posted:It's sort of cool yet also something that will probably spawn a bunch of copycats that getting boring after the first copy. You could probably accomplish the same with a graduated blur filter in photoshop.
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Sep 19, 2021 16:10
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I don't get the appeal of tilt shift, especially for things like galaxies. Giving the impression that some of the field stars are behind the galaxy is just kinda wonky.
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Sep 19, 2021 17:16
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I thought it looked cool 
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Sep 19, 2021 17:45
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Is astromart still the go to for USA equipment buying? I kind of want to get something better than an Academy/Dicks/Walmart special, but don't want to sink too much into it as I barely use the questionably good one I have already.
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Sep 19, 2021 18:01
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Warbird posted:Is astromart still the go to for USA equipment buying? I kind of want to get something better than an Academy/Dicks/Walmart special, but don't want to sink too much into it as I barely use the questionably good one I have already. Cloudynights has a Classifieds section that seems to get more traffic, though the stuff on Astromart tends to be a bit nicer. I haven't watched closely in the last 6 months, but that's how it felt earlier in the year.
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Sep 19, 2021 18:08
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Would you advise doing a kit solution or building piecemeal? I’d like to better experience things than what I can get with a cheap plastic kit, but would prefer this to not be a “spend a bunch of money and use it like twice” sort of affair.
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Sep 19, 2021 22:12
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Astromart has a paywall, and some use that to justify more confidence in its marketplace, but I’ve had better luck and better experiences on the cloudynights classifieds. If you’re looking for something big or delicate (that you’d rather not pay to ship), check Craigslist or Facebook marketplace often. Widen the area of search because driving can be worth it. I find B&H’s used telescope section to drop a gem every now and again, and usually free shipping. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/products/ci/3307/N/4294246674?setNs=p_PRICE_2%7C1&sort=PRICE_HIGH_TO_LOW&srtclk=sort&ipp=100 Adorama has used scopes, OPT, High Point, etc.
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Sep 19, 2021 22:29
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Warbird posted:Would you advise doing a kit solution or building piecemeal? I’d like to better experience things than what I can get with a cheap plastic kit, but would prefer this to not be a “spend a bunch of money and use it like twice” sort of affair. What's your budget? What type of observing are you thinking?
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Sep 19, 2021 23:29
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On the same token, I am looking at selling one of my rigs. What is the best way to do that to actually get some money?
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Sep 19, 2021 23:49
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Yooper posted:What's your budget? What type of observing are you thinking? That depends on how generous Mrs. Burd is feeling, but I’d say a few hundred bucks. As for observing types, I’m largely ignorant but mostly it would be just looking at whatever is up there from my back yard or occasionally a field somewhere. I used to do occasional astrophotography before the baby came if that’s of any more/use. I’m wondering if I’d be better off getting a lens better suited to that and just using my binoculars instead.
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Sep 19, 2021 23:55
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Warbird posted:That depends on how generous Mrs. Burd is feeling, but I’d say a few hundred bucks. As for observing types, I’m largely ignorant but mostly it would be just looking at whatever is up there from my back yard or occasionally a field somewhere. I used to do occasional astrophotography before the baby came if that’s of any more/use. I’m wondering if I’d be better off getting a lens better suited to that and just using my binoculars instead. I'd watch Craiglist/Facebook/Cloudy Nights. A bino is a solid option, there are some nights I just want to chill and scan and it's way easier to walk outside with the binoculars than get out the Dob. But for a few hundred you'll be into camera lens land, which is OK, but probably not dedicated AP scope. For example on CN right now a dude is selling a 10" Dob for $450 in Monterrey, CA.
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Sep 20, 2021 00:37
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Crescent Nebula - NGC 6888 - Sh2-105 - C27 Embiggen I took this one last month, but just got around to processing it tonight. This is admittedly not one of my favorite targets and I didn't have high hopes for this one, but it came out better than I expected  pre:Dates: 2021-08-05 2021-08-07 Coordinates: RA: 20h12m7s Dec: 38d21m21s Rot: 0 Location: Desc: Phoenix, AZ Bortle: 8/9 Scope: WO GT81 Mount: Skywatcher EQ6R Pro Lens: WO Flat 6AIII 0.8x reducer Camera: ZWO ASI2600MM Filters: Ha 3nm SII 3nm OIII 3nm Integration: Ha - 15 x 10min (2.5hr) OIII - 14 x 10min (2.3hr) SII - 15 x 10min (2.5hr) Total - 44 x 10min (7.3hr) Processing: PixInsight
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Sep 20, 2021 07:14
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Pablo Bluth posted:It's sort of cool yet also something that will probably spawn a bunch of copycats that getting boring after the first copy. Yeah the first time you see it it's super cool, it relys on the novelty and specific artistic vision to not be gimmicky though. A lot of the winning photos are like that, creative with some technical wizardry added in. There's one of a nebula with the stars digitally removed which was very interesting as well.
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Sep 20, 2021 08:44
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simble posted:Crescent Nebula - NGC 6888 - Sh2-105 - C27 That looks fantastic.
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Sep 20, 2021 14:24
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Been looking for a used EQ6-R for well over a year and one finally popped p. The seller bought it in 2016 but has not used it much. From photos it looks brand new. Am i going to run into software/firmware/compatibility issues with a version that old? I assume more recently manufactured versions of the mount has updated firmware?
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Sep 23, 2021 18:32
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Ineptitude posted:Been looking for a used EQ6-R for well over a year and one finally popped p. The seller bought it in 2016 but has not used it much. From photos it looks brand new. The tell here is if it has a USB-A port on the side. If it does, you'll definitely be fine. If it doesn't you'll have to run the USB through the hand controller and when I tried that with mine, things got a little wonky, but I guess it worked ok. It was wonky enough that I probably won't try it again.
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Sep 23, 2021 19:29
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 SOON. Should hopefully arrive by Monday, I'm excited to take this thing for a spin and see what kind of photos I can get!
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Sep 30, 2021 22:28
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T1g4h posted:
  M31 pads my start and stop time when I shoot other stuff. Tonight is Tulip Nebula followed by Pleiades.
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Oct 1, 2021 02:20
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Sometimes I see articles like this one and i am taken aback by the scale of the cosmos. When these events took place, the dinosaurs still roamed the earth...and if some creature in Arp 91 observed the Earth right now, they would still see the dinosaurs. Or that when Proxima Centauri looked exactly like it does now, my youngest wasnt born yet. It is nothing less than awe inspiring.
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Oct 8, 2021 12:42
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Or that even if we did manage to hack physics and develop faster than light travel, it would still only bring our own galaxy into play as a travel target (and then, just a portion unless we could go multiple times the speed of light). I don't know what percentage of the universe the milky way is but it's gonna be 99.9% with a bunch more nines added. I guess the wormhole fans might drop a 'well actually' but that seems just as unlikely to me. There is so much out there that we can see an old version of but will be forever unreachable.
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Oct 8, 2021 13:41
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D34THROW posted:Sometimes I see articles like this one and i am taken aback by the scale of the cosmos. When these events took place, the dinosaurs still roamed the earth...and if some creature in Arp 91 observed the Earth right now, they would still see the dinosaurs. Imagine what it's like for somebody living in the spiral arm stretched between the two.. When I look at Deneb it's amazing that it's still one of our brightest stars from 1500 light years away.. If it were 27 light years away like Vega is, it would be 15 times brighter than Venus, be visible in daylight, and cast shadows at night..
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Oct 8, 2021 17:23
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xzzy posted:
That's the thing that drops my jaw, the knowledge that what we are seeing is vastly different than it is at this moment. If it in fact even still exists at all.
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Oct 10, 2021 21:31
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Like seeing a supernova and realizing that that star has been gone, or a black hole, or a dwarf for many, many times longer than you've been alive. 
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Oct 10, 2021 22:28
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Binary Badger posted:Imagine what it's like for somebody living in the spiral arm stretched between the two.. Contending with the Moon is bad enough and Deneb would not have phases either. Lot of solar systems have multiple suns. Many planets out there might not even have night and thus no amateur astronomy, no constellations, no myths based on star formations etc.
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Oct 11, 2021 00:39
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Hasselblad posted:That's the thing that drops my jaw, the knowledge that what we are seeing is vastly different than it is at this moment. If it in fact even still exists at all. It's probably not worth spending much time on my babbling, but I want to share something that helped me get closer to a first name basis with the universe. Thanks to Einstein, there really is no "at this moment". Light cones don't only define what we can see, they define what even exists to us. This isn't the same as saying "that new supernova in the sky just blew up" because plainly light takes time to travel. It's just saying that it's better to not think in terms of "I wonder what's happening right now with that distant star" because there is no meaningful right now to be shared between that distant star and us. We'll find out what happened in its distant past when we get the photon postcards from it in the mail, but until we receive information, that information truly doesn't exist to us. Like I said, it's just armchair relativistic/large scale thinking that made things more clear for me, and I totally accept that it might make things cloudier for others.
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Oct 11, 2021 17:35
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Finally got a decent night to take the kids out and use the new telescope to see Jupiter and Saturn. My 5yo: "we learned about these in school and they're REAL!" 
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Oct 11, 2021 19:58
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Sexual Lorax posted:It's probably not worth spending much time on my babbling, but I want to share something that helped me get closer to a first name basis with the universe. Thanks to Einstein, there really is no "at this moment". Light cones don't only define what we can see, they define what even exists to us. This isn't the same as saying "that new supernova in the sky just blew up" because plainly light takes time to travel. It's just saying that it's better to not think in terms of "I wonder what's happening right now with that distant star" because there is no meaningful right now to be shared between that distant star and us. We'll find out what happened in its distant past when we get the photon postcards from it in the mail, but until we receive information, that information truly doesn't exist to us. I appreciate this perspective. It's weirdly helpful to discard the notion of simultaneity entirely. Thanks!
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Oct 11, 2021 20:03
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I'm debating a scope upgrade. RASA 8" is top of my list right now. Also looking at some 8" astrographs but the FL is getting a bit longer than I'd like, though the price is a lot better. Is there a definitive reason to look at one, or the other?
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Oct 12, 2021 15:48
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 Embiggen pre:Target: Triangulum Galaxy / M33 / NGC598 Dates: 2021-10-10 Coordinates: RA: 1h33m39.6s Dec: +30d 36" 58.64' Rot: 96d Location: Desc: Phoenix, AZ Bortle: 8/9 Scope: WO GT81 Camera: ASI 2600MM-Pro Mount: Skywatcher EQ6R Pro Lens: WO Flat 6AIII 0.8x reducer Filters: Chroma 36mm LRGB Subs: L - 101 x 90s (2.5 hrs) R - 50 x 45 (0.6 hrs) G - 50 x 45 (0.6 hrs) B - 50 x 45 (0.6 hrs) The luminance data was collected at 1x1 binning and the RGB data was all collected at 2x2 binning (hence why its a much lower % of the overall time). It was cool processing it. After I aligned all of the channels, I combined the RGB data and I was a little underwhelmed. Then I finished processing the luminance data and when I stretched both and applied the luminance to the RGB image everything just popped. It was really satisfying. I also changed some things up and used sky flats rather than my normal tracing pad and a t-shirt. The flats came out well. And the sky flats were much faster to shoot. Every filter, even Ha was around or much less than 1 second of exposure time to get a good flat. I can then just use an already existing 1s flat dark that I took forever ago to calibrate them. I think this will just be my normal process going forward. I can wake up just before sunrise, remote into my laptop from my phone and run the flat wizard in NINA in sky flat mode. Here's the rough Ha stack, if you're curious: 
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Oct 13, 2021 16:42
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As of tonight I'm 97% done with the A.L. Lunar observation program. Need to log two naked-eye observations (waxing crescent within 48 hours of new, waxing crescent with earthshine, and one binocular observation of a crater that pretty much has to be seen right at first quarter to be seen at all), and then that'll be another step in the Master Observer (and binocular master) progression down. Then Lunar II and Lunar Evolution are options... I've also come to the difficult decision to scrap my halfway completed double star program observations and begin again. To be perfectly frank, my position angle measurements based on eyeballed drift direction loving suck. Now that I've gotten a chance to put the illuminated reticle eyepiece through its paces, I know it's going to result in some VERY ACCURATE position angle measurements. Might as well get it right since I plan on moving on to the multiple star program after the Double Star Program is done.
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Oct 17, 2021 06:06
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KnifeWrench posted:I appreciate this perspective. It's weirdly helpful to discard the notion of simultaneity entirely. Thanks! But of course one can toss a wrench in and imagine if you could travel faster than light, you could conceivably arrive at that location prior to the nova happening.
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Oct 18, 2021 13:41
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