But it's solar minimum, dead silent.
Taken at 0553 (UT), Ranger with reducer, Solarmax 60 with BF10, ASI 120mm.
I've tried to push up the image scale with 5x Powermate, but again nothing except a few interesting magnetic pattern.
Monday, October 29, 2018
20181029 Sun
The sun comes back to my observing windows!
But it's solar minimum, dead silent.
Taken at 0553 (UT), Ranger with reducer, Solarmax 60 with BF10, ASI 120mm.
I've tried to push up the image scale with 5x Powermate, but again nothing except a few interesting magnetic pattern.
But it's solar minimum, dead silent.
Taken at 0553 (UT), Ranger with reducer, Solarmax 60 with BF10, ASI 120mm.
I've tried to push up the image scale with 5x Powermate, but again nothing except a few interesting magnetic pattern.
Saturday, October 27, 2018
20181027 Mars
The Mars is getting farther, dimmer and also smaller.
Pulled out my 85mm ED refractor, and 5x Powermate, ASI 120mc.
This time I reduced the ROI to 640x480 and the frame rate goes over 38fps! Very nice indeed!
The Nexstar mount is very stable now, vibration damps out very quickly and I don't need electronic focuser any more!
Taken at 1410 (UT), 1.5x Drizzle.
Pulled out my 85mm ED refractor, and 5x Powermate, ASI 120mc.
This time I reduced the ROI to 640x480 and the frame rate goes over 38fps! Very nice indeed!
The Nexstar mount is very stable now, vibration damps out very quickly and I don't need electronic focuser any more!
Taken at 1410 (UT), 1.5x Drizzle.
Monday, October 08, 2018
20181007-1008 Camping and wide field imaging
Camping means heavy gear, you have a tent, cooking stuff, sleeping stuff, food, water, etc.
Stargazing is never light weight as well.
But I'm trying to combine these two, and I don't have a car. I've to rely on public transportation which means very limited access both in terms of location and time - the last bus could be as early as 21:00 so that I won't have much time to observe if I had to go home. So, it would be nice to stay overnight.
This time, I choose Shui Long Wo (水浪窩), which has better access, the last bus would be 00:00 so that I could go even after dinning with my family. With heavier gear, the location could be reached in less than 20 minutes walk.
Water source is not too far away, but the supply could be unstable. The toilet on the roadside could easily ran out of water due to the heavy usage from the nearby BBQ sites. There is another water source up there in the middle of the way to the campsite, but this one could go out of order as well.
Since this is just a test of the concept trip, I brought only a DSLR with a fisheye lens on a camera tripod. I've 15kg of stuff together with 5kg of water acquired in the middle of the road. I believe I could further trim down the weight by 2-3kg.
The first one was taken before midnight at around 22:30, light pollution was serious.
The second one was taken around 3:00am, the dark was darker.
No more than 20s exposure could be used, or else the screen would be saturated.
It would be a bit too soon to conclude that this site is no good, since you could thin from the above that a thin layer of cloud/mist was there.
Stargazing is never light weight as well.
But I'm trying to combine these two, and I don't have a car. I've to rely on public transportation which means very limited access both in terms of location and time - the last bus could be as early as 21:00 so that I won't have much time to observe if I had to go home. So, it would be nice to stay overnight.
This time, I choose Shui Long Wo (水浪窩), which has better access, the last bus would be 00:00 so that I could go even after dinning with my family. With heavier gear, the location could be reached in less than 20 minutes walk.
Water source is not too far away, but the supply could be unstable. The toilet on the roadside could easily ran out of water due to the heavy usage from the nearby BBQ sites. There is another water source up there in the middle of the way to the campsite, but this one could go out of order as well.
Since this is just a test of the concept trip, I brought only a DSLR with a fisheye lens on a camera tripod. I've 15kg of stuff together with 5kg of water acquired in the middle of the road. I believe I could further trim down the weight by 2-3kg.
The first one was taken before midnight at around 22:30, light pollution was serious.
The second one was taken around 3:00am, the dark was darker.
No more than 20s exposure could be used, or else the screen would be saturated.
It would be a bit too soon to conclude that this site is no good, since you could thin from the above that a thin layer of cloud/mist was there.
Friday, October 05, 2018
20181005 Sun
Solar minimum that it!
Half day off today, so I pulled out my Ranger with Solarmax 60 and BF10 for a short imaging session:
0542 (UT), with reducer, taken with ASI 120mm
Only a very thin filament could be seen.
I've fully enhanced my Nexstar mount so that now it has a longer controller cable, no more shake induced by the short coiled cable! Also, I've added three very large rubber padding to reduce the vibration and they're oversized for better stability.
Half day off today, so I pulled out my Ranger with Solarmax 60 and BF10 for a short imaging session:
0542 (UT), with reducer, taken with ASI 120mm
Only a very thin filament could be seen.
I've fully enhanced my Nexstar mount so that now it has a longer controller cable, no more shake induced by the short coiled cable! Also, I've added three very large rubber padding to reduce the vibration and they're oversized for better stability.
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