20230830 Jupiter

First Jupiter shot of the Meade 8" SCT

Just an exercise, and to try out the flip mirror.

2023 August 26 Sun

This is my new setup, the small chair and bench were both DIY projectors, they're helpful as some astronomy equipment too! 

Close up with 2x Barlows:

Mosaic of two frames:

20230605 Sun

 1543 (GMT+1), Ranger at prime focus:

20230531 Sun

I made a solar finder and this is the first trial, much quicker and simple to use, no need to crank my neck and to stand the glare of the bright sun.

1520 GMT+1, this is a failed shot, couldn't be stacked in avistack but asivideostack managed to do it partially.

Close up with 2x Barlows, taken at 1523, 1525 (GMT+1)

Finally push up the exposure, 1527 (GMT+1):

20230527 Sun

Cloud moving around, can't really make any decent image, just a record.

1048 and 1050 (GMT+1), Ranger at prime focus, Solarmax 60 with BF10, ASI 290mm

20230525 H-alpha, Coronado BF10 fixed!

1229 (GMT+1), exposure pushed up to show prominences better, taken with 2x barlows:- 

1226 (GMT+1), AR3310 taken with 2x Barlows:-

1223 (GMT+1), taken with reducer, slightly drifting to allow full disc after stacking:-

1122 (GMT+1), taken with reducer:

I'm glad to announce that my BF10 was repaired successfully!

In business again!

Repairing my BF10

Sent an email to Meade and their response has been quick!  As expected, I will need to send my BF10 to the USA back and forth to get it fixed by them, the cost is not too high but worldwide shipping twice would be both expensive and risky.

Scanning around the web, and found some other possible solutions.  Better yet, they might offer better solution than Meade, which will get rust over time again.

Send an email to https://beloptik.de/, got a slow but positive response.  The cost is slightly lower, and I don't have to send my BF10 there.  That possibly account for the price difference, since I'll have to replace that ITF myself.  But it seems not too hard.

Good me luck, I really want to resume H-alpha imaging.

20230516 Sun, probably my last shot

 

Actually, |I don't have to process this image but since it might well be my very last shot, why not just keep it as a record?

The view is very great with my eyes, just very bad with the camera, guess what.

The exposure had to be very long, I believe my blocking filter has heavy rust.

Naked eye view tends to be a bit too bright for H-alpha, but then it's prettty dim now.  Therefore, it's still good enough for the eye, but it's already too dim for a cmaera.

I have sent email to Meade to see if they can help, but the chance probably slim.\

I would keep the filter for visual observation, and it still works out great.

I might sell the azgti mount, for it's more liike for imaging the sun., maybe selling that ASI too.

2023/5/13 1120/1122 mosaic (GMT+1)

 

|For some unknown reason, the image turns out to look white light.  I still remember when I removed the camera, I could see a long filament on the solar disc easily.  Wondering if my camera was setup incorrectly.

2023 March 8 Sun

 Solar activity has been high, leading to Aurora as well, but I was unlucky to miss all of them so far.

1044 (GMT), two frames stitched together.  Uneven illumination has to be fixed.

Ranger at prime focus.

The only 2x closeup before cloud rolled in, AR2345 and AR3247 at 10:47 (GMT)

Around 70% reized to reduce the noise.

2023 Feb 13 Comet C/2022 E3

Watched it briefly last month with my 18x50 IS before dawn from my very light polluted front yard.

Did some imaging tonight in my backyard, no tracking with my Canon 70D with a 50mm f1.8 closed down to f2.2, cropped and around 8 images stacked.  Forgot to use the raw mode.

No second chance for cloud rolled in.

2022 Oct 25 Partial Solar Eclipse

Result comes first: 

Poor seeing, windy and moving cloud.  Most H-alpha images taken were useless.

This is the most interesting shot taken accidentally, the eclipsed sun was captured by internal reflection of the camera lens:

A few snapshot of my setup:

2022 Oct 9 Hunter's Moon (2 hour late)

 Taken at around 22:50pm, Canon 100-400mm with 2x handheld, Canon 70D

Thin cloud, windy.

20221002 Short Observation: M31 and Jupiter

M31 taken with my mobile phone, Samsung S20+ 

Next up is Jupiter with my 80mm refractor, 5x powermate with my ASI

upper one higher gain with faster shutter, apparently more detail, faster shutter is better for freezing poor seeing.

lower one clean at lower gain with slower shutter, a bit over exposed.

20220926 Jupiter Opposition

Just my very first Jupiter in Scotland, very poor capture, one of my worst shots.

Probably out of focus and very poor seeing.

Just a record, pretty cold outside at six degrees celcius only, it's now autumn.  

The OTA probably couldn't reach thermal equilibrium from inside taken outside, no need to be serious for taking planets with a 80mm scope.

2022 Aug 31 Sun

 Second imaging session, still learning to work with the new stuff and new environment.

1546 UT, Ranger at prime focus, ASI190mm

AR3089

Two frames mosaic, it's hard to tune Tmax and richfield under bright sun light.

False color:

2022 Aug 25 Sun - first in Scotland

I rather took images during my stay in Leeds, and I have recently relocated to Scotland, and we have bought a small home and so it's now to resume imaging!

The small foldable table is for placing my computer, a cardbox was used as a sunshield.  The trusty Nextar mount was dead while in Leeds, it's now placed by a az-gti mount.

The sun has been active, and we have aurora alerts at night.  My backyard was not dark enough probably.

This is my first solar shot in Scotland, less than desirable but absolutely a new start.

Two frames merged together 1519 and 1523 (GMT), captured with ASI190mm without reducer, prime focus of my trusty Ranger.

2022 April 30

Two frame mosaic without reducer, slightly downsized to reduce artifacts, colorized.

 

1059 and 1104 (GMT+1)

Thin cloud floating around. 

I'm closer to getting back to normal imaging.

2022 April 20 Another attempt on solar imaging

 

I have decided to use my macbook for imaging, it has a brighter screen which should be helpful.  

After capturing, the AVIs were transferred to my PC for processing.  Maybe I shall try installing Windows on my macbook?  Anyway.

Now I've a little bit more experience with my azgti, and it's up and tracking very quickly.  I've used my iPad air as the control.  My old ipad mini has very little power left, I mean the battery.

First up is a failed full disc shot with the reducer, it's taken at 1004 UT.  It's 1104 for the local time, but we are not in day light saving mode.

Tuning the T-max and Richfield still requires some more practice, it's so far away from the laptop screen.  Pulling the laptop screen closer but the sunshine prevents that.

Next up is taken with reducer off, cropped:

Close up is less demanding to T-max and Richfield combination, taken just 4 minutes later, i.e. 1008 UT.

18th of March, second real trial on the Sun

 

I couldn't really tune the T-max and Richfield due to the limitation of the DIY notebook screen shade.

I just tilted the T-max according to my memory, and Richfield on its two ends.  I shall find better way for image capturing.  

Maybe I shall set the tripod lower, sit on the ground, and make a bigger notebook screen shade.

Relocated to UK, 15th of March 2022

My family relocated to the UK, and now I got a small garden or a backyard.

I did some simple imaging before but the freezing temperature and a nearby street light stopped me from doing something more serious.  My Nexstar mount was found dead soon after arrival, it worked once or twice, but then I found a nylon gear was totally stripped afterward.

I got a az-gti mount as a replacement.  I tried to take image of the sun for two consecutive days, but I found imaging in front of a simple window platform is actually much easier.  The very bright sunshine is making the notebook screen less than readible.

After much struggling, I got this silly image but at least I know the az-gti is working, and the Solarmax 60 is still alright after travelling over 9600km across the ocean.

2021/1/31 Sun

 

0615 UT with reducer, ASI290mm

2021/1/21 Moon

Just tried out YouTube live by using screen capture of OBS on Sharpcap.

Here is the only shot taken and stacked:

Ranger with 5x Powermate, ASI 290mm

20210103 Sun

0700UT with 2x barlows

0658UT with 2x barlows

0655 UT with reducer

Moderate seeing, good transparency.