DATE : 31st December 2015
START : 21:27 WEATHER : Out 4.7 DEG C - In 8.5 DEG C -65 Rel/Humidity - Moon - 61% Waining Alt +15deg by end
FINISH : 00:58 WEATHER : Out 3.1 DEG C - In .4.4 DEG C - Rel/Humidity -83deg
UPDATE :
So it's New Years Eve and I've just watched Star Trek with Helen and now time to setup the scope for a quick imaging run before the end of this year and the begining of the next. The rain stopped an hour or so ago and it's now clear. The clouds are due later on and the Moon rises at 11pm. I'll try and grab some more RGB frames for M33.
The only problem I had again tonight was PHD2 stopping guiding after an error about the scope moving. I will look into this tomorrow.
Slew to target - Done
Focus run on Red - Done
Confirm guide star - Done
Take 60s confirmation image - Done
Start image run - Done
Focus - Red
31/12/15 - 40,301
TARGET :
M33 - Red = 7 x5mins, Green = 12 x 5mins, Blue = 12 x 5mins
New flats taken for all 3 filters.
-------------------------
DATE : 29th December 2015
START : 17:02 WEATHER : Out 8.6 DEG C - In 11.9 DEG C -69 Rel/Humidity - Moon - 81% Waining Alt -26deg
FINISH : 18:49 WEATHER : Out 8.9 DEG C - In 10.7 DEG C - 79 Rel/Humidity -
UPDATE :
Short window tonight between 6pm and 9pm before the clouds and rain rolls in. I'm going to attemp to get the RGB data or at least some of it for M33. I have taken the filters out and cleaned them. However I still have a spot of dust that stays still. It might be on the sensor itself. I'll recheck after tonight.
Okay, so the clouds rolled in earlier than expected ahead of storm Frank for what is turning out to be a very rainy, stormy and warm winter!
Focus - Red
29/12/15 - 38,528
Focus - GREEN
29/12/15 - 38,718
Focus - BLUE
29/12/15 - 38,173
Focus - Clear
29/12/15 - 39,254
TARGET :
M33 - Red = 5 x5mins
I need 12 x 5mins for RGB
Need Flats!
-------------------------
DATE : 8th November 2015
START : 18:29 WEATHER : Out 7.9 DEG C - In 10.4 DEG C - 67 Rel/Humidity - Moon - 0% Waxing Alt
FINISH : 00:04 WEATHER : Out 6.0 DEG C - In 6.7 DEG C - 87 Rel/Humidity -
UPDATE :
Started to take M33 tonight and on the Luminance channel. After a dreadful November with no real clear nights this is my first time out for some time.
TARGET :
M33 (Clear) 5min x 53 (need to check quality as some cloud)
Bias x 50
Darks - 53
-------------------------
DATE : 31st October 2015
START : 19:50 WEATHER : Out 10.5 DEG C - In 14.1 DEG C - 77 Rel/Humidity - Moon - 77% Waxing Alt -3
FINISH : 00:xx WEATHER : Out 2.7 DEG C - In 4.5 DEG C - 88 Rel/Humidity -
UPDATE :
I went out to image 2015 TB145 on 12" however it was behind the tree, I should have come out earlier at 5pm. Instead I took some notes of the position of the DSLR and the tubes used both with and without the 4x Powermate. I then put the CCD back on and got focus. I then fired up PHD2 to make sure it worked. Then the fog rolled in.
Next Time - Back to imaging Messier, Herschel and Lunar 100.
-------------------------
DATE : 25th/26th October 2015
START : 18:06 WEATHER : Out 6.4 DEG C - In 10 DEG C - 73 Rel/Humidity - Moon - 95% Waxing Alt +17
FINISH : 00:26 WEATHER : Out 2.7 DEG C - In 4.5 DEG C - 88 Rel/Humidity -
UPDATE :
Out testing barlows again tonight. I have just removed the DSLR with the 5x Teleview 1.25" barlow. The focuser was set to 39,840. I'm now attaching the 2" 4x Televue Powermate to the back and the focuser needed to be adjusted to 87,090 using the same extention tube configuration, so not the original adapter but my new one.
Best picture is through the 4x Barlow.
Now taken all the Barlows off and placed DSLR on scope with the same set of primary new adapters I have and set focus to 89,190 for the Moon.
After testing the adapters and Powermates/Barlows I setup software to perform stacking of images and displaying them. DeepSkyStacker Live is the key product and works really well. I had an issue with trailing at +26 deg Alt West as M92 was setting, I changed to M45 and all was well. Probasbly need to sort my polar alignement.
Now need a piece of swoftware to convert TIF to JPG as OBS software does not read TIF only JPG
-------------------------
DATE : 24th October 2015
START : 20:43 WEATHER : Out 8.5 DEG C - In 11.7 DEG C - 79 Rel/Humidity - Moon - 90% Waxing Alt +31
FINISH : 23:00 WEATHER : Out 6.8 DEG C - In 10.7 DEG C - 76 Rel/Humidity -
UPDATE :
First clear night for a while and no work and it's half term and I have time booked off which is great news! Just booked Tenerife holiday for the first time with Bob, Paul, Ian and Alan. Tonight I will test out 3 Barlows on the Moon to see which suits my DSLR 600D on the 12". I managed to get the 2.5x Televue barlow working with Bsackyard EOS. I then tried the 5x Televue Barlow. This also worked well. I will try my cheapr barlow which is 5x at the next clear sky and Bob's 4x 2"
-------------------------
DATE : 3rd October 2015
START : 21:250 WEATHER : Out 7.8 DEG C - In 9.8 DEG C - 77 Rel/Humidity - Moon - 61% Waining Alt -5
FINISH : 23:57 WEATHER : Out 6.8 DEG C - In 9.2 DEG C - 81 Rel/Humidity -
UPDATE :
Sorted out PHD2 tonight and go the settings right for guiding. Nice round stars. Cooled scope down for 3 hours as suggested by Damian Peach in his talk today. Also left covers off scope including sock and had fan running for 3 hours. Again nice round stars. Also put the tertiary baffle on tonight using the Tak scope to line it up. I have finally tested the Howie Glatter laser and whilst there is still play in the connection of it to the 2" push fit the primary looks spot on. Next time out I'll try and test powermate from Bob.
-------------------------
DATE : 2nd October 2015
START : 20:21 WEATHER : Out 10.3 DEG C - In 12.3 DEG C - 81 Rel/Humidity - Moon - 72% Waining Alt -10
FINISH : 22:47 WEATHER : Out 8.4 DEG C - In 11.0 DEG C - 80 Rel/Humidity - Moon 70% Alt +8
UPDATE :
Decided to come out and try setting up using the new PHD2 guiding software. Yesterday I collimated the scope using the Tak Microscope and it looks so much better. I have moved the spider back to where it was needed then tip tilt on the secondary then spider again. Then I was done until Bob has kindely made up a 2" push fitting for me and then I can use the Howie Galtter laser to collimate the primary.
So to get the guiding working with PHD2 I had to do the following:
Uninstall ASCOM Platform V6 SP3
Reinstall ASCOM Platform V6 SP3
Install the ASCOM 2X Mount Adapter Setup.EXE driver from Bisque which allows you to start The SkyX as a Telescope Driver from within the Chooser menu.
NB - Make sure I now start PHD2 first then when connecting the ASCOM Telescope Driver for the Sky as the Mount the SkyX starts automatically and connects to the MEII mount
-------------------------
DATE : 28th September 2015
START : 08:30 WEATHER :
FINISH : 06:30 WEATHER :
UPDATE :
Total Lunar Eclipse this evening and was streaming video live to Slooh and then around the world! Had the stream from Canon 600D modified on the back of the OS 12" and another taking static images belonging to the society on the 72mm Williams. I had though of selling the Williams, however for the Canon camera taking planets and Moon it's a good scope.
-------------------------
DATE :July - September 2015
UPDATE :
So it's been a good Summer. I travelled with 6 friends to La Palma for our 3rd trip and took some amazing photos.
-------------------------
DATE : 6th/7th June 2015
START : 23:05 WEATHER : Out x DEG C - In 11.5 DEG C - 59 Rel/Humidity - x% Moon - x% Waining Alt +x
FINISH : 00:07 WEATHER : Out 11.x DEG C - In 11.2 DEG C - 62 Rel/Humidity x% Moon Alt -
UPDATE :
Out testing my new 200mm Canon lens from rather than Bobs.
TARGET :
Area in Virgo
-------------------------
DATE : 12th May 2015
START : 21:17 WEATHER : Out x DEG C - In x DEG C - x Rel/Humidity - x% Moon - x% Waining Alt +x
FINISH : 22:59 WEATHER : Out 11.4 DEG C - In 7.1 DEG C - 50 Rel/Humidity x% Moon Alt -
UPDATE :
Out testing 200mm Canon lens from Bob vs the 100mm-300mm Canon lens I have.
TARGET :
-------------------------
DATE : 18th/19th April 2015
START : 18:36 WEATHER : Out 15.7 DEG C - In 11.1 DEG C - 32 Rel/Humidity - 66% Moon - 2% Waining Alt +09
FINISH : 15:04 WEATHER : Out 4.4 DEG C - In 5.8 DEG C - 75 Rel/Humidity x% Moon Alt -
UPDATE :
Just readying the dome for an all night session...I hope. Tonight I'm going to image the Hubble Deep Field with Bob and others too. In fact Derrick and JBS were out.
Well after taking 3 hours of data I realised I had the wrong patch of sky...........so I deleted that lot of images, moved the scope and started again. I took the co-ordinates from Mil Dave's email which was an image from the Sky at Night website but the RA and DEC were incorrect. He later sent the correct ones, however I have not noticed the email until too late.
TARGET :
Hubble Deep Field - 7 x 20mins (2hrs 20mins) Deep Sky Filter, Flats for RGB, Clear and Deep Sky taken, Bias taken (all images at -30degC)
-------------------------
DATE : 15th April 2015
START : 19:34 WEATHER : Out 15.5 DEG C - In 21.9 DEG C - 34 Rel/Humidity - 66% Moon - 12% Waining Alt -32
FINISH : 23:36 WEATHER : Out 10.04 DEG C - In 13.4 DEG C - 57 Rel/Humidity x% Moon Alt -
UPDATE :
It's been unseasonably hot today at 25 degC. I have just opened the dome up to cool down and put the fan coolers on the 12" and retracted the light shield.
It's now 9pm and I've come back out to start a focus run before I ake some more Luminance frames through the Deep Sky filter.
Focus for Deep Sky @ 57,494
21:15 started imaging run with camera at -28deg c below ambient at 82% power so I will need to take a new set of darks and bias
TARGET :
M51 - Deep Sky - 6 x 20mins
-------------------------
DATE : 11th/12th April 2015
START : 20:53 WEATHER : Out 5.7 DEG C - In 10.0 DEG C - 44 Rel/Humidity - 66% Moon - 53% Waining Alt -45
FINISH : 03:04 WEATHER : Out 9.x DEG C - In 11.x DEG C - xx Rel/Humidity x% Moon Alt -
UPDATE :
Out imaging M51 to get some more LRGB frames. It's a lovely night. I managed to grab all the additional colour frames I required on one side of the mount before I needed to flip. I then took an addiotnal 3 light frames through the 'Deep Sky' filter before the clouds started to drift past. I was extremely lucky as the clouds were just to the North of Basingstoke and the forecast was not good, so to get to 3am I was very pleased. Today is my last day before going back to work after 1 week Easter holiday so no more viewing during the week.
I did notice a slight flaring around the stars using the Deep Sky filter. I may investigate this and see if I am better off getting a Clear filter which is just an IR cut rather than a sodium blocker. This is a very old filter that may actually not be that good. Not too sure. Also, I cannot discount that the new baffle is not responsible. I need to review some other data from before I fitted it to confirm.
TARGET :
M51 - Red - 6 x 20mins, Green - 4 x 20mins, Blue - 3 x 20mins, Luminance - 3 x 20mins
-------------------------
DATE : 10th/11th April 2015
START : 22:41 WEATHER : Out 9.7 DEG C - In 13.4 DEG C - 68 Rel/Humidity - 66% Moon - 63% Waining Alt -28
FINISH :12:05 WEATHER : Out 9.2 DEG C - In 11.6 DEG C - 72 Rel/Humidity x% Moon Alt -
UPDATE :
Out imaging M51 to get some more LRGB frames. Decided on longer exposures. The last time I used 5mins, this time I have used 20mins. I managed to get 2 frames in Red before the clouds rolled in.
TARGET :
M51 - Red - 2 x 20mins
-------------------------
DATE : 8th/9th April 2015
START : 22:51 WEATHER : Out 7.2 DEG C - In 22.5 DEG C - 61 Rel/Humidity - 66% Moon - 81% Waining Alt -09
FINISH :12:25 WEATHER : Out 6.3 DEG C - In 8.2 DEG C - xx Rel/Humidity x% Moon Alt -
UPDATE :
Since completing the tests on my equipment yesterday, I decided to place the guider back on the QSI to see how easy it is to setup. Fortunately this turned out to be very easy and I did not need to recalibrate. This means once I have visited Ian's to test the La Palma setup I can redo my setup very quickly.
I went on to test the camera by taking a set of clear images of a Galaxy called H56.
TARGET :
Herschel H56 - Galaxy - 12 x 5min Clear; Flats
-------------------------
DATE : 7th/8th April 2015
START : 21:01 WEATHER : Out 9.1 DEG C - In 12.8 DEG C - 66 Rel/Humidity - 90% Moon - xx% Waining Alt -18
FINISH : 04:28 WEATHER : Out 5.6 DEG C - In 8.4 DEG C - 76 Rel/Humidity 90x% Moon Alt -
UPDATE :
Today I have setup the Canon 600D DSLR on the back of the 12" OS with a 5x Barlow. I managed to find a spare female to female T Thread adapter to connect it. I will now test to see if I can get focus. I also put the newly delivered shield on the OTA today from Italy some 6 months after ordering it! Hopefully I have aligned the spider correctly.
Old Focus position for QSI is 56,741
I nearly did not get the little T Thread extension tube off the OS adapter. I also nearly damaged the OS adapter . I won't be taking this off again after tonight.
I struggled on this evening and then realised to get the DSLR focused on the 12" with a Barlow, either 2x or 5x, I would need a shorter extension tube than the one I use for the QSI. So instead I put the DSLR on the 5".
Placing the DSLR on the 5" caused me huge problems in terms of weight. I had to not only put additional weight on the opposite side, I also had to try and add weight to the countershaft. After much heaving of weights on and off for over 1 hour realised that I could not fit enough weight on the shaft given the distribution of weights I currently have. So I took off some weight on the rear of the 12" losmandy plate that sticks out the back. I the had to move the Tak FS128 backwards in its clamshell, the 5" needed moving back too, as did the weights on the right hand side. I then had too much weight on the counterweight shaft. Unfortunately I did not again have the right weights so I placed a roller skate wheel in between 2 weights to move the larger one further up the shaft (temporary this evening solution).
I finally managed to get some images from the. 5" but it suffered the same round circle of light as the Tak did. this is due to the DSLR on these scopes. I the end put the DSLR without a Barlow on the 12" and snapped a photo of the Moon. I also put an eyepiece on it and took my first peek through my wonderful scope. I love the Moon, I love my scope and I love astronomy.
I have now put the QSI back on the 12". The DSLR is temporarily on the 5" and over the next few days I will put the we came back on that scope and rearrange the weights,
I have now spent 7 hours outside in the dome, I'm cold, tired and need my bed.
New focus position for Clear is 53,715
TARGET :
Moon
-------------------------
DATE : 5th/6th April 2015
START : 23:32 WEATHER : Out 5.5 DEG C - In 9.1 DEG C - 61 Rel/Humidity - 98% Moon - None% Waining Alt +17
FINISH : 01:13 WEATHER : Out 5.0 DEG C - In 8.1 DEG C - 68 Rel/Humidity 98x% Moon Alt -
UPDATE :
testing 600D with 5x Barlow on Tak 128 now it is clear. I managed to get many video samples both 1920x1080 with 25fps through to 640x480 with 25fps. I also took 1280 x 720 with 50fps but needed to wack the ISO up to 1600 from 800. I found the exposure should be set to manual and the white balance to auto. I took some flats to teat as the Tak has a large doughnut due to it's design in the middle of the fov. It's more like a cone of light. I'll now process these first set of video streams and see if I can get some decent images. If so I can start my Lunar 100.
TARGET :
Moon
-------------------------
DATE : 27th March 2015
START : 19:23 WEATHER : Out 6.9 DEG C - In 10.4 DEG C - 59 Rel/Humidity - 55% Moon - None% Waxing Alt +54
FINISH : 20:58 WEATHER : Out 7.8 DEG C - In 9.8 DEG C - 66 Rel/Humidity xx% Moon Alt -xx
UPDATE :
testing 600D with 5x Barlow on Tak 128 now Bob has kindly lent me an adapter snout. As soon as I setup the clouds rolled in.....typical!
TARGET :
Moon
-------------------------
DATE : 25th March 2015
START : 21:00 WEATHER : Out 1.5 DEG C - In 6.1 DEG C -586 Rel/Humidity - 36% Moon - None% Waxing Alt +31
FINISH : 22:09 WEATHER : Out 2.3 DEG C - In 5.8 DEG C - 69 Rel/Humidity xx% Moon Alt -xx
UPDATE :
I'm out deciding which camera and scope to start my Lunar 100 project with. Tested Webcam on the Skywatcher 5" with 5x Barlow and TouCam. Then tested 600D on the Tak128. Really need a way of connecting the 600D to the Tak with a Barlow.
TARGET :
Moon
-------------------------
DATE : 10th March 2015
START : 19:42 WEATHER : Out 2.8 DEG C - In 6.9 DEG C - 56 Rel/Humidity - 78% Moon - None% Waining Alt -30
FINISH : 20:08 WEATHER : Out 2.6 DEG C - In 6.6 DEG C - 56 Rel/Humidity xx% Moon Alt -xx
UPDATE :
Trying out Bobs 200mm Canon F2.8 Fixed lens
Took images from F2.8 through to F5.6. I will analyse later however I feel F5.6 will be my best choice. Fairly cloudy tonight high level and seeing rubbish so orange background.
TARGET :
Moon
-------------------------
DATE : 23rd February 2015
START : 19:02 WEATHER : Out 2.4 DEG C - In 5.0 DEG C - 69 Rel/Humidity - x% Moon - None% Waxing Alt +x
FINISH : 20:07 WEATHER : Out x DEG C - In x DEG C - 70 Rel/Humidity xx% Moon Alt -xx
UPDATE :
Trying out spacers from Bob on the Williams Optics and using Bobs T-Thread.
TARGET :
Moon
-------------------------
DATE : 22nd February 2015
START : 19:59 WEATHER : Out x DEG C - In x DEG C - x Rel/Humidity - x% Moon - None% Waxing Alt +x
FINISH : 23:17 WEATHER : Out x DEG C - In x DEG C - x Rel/Humidity xx% Moon Alt -xx
UPDATE :
Trying to get the WO in focus and test different spacing between the T-Ring and the Focal Reducer/Flatener
TARGET :
Moon
-------------------------
DATE : 26th January 2015
START : 19:57 WEATHER : Out 5.3 DEG C - In 8.0 DEG C - 58 Rel/Humidity - 46% Moon - None% Waxing Alt +39
FINISH : 21:04 WEATHER : Out 4.7 DEG C - In 8.1 DEG C - 62 Rel/Humidity xx% Moon Alt -xx
UPDATE :
Out chasing NEA 2004 BL86!
TARGET :
Asteroid 2004 BL86
-------------------------
DATE : 24th January 2015
START : 19:29 WEATHER : Out 2.0 DEG C - In 3.9 DEG C - 71 Rel/Humidity - 24% Moon - None% Waxing Alt +24
FINISH : 20:18 WEATHER : Out xx DEG C - In xx DEG C - Rel/Humidity xx% Moon Alt -xx
UPDATE :
Imaging the Moon through the Tak FS128 with the Canon 600D. I took some single frames and at this phase 1/160s exp was about right. I then switched to Movie mode and of course it spits out Windows Media file rather than AVI. I started to take a shot when the clouds rolled in. Tonight was supposed to be clear, however it now does not seem so.
TARGET :
M31 (NGC 206) - 6 x 20min Green
-------------------------
DATE : 19th January 2015
START : 19:31 WEATHER : Out -1.4 DEG C - In 2.8 DEG C - Rel/Humidity - 0% Moon - None% Waining Alt -xx
FINISH : 22:19 WEATHER : Out -2.5 DEG C - In -0.6 DEG C - Rel/Humidity 74% Moon Alt -xx
UPDATE :
Imaging M31
TARGET :
M31 (NGC 206) - 6 x 20min Green
-------------------------
DATE : 16th/17th January 2015
START : 19:29 WEATHER : Out 0.9 DEG C - In 4.7 DEG C - Rel/Humidity - 61% Moon - None% Waining Alt -54
FINISH : 4:15 WEATHER : Out -2 DEG C - In 0.6 DEG C - Rel/Humidity 81% Moon Alt -xx
UPDATE :
Imaging M31 and Heart but first I'm going to setup focus positiopns on all my filters
Deep Sky - 63,249
Red - 60,011
Green - 60,038
Blue - 59,866
Ha - 58,815
OIII - 58,625
SII - 58,707
Clear - 59,440
Right set the above numbers into the Camera Filter positions fields as offsets. Now I'll try taking an image of M31 with R. I'll align to NGC206
I've now moved to the Heart nebula. I originally centred on GSC 4046:532, however the resulting image, whilst interesting, was not really what I had envisaged. I had seen an image taken through another 12" scope in the Royal Observatory of Greenwich's Astronomy Photographer of the year 2014. It's a fantastic photo by Ivan Eder in Hungary using narrowband. I have now centred on GSC 4046:1143 which looks more like the region he imaged. I'll take a 20min Ha exposure and make a decision. It's currently 10 past 11 and very clear. I think there is a slight scattering of high level cloud. Bob and Tim are out imaging as well as JBS. All are on Skype. Brendan was on email earlier which was nice too.
Well Mil Dave has just gone to bed at 1:20am after an evening of armchair astronomy. Kept me company so very please :-)
I've had to refocus the scope using Ha as the focuser is training because of the major refocus this evening. I have now picked 100 steps per deg in the adjustment. I'll crack on and read the manual which may help. Refocusing has helped the latest image, went from 0.860 back up to 0.928 which is much nearer to 1 and much rounder stars.
I just recalled to Mil Dave that I still have a large number of images to process. I must find some time to do that given the days of effort that have gone in to collecting the data.
Bob is now going to bed too an has shut up his dome. No sign of Tim for the last few hours nor from JBS and who knows where John Murphy is?
TARGET :
M31 (NGC 206) - 6 x 20min Red
Heart Nebula (GSC 4046:1143) - 14 x 20min Ha
-------------------------
DATE : 15th January 2015
START : 19:59 WEATHER : Out 2.8 DEG C - In 6.5 DEG C - Rel/Humidity - 60% Moon - 26% Waining Alt -54
FINISH : 23:15 WEATHER : Out 3.5 DEG C - In 6.3 DEG C - Rel/Humidity 61% Moon Alt -xx
UPDATE :
Imaging with DSLR on Tak 128 testing 600D on M42 and Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy again and this time with no dirt on the CCD!!
TARGET :
Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy
M42 test
-------------------------
DATE : 10th/11th January 2015
START : 18:27 WEATHER : Out 3.1 DEG C - In 6.9 DEG C - Rel/Humidity - 55% Moon - 74% Waining Alt -29
FINISH : 21:06 WEATHER : Out 4.5 DEG C - In 2.1 DEG C - Rel/Humidity 65% Moon Alt -xx
UPDATE :
Imaging with DSLR on Tak 128 testing 600D on M42 and Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy however on slewing to the objects the Tak turned over and dumped a load of dirt on my CCD of the Canon 600D. I then had to go out and buy a blower to remove the dust from the CCD. All my images tonight were toast!
TARGET :
Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy
M42 test