Last Night’s Astro Image

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Some guiding problems last night, but in between the problems, excellent guiding so this stack of the best 90 minutes of five minute exposures has nice tight stars:

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 11/07/2018 22:16:58:

Last night's Saturn:

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 12/07/2018 23:25:19

Yes, Saturn's still well on show – but why do my shots look so wooden and brassy in comparison?

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Mick B1 on 11/08/2018 08:37:02:

Yes, Saturn's still well on show – but why do my shots look so wooden and brassy in comparison?

Very pretty!

[Tim StevensParticipant @timstevens64731]

Might that be a consequence of them being made of wood and brass?

Tim

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by Tim Stevens on 11/08/2018 12:50:26:

Might that be a consequence of them being made of wood and brass?

Tim

Ah. Sussed. Drat. Nothing gets past the eagle eyes of some on here.

[HacksawParticipant @hacksaw]

Watching the Perseids shower last night , along with the streaks , at times there were just bright small flashes , no tails , like how can I say , coming down vertically and burning up ? Were these meteors too?

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Hacksaw on 14/08/2018 08:51:37:

Watching the Perseids shower last night , along with the streaks , at times there were just bright small flashes , no tails , like how can I say , coming down vertically and burning up ? Were these meteors too?

If between Perseus and Cassiopiea then they probably are head on meteors, but elsewhere they are more likely to be sunlight reflected off satellites or space junk. Search 'Iridium flash' for the source of the brightest of these (visible in the day, I'm told!)

I have about 2,000 photos from last night to search for meteors – can't say I'm hopeful, at least half are cloud…

Neil

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I lied, it's 995 raw and 995 jpgs of the same thing.

Neil

[Enough!Participant @enough]

Posted by Hacksaw on 14/08/2018 08:51:37:

Watching the Perseids shower last night , along with the streaks , at times there were just bright small flashes , no tails , like how can I say , coming down vertically and burning up ? Were these meteors too?

Delta Aquariids ?

APOD caught one of those recently

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Added narrowband hydrogen-alpha light (Ha) to the image from 4 August

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 01/09/2018 20:59:57

[MeunierParticipant @meunier]

Nicely done, Neil
I flicked back and fore several times between this image and 4Aug and from my perspective it seems to have focused/sharpened the smaller stars, in the top/left corner particularly. Thanks for updating
DaveD

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Meunier on 01/09/2018 20:27:13:

Nicely done, Neil
I flicked back and fore several times between this image and 4Aug and from my perspective it seems to have focused/sharpened the smaller stars, in the top/left corner particularly. Thanks for updating
DaveD

Thanks!

One effect of the Ha filter is to make the stars tighter as it letts through all teh red nebula light but only a small portion of starlight.

Neil

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

NEWS:

**LINK**

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45425872

MichaelG.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

A very creditable decision.

Neil

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

I've just received the appended note by eMail, and thought it worth sharing

MichaelG.

…………….

[quote]

Hi Everybody,

I have written an exhaustive account of producing a wide field image from the output of Deep Sky Stacker. It is the last in the list on my Astronomy Digest. (http://www.ianmorison.com) Over 2,000 words and 20 graphics and pictures. (Why do I do this??)

I found that FITS Liberator 3 gave probably the best result of 4 stretching methods, showed how to make a 'star repair' clone stamp and how to enhance the brighter stars to make the image more 'film like'.

It might just be of some interest.

Cheers

Ian

[/quote]

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 07/09/2018 09:44:50:

I've just received the appended note by eMail, and thought it worth sharing

MichaelG.

…………….

[quote]

Hi Everybody,

I have written an exhaustive account of producing a wide field image from the output of Deep Sky Stacker. It is the last in the list on my Astronomy Digest. (http://www.ianmorison.com) Over 2,000 words and 20 graphics and pictures. (Why do I do this??)

I found that FITS Liberator 3 gave probably the best result of 4 stretching methods, showed how to make a 'star repair' clone stamp and how to enhance the brighter stars to make the image more 'film like'.

It might just be of some interest.

Cheers

Ian

[/quote]

That's interesting, I made the same discovery that FITS Liberator is an excellent 'stretching' program, unfortunately it wants to convert my images to monochrome so I'll see how he does it.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Best of the images from my first go with the scope I made. The focus is off (operator error not the fault of the scope) and the transparency was very poor.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Looks a very good start, Neil

MichaelG.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 15/09/2018 18:14:00:

Looks a very good start, Neil

MichaelG.

Thanks, I see he uses an approach that splits the image into RGB 'layers' and treats each as a mono image.

I will try that.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Beachcombing ?

https://news.sky.com/story/satellite-net-developed-in-the-uk-collects-space-junk-for-the-first-time-11501941

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 19/09/2018 08:58:35

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 19/09/2018 08:58:01:

Beachcombing ?

**LINK**

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 19/09/2018 08:58:35

I once modded a telescope micrometer gadget (made by Watson's around 1907) for a friend who specialised in measuring angular separation in multi-star systems. He told me that he and other astronomers with similar interests often kept spiders to provide fine threads for the crosshairs in such devices. (I'd managed to drill a hole for light passage in the internal framework without disturbing the existing crosshair).

But it must've been a helluva well-trained spider wove the web in that link.

 

Edited By Mick B1 on 19/09/2018 09:11:43

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Mick B1 on 19/09/2018 09:10:49:

 

… it must've been a helluva well-trained spider wove the web in that link.

.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QyRPrax9MJU

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 19/09/2018 09:20:27

[MeunierParticipant @meunier]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 11/08/2018 10:54:22:

Posted by Mick B1 on 11/08/2018 08:37:02:

Yes, Saturn's still well on show – but why do my shots look so wooden and brassy in comparison?

Very pretty!

and modifying MichaelG's comment – I think MickB1 takes the award for beechcombing.
DaveD

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Meunier on 19/09/2018 16:34:54:

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 11/08/2018 10:54:22:

Posted by Mick B1 on 11/08/2018 08:37:02:

Yes, Saturn's still well on show – but why do my shots look so wooden and brassy in comparison?

Very pretty!

and modifying MichaelG's comment – I think MickB1 takes the award for beechcombing.
DaveD

And he's left Paul McCartney wondering where one of his gold records has gone…

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

FANFARE :

Let's hear it for Neil Wyatt, folks …

http://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/feature/how-guide/how-build-simple-solar-finder-telescope?

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 26/09/2018 21:48:33

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