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astrogeorge · Joined: 25 Oct 2007 Posts: 77 Location: Kirkcaldy

Here's an image of Ursa Minor that i captured on the night of the Perseid's. My aim was to catch a few Perseid's but was not successful. The image is made up of two 30 second exposures which where stacked. I used my Eos 400D with sigma 18-50mm lens set at f3.5. The bright star right of centre is Polaris.

Click to see full size image

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Celestron C100ED-R, Meade LX200 10" & Series 5000 80mm Apo, Coronado PST
EQ6 Pro with GPS
Meade Series 4000 Eyepieces & 2x Apo Barlow
Tele Vue 4x & 5x Power Mate
Meade DSI Colour & DSI II Pro, Image Source DBK 21, Canon Eos 400D

Cosmic · Joined: 12 Jun 2008 Posts: 190 Location: Dunfermline

Nice piccie George

My first impressions with the LX90 are very good. I managed to get a couple of hours observing done on Monday night.
Alignment wasn't too far out but i will get that sorted next time otherwise bang on the money. had great views of M13, M57 and Dumbell nebula. Jupiter was well up and great views of disk and banding however after 1.5 hrs the dew started to form on corrector plate so I have ordered a dew shield and rewired the dew heater to work off cigarette lighter socket so that now works a treat. I just need a clear night.

I will invite you down once the TV capture gear arrives and you can see the Mintron ccd video cam put through its paces.

cheers
Cosmic
_________________
Meade LX90 UHTC 8" SCT
Celestron Nexstar 5SE SCT
Mintron MTV-12V6HC-EX ccd video cam
15x70 Astro Binoculars 10x50 Binoculars
When I was a child I had a dream......now I own a telescope ....it's no longer a dream.

astrogeorge · Joined: 25 Oct 2007 Posts: 77 Location: Kirkcaldy

Sounds good geoff, I hope it's clear soon as I need to test out my new LX200 10" ota. We never got clear skies in kirkcaldy on monday.
_________________
Celestron C100ED-R, Meade LX200 10" & Series 5000 80mm Apo, Coronado PST
EQ6 Pro with GPS
Meade Series 4000 Eyepieces & 2x Apo Barlow
Tele Vue 4x & 5x Power Mate
Meade DSI Colour & DSI II Pro, Image Source DBK 21, Canon Eos 400D

Cosmic · Joined: 12 Jun 2008 Posts: 190 Location: Dunfermline

Hi George
Take a look at www.dasoc.org.uk and see Geoff's Blog. My first attempt at astrophotography!

Lemme know what you think

Cosmic
_________________
Meade LX90 UHTC 8" SCT
Celestron Nexstar 5SE SCT
Mintron MTV-12V6HC-EX ccd video cam
15x70 Astro Binoculars 10x50 Binoculars
When I was a child I had a dream......now I own a telescope ....it's no longer a dream.

astrogeorge · Joined: 25 Oct 2007 Posts: 77 Location: Kirkcaldy

Hi Geoff I've got a few questions?

1. When you say single image do you mean 1 single frame or was the final image a result of stacking?

2. What exposure times where used?

They are great images, truly a good camera you should be really pleased with them. I take it your camera does not have a fast enough shutter speed for Jupiter.

Well done again!!!!!
_________________
Celestron C100ED-R, Meade LX200 10" & Series 5000 80mm Apo, Coronado PST
EQ6 Pro with GPS
Meade Series 4000 Eyepieces & 2x Apo Barlow
Tele Vue 4x & 5x Power Mate
Meade DSI Colour & DSI II Pro, Image Source DBK 21, Canon Eos 400D

Cosmic · Joined: 12 Jun 2008 Posts: 190 Location: Dunfermline

Hi George
It's a CCTV low light surveillance camera it takes video streams not individual shots. The problem is it has too much gain for jupiter and I need to learn how to adjust it for planetary work. It can see objects the naked eye cannot ie stars down to 19 mag. I think when I get the hang of it it will be super. I did process the avi file in registax but the result was crap to be honest. I need Bob to go through it with me again. So Bob if your about can I bring the avi files to you one night and maybe you can show me. I'm really excited about this and it will be great for star parties because everyone can look at the laptop screen and see what the telescope sees.

George thanks for you kind words. I'll get you down one night and you can have a go.
Cosmic
_________________
Meade LX90 UHTC 8" SCT
Celestron Nexstar 5SE SCT
Mintron MTV-12V6HC-EX ccd video cam
15x70 Astro Binoculars 10x50 Binoculars
When I was a child I had a dream......now I own a telescope ....it's no longer a dream.

Cosmic · Joined: 12 Jun 2008 Posts: 190 Location: Dunfermline

George
sorry no exposure times just let the video record for 30 secs
Cosmic
_________________
Meade LX90 UHTC 8" SCT
Celestron Nexstar 5SE SCT
Mintron MTV-12V6HC-EX ccd video cam
15x70 Astro Binoculars 10x50 Binoculars
When I was a child I had a dream......now I own a telescope ....it's no longer a dream.

astrogeorge · Joined: 25 Oct 2007 Posts: 77 Location: Kirkcaldy

That would be good, I've just been out balancing my LX200 on my eq6 pro, glad i choose to do it in the daylight its a heavy scope.
_________________
Celestron C100ED-R, Meade LX200 10" & Series 5000 80mm Apo, Coronado PST
EQ6 Pro with GPS
Meade Series 4000 Eyepieces & 2x Apo Barlow
Tele Vue 4x & 5x Power Mate
Meade DSI Colour & DSI II Pro, Image Source DBK 21, Canon Eos 400D

seabay

Excellent image, George .... just out of interest, I've been taking images of constellations (eg Orion, Gemini) just with a hand-held compact digital camera (8mp) - ie no tripod or anything - set on ISO.

Was amazed to get anything .... but, for example, the whole of Orion shows up, except for the Sword, M42 etc, and I managed to get a shot recently of Castor and Pollux with Mars close by and Betelgeuse and Bellatrix also in the frame.

Has anyone else tried this and had any success?

(nb the pics aren't that good, and it takes a bit of trial and error and guess work to point the camera at the right area of the sky, but it's an interesting exercise!)

Emma

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Emma H