2-16-16 shots in the dark: These are a variety some shots I took last night. M13 Hercules Cluster, M92 Globular Star Cluster, Jupiter and Mars. I was just trying a variety of different...

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

These are a variety some shots I took last night.
M13 Hercules Cluster, M92 Globular Star Cluster, Jupiter and Mars.
I was just trying a variety of different types of shots with my regular D800E.
I just used the Visual Back to attach the Camera too. No autoguiding.
I think I'm ready to put it all together for tonight shoot.
Craig

M13 Hercules Cluster

(Download)

M92 Globular Star Cluster

(Download)

Jupiter

(Download)

Mars

(Download)

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

Hercules is looking really good.
Jupiter looks a bit squished. Did you have to bring down levels?
Mars looks pretty good.
Have you had a chance to look at your Baader filter?
I know.. Tough crowd.
;)
:thumbup: :thumbup:

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Albuqshutterbug wrote:

Hercules is looking really good.
Jupiter looks a bit squished. Did you have to bring down levels?
Mars looks pretty good.
Have you had a chance to look at your Baader filter?
I know.. Tough crowd.
;)
:thumbup: :thumbup:

Thank you very much Jim.
I am going to give the Baader Filter another go this afternoon, the Scope is focused and ready to go.
Craig

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Pretty nice shots for in the dark Craig.
Glad to see you are able to git bizzy with the new scope.

Clear Skies! ;)

Oknoder Loc: Western North Dakota

M13 has always been one of my favorites.

Matthew

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Thank you Sonny and Matthew for the kind words.
It's been fun getting things rolling with the new scope.
Craig

Oknoder Loc: Western North Dakota

I have a coworker trying to sell me his 2yr old 9.25 edge that has never been out of the box. I have been tempted but thankfully not too much. It's amazing just how far we all are progressing in such a short amount of time, kinda rewarding in its own way.

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Oknoder wrote:

I have a coworker trying to sell me his 2yr old 9.25 edge that has never been out of the box. I have been tempted but thankfully not too much. It's amazing just how far we all are progressing in such a short amount of time, kinda rewarding in its own way.

I feel like I am kind of set now with the 9.25". A good CCD would be my next goal once I find the limits of the DSLR.

Oknoder Loc: Western North Dakota

DSLR's have their place. You won't find a sensor that size in an astrocam for under 10K. It's the set point cooling that really is the separator in terms of quality. The CCD may have higher QE, but you can always shoot longer or acquire more frames.

Matthew

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Oknoder wrote:

DSLR's have their place. You won't find a sensor that size in an astrocam for under 10K. It's the set point cooling that really is the separator in terms of quality. The CCD may have higher QE, but you can always shoot longer or acquire more frames.
Matthew

Yea that's another learning curveI'll tackle at another time.
I'll master what I have now which is the DSLR for now.
And take any and all advice I can get.
Craig

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

Oknoder wrote:

I have a coworker trying to sell me his 2yr old 9.25 edge that has never been out of the box. I have been tempted but thankfully not too much. It's amazing just how far we all are progressing in such a short amount of time, kinda rewarding in its own way.

That's a whole nuther animal there.
What is he trying to get for it?

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Oknoder wrote:

I have a coworker trying to sell me his 2yr old 9.25 edge that has never been out of the box. I have been tempted but thankfully not too much. It's amazing just how far we all are progressing in such a short amount of time, kinda rewarding in its own way.

I can say I'm pretty happy with the 33% more light that the 9.25" scope gathers over the 8".
I can't wait to get it up on the Mountain.
The Edge HD has even better Optics than the XLT that I got and I'm in love.
Craig

Oknoder Loc: Western North Dakota

He trying to sell it for three grand with the avx, Orion ST80, a nexguide, skysync and starsense. Told me he'd give it to me for 2 but all I would want is the OTA. Everything beside the scope and mount, I sold to him for a song, since I didn't really care for them and had since upgraded to better equipment. He said it would be pretty hard to sell everything as a package without the OTA, and he has a point.

I really didn't want to start down the hyperstar trail just yet anyways. Mount first is my present priority. Damn auto correct

Oknoder Loc: Western North Dakota

The better optics only mean all of my errors will be that much harder to hide, I am barely producing a decent image per three outings. The frustration of inconsistent equipment keeps plaguing me, that and having to go back to putting up and taking back down has made me skip more than a few decent nights. Hard to build up the ambition to go set up some steel and aluminum for an hour in sub-zero weather, only to have some of the mount or puter start acting washy. It's coming to the point where I am being to make my own cables, since my USB cables keep cracking and dropping out on me.

I can get my mount to track well and play nicely with the autoguider, just not consistently, as I would think they would once all the bugs have been worked out.
Matthew