Orion Nebula: I tried shooting some crab and failed. I tried shooting some comet and failed. I tried shooting Jupiter and got a few good singles. So I shot Orion with my 8" SCT. Decent...

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

I tried shooting some crab and failed.
I tried shooting some comet and failed.
I tried shooting Jupiter and got a few good singles.
So I shot Orion with my 8" SCT. Decent tracking and pretty decent skies last night.
22 singles
15 darks
15 bias
Gave up and did a 22 shot stack and HDR in CC Lightroom.
sigh..

Orion Nebula

(Download)

Jupiter single

(Download)

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Albuqshutterbug wrote:

I tried shooting some crab and failed.
I tried shooting some comet and failed.
I tried shooting Jupiter and got a few good singles.
So I shot Orion with my 8" SCT. Decent tracking and pretty decent skies last night.
22 singles
15 darks
15 bias
Gave up and did a 22 shot stack and HDR in CC Lightroom.
sigh..

A nice set Jim. Jupiter came out really nice.
Do you have any Eyepieces you can do Eyepiece Projection with???
Craig
PS: Desperately waiting for clear skies.

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

CraigFair wrote:

A nice set Jim. Jupiter came out really nice.
Do you have any Eyepieces you can do Eyepiece Projection with???
Craig
PS: Desperately waiting for clear skies.

I do but I prefer not. At most I will slip in a 2 or 3X barlow to get better pull but lose some light transmission.
Some of my best shots are with that combination or with the video camera. I guess I need to drag more junk outside and play with the camera to PC combo.

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Albuqshutterbug wrote:

I do but I prefer not. At most I will slip in a 2 or 3X barlow to get better pull but lose some light transmission.
Some of my best shots are with that combination or with the video camera. I guess I need to drag more junk outside and play with the camera to PC combo.

I know what you mean I have twice as much junk as I had with just the 8" SCT and 1 Camera.
Craig

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

CraigFair wrote:

A nice set Jim. Jupiter came out really nice.
Do you have any Eyepieces you can do Eyepiece Projection with???
Craig
PS: Desperately waiting for clear skies.

I have done some experimenting with eyepiece projection, and I find the results disappointing. Just like using a teleconverter with regular images, the eyepiece projection adds its own set of distortion problems.

Perhaps part of the problem is the eyepieces I use. I bought a set of Baader with a very wide field of view, and perhaps the camera doesn't find that projection to its liking.

But I have had better results using my 1.4X or 2.0X teleconverters. The distortion from these doesn't seem too bad. I simply insert before the T-Ring adapter.

But I should also add that with an 800mm reflector, and a 9.25" SCT scope that is 2350mm (or about 1500mm with the 0.63X focal reducer), it makes more sense to just pick which scope to use.

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

Albuqshutterbug wrote:

I tried shooting some crab and failed.
I tried shooting some comet and failed.
I tried shooting Jupiter and got a few good singles.
So I shot Orion with my 8" SCT. Decent tracking and pretty decent skies last night.
22 singles
15 darks
15 bias
Gave up and did a 22 shot stack and HDR in CC Lightroom.
sigh..

This is where the comet was supposed to be according the charts I pulled up. The blob is an over exposed nice double star that was my guide point with the comet supposed to be where the bright point is below. It might be it but I don't know. I just read that it is not giving off much green and since I was shooting with a green biased sensor, well who knows.. Maybe?

Trying to enjoy Catalina

(Download)

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Albuqshutterbug wrote:

I do but I prefer not. At most I will slip in a 2 or 3X barlow to get better pull but lose some light transmission.
Some of my best shots are with that combination or with the video camera. I guess I need to drag more junk outside and play with the camera to PC combo.

Thanks to you and Jim H I don't know why I keep overlooking my Barlow Lens.
Craig

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

Albuqshutterbug wrote:

This is where the comet was supposed to be according the charts I pulled up. The blob is an over exposed nice double star that was my guide point with the comet supposed to be where the bright point is below. It might be it but I don't know. I just read that it is not giving off much green and since I was shooting with a green biased sensor, well who knows.. Maybe?

Last night I shot at its new location and the view for me is about the same as to the size and shape.
In the above shot the suspect point is 45 degrees down and left of the double star. Last nights shot will be added later today. I had to wait until 11pm to clear tree branch obstacle's and didn't have time to really process anything.
I think I am tracking it but it might be all in my imagination. I am not pulling a tail with either of my weapons of choice.

:roll: :roll:

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Albuqshutterbug wrote:

Last night I shot at its new location and the view for me is about the same as to the size and shape.
In the above shot the suspect point is 45 degrees down and left of the double star. Last nights shot will be added later today. I had to wait until 11pm to clear tree branch obstacle's and didn't have time to really process anything.
I think I am tracking it but it might be all in my imagination. I am not pulling a tail with either of my weapons of choice.

:roll: :roll:

Anybody know where it is relative to the Sun???
Craig

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

CraigFair wrote:

Anybody know where it is relative to the Sun???
Craig

On its way out of here. It has already gone around the bend.

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

I'm going to try using Stellarium to get a bead on it.
It works really good with the laptop guiding.
But not so good with the clouds....
The clouds are becoming as evil as my first wife.