I just read a post in another group that I follow that Atlas appears to be breaking up.
I may not get my second chance later this week if this holds true.
To bad, I wanted to try my C8.

http://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=13620&fbclid=IwAR2HHMPu_nK7Az3iLiCazy3OhMQvD4te4f7VMgj4L5pzeJGFKnFNxx2kxVI

My Feeble attempt at Comet Atlas last night.
I had high thin clouds off and on during the hour of semi transparency that I tried to image in.
Last night was the first night I tried letting Stellarium run my CGEM mount and I was honestly pretty impressed with the results.
Atlas was not dead center but it didn't wander during the session staying where Stellarium told it to stay.
Particulars.
Celestron 6" Newtonian on my Celestron CGEM mount.
Canon 7D Mark II at ISO 400 and 30 second exposures.
I was able to stack 15 images in Lightroom and played with exposure and contrast to pull details.
Image has been cropped by about 50%.
Considering the Moon and being in a Bortle 8 zone I was pleased to pull out what I pulled.
I'm hoping for clearing skies later this week but the moon is going to a bigger issue I think.
Plus I need to collimate my scope again.

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Nicely imaged.
Some day the clouds that Sonny keeps sending me will be finished and I will be able to play again.

I ran across this in a group I belong to and the math makes sense. Just wondering if anyone else balances their scopes this way.

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This was posted in a group I belong to on Facebook. I think it sums it up pretty nicely.
Jim

The absurd hobby of astrophotography.

Why should one bother with the dark art of astrophothotography when:
- Almost two thirds of the year the weather does not permit to photograph.
- When the weather permits, usually the moon and light pollution prevents taking deep-sky or planets shots.
- The equipment costs a ton of money.
- You have to deal with the whining of friends and relatives, because you're gonna stay out and take pictures all night long , usually in the cold.
- the exodus into dark skies which allows for good captures ,occurs once or twice a year .
- If everything goes as planned and you finally set up ,you keep your fingers crossed for equipment to work. Cables, connections, telescope, cameras, laptops, software, etc.Because if they don't work the way they should, you could spend the whole night fighting to figure out the problem.
- If everything works well and you get some shots, you have to pass the processing marathon. When editing alone is very time-consuming and very difficult to learn.
WHY? WHY THEN?
The answer is awe. The awe you feel when the the first frame comes in and when you have the final picture in front of you.

When you realize that you, a small human, looked into the infinity and captured the greatness of the universe.

Theodore Mentis.

Do you mean the Tamron lens? (The second one I tossed in..)
That is a telephoto camera lens not a telescope. 77mm objective and 150-600mm zoom.
It works well sometimes and other times it just won't play nice.

Thank you very much.

Thanks Sonny.
I'm glad you were able to get your AVX replaced with a decent mount.
I suspect it's going to get you even deeper into the imaging long exposure stuff.
Say hi to the Mrs. for me.
Oh by the way, knock on wood, my AVX is still running strong and I just took the head apart and cleaned it up with new Teflon lube. I use it to go out into the booneys to shoot and it still tracks like a champ.

Thank you very much.
I'm pretty rusty but this was a nice night that I didn't want to waste.

Thank you.
I get decent images with my 600mm Tamron as well.

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Shot with my 6” Newtonian riding my Celestron CGEM Mount.
A single 30 second exposure at ISO 1600 at f:/5
This one turned out pretty well including a few geo stationary satellites.

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Shot with my Celestron 8” SCT on my Celestron CGEM Mount.
A single 30 second exposure at ISO 1600 at f:/10
A little bit of elongation but I didn’t have a great alignment.
Still a pretty decent shot in a bortle 8 site.

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One quick question.
Is that camera modified or self stacking?
I cannot pull that amount of color or detail with my Canon 7d at the single exposure settings you used. I can pull much better with my modified T2i.
Thanks,
Jim

Very nice series of shots.
I think that’s a keeper lens.
Well done all around.

Look! A star is born!
Just kidding, it’s a nice effect.
You know how much I hate the full moon.