Space Chat | Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.
659 replies, posted
[QUOTE=Swebonny;47096037]
Is that a Skywatcher 200P-DS? I only got the 200P version, it's an amazing scope.[/QUOTE]
150PDS, so a bit smaller.
Still manages to take nice images
[t]http://cdn.astrobin.com/images/thumbs/e7989cd65f764a9684bedbff4af15ba8.1824x0_q100_watermark.jpg[/t]
[editline]8th February 2015[/editline]
[t]http://i.imgur.com/CvilYop.jpg[/t]
I think it was a bit out of focus and the mount wasn't exactly aligned, need to get more lights. Also IC 4263 in the lower right corner.
[QUOTE=techtuts0;47096170]The main factors seem to come down to; scope cooled down to outside temperature (takes about 1.5 hours for my scope), target decently high in sky (at least 45 degrees), collimation and focus (I use a bahtinov mask on a star).
With my camera and barlow I get about 0.13 arcsec/pixel, with yours you get about 0.50"/pixel, I'd say the sweet spot is around 0.25"/pixel. I'm pushing my scope a little too far, making it difficult to focus (using [URL="http://www.12dstring.me.uk/fovcalc.php"]this [/URL]to calculate resolution and fov).
The planetary camera gives me the higher fps, so higher chance of capturing a period of good seeing and higher sensitivity.
Longer video also gives a higher chance, but after about 2 minutes you will have to de-rotate the video[/QUOTE]
The Bahtinov mask sounds clever as hell. I need to try that out.
By the way, how's the ASI120MC camera? I read about it a while ago and it seemed to be really nice. Would you recommend? Does the color version work well for deep space objects?
[QUOTE=Swebonny;47099492]The Bahtinov mask sounds clever as hell. I need to try that out.
By the way, how's the ASI120MC camera? I read about it a while ago and it seemed to be really nice. Would you recommend? Does the color version work well for deep space objects?[/QUOTE]
Yeah its a great camera, I'd get the -s version if you can afford it, allows USB3 so higher fps at higher resolutions. Not sure how good it is at DSOs, probably no better than your DSLR, I'm sure it can capture some of the brighter ones though
[video=youtube;bV2b-E1duIQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV2b-E1duIQ[/video]
Damn, I really want Pixinsight.
[QUOTE=Hattiwatti;47104001][video=youtube;bV2b-E1duIQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV2b-E1duIQ[/video]
Damn, I really want Pixinsight.[/QUOTE]
With a couple plugins, Photoshop CS6/CC does a pretty good job, I produced [URL="http://www.astrobin.com/users/matthewd/"]all of these images[/URL] using Photoshop.
Plugins I used: Ximagic Denoiser (NLM setting) and HLVG
Dang now I wanna reprocess my Andromeda pictures. I think I deleted them all because they took too much space though ...
space-x launch scrubbed
also here's a good picture to gauge the size of rockets
[t]http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/2.jmAJzjfNnQU24kmy27yw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTU5NztpbD1wbGFuZTtweW9mZj0wO3E9NzU7dz05NjA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/6ff01e627357a7066d0f6a706700ae5d.jpg[/t]
[URL=http://www.astrobin.com/155357/B/][img]http://cdn.astrobin.com/images/thumbs/4151ab28da36e8b66f21bddf3fc2902b.620x0_q100_watermark.jpg[/img][/url]
I should probably be more precise with aligning the mount since I can only get like 2-3 minutes of exposure before noticeable trailing. Maybe a bit off focus too.
Everyone went to bed in the Spacepunch chat before I could get these so have them here:
[url]http://i.imgur.com/xLAwppA.gif[/url]
[url]http://i.imgur.com/fGL6F8o.gif[/url]
[url]http://i.imgur.com/RHJ6K8p.gif[/url]
wow those gifs destroyed my browser
Also, rocket launches look awesome in 60fps
[video=youtube;Pl3x71-kJGM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl3x71-kJGM[/video]
[QUOTE]Elon Musk @elonmusk 2h
Rocket soft landed in the ocean within 10m of target & nicely vertical! High probability of good droneship landing in non-stormy weather.[/QUOTE]
Welp I think this image of the Orion Nebula is pretty damn decent considering my entire setup is sub-$300, minus the camera. Basically its an undriven telescope with a $35 constant RA drive.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/1E4QLeh.jpg[/IMG]
Why are people so butthurt over Pluto being reclassified as a dwarf planet? I just don't get it
I'm thinking of buying a telescope. Any good resources for pros and cons of specific telescopes in different price ranges?
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;47225266]I'm thinking of buying a telescope. Any good resources for pros and cons of specific telescopes in different price ranges?[/QUOTE]
Well talking to someone in the know who isnt trying to sell you a telescope is a good way to go.
I know some about different types of telescopes and their attributes so I will give an overview. As with a lot of things the more expensive ones will have a much larger observational capacity, but there are still some good cheap ones out there.
So there are two overarching types of telescopes, reflector telescopes and refractor telescopes. Refractors use lenses where reflectors use mirrors. Reflectors are usually cheaper for the aperture you get, and basically the bigger the aperture the better. Reflectors however are usually bulkier and depending on the weight of it it can take a while to get down to the ambient temperature, and telescopes wont perform at their best until they do. Refractors also tend to have more contrasty images.
All that said it really depends on what you want to get out of it. For a cheap entry level telescope the biggest dobsonian reflector you can afford is a good choice because they tend to be the cheapest for the aperture you get. If you want to spend some more money and want to do astrophotography I would recommend a schmidt cassegrain telescope on a goto mount. If money really isnt an issue, apochromatic refractors can offer amazing views, although they are expensive as hell and a driven mount would just add to that. Another type of reflector is a maksutov cassegrain, which has a narrower field of view but it doesnt need collimation and it offers more contrasty views.
I guess the only other problem I can see with reflectors is that there can be a danger of things falling in, but really reflector types are your best bet for anything other than just casual stargazing and in some cases planetary viewing. If I were to reccomend a good telescope, the celestron nexstar line has some pretty good ones, and the 6SE and 5SE I have heard good things about.
Ordered the MC Clear Glass from Astronomik for a full-spectrum mod.
Got it Friday and spent 4 frustrating hours carefully disconnecting cables and trying not to leave any dust or dirt inside. First time the SD card reader didn't work, but luckily it was just a loose cable connection.
Now the liveview lights up nicely when I point a TV remote at the lens and push a button. Seems to be cloudy until next Monday, but I'm planning on trying to shoot Elephant's Trunk nebula or IC405.
SpaceX ABS/Eutelsat-1 launch in 5 minutes!
[url]http://www.spacex.com/webcast/[/url]
My mother has been offered a telescope by her friend for £75, when I searched it up this seems to be it.
[url]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Celestron-31.../dp/B000MLL6R8[/url]
Is this a good telescope to start off with?
[QUOTE=The Drones;47257774]My mother has been offered a telescope by her friend for £75, when I searched it up this seems to be it.
[url]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Celestron-31.../dp/B000MLL6R8[/url]
Is this a good telescope to start off with?[/QUOTE]
For £75 yea thats definitely a good starter scope. It should be pretty easy to set up and point at things, and a 114mm will allow you to see quite a few things in the sky. Make sure however that you are either getting the eyepieces with the telescope or that you are prepared to buy some. The eyepieces are the lenses that go into the viewfinder, and the telescope will be useless without them.
The astromaster line are pretty good, and there is an optional constant motor drive you can get later on if you are interested in building a setup for starter astrophotography. I myself use a celestron powerseeker 80eq with that kind of drive and a DSLR.
[url=https://medium.com/matter/mars-one-insider-quits-dangerously-flawed-project-2dfef95217d3]Mars One Finalist Explains Exactly How It‘s Ripping Off Supporters[/url]
And no one was surprised.
[QUOTE=Pelf;47340036][url=https://medium.com/matter/mars-one-insider-quits-dangerously-flawed-project-2dfef95217d3]Mars One Finalist Explains Exactly How It‘s Ripping Off Supporters[/url]
And no one was surprised.[/QUOTE]
when their PR material is using ripped off pics from Space-x, who can be? they've never actually said anything other than "yep we're tots going to marz for good" not explaining the phisiological problems they worked out, the crew vehicles, the transport vehicles, habitats, life support, suits...ect ect, the only time they've ever mentioned anything remotely scientific was when those MIT students called them out with their estimate that the crew would only live a dozen days on mars before dying, and even then mars 1 never actually showed any of their data, just responding with an emphatic no
[editline]17th March 2015[/editline]
in other news, last week NASA launched a fleet 4 small satellites that will fly in formation to measure magnetic fields and study plasma physics
and the next crew to the ISS will be boosting endurance up to a year, with them launching hopefully the end of this month and returning next year, pushing human endurance in space
There's a lot of aurora activity right now, looks amazing even at 60° latitude
It even looked awesome in Estonia.
First Aurora I ever saw.
This thread has less activity than it should have. Recently I started doing some solar observing via the projection method using my 80mm telescope and the aperture reducer it comes with. Planning on doing a day by day drawing of sunspots to observe their lifetime.
I wanted to get a solar filter for last month's eclipse but everyone had sold out and couldn't get it in time.
Come to think of it, since nights are getting shorter and shorter, I could still buy one so I have something to look at during the summer.
[QUOTE=Hattiwatti;47341516]There's a lot of aurora activity right now, looks amazing even at 60° latitude[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Rapist;47341549]It even looked awesome in Estonia.
First Aurora I ever saw.[/QUOTE]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/Wmcetvo.jpg[/img]
Yeah the activity was insane. I got so many good shots I never believe I'd be able to take in freaking Stockholm.
[IMG]http://4st.me/MipHm.png[/IMG]
Tried to image Jupiter last night. Taken from a video with 10x digital zoom, 750mm is not quite enough for any great details :P
[editline]11th April 2015[/editline]
[QUOTE=Swebonny;47502979][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Wmcetvo.jpg[/IMG]
Yeah the activity was insane. I got so many good shots I never believe I'd be able to take in freaking Stockholm.[/QUOTE]
I took a lot of photos, but it's a bit hard to get the colors right, now that I have full-spectrum modified the camera.
[QUOTE=Hattiwatti;47505770]
I took a lot of photos, but it's a bit hard to get the colors right, now that I have full-spectrum modified the camera.[/QUOTE]
I used Photoshop. The original looked quite bland. Just played around with the RGB curves and suddenly it the colors were all there.
That's an awesome shot. Hopefully I'll setup my scope properly this summer.
By the way meteor shower tonight!
[url]http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/lyrid-meteor-shower-viewing-conditions-where-to-see-them-slooh-broadcast/45938431[/url]
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