Excellent Night in SEQ

[jjjnettie]

Who else in SEQ is outside on this glorious night??
I set up the mount this afternoon, and as I'm just really doing test shots through the Tamron 180mm, I didn't even bother doing a drift align.
Totally chuffed that I'm getting 8 minute shots unguided.
Imaging Orions Sword and Horse Head region. Using the Modded 20D, and boy, the first sub looks pretty spiffy. :D
The lens has a fair bit of coma on one corner, so I knocked the F stop up a couple of notches, and reframed the image a little. Fingers crossed I can use the lens correction in CS3 to fix up the rest. :)

[PeterM]

Hi JJJ!
Greetings from under a star studded sky!
Its a beauty at Loganholme and i've had 2 CC (Canadian Clubs) & Pepsi Max and enjoying a Merlot or 2 in the observatory. Supernova going off everywhere hehe. Enjoy the glorious Queensland skies! Have a squizz at SN2012U in PGC8012 it is still pretty bright! Done about 100 images so far!
PeterM

[jjjnettie]

I don't have the scope on the mount Peter, just have the camera and lens straight onto the mount.
Hmmm, I might join you with a Kahlua. :cheers:

[PeterM]

Ok, I will have another Merlot then if you insist!
Cheers to a lovely night!
Peter

[Marke]

Well lucky you it just happened cloud over and rain here this evening , how unusual bahh

[h0ughy]

ruddy water vapor here, enjoy your vistas

[keni]

Of course it's great...........
I'm stuck in my office working so hard....
Well waiting for something to break so I can fix it.

Enjoy it jjj cause tomorrow I'll be out there somewhere making it rain...

Cheers,
Ken.

[clive milne]

Hi Jeanette,

If the aberration is only visible in one corner, then it is something other than coma.

best
~c

[asimov]

Yes I was out there. Tonight's seeing is nearly as good.

[Suzy]

Crickey what's going on... it's 2.16am and it's still clear!

[mozzie]

it,s a miracle to have a complete clear night.............was in orion and visual ic 434-horsehead- last night!!!!! awoke early this morning to see some morning planets......
there forcasting another wet week so i,d better injoy the clear weather while it lasts...

[mozzie]

it,s a miracle to have a complete clear night.............was in orion and visual ic 434-horsehead- last night!!!!! awoke early this morning to see some morning planets......
there forcasting another wet week so i,d better injoy the clear weather while it lasts...

[jjjnettie]

The ants were swarming in my bathroom this morning. I think they reckon there is more rain on the way. :(

[[1ponders]]

Yep, I was up at the Mapleton until nearly midnight. A bit hit and miss but had a great patch from about 9:30 to 11:00.

Oh yeah they are still climbing.... higher.:(

[Shark Bait]

Last night (Sat 18th Feb), was the best night that I have had under the stars to date. I could not make it to Kilcoy, so ended up near Ormeau with my Brother. The conditions allowed us to get some great views through the eyepiece. We looked at a large range of objects but managed to score a few firsts as well.

It was the first time that I have been able to see some surface detail on Mars. We could see the Polar Ice Cap and a lighter patch, which I now know was Elysium Mons. The darker areas of the planet's surface were visible around the ice cap and near the hidden pole.

I had hoped that this might be the first time that I could see the Cassini Division with my own eyes. With Mars giving up some of its details, things were looking promising. When Saturn got a little higher we turned the scope onto this gem and there it was along with a couple of its Moons (Rhea and Dione). The Cassini Division was easy to see. To say that I was happy would be an understatement.:cool:

We then had a go at the Eight Burst Planetary Nebula and got some nice detail under high magification. The OIII filter stepped this up a notch when using averted vision. If I did not know that this was a PN, I could be fooled into thinking that I was looking at a galaxy.

After so much poor weather, it is a relief to get some time at the scope and binoculars. Hope you all got clear skies as well.