Mars and bee hive (M44) conjunction 15-4-10

[hotspur (Chris)]

Inspired by Stephen M's wonderful photos of this subject,I thought I would

make an attempt to capture an image of the Mars/Bee hive (M44) conjunction,

Last night (15-4-10) I took these images.

1.a 186 sec ex,using 450D attached to 4 inch ED Vixen on GP mount,iso 800
no guiding.

2. a 77 sec ex.using same camera with a $50 18-55 kit lens,At 18 mm.on
mount,as above. I quite like this you can see castor and pollax,and the
edge of roof of observatory.

3. a 325 sec exp,with kit lens at 55mm end,got a bonus of plane trail,I like that

I hope these are of interest,I did try using L 400 but thje results were unstatisfactory,due to operator not focusing correctly.

I also did visual with 15 by 80 Vixen binos on tripod,that was really good.

Hope these are of interest, Chris

[DavidTrap (David)]

Great round stars for unguided shots Chris. You certainly have the polar alignment dialed in.

DT

[StephenM (Stephen)]

Hi Chris,

I like the 3rd image best I think. Nice work.

Originally Posted by hotspur

I also did visual with 15 by 80 Vixen binos on tripod,that was really good.

Yep, the view through binoculars is great isn't it!

Cheers,
Stephen