Hello & First Light!

[TRX]

Hello all.

I have been stalking you all for a very long time, i thought it was time I said Hi.

Getting a telescope has been a long long time coming for me.

I was about to press go and purchase a telescope about 4 years ago however my work took me away to South Korea. I loved it there, apart from the sky - i think i nearly saw the moon once (kidding, but only just)

Well now I'm back home, and it was time to relight my dream for a telescope and tonight was 1st light!

The scope is a Skywatcher 10" f/4 Reflector on a AZEQ6 mount - yes i know this probably wasn't the best "my first telescope" but i am up for the challenge!

After looking at the moon most of the night I turned up to Saturn, put in the 5mm eyepiece and OMG - so amazing. I have been waiting so long to see that. I could clearly see the Cassini Division as well as banding on the planet it self. I am still smiling.

I took some pictures using eyepiece projection - nothing astrophotography worthy, but a nice way to share what I could see. They no way show the same details that I could see, but you get the idea.

Anyway. Great Forum. I hope to learn a lot more from you all in the future.


https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3797/19811576089_2675a8638b_b.jpg

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/387/19377283003_57f9a0ebd4_b.jpg

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/256/19810261860_4d711e6116_b.jpg

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/483/19990511462_f34debb03b_b.jpg

[Atmos]

I started with eye piece projection and an iPhone 3GS so I know where you're at :-)

[dreamstation]

Welcome from another newbie! :D

In regards to your picture of Saturn, is that how large it looks through your eye piece or has the size of the planet been enlarged because of the method you used to take the picture? The reason I ask is, we have been using a 6mm eye piece with our 10" Dobsonian and while the planet is quite clear, it is still incredibly small in the eye piece and while I can just make out the Cassini Division I can not see any banding on the planet.

It could be my eyes I guess. :shrug:

[raymo]

Hi Martin, and welcome. Good first pics. To get sharp planetary pics you
need to take 1000 or so video frames, toss out the bad frames, and stack the remainder in Registax [freeware] or other software. Ditto the moon, but good lunar pics can be obtained with a DSLR with perseverance.
James, your scope is I assume f/4.7 or so, and Martin's is f/4, so a 6mm
eyepiece in your scope would give almost the same magnification. as his
5mm does in his scope. I assume that Martin would have had his scope tracking, so he can look for detail for pretty well as long as he likes, whereas you have to keep nudging yours[ unless it's a Go To model.] A 2x Barlow would make it
appear twice as large.
raymo

[TRX]

Thanks for the welcome and advise re: registax i will look into that.

James, the Saturn photo is a crop from my Canon 6D, so its not enlarged per se, but will appear so compared to you eye due to the crop.

The camera body was threaded directly onto the back of my eyepiece using a t-ring and adapter so i assume that the image projected to the sensor and that to my eye is the same?

This is the original photo, and it is a bit more representative of the size in the eyepiece.

https://flic.kr/p/wtYSqY

[Akwestland]

Martin, welcome to the forum from another newbie. Your have a great couple of pics here, I too have the odd shot that I have taken of the moon using eye piece projection, mine was using my phone camera and just trying to hold it still. I really do need to get the right gear to make this easier.

Well Done.

Andrew & Kim.

[TRX]

Tried Registax tonight. I think I've over done the postprocessing settings in Registax, but happy for a first go. I think this was the 200 best frames from 1500 in a 1min recording.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5727/19948440973_d0639e1c66_c.jpg

[raymo]

That is an excellent first image. Far better than my first attempt.
Banding can be hard to see, especially if our atmosphere is not
cooperating.
raymo

[Somnium]

Welcome to the boards.

that is an amazing first image, very impressed. i look forward to following you through your steep learning curve and seeing the images you take.