Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury, Moon & Earth.

[Dennis]

I woke up at 2:00am and looked out of the bedroom window and saw that it was clear. In less than 1 hour, I had the car packed with camera gear and my EM200 Mount and headed off to find skies a little darker than those of suburban Brisbane.:)

Just after 4:00am, after an 85 km drive, I found myself on the Esplanade at Toorbul and began to set up 100 metres or so from the car. It took me a while to figure out how everything fitted together again, then polar align and I was off.:)

I fitted a Canon EOS R5 with RF 15-35mm F2.8L lens and began a series of test shots and alighted on 30 secs, F5.6 at ISO1600. The lens promptly dewed up, so I went back to the car for the Pocket Powerbox Advance (PPBADV) and a 12V DC SLA battery and fitted a dew heater, managing to plug the 12V DC IN to the IN Socket (physically it is a 2.1 mm DC input female socket, just like the 4 x 12V DC Power outlets and the Adjustable Out as well). Wouldn’t do to get this wrong in the dark…:sadeyes:

Remarkably, I had everything I needed as I didn’t have a plan as this was an impromptu decision to just go for it, so I just began shooting using the built-in Interval Timer of the EOS R5.

I used the Focus Assist “Green Triangles” to manually focus, but when I checked again after a few shots, I noticed that all the images were OOF – probably a result of the dew strap tugging on the lens, as it was fitted over the focus ring, as I had nowhere else to position it.:shrug:

Part way through the session, the PPBADV Blue LED began blinking so I went back to the car for the back up 12 VDC SLA and fitted that. I took this opportunity to point the camera up and grabbed a couple of shots towards the Zenith. Luckily, these came in use later as in those 3 images, I had also picked up Saturn. Sadly, Pluto was behind the trees by this stage.

PixInsight did a fantastic job of aligning and stacking the disorganized, chaotic set of files I emptied into it, although I had to manually blend in those lucky shots of Saturn in PS CC.

I have included crops of each target to provide some more detail on these regions.

Cheers

Dennis

[John W]

Really interesting images Dennis - worth the effort. Great to get all those objects identified. Well done. Cheers John W.

[Averton]

:thumbsup:Great effort Dennis! If we'd made an impromptu decision like that, we would never have managed to get anything, let alone have everything we needed in the car. Your efforts have been rewarded with an excellent image showing a rare alignment.

[Quark]

Good stuff Dennis, a top effort and looks great.

Cheers
Trev

[Dennis]

Thank you John and Clare & Peter, I appreciate your comments.

The incredible technology that is now available to amateur astronomers gives these ad hoc projects a greater chance of success than ever before, so it was well worth the effort.:)

I had 1st light with the RF 15-35mm F2.8L in our back garden on 22nd June, grabbing 5 x 30 sec shots of the Milky Way overhead, in the awful light pollution of Brisbane.

Lo and behold, I have now added Pluto to complete my classical solar system itinerary.:)

Cheers

Dennis

[Dennis]

Thanks Trevor, it is mind blowing that I can record the dot of Pluto at a focal length of only 19mm, with a scant 5 x 30 sec exposures from suburban Brisbane.:)

Cheers

Dennis

[h0ughy]

Epic what a gargantuan effort and results. Well done Dennis

[Retrograde]

Very cool Dennis! :thumbsup:

[AstroViking]

Very impressive! What a great photo of a very rare occurrence. Well done, indeed!

Cheers,
V

[Averton]

Yes, the technology we get to use these days is amazing. Pluto as well - very cool indeed!!

[Dennis]

Well, as luck would have it, I did manage to record the “once-was-a-planet” Pluto during the same session.:)

This was a test shot just after setting up, to check focus, exposure, etc. and I just pointed the camera up and grabbed a 30 sec exposure. As you can see, the Dew Heater Strip is encroaching into the FOV at bottom right, so I re-positioned it for the live run later. The stars are quite distorted at the edges as expected.

Just goes to show what you might find in your set up/failed shots - think twice before pressing the delete Button.:question:

How do you explain to Clyde William Tombaugh that using modern equipment, I recorded the position of Pluto with a 15mm wide angle lens and a single 30 sec exposure…:shrug:

I have attached a screen print from The Sky showing the FOV and target locations.

Unfortunately, I cannot include this shot in the original composition as the FOV and orientation don't match.:sadeyes:

Cheers

Dennis

[leon]

Great image Dennis, well done indeed

Leon

[Dennis]

Thanks Leon, its a testimony to the sophistication and robustness of modern gear that you can set off on these unplanned missions and come away with some satisfactory results.:)

Unlike the 35mm film and manual guiding days, although you're too young to remember those days gone by.;)

Cheers

Dennis

[zeddee]

Embarassed to put mine up against this!
lol

[Dennis]

I would encourage you to post your results, as they will stand alongside the efforts of others, based on what resources you had available at the time.:thumbsup:

I do enjoy looking at what others have managed to capture, with whatever resources they have to hand. The more the merrier in my opinion.:)

Cheers

Dennis

[Averton]

Yep, the important thing is just to get out there and give it a go :)

[Dennis]

UPDATE:

Whoops!:rolleyes:

With reference to my "Pluto" image above, I hadn't zoomed in enough on the star field and when I did, the real Pluto popped out from behind the star Tycho 6892:511, which is mag 8.

I think the 15mm lens, 30 secs at ISO 1600 managed to record down to mag 10, so no Pluto for me.:sadeyes:

The other brighter star in the circle is HIP 98575 at mag 6.

Clyde can rest easily now.:)

Cheers

Dennis

[AdamJL]

This is fantastic :) :)

[multiweb]

:eyepop: Great catch Dennis. Awesome. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
PS: Is that the Andromeda galaxy in the mosaic just above the tree at 2 o'clock?

[AdamJL]

Good eyes, Marc! Yep, looks like it is. That's even more awesome.

[Dennis]

Thanks Marc, I appreciate your comments and the M31 ID!:)

I also managed to grab M33 as well, this is an image that just keeps on giving up its secrets.:)

I guess you're counting down the days yo Astrofest now.:D

Cheers

Dennis

[zeddee]

Thanks Dennis. I am surprised that there is not many other posts of photos of this. Well, here goes mine: Mercury, Venus, Moon, Mars, Jupiter. Saturn is off frame. I thought 16mm on Sony A7 was enough according to specs (108deg field, more on diagonal, no?) and what Stellarium indicated in the camera simulator. Location was out at the cliffs behind Bundeena. I did not quite get Saturn in there. Funny thing was, when viewing through finder, I thought I had it, but it was Formalhault I think. I did a resolve on Astrometry and confirmed suspicion when developing. This was 25th. So, I went back on the 26th and tried again. A bit more vapour (I think? felt wetter and colder) in the atmosphere, and hence with more light reflection gave the second one a different hue. I was sure I had it this time, but again, processing at home, realised I did not, making same mistake as night before. I swore a quiet swear in resignation and stayed upset with myself Sunday. I double checked lens angle of view, both specs and practically with rulers and grid sheet. Double checked stellarium. But too tired and work Monday morning, resigned to trying again in 900 years or whenever this happens again.
It would seem I got used to getting up at 4, that I woke at 4 with the alarm set at 6. I checked outside and realised the forecast was not accurate. Clear sky! So, I went again. This time I was careful, and checked and confirmed what I was looking at, and starting frame with Saturn. I failed to get it but i did confirm that my calculations were perhaps wrong and I physically could not get the entire span Saturn to Mercury (ideally horizon) in single frame. Discovery made me happy in a strange way, as did the sound of the whiles in the twilight off shore ;) So I took a mosaic to stitch together. Will process over week.

A little about equipment and my method:
Sony 16-35G on Sony A7 (mark i, yes!). Standard tripod.
Took 5 set sequences at 1000 and 2000 ISO, all at f2.8, for 4 seconds (theoretical limit for point transit across pixel at 16mm ~ time before trails appear.) The night of 27 I took 10 seconds as well.
Stacked using Nebulosity. Processed with Lightroom. Results not too good. These are my two best (in my opinion). I had wanted to pull out the star fields more, however, I know the durations were not long enough, and was limited by no tracking.

My aim was to get the full scene in a single frame. Though Ive made some mosaics before, and call this a philosophical thing, to capture the event on a single frame I feel captures the event at that instant as a whole. Stitching a mosaic is different things at different times. (yes ok, stacking, and we can get into relativity here too if we want ;)
So, there it is!
Honestly though, as other have said, important part is just to be out there... yes for the trying, but more importantly to simply be out there under the start, part of the cosmos in which we are a part of but forget in this little ball we are messing up. I always end my sessions with naked eye observing. Enjoying the view and getting lost in the mystery!

[Averton]

Very nice images Zed. We particularly like the first image. Lots of stars showing and the colours of the sun rise on the horizon looks great :)

[Dennis]

Thanks for posting those and the story behind them.:thumbsup:

Great work Zed, that Sony lens produces nice round stars and shows little distortion at the edges when wide open - good glass.:thumbsup:

Like you, I prefer the simplicity of the single shot approach, but I don't mind mosaics or stacking as needed, as long as it is clear that those were the techniques used to get the result.

You have some nice skies.:)

I also found it quite difficult to compare the small image on the rear LCD of the camera with the FOV in my planetarium program. Next time, (2040) I might take a Notebook and do a Plate Solve to establish that I was pointing in the right direction.;)

Cheers

Dennis

EDIT:
You have a trail of some object in your image. It doesn't look like an aeroplane which would have multiple, coloured lights.

[Derek Klepp]

Great effort Dennis.Always appreciate the work you put into these.
Derek

[Dennis]

Thanks Derek, it was an enjoyable session and a great relief to me that everything worked and I had all the pieces with me in the car after such a hurried start.:)

Cheers

Dennis

[EpickCrom]

Well done Dennis, stunning result!

[zeddee]

Thanks. Yes, my best one I think too.

[zeddee]

Yep, that one has onyl a single (or maybe one otther?) trail. Some other shots had half a dozen, courtesy of Musk and Bezos I think.

[zeddee]

THanks, and yes, I think a laptop is the way to go. If not for solving, then at least getting a proper view of the shot before firing.