Venus, Saturn, Ants, RCD & Electricity!!!!

[Dennis]

Well, there I was, all set up with multiple scopes and multiple sensors, tracking Saturn and Venus from around 3:30pm onwards. I even managed to get a few test AVI’s under my belt; experimenting with the DMK and the DBK.

The business end of the session was approaching and pffffsssssst – all the power turns off at my observing hutch, which has 10 sockets for mount, notebook, hutch light, dew heaters, ccd camera(s), Pentax DSLR, Firewire PCMCIA card, light box, ST7, etc.

The notebook is still running (on battery) but the hardware is producing layers of error messages; “lost communications with the telescope”; “camera no longer found”, etc.

Hmm, the house lights are still on…

In the end, I traced the fault to the Residual Circuit Device (RCD) which had been invaded by ants who had tripped it. I reset it but it tripped again. By the time I found a new power board, Saturn and Venus had dipped behind the roof of our house!

Anyhow, here is something of a record taken with the Pentax *istDS on the Mewlon 180 at the F12 prime focus. Even managed a couple of the Saturnian moons!

I can wait 16 years until the next one, I am a patient man.

Cheers

Dennis

[davidpretorius]

:rofl:

classic........... now turn the scope towards the sun in the morning and fry the little buggas like you used to with the magnifying glass

that'll teach em!

[sheeny]

Thanks Dennis!

I just managed a glimpse of the conjunction today while driving home from Sydney (just be fore driving under the layer of cloud that seems to get stuck on the Great Dividing Range whenever anything astronomically interesting is happening...

I assume the flare / "comet tail" is from Venus? It gives the image a very dynamic feel!

Al.

[Dennis]

Thanks guys - it was fun none the less. Yes Al - the rainbow false comet tail is an artefact from Venus.

Here is a “false” mosaic assembled from images captured before the lights went out…

The separation has been greatly reduced, although the size of the bodies and their orientation are accurate.

Cheers

Dennis

[Dennis]

Here is a Venus from 3:06pm. A stack of 129 frames from 3000 captured with the DMK21 AF04.AS and an Astronomik Planetary IR filter which greatly helped, given the poor seeing.

Prime Focus (F12) with Mewlon 180.

Cheers

Dennis

[davidpretorius]

a typical Dennis piece of work!

lovely!

[IanL]

Very nice images Dennis. I had a look at the two planets today as well.
Realy nice through the 35mm panoptic.

[h0ughy]

nice work - -first shot looks like a comet.....

[iceman]

That's great Dennis, a very funny story but very disappointing for you to happen right at the wrong time.

The other images are absolutely fantastic!

[sheeny]

Wonderfully done Dennis!:thumbsup: ...as we've come to expect - ants or no ants!:lol:

Al.

[Dennis]

Here is something of a composite record. The main image was taken with the Pentax *istDS on the Mewlon 180 at the F12 prime focus, with Saturn captured with the same ‘scope and a DBK21AF04 ccd camera. Even managed to record a couple of the Saturnian moons!

Cheers

Dennis

[sheeny]

Good one Dennis.

Al.

[bird]

That's a nice image....

Bird

[ballaratdragons]

:eyepop: Looks like Saturn is being bombarded by Solar Rays!!!

Great work Dennis! Damn insects!!!!!!

[Ingo]

Brilliant image of saturn and venus together! :thumbsup: