Noobie Diary part 3 - delivery day part 1

[davidpretorius]

Tuesday 26th July

The toucam has arrived first !! Made sense as it can fit in an express post bag. Mike reckons that the telescope will fit in a mail box!!!

Have opened and everything is ok.

Pictures below.. (First picture taken by me and posted to the fourm. Mick can you please edit and see if you can bring out some craters or rings. I will try and registrax this single shot to see if I can get rid of some errors)

[ving]

nice umm... tripod! :P

[[1ponders]]

Fancy looking setup that long exposure mod. Dave if the 1.25" adapter is metal just watch threading it onto the ToUcam once you remove the ToUcam lens. My experience was that the metal adapter had a tendancy to shave fine bits of plastic of the ToUcam female thread which can deposit on the glass cover of the CCD.

[davidpretorius]

thanks paul for heads up!

[dhumpie]

Awaiting the nice planetary and lunar piccy's :)

Darren

[[1ponders]]

np. If you start getting funny spots on your shots that's the first thing I'd check. If you've still got budget left think about getting a very soft fine brush. I had a great sable brush, it was fantastic, saoft as a babies you know what. Unfortunately my son borrowed it to paint his war hammer castle :mad2: :tasdevil: :mad2: :tasdevil: :mad2: :mad: :mad: :mad: Cost me a fortune that brush. I know what he's getting me for xmas :thumbsup:

[davidpretorius]

thanks paul, we are an agent for these inflators, will blowing be just as good as brushing?

[davidpretorius]

here you go darren, first planetary shots. Mike "Sir fix up the photos a lot" will have some hard work ahead of him now!

[ving]

yeah mike might bf able to bring more detail out on those. but they are fine for a start :P

[ballaratdragons]

Dave,

That Saturn shot is great. The rings are so clear. But what happened to the colour, might have to check your RGB settings.

The Moon looks a bit distorted, maybe it wasn't in the centre of FOV (just a tip for future reference).

Great first attempt. Are you sending them to Aust Sky & Telescope mag?

[Supa Acsum]

Just read the trilogy....your one excitable puppy!

Love the pics, cant wait to see what you shoot once the sun sets. Hopefully no clouds in Tassie tonight.

GL

[davidpretorius]

yes well.... (he says whilst buffing his nails on his shirt) beginners luck they say, but those shots were the result of skill, hard work and persistence.!
Hang on ..... the phones are ringing.......back again, that was sky and telescope, i can't say too much...confidentiality agreements being what they are......

Also GL, as the scope is due to arrive tomorrow into devonport and then maybe to the depot in Launceston in the arvo, me and mr toucam and going to sit outside tonight with a piece of rolled up cardboard and just like matthew hayden, get a feel for the wicket.

Preparation is the key!!!

[ballaratdragons]

Dave,

I had a play with the levels to bring out the best in your pics. Hope you don't mind.

See what you think anyway!

[davidpretorius]

that is great ken, i am laughing so hard that it is starting to hurt.

What do you think the americans will think if they came across this site? Our aussie humour is classic and unique!!

[ballaratdragons]

I don't think it is funny Dave. I put a lot of hard work into those levels to bring out the best in your Astro pics. Hmmmppph!

Americans will find out that we help each other and we can take pics just as good if not better than them.

I will ask NASA if you can put your Saturn pic on their site to show what us Aussies can acheive!

[ballaratdragons]

I beleive that with your Saturn pic and my Fantastic 'Spiral Galaxy' pic we will win some sort of Astro pic Award for Astrophotography Excellence!

I took this last night during our 90kph wind and rain. I'm fairly happy with it.
It is Spiral Galaxy NGC 385765353795856674-ABC-348576352-1 Stacked in Registacker 400 x 1hr exposures.

I am sorry about the flying saucer spoiling the pic, but it happens. Whenever you think you've got a great shot something gets in the way!!

[ving]

umm... you do that ken...
:poke:

[Supa Acsum]

I think this could be the beginning of a new genre of astrophotography. Could setup the ice awards, (or Crayola Awards!!).

[asimov]

Nice pic.

[RAJAH235]

DaveP, just a thought re; the air blower. I'd be careful about using it. If the pressure/velocity of air is too great, you might end up blowing lots of dust/dirt particles onto/across the Eyepiece & putting fine scratches in them. This is why most use a camera puffer brush. :D L.
ps. Ken, your 'Flying Saucer' is leaving a vapour trail in the shape of a spiral. Has he been doing 'Donuts' as well?

[ballaratdragons]

No Laurie, he is just passing in front of the galaxy. Just a strange camera angle trick!

[jjjnettie]

Don't you feel that some of those American online groups are too stuffy?
Off topic banter, jokes, slurrs of character, making a mockery of astrophotography.
You guys would have been banished by now, showing so much disrespect towards Astronomy.
Thank god (who?) for IceInSpace.

[asimov]

Hmmm.....:confuse3: YEP! If you 2 were CN members....Barred for life! Just like me fer cutting a car battery in half with me trusty hack-saw, lol.

Naaah...Just joking about barred for life, But the moderators were on my case pretty smartly! :wink2: