Venus and Jupiter

[cometcatcher]

Thought I'd get in early for next week's close approach of Venus and Jupiter. Spica at the top left, then Jupiter and Venus with a dish thrown in for good measure. :D

[Mick]

Nice work CC.

[davidpretorius]

nice dish!!!! and the planets look great too!

[asimov]

Nice 1 Kev!

[iceman]

Great shot, I think it would also look nice with a long exposure (without the flash) to show the silouette of the dish with the stars/planets in the background.

[cometcatcher]

Kind of tried that Mike, but I'm somewhat limited to what I can do with a 4 second max exposure from the little Nikon Coolpix 2100.

The dish was actually lit by an LED torch waved over it as I can't set the flash to go off in night landscape mode. This little camera is a bit limited.

[cometcatcher]

Just mucking about, this time with a Mintron video camera, 28mm lens - 128 frames with frame integration set to 64x.

[iceman]

Nice Kevin, a longer exposure would've been great for the 2nd one.

[cometcatcher]

Maybe when you buy me a nice DSLR Mike. ;) But even then would be limited to about 15 seconds exposure due to star trailing.

[cometcatcher]

The cloud cut me a bit short this evening but I got something.

Tricolour image with the Mintron video camera and 50mm lens at f2.8. Not sure why this one has diffraction spikes an the other one doesn't.

[iceman]

Nice one Kev, looking forward to seeing your shots in the next few days as they get closer!

I like the spikes on this one.

[tony66]

2 15 second exp. on the new triopod, with canon powershot a85.

[Mick]

Nice work Kevin and Tony. The cloud are spoiling the show at the moment, I got this a few days ago.

[h0ughy]

partially cloudy with high cloud at the moment. I took these images tonight (30/8/2005)

[cometcatcher]

You been spraying those leafless trees with roundup Mick? :D Anyway the effect works well.

I was lucky to get anything tonight. Just a few minutes gap in the lower cloud layer let me get in a shot or two. Still some high cloud though which makes the focus look a bit soft. That and the 25 year old focal lens. :P

Both are just greyscale, no time for colour. The wide shot is with a 50mm lens at f2.8 and the closer up of Jupiter is with the 25 year old focal lens set at f5.6. Both taken with the Mintron video camera.

[cometcatcher]

Ha! Just figured out why I have diffraction spikes. It's caused from the hexagonal iris inside the lens.

[Mick]

Nice work considering the cloud Kevin. :) No! Roundup is expensive I took a field trip tonight to get away from the trees.

[h0ughy]

Nice image there mate! :thumbsup:

[cometcatcher]

Looks nice. Where is that?

[Mick]

South wall of the Mackay Marina.

[Mick]

Thanks hOughy. :)

[cometcatcher]

Looks like a capital city. :)

[Mick]

Yeh more High-rise out there than in town.

[iceman]

nice one Mick, one for the mags there!

Beautiful shot.

I'm gonna have to get away from my backyard in the next day or two, that's the only hope i've got of seeing them nicely in the west.

[davidpretorius]

mike's right mick, monthly mag magnificence!

[Mick]

Thanks, we have a clear sky tonight it sure is a beautiful sight. No photos tonight though my youngest boy broke both wrists at school today, the missus is spending the night in hospital with him. :doh: :scared2:

[davidpretorius]

just tucked my young ones into bed, i hope everything is ok with yours!

[tony66]

Nice shot of the marina Mick. Took a moment to recognise where it was. What was the camera settings if you dont mind me asking.

[Mick]

Hey Tony, 8 sec at f/3.7 iso200. I played around with the iso and timing but those settings gave me the best results :)

[cometcatcher]

Sorry to hear about the boy Mick. You'll have to get him a nice present to make him feel a bit better.

Got the flu here atm so not feeling like doing anything adventurous with the photos.

Just a 50mm and 135mm shot through the Mintron video camera. Think I overexposed too much in the 135mm shot. Bit late to fix it now. Lots of video artifacts too. This would look so much better with a DSLR.

Hey Pentax, when are you guys bringing out something in the $500 mark? It only has to work on the "B" setting. :prey: :P

[iceman]

Wow Mick, sorry to hear about your boy. How old is he? How did he do it? Obviously fell over somehow..

Great shots Kev, nice spikes!

[RB]

Mick hope he's doing OK and a speedy recovery.

[Mick]

You've got a lovely sequence going there Kevin. I'd like to try stacking widefield images using Spica as a point over a couple of days to see the movement of Venus and Jupiter.
Stephen is 11 he's home now and feeling much better thanks he has casts on both arms what a sorry sight. He was retrieving a football from a roof at school and tried to jump down but snagged his foot on the gutter and took a superman to the ground luck he didn't break his neck.

[h0ughy]

Sorry to read about your son Mick. I hope he recovers well.

[cometcatcher]

Thanks Mick. Sounds like a good idea watching the movements, if the weather can stay clear for long enough!

I didn't try tonight. I just feel too crook.

[Mick]

Hope your feeling better soon Kevin, we missed you at the school last night.

[cometcatcher]

Must have been a wonderful night of viewing. Wish I was there but I don't think my germs would have been welcome. That and not being able to stand for long.

[cometcatcher]

Spica, Venus, Jupiter, Moon from the 6th. Nikon Coolpix 2100.

[RB]

Very nice image, Kevin.

[cometcatcher]

This is tonight's (7th). Nikon Coolpix single frame wide and 15 frames stacked zoomed up.

[h0ughy]

Nice photos there kevin

[RB]

Nice stack Kevin.

:)

What prog did u use to stack them?

RB

[cometcatcher]

Registax 3.0.1.23. For some reason it only liked 15 of the 16 frames so I skipped one. It always hates one frame from a set. Don't know why.