ballaratdragons
30-12-2005, 02:04 PM
Last night (29th December) was the clearest, steadiest sky I have seen since Camp. Actually I think last night was even better. The Transparency -10/10 and the seeing was 9/10!!! Not one star even gave the slightest twinkle, and there where so many stars visible I had trouble working out the constellations.
The air was dead still (very rare here) and the temp was a comfortable 18 degrees and slowly dropped to about 14 over many hours. And NO MOON!
I placed the scope out at sunset and didn't go near it for about 3 hours. After collimation and a quick look at Mars through the 15mm Plossl I stuck in the Toucam on Long Exposure Mode running 'Desire'.
No matter how hard I tried I could not capture anything without tracking and after about 1 hour of attempts, I gave up on the Star trails and switched to Normal Mode and used the Toucam's V-Record program.
I wanted to have a good go at the Trap again to see if I could capture E & F again just in case my last success was just a fluke. Well, I got them again! I also think there may be a few others in there as well but I will leave that to those that know what the stars of the Trap should look like.
Whilst in Orion I also captured 2 nice doubles.
Saturn was now high enough to attempt. This is my first shot at Saturn since learning more about the Toucam. I still can't seem to get it BIG like others posted in here but I'm happy with it as it is only my 2nd go at the Planet.
After having fun imaging I packed up the Toucam and Lappy and went eyeball! It was such an incredible night everything looked great!
Using my fantastic 2" 32mm Erfle I went Galaxy hunting in the Fornax Region and was richly rewarded with Galaxies almost everywhere I pointed the scope in Fornax and Eridanus!
With the 2" Erfle I managed to get at least 8 Galaxies from the Fornax Cluster in the FOV with their big brother just outsive the FOV. It was stunning, and so clear!!! I scanned around the sky for the rest of the night taking in the terrific conditions and after 'Oooing and Ahhhing' for many hours I finally packed it in at 4am. I only wish I could've gotten a pic of the Fornax Cluster as it was truly breathtaking. In time I will.
I have posted some pics here. I know they are not great quality, but like I have said before "I'm having fun!"
What a fantastic night it was!
See how many stars you can find for me in the Trap.
1. Saturn - my 2nd attempt.
2. Double in Orion
3. Another Double in Orion
4 The Trap with ? stars.
The air was dead still (very rare here) and the temp was a comfortable 18 degrees and slowly dropped to about 14 over many hours. And NO MOON!
I placed the scope out at sunset and didn't go near it for about 3 hours. After collimation and a quick look at Mars through the 15mm Plossl I stuck in the Toucam on Long Exposure Mode running 'Desire'.
No matter how hard I tried I could not capture anything without tracking and after about 1 hour of attempts, I gave up on the Star trails and switched to Normal Mode and used the Toucam's V-Record program.
I wanted to have a good go at the Trap again to see if I could capture E & F again just in case my last success was just a fluke. Well, I got them again! I also think there may be a few others in there as well but I will leave that to those that know what the stars of the Trap should look like.
Whilst in Orion I also captured 2 nice doubles.
Saturn was now high enough to attempt. This is my first shot at Saturn since learning more about the Toucam. I still can't seem to get it BIG like others posted in here but I'm happy with it as it is only my 2nd go at the Planet.
After having fun imaging I packed up the Toucam and Lappy and went eyeball! It was such an incredible night everything looked great!
Using my fantastic 2" 32mm Erfle I went Galaxy hunting in the Fornax Region and was richly rewarded with Galaxies almost everywhere I pointed the scope in Fornax and Eridanus!
With the 2" Erfle I managed to get at least 8 Galaxies from the Fornax Cluster in the FOV with their big brother just outsive the FOV. It was stunning, and so clear!!! I scanned around the sky for the rest of the night taking in the terrific conditions and after 'Oooing and Ahhhing' for many hours I finally packed it in at 4am. I only wish I could've gotten a pic of the Fornax Cluster as it was truly breathtaking. In time I will.
I have posted some pics here. I know they are not great quality, but like I have said before "I'm having fun!"
What a fantastic night it was!
See how many stars you can find for me in the Trap.
1. Saturn - my 2nd attempt.
2. Double in Orion
3. Another Double in Orion
4 The Trap with ? stars.