Dipping my toes in the water...

[Retrograde (Pete)]

Managed to create my first successful stack from 6 frames of the Moon/Jupiter conjunction taken through an ED102 on Monday night (before clouds rolled in and spoiled the show).

The LMC pic was a single 15-second frame using a 50-135 zoom at 3200 ISO taken during the last new moon. Both shots through a Pentax K-5 DSLR.

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

Well done Pete , I like the moon , jupiter conjunction photo , we missed it up here , cloudy ,,, as usual this time of the year .
Keep it up .
Brian.

[Larryp (Laurie)]

Good stuff, Pete!

[Retrograde (Pete)]

Thanks Brian and Laurie. The second pic was using my old vixen SP mount which amazingly still seems to track (dead-battery & poor polar alignment not withstanding) despite almost no use for 20 years!

Here is another pic (single-frame) From the Cairns eclipse last year. Sadly we missed totality at Trinity beach due to cloud but at least seeing some of the partial phases made it worthwhile.

[zardos123 (Brad)]

looks good, alas i too was clouded over

[Retrograde (Pete)]

Thanks Brad - appreciate all the practical advice you've given me over the last 12 months or so.

[Sarge (Rod)]

Good ones Pete,
Like the LMC. Try stacking several 15-20 sec subs, you will really notice the difference, even without processing.

Clear skies

Rod

[Retrograde (Pete)]

I appreciate the encouragement Rod.

I did take another 3 or 4 subs of the LMC after that one but when I checked them the star images all showed trailing. It was at that point I realised the battery for the drive motor had died. (*Note to self: always have a spare battery*). This old mount runs off 9v - I realise if I'm going to get more serious about this whole A/P thing I'll need to upgrade my mount but it'll do for the moment while I ascend the learning curve a bit further.

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

Hey Pete , dont write off the Vixen SP mount to easily , I have one under my Tak SKY90 and its a better mount for AP than any Synta .
Better mechanicals , drives and finish .
Mine runs on a $36 rechargable sealed lead/acid battery from Jaycar and it lasts for many nites before needing a recharge .
To better one you need at least an IEQ45 by Ioptron , HEQ5/6 or Losmandy G8 .
Brian.

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

Here is the moon with that set up , 24mm TV Panoptic and HTC smart phone hand held up to it .
Brian.

[Retrograde (Pete)]

Nice to see your setup Brian (everything looks better with a Tak ) & good to see someone else is still using a Vixen SP. Is that the original drive-corrector you've got there? I'll have to get myself one of those Jaycar 9v batteries for sure.

I'm frankly quite chuffed that mine still works after so many years of almost no use. It sure says something about Vixen quality IMO. Unfortunately I haven't got the dec motor (just a manual slow-motion control) which somewhat limits its usefulness for A/P.

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

Still good enough for short exposures with a good polar align .

Just take your time and dont go out and spend a fortune when you already have the makings of a great starter AP set up .
Your 102mm Ed scope , mount and DSlR will do for now , just play around with them , it only costs your time .

I lashed out $1000 on an ATIK 314E CCd camera 6 months ago and have only taken 6 shots with it in all that time , the weather has played a major role in that , but when it clears ( the Dry ) I will be away .
I can set up and use it in my sleep , I have played with it so much .
Take your time and enjoy .
Oh yea , your LMC is way better than anything deep sky I have managed so far .
Brian.