What'cha capturing tonight?

[Tracy]

7 targets, but it's bedtime...

I'm trying to get as much of M81/M82 as I can as it's a VERY limited time target for me. Next up is Barnhard-33.

 

[Tracy]

Beautiful night out... stars are solid and bright... but only problem.. it's COLD for this Texas boy!
The REALLY bad thing is... I OH so bad want to get the new Apertura 72mm out and play with it on the EQ-35 Pro and try the ASI585MC out for some deep sky stuff... but I simply don't want parts dropping off from the body from the cold temps!

I'm thinking of getting the WO Flat 73R to add to the setup... it should make a bit of difference.

 

[OhNo]

This is twice as warm as it was 2 days ago. Go set up you might capture Santa.

 

[Tracy]

This is twice as warm as it was 2 days ago. Go set up you might capture Santa.

Got both scopes set up currently.... I already decided... HAVE to get an EFW for the little Apertura also!

screen capture from the VNC viewer using the ASI585MC on the Pleiades. No filters on the camera... going to play with it with a galaxy (probably M31) in a few minutes... still playing around with gain/offset settings on camera.

 

[Tracy]

Grabbing some more of M81 and M82.

I'm REALLY liking this new mount, especially since I got the Baader weight for the telescope setup.

 

[Tracy]

Been splitting the night up between M81/M82 and now M51.
For some reason after re-installing StellarMate OS, the ASI EAF focusing REALLY sucks. I've simply gotten where I use it to get "close" and then pull out the Bhat for the ZenithStar and fine-focus with it.

I have to wait until about 3am local time to start grabbing M51 because of obstructions.. this is what it looks like at 2:18am (Central Time)

 

[OhNo]

Is there some stray light coming in the scope?

 

[Tracy]

Is there some stray light coming in the scope?

At that point it's pointing directly over the top of the house that has a sodium arc street light just out of view. 🔦
I have to let it rise a little more, and then I can get about 1.5-2 hours of capture time in before the sun starts interfering. There is also a tree in that direction that still has some holly leaves on it that I have to shoot through at that angle. So it could be a combination of both.

 

[OhNo]

I have always believed that when I see that pattern Opposite corners black), the sun hasn't set yet or some light source is being caught.. Seems the old rule "there is a time and place for everything" is especially true for AP.

 

[Tracy]

Is there some stray light coming in the scope?

Figured out for SURE what it is... used the Load & Slew from an earlier capture and was able to get enough done to get the mount targeted in. When going to use the guide scope (which does 2s captures) I could see the leaves actually being moved in the wind we have blowing.

 

[Tracy]

Tonight... primarily concentrating on M81/M82. So far I'm up to another (for tonight) 130 LRGB 120 second captures. If I am still "awake" I may try to grab another 30 or so of LRGB of M51, since my target window for it is currently so limited.

Did I mention recently I'm really loving this EQ6R Pro now that I'm getting near to it being dialed in?

The only real issue is the moon IS rather bright tonight and seems to be washing stuff out.

 

[Tracy]

Another few hours of capture of NGC_1528, M_81/M_82 and finally M51.
Once I can get a few more hours of capture, I'm going to try processing them.

 

[Tracy]

And back to the old faithful from above... but BOY is the moon bright tonight. I cast a very distinct shadow when standing around outside... bright enough I can see the leaves (what is left of them) on the tree about 30 yards away. At least the chimney is blocking the direct light from the moon hitting the telescope.

 

[Tracy]

Well, after finding some issues with my scope where the focuser and the scope mount was "loose"... looks like I'm starting all my imaging over again. I had been noticing some "spots" on the captures recently... seems that once I tightened it all back up...those "spots" are no longer there.
So, tonight I start fresh captures of M81/M82 and M51.

 

[Tracy]

If the weather allows... I"m cracking out the Apertura 72mm APO and the new ASI533MC Pro out tonight.... I'll also be running my normal setup for my primary capture... the ASI533MC Pro will currently be used for galaxy and star cluster captures since I don't have any filters for it.... simply put, it was a stretch to even get it currently and I'll have to wait on filters.

 

[Tracy]

Tonight it's been M81/M82 and then second night of the Leo Triplet. I have a very limited window of them, usually around 3am before they get above the trees.

 

[Tracy]

Trying out the new Apertura tonight with the ASI533MC Pro. No filters, so going to have to target star clusters and galaxies.
I'm glad a got the longer Vixen mount bar for the scope. Once you get the camera and the focuser out, it's really back heavy for the standard shipping bar. I had to reverse the way I had it mounted, but now I have the RPi also mounted to the bottom of it near all the other equipment.
The bad thing is I may have to reinstall StellarMate OS because it's not "keeping" the star charts it downloads avaialble.

 

[Tracy]

I'll be SO glad when this stormy weather moves out....cold, wet, ice, tree limbs dropping in the yard and cratering the fence.

I'm hoping by this weekend to get some more time in with the ZentihStar on the Horsehead nebula.

I still have to pull the Bel-Ray grease off the EQ35-Pro (which I use with the new Apertura 72mm) and replace it with the Mobil 1 synthetic... but have been putting it off since it is somewhat a PITA to do. If the Mobil 1 doesn't work... I'll look at alternatives... but many give good reviews to Mobil 1 for what I'm needing it for (mainly the shaft in the EQ35-Pro).

 

[Tracy]

Finally, after about 3 weeks of clouds.. they left for the night! But they will return for another projected week tomorrow.

Targets of choice tonight... started with Horsehead Nebula with the ZenithStar and a double cluster with the Apertura.
Then, once those targets went out of my view, both scopes were targeted at the Leo Triplets. So far, I've got about 3 hours of capture data with both scopes and look to get about another 2-3 in hopefully.
Was able to get about 45 minutes of the Sombrero Galaxy in with both scopes also.

 

[Tracy]

Finally... a clear night.
Wanted to work on the HorseHead nebula, but got too late of a start, so I concentrated on the Leo Triplet with the 103mm and on M3 with the Apertura 72mm. Then I progressed to M104 with the 103mm and IC4282 with the Apertura.