Messing around with the camera...

  So on Tuesday night was the zenith of the Perseid meteor shower typically I missed it as I read it was at midnight on the 13th.  So I thought that meant 12pm on Wednesday (the day after).  I was outside with the camera taking 30 second subs waiting for something... anything.  I found naff all after two hours.  Then while waiting for the camera to take a 5 minute sub (I was playing around at this point), I was on Star Walk on my phone.  I well recommend this app, its made by ESA (European Space Agency) and the way it presents its info and stuff is clear and concise.  Shame Planterium isn't working no more :(  Anyhow, I was on Star Walk and noticed that Andromeda was right infront of me, usually when I am outside with the telescope she is on the otherside of the house, the side where the chavs could see my nice shiny telescope.  So I tried to locate it, that was easy enough then I thought about getting the camera on it.  Easy enough also, I done a few 30 second subs and messed with the ISO on her (the camera is an Canon 1100D, I love that camera!).  Here is one of the better results... still needs a lot of work, but like modelling it will come with pratice.

  Now as it stands, that isn't much to look at.  However if you look about 2 thirds of the way up and right in the middle, you will see a little grey "smudge".  That ladies and gentlemen is our nearest spiral galaxy, the Andromeda Galaxy.  We are currently heading towards each other at 74km/s (266,400 mph for the ones who can't work it out).  We are expected to "collide" with it in 3-5 billion years time.  It will either fling Sol out of the Milky Way or it will annihilate us completely.  Time will tell, I wont be around so it matters not to me.  

  The reason for the streaks is not because I moved the camera, it's the Earths rotation making it appear that the stars are moving.  The only start that is not moving as much (but it does move) is Polaris aka the North Star/Pole Star.  I will get around to taking a picture like that one day.

  One last picture for you lot...

  Andromeda is about the centre of the picture. Think this was a 25 second sub.  Hope you enjoyed this little de-tour from modelling. :P

  PEACE!

  Dazz

The Scope!

  Well I did promise a picture of the Skywatcher Skyliner 200P Dobsonian compared to something else.  Well here is my scope, right next to our Sofa.  Now most people own a sofa, so they can appreciate how big the 200P actually is...

 
  Now, I am 5,10 high and not weak by any standards, but I struggle to carry this bugger.  I think it's just the sheer size of it.  For anyone who plans to get one tho, a different kind of view finder is a must.  It will kill your back looking through the view finder like it is there.

  Clear Skies!

  Dazz

First Light!...

  Well for Christmas last year (2011), my mother had some spare cash and she said I could have anything I wanted.  Wanting a new telescope for ages, one with a bit of kick to it, I asked for a Skywatcher 200P Dobsoian.  It's a huge bugger, I really wasn't expecting it to be as big as it was!  but I really do love the thing.  If you look at the pictures below you can see the difference.

This is from my 3" Newtoian scope.

This is from my new 8" Dob (25mm Wide EP)

 My 8" Dob with an 10mm EP

See the difference? I know the pictures aren't that great, but that's because I used a mobile phone held to the eyepiece.  I believe it's called afocal photography, and it's bloody hard when you are cold, holding a phone to an eyepiece while trying to hit the button to take a picture.  I took the below picture in the same method to see what I could do, not this is not going to win me any prizes.  But you can see what can be done with basic equipment, and this zoomed in a fair bit, so please excuse the pixels, and I am sure you can work out what it is supposed to be.

I've have since ordered some new bits to help with some semi-decent pictures.  I ordered a Skywatcher Universal camera adaptor, a Light Pollution Reduction filter, the book "Making Every Photon Count" by Steve Richards and a Fuji Finepix S2950 bridge camera, I know it's a bridge camera, but it should be good enough for a few pictures surely??!!  Everything mentioned above is linked to where I got the stuff from by the way.  All of the telescope stuff was purchased from First Light Optics, a great place to order stuffs from, can't recommend them enough.  They also support Stargazers Lounge too, which is a great place to get advice from about this kinda stuff. :)

  PEACE!

  Dazz

The Man in the Moon

  Well who can guess what this one is about?!  For Christmas, Nat bought me an Newtonian Telescope, I love the thing I really do!  It's something that I have always wanted but never had the spare cash to buy.  Now the weather has been very shit around here since I got it on Christmas day, but on the 18th Jan, Nat and I managed to get outside and see the moon in all her glory!  We even managed to take pictures of it also!  :)

  Here is one of the pictures that Nat managed to take using just the H2O (x32) eyepiece and a mobile phone, pretty cool eh?

  Here is my attempt in all of it's glory, the moon was bloody bright tho!  I think I will need to get an moon filter for this kinda thing.  There is an lovely set I have got my eyes on, shame it's £130 :(  Maybe for my birthday? :D

  They where really good for my second attempt eh?  I just need to learn how to use the Philips SPC900NC now.  I had that camera ordered by Nat on her ebay account (I've never had an ebay account!) and the proper eyepiece to go with it.  I actually ordered an alloy one, but got sent a plastic one.  Not a major issue really, if it works and stands the test of time then it could be made out of macaroni cheese for all I care! After all, we are only human and we all make mistakes, I didn't want to send it back as I had finally got my new toy and I was very impatient to use it. Got it from BilletParts.co.uk good quality eyepiece it was too, fitted the 900NC like a glove!  They have given me a £4 refund on the plastic one compared to the alloy one.  Thats the kind of service I like, I will be using them again, maybe for the alloy eyepiece this time?  :P

  Keep on Geeking! ;)