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Post by ivant on Oct 30, 2012 13:23:43 GMT
That one was really only a test of the modification so minimal @ 29 x 180 sec prime focus on my 200P with dark & flat calibration.
My view to the NE is pretty much ruined with LP from Belfast, anything below 40 deg dec is not worth trying to photograph, I stupidly scratched the covering on my LP filter one night, very expensive mistake :-(
My house obscures my southerly view below approx 60 deg dec but I have good views E & W.
How about you?
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Post by garyr on Oct 30, 2012 14:09:43 GMT
Actually not a million miles away from Lisburn ... well probably 5 mile or so ...
I have the M1 Stockmans Lane roundabout 400 metres to the South and houses all round .... its directly up for me ... or nothing at all
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Post by Colin A on Nov 7, 2012 13:42:35 GMT
Welcome along ivant. Good see another Lisburn astronomer here!
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Post by ivant on Nov 7, 2012 17:16:27 GMT
Thanks Colin, are you a back yard astronomer or do you travel to a dark sight?
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misa
Cygnus
Posts: 49
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Post by misa on Nov 7, 2012 20:48:52 GMT
Guess what.....I'm in Lisburn too at the Cutts. I'm a back yard and front garden astronomer and I travel to dark sites as often as I can including Bragan, Glenshane Pass a few times, Dromara plus the usual spots. Peter
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Post by ivant on Nov 9, 2012 8:53:40 GMT
Your just down the road from me Peter :-)
I mostly just take pics from my back garden. I put a concrete pier in so don't have a portable setup. Traveling to the pass is impressive.
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Post by Colin A on Nov 9, 2012 14:30:52 GMT
Hi Ivan / Pete,
I've started this astronomy lark in August and only been out with the guys from here to Killylane and Bragan once. There are 2 churches behind me that keep the floodlights on most of the night and a streetlight that shines right into the back garden.
My dad is from White Mountain and reckons that Stoneyford d**n might be a good dark site. Going to go out with him some night and check it out. Even its not 100% it might be better than the back garden and not too far to travel.
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Post by ivant on Nov 11, 2012 12:28:50 GMT
Let us know how you get on at Stonyford Colin.
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Post by watsy on Nov 11, 2012 20:08:56 GMT
Hi Ivan, just looked at those images in your blog and they're fantastic, really impressive. Also enjoy a bit of photography but I'm a complete novice when it comes to astronomy and astrophotgraphy. Maybe some day in the future I'll look in to it. I look forward to seeing more of your work.
Brian.
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Post by garyr on Nov 11, 2012 23:04:18 GMT
I finally got HEQ5/guidescope/PHD guiding/Meade DSI/Laptop/DSLR all working in perfect harmony and managed a few 5 minute test shots with perfectly rounded stars .... sadly by the time I did this the batteries on everything had died ...
Looking forward to the next night out as I have everything ready to go this time.
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Post by ivant on Nov 12, 2012 14:41:15 GMT
Thanks Brian. Imaging is my main interest but like the song says "I've only just begun" :-)
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Post by ivant on Nov 12, 2012 14:45:44 GMT
sadly by the time I did this the batteries on everything had died. There's always something, I've seen me waste perfectly clear nights messing around with my PEC curve and guiding errors.
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Post by garyr on Nov 12, 2012 15:27:20 GMT
It really took a toll on my power supply which has taken nearly 36 hours of charging to return to the green.
The good thing is that it has a normal three pin plug socket so I can plug the laptop in when it starts to drain. The only thing I need now is a canon power supply and something to get rid of the dew.
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Post by garyr on Nov 12, 2012 16:18:10 GMT
I thought one didnt need to worry about such things as PEC when autoguiding?
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Post by ivant on Nov 13, 2012 20:41:54 GMT
It's just another way of squeezing the best possible performance out of meagre setups. Besides, it's quite interesting to see just how good the gears in your drive motors actually are and a good before and after does make a difference in the frequency and aggressiveness of required corrections. If you can have the mount auto-compensate for PEC it puts less reliance on your auto-guiding to correct for errors. I've only got a modified 10*50 finder guider and have found stars in shots can render a little blobby. PEC was one thing I tried to try and remove the problem.
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