Archive for the 'Planets' Category
January 28th, 2010 by Hersey
Looked like the sky might actually clear some to get a look at Mars as it is the closest to Earth that it will be until again in 2014 – only 99 million kilometers away! It was fairly clear, with just a few passing clouds, and very cool. The seeing was not so good, there was a lot of moisture in the air.
Visually Mars was very easy to observer and I was able to get some good detail even at medium to high magnification. Large, red-orange, and bright. I could even see the white polar region. The air was just not still enough for imaging. I was able to get good focus and the scope was staying on target but the images just came out a bit blurred. So below is the image I ended up with, it is 120 seconds at 5 frames/second stacked through the AT66ED 400mm scope with a 2x Barlow with the Celestron NexImage camera. I tried imaging through the Celestron 8″ SCT but the seeing was not very good to image at that high magnification.
Mars - January 27, 2010
After spending some time trying to get a decent image of Mars I turned the scope to the Moon and took a few stills. I think several of them turned out right well and you can see some good detail. I will identify the major features in the photos when I have more time. There are also a couple other images on my flickr page.
Moon - January 27, 2010
Moon - January 27, 2010
Moon - January 27, 2010
The moisture took over both scopes about 2 hours into observing. I have got to get a dew heater!
July 26th, 2009 by Hersey
Friday night, July 24, 2009 was the first clear night we have had in a good while that I was able to get the scope set up. It was a clear night, but very hot and VERY humid. I was out from about 10 to midnight and I took a few images of Jupiter using my NexImage camera but I ended up with only one good capture before the dew got the best of the scope.
A 3 minute capture of 900 frames through a 3x barlow.
Jupiter NexImage/3x Barlow 3 minutes - 900 frames stacked
The image is not that great, but I hope to get a few more tries at it over the next month.
April 28th, 2009 by Hersey
Saturn is too bright to image prime focus with my DSLR and get any detail, but I am able to get images of the moons.
In this image five of Saturn’s moons are visible (from left to right) lapetus, Titan, Dion, Tethys, and Rhea.
Saturn and it's Moons
March 2nd, 2009 by Hersey
Very cloudy and this is the best I could get of the Cresent Moon Venus Conjunction on Friday, February 27. Took this quick picture at 6:18 PM using my 105mm Sigma 1/60 second at f/2.8
The Crescent Moon and Venus Through the Clouds
The clouds rolled in Friday afternoon and it stayed cloudy all weekend. It was a great weekend to just do nothing. Ending up laying on the couch and watching all three LoTR movies on Sunday.
February 27th, 2009 by Hersey
I took this picture on the 24th around 10:00 PM.
Saturn and Lulin on February 24, 2009
It’s a wide field shot piggy back mounted on my scope – 50mm at f/3 for 1 minute. Saturn is the very bright object down and left of center and comet Lulin is up and to the right.
February 27th, 2009 by Hersey
Tonight the Crescent Moon and the planet Venus will be very close to each other in the Southwest sky. Hopefully the clouds will hold off.
Venus is a crescent now and you can easily make out the crescent through binoculars. I am hoping to get some NexImage Solar System Imager pics of Venus the next few nights as long as the weather holds out.
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/26feb_prettysky.htm
January 25th, 2009 by Hersey
The nights plan was to take some images of Saturn with my Celestron NexImage imager. It was cold and a little windy, there was also a lot of light pollution – the neighbors’ security lights stayed on the whole time I was out.
I started observing just before 10:00 PM and Saturn was already high enough in the eastern sky to see and was very easy to view with the 25mm Plossl eyepiece. The 25mm with the 3x Barlow brought out even more detail. The rings are edge on and I think it is cool how you can see the thin shadow across the planet where the rings cross. Several of Saturn’s moons were also visible.
I made several attempts to get some images Saturn. Trying several different capture programs and a variety of different settings. With the 3x Barlow and with out it. With the 3x Barlow I had a lot of problems trying to get good focus, I think the 3x may be pushing the magnification too much unless the seeing is really good.
I actually did get some pretty good AVI video of Saturn, but after processing they just did not turn out well. With the rings being edge on, you can see the shadow across the planet but you can not see the edge of the rings on each side of the planet.
I learned a lot about the camera settings with the different software and PCs (I used both my ASUS eee PC running Linux and my Dell Laptop running Windows XP more about that in another post) and I am looking forward to getting another chance to image the planet again.
I stopped observing just after midnight. There was still a lot I had planned to do and I probably could have taken some better images but I just got over being cold so I called it a night.
January 10th, 2009 by Hersey
One of the things I am going to try to do better this year is document or log my observations. I have a nice log book, but I am not sure that I like the format. I would prefer to just write some free form notes. I will probably come up with some kind of grid to list date, time, temperature, equipment, plan, etc. but outside of that I think I will just record what I see in a composition notebook. Here is what I wrote for last night.
Cold and clear, the moon was very bright and nearly full. The light from the moon pretty much washed out anything deep sky. Had a look at M43 in Orion and even it was washed out by the moon light. The nebula was still visible but very faint.
Saturn rose in the east just before 11:00 PM. Shortly after that it was high enough in the sky that I was able to pick it up in the scope.
Saturn was very bright and easy to find in the eastern sky. I had trouble focusing on the ringed planet at first, the brightness of the sky and the brightness of the planet made it hard to get a real sharp focus on the rings. I used a Celestron #12 Yellow filter and was able to get a real good sharp picture of the planet in the eye piece. The rings of Saturn are facing edge towards earth and with the yellow filter I could pick up the fine detail of the edge of the rings across the middle of the planet. Four of Saturn’s moons were also easily visible through the eyepiece.
I tried out my new Orion Highlight 3x Barlow with my Celestron 25mm Plossl eyepiece. Really brought the view in close. Was not able to get as sharp of focus as without the Barlow, but I am getting better, more practice I won’t be so heavy handed on the focus knob.
I tried to take some prime focus pictures with the D60, but I was not able to get a good sharp focus and/or get the exposure right for the brightness of the planet. I wish I had set my laptop and NexImage Camera up, I probably could have gotten some really good shots, next time.
I spent about an hour looking at Saturn and called it a night just after midnight.
January 3rd, 2009 by Hersey
Tonight is the first night I have been able to try out the T-Connector and T-Ring that attaches my Nikon D60 to my Celestron C8 SCT scope.
It was a nice night early on, cold and fairly clear to the East and directly over head. By about 9:00 PM there were some clouds moving in from the Southwest. A thin layer of clouds covered the sky by 10:00 PM so I called it a night a little earlier than I wanted.
Orion Nebula | 01/03/09 19:10 EST - 6x30secs - Prime Focus
Moon 01/03/2009 - 1/200 exposure - Prime Focus
I need to practice focusing some as most of the shots I took were just a hair out of focus. I also took a few shots of the Andromeda Galaxy but they were just too out of focus.
When I set the scope up early in the afternoon, Venus was visible in full light. I wanted to try out the T-Connector and camera in the daylight to minimize the fumbling at night. I took a quick shot of Venus and here it is:
Venus - Early Afternoon - 01032009 - 1/200 exposure - Prime Focus
Kind of cool being able to see this planet well before dark. Looks like a miniature half Moon.
December 31st, 2008 by Hersey
..this year anyway.
Even though there are a few clouds, still a very nice end of the year view of Venus, the Crescent Moon, Mercury, and Jupiter
Venus and the Crescent Moon - 12/31/2008
Venus, the Crescent Moon, and a few passing clouds.
Mercury and Jupiter - 12/31/2008
Have a Happy New Year!!!
