October 2019

October 27^th 2140 GMT Deep Sky Shoot

Conditions were not perfect but clear enough for objects well clear of the horizon to leave some light on my camera. I also kept more than half an eye out for meteors. As well as the fading Orionid shower, there were many minor showers around that I thought might produce the odd meteor. I did not see any, though.

I had another go at the Pleaides (M45) but went for a closer view at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure. I stacked 99 frames but did niot catch any nebulosity.

I could not get Melotte 20 into my field of view, so switched targets to M35 instead.

No, didn't get it either!

I returned to Melotte 20 with 70mm focal length and 8 seconds exposure. I only took seven frames but was very happy with the outcome.

I then had another go, returning to my original settings.

I had an audacious pot at M1, not expecting much. I captured the general area but no sign of the Crab Nebula. I noticed some star clusters that could be worthy of some later close-ups.

October 23^rd 2330 GMT Deep Sky: Hyades and Pleiades

I took a few shots of the Hyades and Pleaides at 70mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 6 seconds exposure.

MORE TO COME...

October 22^nd 2020 GMT

I fiddled with the intervalometer and had another go at the Perseus region. I hoped to catch some activity from the two minor Taurid showers, with an outside shot at some Orionids travelling vertically from below the horizon.

Unfortunately, I only caught cloud and some fuzzy images!

October 20^th 0000 GMT Moon and Meteor

By the time I had copied the files from my camera, the Moon was well clear of the horizon. I took some full disc lunar shots with my Mak and DSLR at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/250 second exposure. I stacked 122 images to get this.

I then took some sets of close-ups by adding a 3x Barlow, with 1.62m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/25 second exposure. I stitched 8 different imaging runs but combined the results to end up with 3 images.

I had kept half an eye open for meteors but, after my lunar shoot, I watched for about 10 minutes. I was rewarded with a magnitude 1 Orionid flashing south west.

October 19^th 2015 GMT Meteors and Constellations

The sky was clear-ish, so I set my first meteor trap of the month. I aimed at Perseus with my DSLR at ISO 6400, 16mm focal length and 6 seconds exposure. I set my camera to automatic with my intervalometer.

At 2130 GMT I moved the camera to the general area of northern Taurus, hoping for a possible increase in meteor numbers.

Unfortunately, neither imaging run revealed any meteors and not enough detail of the constellations.

October 19^th 1800 GMT Jupiter

It was dusk and Jupiter was low. I took some exposures with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 1 second exposure in an attempt to capture the moons.Although focus was slightly off, the moons showed well.

October 19^th 1430 GMT Sun

I had a rare bit of clear sky, so did a hydrogen alpha shoot with my PST and DSLR. This time, I used a lens hood.

Oct 19^th 0705 GMT Moon

Just after getting up, the Moon was high in the west. I used the same settings as the night before, except that I increased the ISO setting to 400.

October 18th 2130 GMT Moon

It was mostly cloudy in the evening but a hole opened up in the cloud that allowed me to perform a lunar shoot. I used 300mm focal length, ISO100 and 1/1000 second focal length. I tried a different processing sequence and produced a better result.

 

 

 

October 16^th 0900 GMT Sun

The Big Bear solar images had been showing a quiet sun for a few days but it was almost criminal not to have a go at it. As sunspots had been absent for some time, I used a Coronado PST and DSLR afocally to take a few images. There was some detail in the close-ups but I would have had better results if I had remembered to use my lens hood.

October 15^th 1935 GMT Moon

Conditions were better than they were 2 days previously but the Moon was low and shrouded in thin cloud. With more cloud spreading from the west, I decided to do a quick shoot with my DSLR in case there were no more opportunities that evening. I used 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/1000 second exposure.

            

 

October 13^th 2100 GMT Moon

Conditions were poor but it had seemed so long since I had seen anything at all, I just had to shoot the Moon. I used 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/1000 second exposure.

October 9^th 2110 GMT

The waxing gibbous moon was high just south of west, so I took a few frames using the same settings as the evening before.

October 8^th 2000 GMT Moon

The Moon was just past first quarter but low down. I took some shots at 300mm focal length, ISO100 and 1/1000 second exposure.

October 2^nd 1815 GMT Moon

The crescent moon was low and I snapped it with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure. Unfortunately, it was under-exposed and the focus was poor.

October 2^nd 0900 GMT Sun

The Big Bear images showed some minor solar activity in hydrogen alpha light and none in white light. I could not see anything in my Coronado PST but hoped I might capture something “on film”.