September 2020

September 27^th 2020 GMT Moon and Jupiter’s moons

 

Conditions were a bit hazy, despite a clear day. I had trouble focussing on the Moon, with my settings on 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure.

 

I used my usual settings for Jupiter’s moons: 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure.

September 25^th 2040 GMT Lunar and Planetary Close-Ups

I took my Mak out with my DSLR to do some lunar close-ups. I used a Barlow lens to reach 4.62 metres focal length, ISO 100 and various exposures from 1/100 second to 1/10 second. Although I was able to show a lot of detail, the focus was not quite spot-on.

The focus was way out on the Jupiter shots.

I caught Saturn's rings but it was hardly a classic.

I caught some shading on Mars but, like the Saturn shot, was hardly memorable.

I took some widefield shots of the Pleaides (M45), The images did not stack so I processed a single frame.

Unlike the Pleaides, I got 9 shots of the Hyades to stack.

September 25^th 2000 GMT Moon, Jupiter and Saturn

 

I had hoped to catch all three objects the evening before but it was clouded out. If anything, the night of 25^th, they were closer, with the Moon particularly close to Saturn.

 

I started off with the Moon at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/400 second exposure.

I was not fully sure of the focal length but I fitted all three into the camera field of view at ISO 6400 and 1/50 second exposure.

 

Time for some digital wizardry! I brightened Saturn to make it more visible. I also resized my Moon shot and overlaid it onto the above image to counter the over-exposure.

I then took some frames of Jupiter at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure.

You can probably guess the next bit. Of course I superimposed Jupiter with its moons onto the original image.

 

I repeated the same with Saturn, although I did not expect anything in the moonlight glare.

I didn't capture any saturnian moons but superimposed the Saturn image onto the conjunction photo to finish off.

September 24^th 2300 GMT Mars

 

I took several frames of Mars with my Mak and DSLR at 1.54 and 4.62 metres focal length. I used ISO 100 and varied the exposure between 1/40 and 1/100 second. This was the best but, honestly, I was underwhelmed, with the focus out in all images.

September 23^rd 2015 GMT Meteor Hunt

 

I set a meteor trap aimed near the Summer Triangle. I had failed with a similar attempt the evening before and wanted another go, so set the focus carefully.

At 2025 GMT I caught a meteor travelling north west from Cygnus.

I also processed some frames as by-products to obtain yet another Cygnus/Lyra photo.

September 20^th 2100 GMT Jupiter’s moons

 

Jupiter was low in the west. I took some shots at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure.

September 20^th 1820 GMT Moon

The thin crescent moon was low in the west. I took some frames with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/100 second exposure.

Unfortunately, my focus was poor (well it IS hard to focus on a thin crescent).

September 19^th 2200 GMT Mars

 

Despite mowing 2 patches of dandelions, clover and moss the day before, my back had recovered enough to use my largest telescope, my 127mm Maksutov. My original intention was to look at Mars, which I had not since it came into the evening sky. Mars is a difficult object at the best of times and there was a clearish patch of sky above our house. Jupiter and Saturn were obscured by clouds and, for much of the time, Mars was the only object visible in the sky.

 

With it being a favourable opposition in October, the martian disc was surprisingly large and showed a lot of albedo features across its centre. This was despite using a magnification of 64x, quite low for Mars. I swapped eyepieces to deliver a magnification of 103x. This made the detail more clear and the polar ice cap flickered in and out of view. I added a Barlow lens (2x) to produce a magnification of 206x. Many nights I had found this to be the optimum but this night it resulted in a fuzzy image that was bouncing around in the eyepiece.

 

I placed the original eyepiece back, in conjunction with the Barlow lens, to produce a magnification of 128x. It was great! The albedo feature seemed to have at least two branches and the ice cap was a clear semicircle.

 

Although my primary intention was visual, I could not resist the temptation to photograph the planet through the eyepiece. The photo did not capture the ice cap but otherwise was a good representation of what I saw.

 

I also took some frames with my DSLR at 1.54 metres ISO 400 and 1/50 second exposure. I did not have time to increase the focal length before cloud rolled in. Unfortunately, I did not register an image,

September 17th 2055 GMT Meteors

It was a clear night. Unfortunately, I was busy with non-astronomical activities, so I left a camera outside using my normal meteor detection technique. I aimed at Cassiopeia, as there were some minor showers active in that area.

I picked up something at 2211 GMT to the west of Perseus. I originally thought it was a satellite trail but I did not see it on any frames before or after I detected it, so it was probably a meteor.

I also caught a "guest star" in Perseus, not far from Alpha Persei. It may well also have been a meteor, as it was not visible on any surrounding frames.

At 2240 GMT, I caught a nice meteor, possible a member of a minor shower.

As usual, I processed some frames as by-products to obtain constellation shots. I stacked 20 early frames to catch Cassiopeia and some surrounding stars.I was also pleased to catch some deep sky objects, notably the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), Perseus Double Cluster and Melotte 20.

I stacked 20 later frames when Perseus had cleared the trees. Although M34 was visible, the photo was spoiled by some condensation on the lens.

September 16^th 0510 GMT Moon

The Moon had shrunk to a very thin crescent and I had to up the ISO to 400, as I had difficulty getting anything to register on the camera at all.

 

September 15^th 0505 GMT Moon

The Moon had separated from Venus and had shrunk to a thin crescent. I used the same settings as the morning before but increased the exposure time to 1/100 second.

September 14^th 0505 GMT Moon and Venus

 

The Moon and Venus fitted into the field of view of my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/200 second exposure.

September 12th 2115 GMT Meteors

I wanted to view Mars, with Jupiter and Saturn was secondary targets but I had a bad back. Instead, I hunted for meteors.

I caught one with a short trail at 2328 GMT.

I processed a few frames to catch Cygnus and Lyra but the photo on 5th was much better.

September 11^th 2230 GMT Deep Sky and Jupiter

 

I set my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure. I captured several frames each of Jupiter, the Pleaides (M45) and Melotte 20.

September 10^th 2120 GMT Jupiter’s moons

 

It was hazy, with a lot of moving cloud but I had a go at Jupiter’s moons using my usual settings.

September 10^th 0510 GMT Moon and Venus

It was dawn, so I took shots of the Moon, then Venus with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/320 second exposure.

The Venusian disc was smaller than the last time I had seen it but the phase was more obviously gibbous.

September 6^th 2140 GMT Moons

 

Conditions were somewhat hazy. I snapped Jupiter’s and Saturn’s moons, or at least tried to.

 

 

I then snapped our moon at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/250 second exposure. Unfortunately, none of the shots produced a result that I could work with.

September 5^th 2215 GMT

The purpose of the session was a meteor hunt, as I often do. I did not catch any, using my regular settings of 18mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 6 seconds exposure. However, I stacked 16 images to catch Cygnus, Lyra and the surrounding Milky Way.

September 5^th 2140 GMT Moon and Planets

I was still suffering from a bad hip, so did not take any telescopes outside. Instead, I took my camera out.

First up, I aimed at Jupiter and Saturn, in an attempt to capture their moons.

Next was the Moon and Mars.

 

Then the Moon on its own to capture some detail.

 I had a final pot at Melotte 20. I don't normally do deep sky photography with a bright moon about but 11 frames stacked produced a better result than I would have expected.

September 4^th 2250 GMT Moon

Just before midnight there was some clear sky. The Moon appeared from behind a bank of cloud and I snapped it with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure.

I also snapped the Moon with Mars.

September 4^th 2350 GMT Moon

 

After a couple of poor days and evenings, I saw a hint of clear sky. Although there was some moving cloud, I snapped the Moon at 300mm focal length and ISO 100. My initial setting of 1/400 second was too bright, so I reduced it, in several steps to 1/640 second.

As Mars was around, I decided to snap Mars, just to see what I could get with a DSLR. As one does!

September 1^st 2010 GMT Moon

 

It was dusk, with the Moon low and light cloud was scattering its light. I used my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/400 second exposure.

 

I then snapped Jupiter and Saturn together at ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure. I was not sure of the exact focal length but it was clear that they were becoming closer in the sky.

 

As it was still twilight, I did not attempt to capture Saturn’s moons but I had a go at Jupiter’s using my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure. In retrospect, I should probably used a shorter exposure.