*** The Official Astronomy & Universe Thread ***

[StriderX]

I am not really knowledgeable about designations or the star map whatsoever.

But currently there is quite a bright star/planet emanating from just below the moons position.

Just wondering what it is.

From my position it is almost directly 225 degrees from the moon.

Edit: Obviously probably too late now, but i assume someone must know.

 

[Cosimo]

 

[PermaBanned]

I am not really knowledgeable about designations or the star map whatsoever.

But currently there is quite a bright star/planet emanating from just below the moons position.

Just wondering what it is.

From my position it is almost directly 225 degrees from the moon.

Edit: Obviously probably too late now, but i assume someone must know.

Could it have been Venus?

 

[samir_ansari]

Thought I would work on the Moon a bit last week. Here is the link to a full sized mosaic, takes a little while to load:

http://www.samiransari.co.uk/moon_mosaic.jpg

And some smaller crops:

 

[samir_ansari]

Also another attempt at Jupiter:

 

[StriderX]

Could it have been Venus?

Couldn't have been much else I guess, it must be.

 

[ljt]

That moon picture is fantastic Samir! What kit did you use to capture that?

 

[Tibbz2]

I would really like to get into astronomy and likes, but I just feel i'm "too young" in a way, as it all seems rather expensive...

 

[ljt]

I would really like to get into astronomy and likes, but I just feel i'm "too young" in a way, as it all seems rather expensive...

A basic telescope isn't that expensive. The one I got was about £60 and it's great for looking at the moon and can just about make out the rings around Jupiters surface.

 

[Vita]

A basic telescope isn't that expensive. The one I got was about £60 and it's great for looking at the moon and can just about make out the rings around Jupiter.

Explain more. Do you have a link to the telescope?

 

[Tibbz2]

A basic telescope isn't that expensive. The one I got was about £60 and it's great for looking at the moon and can just about make out the rings around Jupiter.

Oh that's not as bad as I was expecting, trouble is I would have no idea where to start. But I guess that would just be a question of finding info on the web, or reading certain books?

 

[ljt]

Explain more. Do you have a link to the telescope?

Yeah sure, the products website is here
I purchased it from QVC of all places but they no longer sell it, but I found it here for the same price, although I have no idea what that shop is like!

Oh that's not as bad as I was expecting, trouble is I would have no idea where to start. But I guess that would just be a question of finding info on the web, or reading certain books?

With the basics is always a good point to start

I just downloaded Stellarium put my location in on the program, then looked at what I could see from where I am located. Then had a gander at the heavens to see what I could recognise, and used the telescope when I found something of interest, such as Jupiter being easily visable a few months ago etc.

You soon begin to spot the constellations when you look up at night, I'm still a noob with it all myself, but I'm enjoying every minute I spend looking at distant stars and planets

 

[Tibbz2]

With the basics is always a good point to start

I just downloaded Stellarium put my location in on the program, then looked at what I could see from where I am located. Then had a gander at the heavens to see what I could recognise, and used the telescope when I found something of interest, such as Jupiter being easily visable a few months ago etc.

You soon begin to spot the constellations when you look up at night, I'm still a noob with it all myself, but I'm enjoying every minute I spend looking at distant stars and planets

Thanks

 

[PermaBanned]

There's a ton of options for cheaper scopes (that don't completely suck ), even more when you look at the used market. The thing is, 'as cheap as possible' isn't really a helpful budget

 

[samir_ansari]

That moon picture is fantastic Samir! What kit did you use to capture that?

Thanks mate, that was with a skymax 127 and QHY5 camera. It's a mosaic made up of 19 panes

 

[Tibbz2]

There's a ton of options for cheaper scopes (that don't completely suck ), even more when you look at the used market. The thing is, 'as cheap as possible' isn't really a helpful budget

I'll start with my eyes and move up from there when I know a bit more about what I'm doing

 

[Mik3]

Thanks mate, that was with a skymax 127 and QHY5 camera. It's a mosaic made up of 19 panes

Cracking image.

How long did it take to capture the data? Also what software did you use with the QHY5? I have one and would like to have a bash at it.

 

[samir_ansari]

Cheers Mik, took a good couple of hours to capture everything. I did the same tile twice a few times because I wanted to be extra sure I caught everything this time (last mosaic I did I missed a spot!)

I used QG Video which should come with the QHY5, and a little trick I found is to turn off the advanced noise reduction in the options. This essentially doubled my frame rate for the expense of noise which was easy to get rid of at the processing stage

 

[Cosimo]

 

[Cosimo]