Last Night's Astro Image

One of seven images from last night, not all processed yet. Great Nebula in Orion, and friends. Easily seen even in fairly light polluted skies with the naked eye.:

Actually, it's tonight's image - the Lunar X and V (look along the terminator/edge of shadow).

These reward right-clicking and 'view image' then zooming in - loads of detail

Great rendition of the colours

So often, we assume the Moon to be monochrome.

MichaelG.

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http://www.manastro.co.uk/projects/mooncolour.html

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 22/02/2018 21:21:42

This is one I processed to highlight the geology of the moon, rather than the topography. I want to repeat this with a full disc.

I caught a transit of Europa on Jupiter last night, surprisingly good seeing with the planet so low, so the moon is clearly visible near its shadow. Io to the left, Calisto fainter to the bottom. Ganymede is off the image beyond Io.

Nice one. I didn't get my scope out 'cos I didn't think Jupiter would go high enough for a decent view, even well past my bedtime - looks like I was too lazy...

I thought it timely to resurrect this old thread ...

The Guardian has a nice little time-lapse of the Annie Maunder telescope being assembeld at Greenwich:

**LINK**

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/jun/25/star-attraction-royal-observatory-seeks-volunteers-to-use-new-telescope

MichaelG.

Hi Neil

A mate who lives in Bright Victoria sent me this image. It was taken by his brother in Law while visiting with his astronomy gear. I gather it is the result of multiple exposures.

I find it amazing, I will put you in contact with the fellow stargazer If you like.

Regards
John

Edited By John McNamara on 25/06/2018 09:00:13

Strange how you get "bald" patches, devoid of craters.

Great quote from Bladerunner

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion."

That's lovely, John. you have great clear, dark skies in much of Australia.

These are some of my recent images, difficult to do alot without proper 'astro darkness':

Massive dome makes that big scope look tiny!

Should they really have a scope on a GEQ on the AltAz pavilion?

Hefty price for the scope? This is one of the best 14" SCTs out there and it 'only' costs £7K. I've seen Incredible pictures of Jupiter taken with one.

Neil

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 25/06/2018 10:29:57

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I haven't yet managed to locate the purchasing specification; but I think it's reasonable to assume that the stated price is for all the bought-in hardware.

MichaelG.

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The video on this page looks cleaner: 

https://www.rmg.co.uk/see-do/we-recommend/attractions/altazimuth-pavilion?fht

< drool >

https://www.10micron.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Public-Euro-Feb-2018.pdf

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 25/06/2018 17:45:35

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 25/06/2018 17:47:05

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It's probably a sneaky comprehension test for the school-kids ... to select the worthy ones.

MichaelG.

They are the youngest areas. Really gnarly bits are the oldest surfaces.

Neil

Yep, on the astro forum we've worked out the main scope is a Celstron SCT, with a Takahasi and a Lunt Solar scope.

The mount is the bulk of the cost.

The 10 Micron (odd name, 0.01mm isn't particularly precise in mount terms) mounts are very drool worthy - in essence they are so accurate they don't need guiding.

Neil

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 26/06/2018 00:32:56

Couple of images from last night/this evening. Just typical to get along run of clear nights with the moon up and no astronomical dark...

Jupiter (note Io's shadow on planet):

Venus

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Io's shadow duly noted ... [nice]

But what's caused that strange cross-hatching effect on the planet ?

... presumably some sort of processing artefact.

MichaelG.

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P.S. Have you seen this image of the 'rather busy' atmosphere !?!

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/chaotic-clouds-of-jupiter

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 26/06/2018 07:28:57

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Not certain, but I think the company name dates back to a time when 10-Micron was an expression of super-precision in practical machining terms. [pace, John Stevenson] : **LINK**

https://www.10micron.eu/en/10micron-company/

The lack of need for autoguiding is fundamental to their approach ... The stability and accuracy are engineered-in, obviating the need for "sophisticated" feedback loops [*]. Skip lightly down to the HPS Technology section on this page : **LINK**

http://www.10micron.eu/en/10micron-technology/

MichaelG.

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[*] ... all rather reminiscent of the battle between heavy record turntables and 'tricky' ones !

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 26/06/2018 08:25:31

Slight over-sharpening, I need to do it again with a little gentler process or a bit more denoise.