Astro update
Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2025 12:14 pmCharl's comment in a screenshot thread reminded me that I haven't done an update here lately. Two reasons for this -- first, the $1900 autoguider camera I bought has spent a lot of time being checked under warranty, as it doesn't guide at all with my mount. They weren't able to find any issues, but then again they didn't have any way to test it on any mount. A huge waste of time, but I'm still using it for a couple of functions, even if it doesn't do it's main job.
Then there's been the weather. I've had 2 reasonably clear nights this month, the rest has been terrible. I didn't realise how bad it was here in the Hutt in spring. Hopefully things will start to improve next month.
Most of the targets I'm after at the moment don't rise about the trees until after 1am, so I need to get used to not sleeping much.
Charl -- last night I photographed this group of galaxies while waiting for Orion to rise. So here's a handful out of the 2 trillion to be going on with. The big one is the Great Barred Spiral Galaxy, 56 million light years that-away. Within this shot there's probably at least a trillion stars. My field of view isn't wide enough to get the rest of the galaxies in this cluster, though.
At 2am this morning I aimed the scope at the Horsehead Nebula for the very first time. The first 100 images were out of focus, I managed about 200 in focus, then my scope mount crashed. Never done that before, I hope it isn't a new ongoing issue. The image needs about 5 times the exposure time, which at this rate will take all of November to get.
In the 6 months I've had the scope I've yet to get a proper image, with plenty of exposure time. I have a thingie arriving from Amazon which will let me piggy-back my SLR on the scope, so I'll spend some time with my 250mm zoom lens rather than the 1000mm scope, which may make things a bit easier for a beginner like me.
I am beginning to realise that my mount isn't really up to what I want it to do, but to get a good mount is $4000 to $10000. I'll keep persevering with what I've got.
Then there's been the weather. I've had 2 reasonably clear nights this month, the rest has been terrible. I didn't realise how bad it was here in the Hutt in spring. Hopefully things will start to improve next month.
Most of the targets I'm after at the moment don't rise about the trees until after 1am, so I need to get used to not sleeping much.
Charl -- last night I photographed this group of galaxies while waiting for Orion to rise. So here's a handful out of the 2 trillion to be going on with. The big one is the Great Barred Spiral Galaxy, 56 million light years that-away. Within this shot there's probably at least a trillion stars. My field of view isn't wide enough to get the rest of the galaxies in this cluster, though.
At 2am this morning I aimed the scope at the Horsehead Nebula for the very first time. The first 100 images were out of focus, I managed about 200 in focus, then my scope mount crashed. Never done that before, I hope it isn't a new ongoing issue. The image needs about 5 times the exposure time, which at this rate will take all of November to get.
In the 6 months I've had the scope I've yet to get a proper image, with plenty of exposure time. I have a thingie arriving from Amazon which will let me piggy-back my SLR on the scope, so I'll spend some time with my 250mm zoom lens rather than the 1000mm scope, which may make things a bit easier for a beginner like me.
I am beginning to realise that my mount isn't really up to what I want it to do, but to get a good mount is $4000 to $10000. I'll keep persevering with what I've got.
