Catching up - Moon, Venus & Eclipse

Okay, time to get the blog up to date! I'm not even sure if anyone comes here any more but I'll keep it going all the same.

Over the last couple of months, I have been testing out my new C8 OTA and New ZWO ASI120MC Camera combination. The skies here have been so-so, so I've been getting out when I can.

First, here's a pic of the camera on my C8 and CGEM configuration:

I'm using FireCapture freeware software to capture my video files from the camera. I like it a lot. It has different recommended settings based on the object you're shooting, and you can modify those settings as needed. Super-easy.

Here is a wide-field~ish shot of the moon:

...and a nice zoomed-in shot (i.e. camera + 2x barlow) of Copernicus:

I've tried imaging Venus, but getting some chromatic aberration, most likely due to a cheap barlow:

So, overall, not too shabby. Jupiter is rising earlier and earlier, so I'm looking forward to trying out the new gear on that marvelous gas giant. Until then...