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...

Venus Transit of June, 2012

After a big scare with the weather forecast, which called for clouds, the skies cleared and we were treated to a great view of the transit in central Texas. All pictures taken with a Nikon D7000 attached to an AstroTelescopes 80mm ED Refractor, mounted on a Celestron CGEM. I used an Orion 80mm glass solar filter.

Venus Rising

I shot this while finishing up watching the Geminids this morning. Venus looked lovely and this shot does a nice job of capturing the moment.

The Moon and Venus Dance in a Texan Sunset

AWESOME night last night! I went out to the Austin Astronomy Society's dark sky site in Burnet, Texas, and stayed from about 6PM to midnight. The sunset view, as evidenced in the photo above, was a great indicator of the night ahead. The Moon and Venus looked great after the sun went down, with the beautiful color banding along the horizon.

The night turned out to be a good one indeed. The Milky Way hung over our heads at zenith through most of the night, and the it was bright and showed lots of detail. M31 could be seen naked eye. I could not see Comet Hartley 2 naked eye but found it with binoculars easily enough. The temperature was just perfect, hovering around the mid-to-low 60s. The Draconids meteor shower actually put on a decent display, and I counted (when I wasn't working on my laptop or scope setup) maybe 5-6 bright, short-lifespan fireballs an hour. Very nice indeed!

I shot several objects through the night and will post images here when I am happy with them.

The Moon Courts Venus

Even though it was somewhat overcast tonight, I could still see the Moon and Venus conjunction. Quite a nice sight as we left the restaurant we went to for dinner tonight. I hurried home and took a snap despite the clouds. Shot is below!

Teaching the Kids, Quick Snap of the Moon and Venus

Tonight was NICE! Chilly, but very clear and transparency appeared to be quite good. So, in keeping with one of my IYA goals, I got the kids rugged up in some warm clothes and we went out front. I spent half an hour teaching them how to use a Dobsonian. I had given them my 6" Dob to use, and they were very excited about getting it out for the first time. It has a red dot finder on it, which I think might be easier (and cooler!) for kids to use. It paid off. I spent the first ten minutes teaching them the parts of the scope, including the mirrors, focuser, finderscope, rocker box and eyepieces. Then I showed them how to use the fidner scope. Ten minutes after showing them how to use the finder, they each got the Moon, Venus and Sirius in the eyepiece field of view. They did really well. So, we spent a bit of time enjoying the cresent moon, then went inside for some well earned hot chocolate!

After I put them to bed I quickly ran back outside with my camera and shot the Moon and Venus. Tomorrow they are supposed to be about three degrees apart, but I wanted to just take a quick shot of them. So, my snapshot is below.

Image Details:

• Nikon D40
• 75mm Focal Length
• ISO1600
• 1.3 Second Exposure @ F5
  

First Attempt at Venus

Clear skies tonight, and Venus was easily visible from my front driveway. So, out came the LX200 and I started shooting. Without an Ultra Violet filter, you're not going to get too much surface detail from this bright planet. Still, I was able to capture the current phase (54%), and it looks rather eerie!

Image Details:

• Meade LX200 8" SCT @ F13
• SPC900NC Webcam with 2X Barlow
• 1973/2021 frames at 10 FPS
• Captured in K3CCDTools
• Stacked in Registax
  

The shot below is the same image, but with mild saturation (Colorize) in Photoshop: