Any star gazers and amateur astronomers ?

@Maximus Gradient

@ducati

Get your dead asses off the couch!

 

I'm a bit of an ameture, I certainly don't have any nice camera equipment. I have a couple telescopes, a Meade 80mm refractor and a Celestron 200mm refractor.

I've only so far managed to capture the comet with my phone. I have a webcam setup I've used for planetary imagery, but I guess it's not sensitive enough for the comet.

This is with my cell phone on a wide angle eyepiece on our 80mm meade (EP almost cost more than the scope, lol) shot from my front yard.



Like I said, not the greatest, but it's a reminder that I saw the real thing.

Then, went camping this weekend and got to some much darker skies and dinked around with the settings on my phone and got a few crappy non-stabilized shots:


Again, I'm no photographer, just a goober with a cell phone.

 

Went to Trona Pinnacles last night:

 

I just see [ IMG]. No pic

 

Another from Trona:

 

Took this couple days ago at 11:00 PM PST, Southern British Columbia, Canada

 

Pic first, intro story second; taken July 17th on the Pacific Marine Circle route about 1/3 the way between Port Renfrew and Lake Cowichan (British Columbia, Canada). I shot this long exposure with a Nikon Z 50 and using a Sigma 50-150mm f2.8 lens @ 50mm, 8s, ISO8000.



I have some more shots on my Flickr account.

A little late to the party as I just signed papers a few weeks ago for a 2020 Tacoma OR short box double cab (early Sept delivery date), and subsequently started my journey into Tacoma mods. Coming from a 2015 VW GTI which I've definitely taken places a GTI should not go off pavement.

 

That’s the brightest pic of Neowise I’ve seen. Nice! Skillful.

Congrats on the 2020 OR & welcome to TW. Impressive first post

 

Thanks! I took that shot at 11:30pm so it was significantly dark outside. There's definitely skill required when post-processing a long exposure though as this is not straight out of the camera (if that wasn't apparent!).

 

Thought I'd post this up in here also. Facing south. Had the moon rising in the east so I didn't get much time to keep playing with settings. Mini tripod on the truck hood cause I didn't have the full size

$905 Nikon D3500 W/ AF-P DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR Black

Nikon D3500
Rokinon lense: 14mm f2.8
I think ISO was 8-12k at 5sec or so
No post processing

 

ive been wanting to go to Cherry Springs! How’s the camping there? Other stuff to do during the day?

 

The camping sites are fair. There isn’t much privacy but the sites are spread out and there is plenty of space between them. They get booked up well in advance.
There are bathrooms but no showers, so you have to drive down the road to Lyman Run Park to use their showers.

On the other hand, it’s a State Forest so you can primitive camp as well. I once found a clear spot off of an old logging road where I simply parked my Taco and camped out of the bed. Nobody bothered me.

During the day you can hike in the park, and there are some really cool little towns nearby that are worth exploring. There is also Pine Creek Gorge about an hour to the east - it’s the “Grand Canyon of PA.”

I will actually be up there in two weeks during the new moon to do some stargazing and photography.
I can’t wait!

 

So I still have my trip planned for Cherry Springs, but it looks like the smoke from the wildfires might ruin my night sky viewing.

We shall see... (or not)

 

Good luck. I hope it clears for you and everyone else

 

Nice capture. I always see shooting stars, but never have my phone on me

 

Space Weather News for Dec. 7, 2020
https://spaceweather.com
https://www.spaceweatheralerts.com

GREAT CONJUNCTION OF JUPITER AND SATURN:In two weeks, Jupiter and Saturn will be so close together, some people will perceive them as a single brilliant star. It's a rare Great Conjunction, the likes of which have not been seen in hundreds of years. The show is starting now. Visit today's edition of Spaceweather.com for sky maps and observing tips.

 

I have been in the past and am planning on getting the scope in prep for the Jupiter / Saturn conjunction on 12/21

 

Hope it's clear here! I plan to take my telescope to a dark field for a better view. There's too much light in the neighborhood for any decent star gazing.

 

Quick q - how do you figure out the right distance to put the camera away from a T adapter? I have a little C90 and a EOS R I'd like to use for the purpose, have a camera-to-T adapter, but not sure about what the correct focal length is.

 

Doesn’t the adapter hook up to the lens mount of the camera?