ackthpt's Journal: 4 Times the Light

The ETX125 has got a workout already this year. Several times in the morning I've hauled it out before sunrise for a peek at Jupiter and I've gone up to the old airfield for a dew-shortened viewing. Also, set it up on a street corner downtown, where about 100 people viewed either Saturn or a portion of the Orion Nebula (M42) which was visible in city light.

Now I move up to a 10" newtonian, with 4 times the amount of light. It's a beast and I'll have to build a cradle to haul the OTA around it. The tripod alone is about 30 pounds, plus there are three 10 pound counterweights.

The ETX will still get around, thanks to its portability and quick setup, where the newtonian will be for those outings for which I have sufficient time, energy and desire for.

Astrophotography

[Shadow Wrought]

Do you ever take pictures through your set-up? I took an astrophotgrapher class in college and it was a blast taking star photos.

Re:Astrophotography

[ackthpt]

I've tried through the ETX with a Nikon D70s, but there's a lot of vibration from the mirror. I've pretty well been warned off trying anything of the like with the SN-10, as vibration on the OTA has a larger impact. I may at some point, performing what is refered to as a "Hat Trick", which means open the shutter with a hat over the aperature lens, wait for vibration to subside, pull hat away and count off the seconds then replace hat and close shutter.

Still, all this is a ways off as we are in the midst

Jupter

[ackthpt]

This [dragonswest.com] is about as good a shot as I have of Jupter, but I've been trying some other tricks lately. The thing I've been trying to do is capture Jupter, which is very bright, with it's moons. I'm having some difficulty with focus, too, but someone made a suggestion which I haven't tried, yet, making an insert with three holes in it and focus until three images resolve into one. Something to try in daylight I suppose.