Astronomy live. Dr. J is chief astronomer at Pompey Observatory (Rooster Inn Observatory Bortle 4), volunteer at Rice Creek Observatory in Oswego NY, member of Syracuse Astronomical Society, and retired senior scientist. He ran 26.2 miles in all 50 states, and belongs to 50 States Marathon Club and Marathon Maniacs. He images sun and moon, stars and planets, galaxies and nebulae, comets and satellites, and streams live what his telescopes see.
1- Celestron Edge HD 11-inch SCT on iOptron Az Mount Pro, ZWO ASI585MC camera (FOV 14'x8') 2- Vaonis Stellina Telescope for Deep Space Objects (1°x0.7°) 3- Lunt LS50T H-alpha solar telescope, B400 blocking filter, Sky-Watcher AZ-GTi mount, ZWO ASI120MC-S camera (48'x36') 4- Canon EOS 50D, Rokinon 650-1300mm lens on NexStar 8SE mount (1°x0.7°) 5- ZWO Seestar S50 Telescope (0.7°x1.3°) 6- DWARF II Smart Telescope (3°x1.7°) 7- Meade ETX 80AT for visual fun.
German Shepherd Primadonna and Malinois X Belladonna supply voice-over at many webcasts.
Telescope moves freely in all directions when using the arrow keys on the handbox. It stalls when using an align or goto command. It appears to be missing feedback from the encoder.
The problem I have with the SeeStar is the FoV, it's far to restricted for my taste. With the SeeStar, you can't get the whole of Andromeda in the frame. That's a dealbreaker for me - but that is, of course, only my own opinion.
Hey dr. J, must be an exciting time to check out ‘your’ future land. About the purple sun striking again… I always go to IR Pass and back to IR Cut and then the purple sun is gone. No need to exit the application I believe. Please try the next time. You’re going to build a dome in the future. What about building the dome on an elevation. Each bit might help to see ‘further’ over the horizon? And have you checked out what the view is at night? I saw 2 farms I believe in the east and west. No large construction lamps there? /edit: the streaming quality (or at least the final video) is sometimes less and blurry (started when you did your 40 degrees test (I’m on 500+ Mbps right now, so that shouldn’t be the problem). Maybe check out the connection on various places and corners. It might be better here or there (and even an extra reason to build the dome on an elevation?) !?
Peter - I was streaming directly the screen of the phone, so low resolution. Data rate tested at over 100 Mbps, so we should be OK. The dome is likely to be 8-12 ft high. I have not checked the farms at night - thanks for the suggestion. I will do that.
I too got a pink sun image last month. I guessed I had let the infrared pass. So, it may not have been me ? I find it strange that Dwarf II asks for confirmation regarding the light filters after we manually locate the Sun ... Is it not late ? Does it take a long unprotected exposure to direct sunlight for damage to occur ? Thanks.
I have had these pink suns many times in the past. They occur only during an autofocus. I am less concerned about the wide angle lens than the telephoto lens. I have not tried cooking a sensor yet!? I have exposed accidentally the DWARF to direct sunlight for several seconds, but never long enough to cause perceptible damage.
Hey Dr. J. Did you really say “not much is gained by having 4K instead of 2K? The image has 4 times more pixels and is sharper. Or at least it should be. Are you saying that’s not the case? Or with the Pleiades you won’t see the difference!?
Good morning Peter. The latter, for expediency. I always image in 4K, but for M45 I did not want to deal with low storage with DWARF out of reach. Thanks for listening to my rambling!
I overexposed Saturn on purpose to get the moons. Here is Saturn without the moons ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-CYDYJCRPvOo.htmlsi=JaccvrfpgmIjUm9S
Ah, I experience the same fuzzy look when I try to catch the crescent Moon with the Dwarf II. No idea why that actually is. I tried low exposure, a bit over exposure, but still the fuzzy look.
No man I was commenting on the fact that everyone is posting out of focus stars through the Nikon p1000 acting like it's the best camera ever and they are showing what stars actually are but in reality they are posting shaky out of focus points of light in a digital imaging system. I wasn't saying your image is out of focus I understand mars is small and far away right now.
I have used registax in the past - it is a toss up between registax and astrosurface which I used on this one ,,, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-yPtAaGIiSf0.htmlsi=q_ExGaHdWQO2QzFF
Was this about 3 weeks ago? I’m sure I say this sunspot with the naked eye. (Through a hazy sky, sunglasses and a tinted sunroof too! 😆 It was seeing this that make me check the Aurora forecast just before the Aurora a few weeks ago.
