Earthshine

Earthshine on 20.2% lit Moon this morning
Canon 600D + 200mm lens

Sun down

The plan for today was capturing ISS transiting Sun. Well weather decided other way at that particular time so a bit of a disappointment. But I was able to take a few shots of the Sun with my DSLR using a 200mm lens. Here are a few shots and a gif (again). The only time and angle I could take photos resulted electrical cables crossing the Sun but I think it adds a unique feeling to the photos :)

Sea gull and spotted Sun

Sun, pigeon and rooftop

A processed photo of Sun

And here is a gif of the sea gull crossing the disk of Sun

ISS observation

Tonight I have trieo capture ISS. It wasn't easy and still not really satisfied with result but practice makes perfect. Weather was clear but I have limited view from the place where I live. For one direction another direction has to be sacrifced, so I decided to stick with west and follow ISS till zenith. Unfortunate because that's the brightest phase, in the gif below it is the clearest - looks like a cross or a pole with equipments lol.

The frames that consists the gif aren't sharp enough, especially the very first few. I simply made it to see actually what movements are going on up there as it passes. The angle we see it is continuously changing. Honestly at first sight I couldn't figure out what part is what or what's the orientation of the spacecraft.

Here is a slightly processed photo of the best frame.

When I saw the ISS photos from the previous post it was quite surprising how different they look. For a long time I didn't even had a clue what is that exactly I see. So now after comparing the two photos it's clear that solar panels can't be seen on tonight's capture (right) - on the huge vertical pole are the panels supposedly. I guess next to those two big white tanks I can see some of the four solar panel lines crossing the big pole horizontally. 

But the middle part of the spacecraft is more detailed and if it will happen so that next time the solar panels going to be illuminated too, well I am looking forward :-)

ISS 2013.08.13 (left) and ISS 2013.10.20

I used a Skywatcher 200 Pds with a 2x Barlow lens. Canon 600D. 

Over 2200 frames were recorded in HD, 3x digital zoom. ISO 200, Exp. time 50 (if this helps).

Unfortunately only a few frames were good enought for further process.

Here is a photo of ISS from NASA website. It is easier to imagine what you see. On my photo on the left ISS has no visible solar panels - only a small glimpse at the attachments. But the two radiators (which I assumed as tanks earlier) are clear and a module as well paralell with the main pole. I marked the position of all the solar panels on both picture, 

International Space Station (ISS) hunt once again - most likely not the last

It is a really short video (37 sec) of my latest International Space Station  (ISS) hunt which went just fine. Sky was clear of clouds so took my time and recorded two occasions. 

The first one was a tricky one. It was a bit dark to see ISS clear and bright but were no stars yet. So I simply wasn't able to focus my dslr on an object - which ideally a star. So I decided to leave the telescope and only use my Canon. 

The next occasion was a bit easier, could quickly focus my scope on Vega and do all the necessary  setting on the camera. 

MUST be stated that your finder scope / telrad must be spot on, I mean really spot on. Purely because during recording that's how you follow ISS passing by overhead. Through your finder scope / telrad, turning your scope manually and follow its journey causing minimal shake on the scope. 

Altogether 2000 frames have been recorded, but really 4 frames were okey. But probably this was the best one.

Finally the panels can be clearly seen

Processed with Registax - close up

First day of Perseid meteor shower

Luckiest shot of my life through my telescope - perseid meteor right across my field of view

Moon video from the 17th and 19th of July

It is a short video of two different observations, some fine details are revealing and the surface is just astonishing....

The first one was at Regents Park at the Baker Street Irregular Astronomers meeting - I assume the Moon was a bit low during that observation, that might be the reason of its yellowish colour.

The other obsarvation was at Kingsbury School. Through a good friend of mine I have been invited to show the Moon for a class of children. The weather was perfect, Moon was high up and the kids loved it even at the lowest magnificaton eyepiece they were blow away by the view. Who knows which one of them got the lifetime impression to do amazing things in astronomy and study it later on.

Tube case and flightcase

After a long search eventually I found the right case for my Skywatcher 200PDS tube. I ordered it from Germany, the brand called Geoptik and they offer cases for different equipments (cases for various scopes, for counterweights,  for eyepieces etc.). You can find them on eBay, trustworthy and you get the item fairly quick.

Travel kit

Perfect carry bag for midsized Newtonian (eBay)

Also luckily I found on eBay as well a flightcase for the rest of my equipment. A company in Croydon sells second hand items related to film production. Therefore they have flightcases in all shape and form, metal or plastic.... They allowed me to come by and look around in their warehouse, so after a litte search they found me the flightcase just perfect for my needs. For £60 which would be triple at least if brand new.

Flight case and eyepiece case

And just to complete the protection project, also found a little case for my eyepieces for £25 and is a very good bit of item too. The foam inside consist of little cubes you can take out or push it in (that's what I did) to form the right shape for each eyepiece. It's from eBay but it's box told me from Maplin actually.

Eyepieces safe in a hard case

So as the pics show everything from eyepieces to the mount, counterweights, will go to the flightcase and the tube into Geoptik case. Easy to carry with a 4 wheel trolley and easy to handle.
Feels good to acknowlede that all my equipments are safe to carry around, protected during storage mainly from dust and accidental damages. So from now on clear skies :-))