Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Conjunction Junction, what's your function?

 What is your Function?

What does it mean?!

Not much other than Jupiter and Saturn happen to almost line up from our point of view here on Earth Dec 21, 2020.

December 21, 2020 approximately 5:30pm PST (below)

December 20, 2020 approximately 5:30pm PST (below)

December 19, 2020 approximately 5:30pm PST (below)

December 19-20, 2020 all from about 5:30pm PST. Jupiter here is from the 20th. (below)

Some imaging details for my record and anyone interested. Taken using eyepiece projection with 500mm focal length + 16mm eyepiece + Canon EOS-M6 mkII (crop factor 1.6), 4k video at 30fps. Processed with RegiStax6 and Photoshop.

My rough and possibly incorrect estimate is that is a magnification of about 50x:
(478mm focal length / 16mm eyepiece) * 1.6 crop factor = 47.8x magnification

Exposures: 20-40 second clips
Jovian moons 1/30s @ 12800iso
Saturn 1/30s @ ~1600iso
Jupiter 1/30s @ ~640iso.

Telescope:
William Optics GT-81
Focal length 478mm
Diameter 81mm
Aperture F/5.9

Eyepice: Celestron 24-16mm Zoom

Camera: Canon EOS M6 mkII




Saturday, November 28, 2020

Sunset Moonrise

We had a nice Moonrise here in the Outer Sunset.



Sunday, October 25, 2020

Halloween Cat's Halloween Cat Toy

Inky enjoying the rubber cockroach that came with the candies wort sent to the team. Apparently I missed him bringing it to me while I was in VR playing Beat Saber. Thanks Mister Inky.

Monday, September 07, 2020

The Moon and a Pale Red Dot

The Moon and Mars.

I stole "Pale Red Dot" from a friend, Kevin, who replied to me, "Look at that pale red dot. Our future home!".

Also I probably would not have taken the photo if Linda had not looked out the window and pointed out how cool the moon looked and asked what the bright thing next to it was. Thanks Linda!

Shot with my William Optics RedCat 51 which has a 250mm focal length but with my crop sensor camera it's closer to 400mm. I think anything longer and they both wouldn't have fit in frame.

Sunday, July 12, 2020

Comet Over SF


Comet Neowise (aka C/2020 F3) over San Francisco.

Saturday, May 30, 2020

SpaceX Demo2 Crewed Launch

Sketching during the countdown.

Also doing a little lego building as well.

Super excited there is a new (mostly) reusable manned space craft!!!


 

Wednesday, May 27, 2020

It is a worrying situation.


 So many wires and just one outlet -:[]

Saturday, January 25, 2020

Holiday Stars

After having my 8" telescope stolen about 4 years ago and finally replacing it several months back over the Holidays I had first light with the new telescope and all went okay. We took a road trip to the Grand Canyon stopping in Joshua Tree on the way there and back for some Holiday dark skies. Well at least dark compared to SF -:]

Horsehead Nebula and Flame Nebula(NGC 2024)
My first real target (M42 is always my goto test) was the Horse Head Nebula which I have been trying to get a better shot of for years. This is actually combine images from two nights but half of the time was from first light night.

Horse Head, Flame and M42
I also setup my very portable Red Cat rig for a wide field shot of M42 and the Horse Head together. I am super excited about the results I get with my Red Cat on a Move Shoot Move star tracker. The whole setup easily fits in a small backpack with a little room to spare. For sure my travel setup going forward.

Sombrero Galaxy (M104)
On the first night before breaking down the scope I thought I would try getting some images of the Sombrero Nebula. Probably the best image of the Sombrero I have taken yet even though I only spent a little time imaging it.

Whirlpool Galaxy (M51)
And on the 2nd night in Joshua Tree again before breaking down I turn the scope to M51 for a little bit. Again I think this is probably my best image of M101 yet mostly due to the dark skies in Joshua Tree.

Now I just need to make more time to get back out under some clear skies!