We had a clear spell in Brisbane on the evening of Sat/Sun 21/22 Apr 2018, although the seeing was quite variable, estimated to be between 3-5/10 on the Pickering Scale.
 
I grabbed 39 sets of RGB data, 30 sec each filter with a pause of 210 secs between sets, spanning 11:50pm (21st) to 03:15am (22nd) with Jupiter transiting the Meridian at 01:07 am (AEST). From these RGB sets I managed to generate a 39 frame animation.
 
South is at the top of the animation.
 
Date(UT)=21042018.
Start(UT)=135005.153.
End(UT)=171542.914.
 
Tak Mewlon 210 F11.5.
TeleVue 2” PowerMate x2.0.
Camera=ZWO ASI290MM.
SX USB Filterwheel.
R=30 sec.
G=30 sec.
B=30 sec.
Pause=210 sec.
 
Diameter=44.21".
Magnitude=-2.47.
Focal Length=4830mm.
Resolution=0.12".
 
Altitude:
Start = 78 deg (E).
End = 57 deg (W).
 
Seeing:
Variable from 3 to 5 Pickering Scale.

Link to animation on PVOL website: 
http://pvol2.ehu.eus/pvolimages/jupiter/j2018-04-21_13-50-00_rgb_dsimmons.gif
 
I have attached a single frame from the sequence, where the seeing had dropped to around 4/10. It is interesting to see the larger image scale using the ASI290MM (2.9micron pixels) compared to my previous effort with the ASI120MM-S (3.75micron pixels).
 
Cheers
 
Dennis

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Why can or I not update the database to include new minor planets, namely NEO's?
I have downloaded the MPCOrb.dat file, then tried update by the to read option but nothing gets updated.


Thanks
Randy

Here is an image of Jupiter with Galilean moons Europa (with shadow), Io and Ganymede taken on 10th Feb 2018.
 
Generally, the seeing was quite good with some light cloud around.
 
Taken with a Takahashi Mewlon 210 F11.5, TeleVue Powermate x2.0 (efl 4800mm), ZWO ASI 120MM-S and Starlight Xpress USB FW.
 
The image is made up of 30 sec R, G and B AVIs and is my first time using RGB filters in planetary imaging.
 
Cheers
 
Dennis

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I was hoping that the tightly spaced Jupiter/Mars pair would clear the trees before the dawn sky brightened too much – the trees blocking my Eastern Horizon had grown considerably in the last 12 months.
 
Tantalising glimpses of Jupiter and the 4 Galilean Moons materialised on the LCD on the back of the camera as the topmost branches swayed in the light breeze when finally, Jupiter and Mars cleared the top of the trees and I could get to work recording this close conjunction.
 
I took several frames at varying ISO speeds (ISO100 to ISO3200) and shutter speeds (1/8 sec to 30 secs) so I could later select frames that showed the field stars (Jupiter and Mars grossly over exposed) and the disc of Jupiter with the equatorial bands.
 
A little bit of Photoshop magic allowed me to combine the sets and produce this composite.
 
Cheers
 
Dennis
 
PS -  According to ST3 Pro, the separation between Jupiter and Mars was some 14 arc mins, less than ½ diameter of the full Moon. Brisbane, Qld, Australia, 7th Jan 2018 at 4:15 am AEST (UT+10).

   

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Doing minor planet astrometric work, I will often use SkyTools3 to generate an observing list of minor planets (alongside of the Minor Planet Centers list generator). I concentrate mainly on NEO's and use the database search tool to put my list together, I am able to single out what particular type asteroids are, Aten's, Apollo's etc. However when I generate my list, the only ID shown of the minor planets selected is the name and or number ID. Is there a way to also list what type of asteroid it is? For example, I print out a list of asteroids visible for the night. While I could see what type of each was in the database search, once I create the list and print it, I only have names and numbers, nothing to tell me the types. It would be great if the types were also listed. Maybe I am overlooking something.

Thanks and best regards,
Randy

Is there still a comet page?  A google search provides many results, but virtually all of them give me this message...

This site can’t be reached

observing.skyhound.com’s server DNS address could not be found.   -or-

The webpage at http://cometchasing.skyhound.com/ might be temporarily down or it may have moved permanently to a new web address.

What's up?

Greg,

Obviously, there's value in the old Yahoo!Group in terms of archival messages, files, etc.

Do you have plans to turn off new message posting there?

Looking forward to Nereid being included in ST4 - thanks Greg.

In the meantime, here are a couple of images of Nereid taken from my back yard on 27th & 28th August 2016.

Taken using a Tak Mewlon 210, Tak x0.8 Reducer/Flattener and an ATIK 414 EX camera. I captured 75x60 sec frames on 27th Aug and 37x120 secs on 28th Aug. Images were calibrated, aligned and stacked using CCDStack2 and finished in CS6. You can easily see the movement of Neptune, Triton and Nereid against the field stars over the two nights of 27th & 28th August 2016.
 
The full size originals have a FOV of 15.2 x 11.3 arcmin at 0.65 arcsec/pixel. The 1024x768 crops have a FOV of 13 x 9.7 arcmin.

Cheers

Dennis

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I would have thought that there would be a lot of posts here.  After all, observing double stars is the most fun you can have in Astronomy!  

I do have a real question.  I love how SkyTools has made my double star observing a snap.  This has probably been answered before, but are there improvements specifically for doubles in ST 4?

John..

Long time user of SkyTools for my doubles!

On the Minor Planet Mailing List today (19-Nov-2017), Alan Hale, of Comet Hale-Bopp fame, posted this alert...

Quote:Just to remind everyone, Phaethon passes 0.069 AU from Earth on December 16 [2017] — the closest it has approached Earth since its discovery in 1983, and it won’t make a closer approach until 2093. Right now it’s  moving rather slowly – barely over 10 arcminutes per day — since it’s coming almost right at us; when closest to Earth it will be traveling at 15 degrees per day and should be as bright as 10th magnitude.