https://skyhound.com/forums/ Sat, 04 Apr 2026 04:16:44 +0000 MyBB https://skyhound.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=3334 Thu, 25 Sep 2025 03:31:06 -0400 Dennis]]> https://skyhound.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=3334
According to SkyTools 4 Imaging, Neptune has a Diameter of 49528.0 km.

Name      Mag  PA°    Sep"
Triton    13.4 344.6  11.2
Nereid    18.7  62.9  409.0

Triton has a magnitude of 13.4, with Nereid at 18.68.

ST4 also writes that on September 23, 2025, Neptune was at opposition at magnitude 7.8 and subtending 2.3 arc seconds, something I did not know at the time of taking this set of images.

Neptune lies at an Earth Distance:  28.9 AU and Sun Distance:  29.9 AU.

I must say, it is nice to find Nereid in ST4, I previously had to visit the JPL Horizons website,  generate then download an ephemeris for Nereid, then manually plot the position to GoTo the RA and DEC coordinates. I also no longer have to worry about J2000 and Apparent.

Celestron 11” EDGE HD at F10, ASI 2600 MM Pro.
30x60 sec exposures.

Dennis.


  Nereid 23 and 24 Sept Overlay Crop 1600.jpg (Size: 253.31 KB / Downloads: 7)


  Nereid ST4.jpg (Size: 66.77 KB / Downloads: 7) ]]>
According to SkyTools 4 Imaging, Neptune has a Diameter of 49528.0 km.

Name      Mag  PA°    Sep"
Triton    13.4 344.6  11.2
Nereid    18.7  62.9  409.0

Triton has a magnitude of 13.4, with Nereid at 18.68.

ST4 also writes that on September 23, 2025, Neptune was at opposition at magnitude 7.8 and subtending 2.3 arc seconds, something I did not know at the time of taking this set of images.

Neptune lies at an Earth Distance:  28.9 AU and Sun Distance:  29.9 AU.

I must say, it is nice to find Nereid in ST4, I previously had to visit the JPL Horizons website,  generate then download an ephemeris for Nereid, then manually plot the position to GoTo the RA and DEC coordinates. I also no longer have to worry about J2000 and Apparent.

Celestron 11” EDGE HD at F10, ASI 2600 MM Pro.
30x60 sec exposures.

Dennis.


  Nereid 23 and 24 Sept Overlay Crop 1600.jpg (Size: 253.31 KB / Downloads: 7)


  Nereid ST4.jpg (Size: 66.77 KB / Downloads: 7) ]]> https://skyhound.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=3048 Tue, 09 Apr 2024 15:54:57 -0400 PMSchu]]> https://skyhound.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=3048
Here's an image of totality that I was able to capture: 
  Solar Eclopse (2024 Apr 8) (_B3A2432).jpg (Size: 327.27 KB / Downloads: 7)

There were a lot of cirrus clouds throughout the whole event, so the sky was never really clear. Still, it was a fantastic experience.

I hope that everyone else who tried to observe the eclipse was as lucky as I was.

Phil S.]]>
Here's an image of totality that I was able to capture: 
  Solar Eclopse (2024 Apr 8) (_B3A2432).jpg (Size: 327.27 KB / Downloads: 7)

There were a lot of cirrus clouds throughout the whole event, so the sky was never really clear. Still, it was a fantastic experience.

I hope that everyone else who tried to observe the eclipse was as lucky as I was.

Phil S.]]> https://skyhound.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=2560 Sat, 25 Jun 2022 04:57:54 -0400 Dennis]]> https://skyhound.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=2560 In less than 1 hour, I had the car packed with camera gear and my Tak EM200 Mount and headed off to find skies a little darker than those of suburban Brisbane.

Just after 4:00am, after an 85 km drive, I found myself on the Esplanade at Toorbul and began to set up 100 metres or so from the car. It took me a while to figure out how everything fitted together again, then polar align and I was off.

I fitted a Canon EOS R5 with RF 15-35mm F2.8L lens to the Mount and began a series of test shots and alighted on 30 secs, F5.6 at ISO1600. The lens promptly dewed up, so I went back to the car for the Pocket Powerbox Advance (PPBADV – USB & Power Hub) and a 12V DC SLA battery and fitted a dew heater, managing to plug the 12V DC IN to the IN Socket (physically it is a 2.1 mm DC input female socket, just like the 4 x 12V DC Power outlets and the Adjustable Out as well). Wouldn’t do to get this wrong in the dark…

Remarkably I had everything I needed as I didn’t have a plan as this was an impromptu decision to go for it, so I just began shooting using the built-in Interval Timer of the EOS R5.

I used the Focus Assist “Green Triangles” to manually focus, but when I checked again after a few shots, I noticed that the images were OOF – probably a result of the dew strap tugging on the lens, as it was fitted over the focus ring, as I had nowhere else to position it.

Part way through the session, the PPBADV Blue LED began blinking so I went back to the car for the back up 12 VDC SLA and fitted that. I took this opportunity to point the camera up and grabbed a couple of shots towards the Zenith. Luckily, these came in use later as in those 3 images, I had also picked up Saturn. Sadly, Pluto was behind the trees by this stage.

PixInsight did a fantastic job of aligning and stacking the disorganized, chaotic set of files I emptied into it, although I had to manually blend in those lucky shots of Saturn in PS CC.

I have included crops of each target to provide some more detail on these regions.

How do you explain to Clyde William Tombaugh (discoverer of Pluto in 1930) that using modern equipment, I recorded the position of Pluto with a 15mm wide angle lens and a single 30 sec exposure…


Cheers

Dennis



  Mosaic Manual Overlay Rev B Text Crop 1600.jpg (Size: 218.64 KB / Downloads: 13)


  Target Crops 400x400 Collage Effects Crop 1600.jpg (Size: 229.26 KB / Downloads: 11) ]]> In less than 1 hour, I had the car packed with camera gear and my Tak EM200 Mount and headed off to find skies a little darker than those of suburban Brisbane.

Just after 4:00am, after an 85 km drive, I found myself on the Esplanade at Toorbul and began to set up 100 metres or so from the car. It took me a while to figure out how everything fitted together again, then polar align and I was off.

I fitted a Canon EOS R5 with RF 15-35mm F2.8L lens to the Mount and began a series of test shots and alighted on 30 secs, F5.6 at ISO1600. The lens promptly dewed up, so I went back to the car for the Pocket Powerbox Advance (PPBADV – USB & Power Hub) and a 12V DC SLA battery and fitted a dew heater, managing to plug the 12V DC IN to the IN Socket (physically it is a 2.1 mm DC input female socket, just like the 4 x 12V DC Power outlets and the Adjustable Out as well). Wouldn’t do to get this wrong in the dark…

Remarkably I had everything I needed as I didn’t have a plan as this was an impromptu decision to go for it, so I just began shooting using the built-in Interval Timer of the EOS R5.

I used the Focus Assist “Green Triangles” to manually focus, but when I checked again after a few shots, I noticed that the images were OOF – probably a result of the dew strap tugging on the lens, as it was fitted over the focus ring, as I had nowhere else to position it.

Part way through the session, the PPBADV Blue LED began blinking so I went back to the car for the back up 12 VDC SLA and fitted that. I took this opportunity to point the camera up and grabbed a couple of shots towards the Zenith. Luckily, these came in use later as in those 3 images, I had also picked up Saturn. Sadly, Pluto was behind the trees by this stage.

PixInsight did a fantastic job of aligning and stacking the disorganized, chaotic set of files I emptied into it, although I had to manually blend in those lucky shots of Saturn in PS CC.

I have included crops of each target to provide some more detail on these regions.

How do you explain to Clyde William Tombaugh (discoverer of Pluto in 1930) that using modern equipment, I recorded the position of Pluto with a 15mm wide angle lens and a single 30 sec exposure…


Cheers

Dennis



  Mosaic Manual Overlay Rev B Text Crop 1600.jpg (Size: 218.64 KB / Downloads: 13)


  Target Crops 400x400 Collage Effects Crop 1600.jpg (Size: 229.26 KB / Downloads: 11) ]]> https://skyhound.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=2509 Sat, 23 Apr 2022 19:18:09 -0400 Dennis]]> https://skyhound.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=2509
However, when I look at this event in SkyTools 4, location Brisbane, the transit is shown in daylight at around 11:40am on April 30th (EST) (UT 30-04-2022 0140)?

Some replies to the post appear to confirm the 4:00am time using other planetarium programs?

Can anyone suggest a method of how I can verify the “truth”?

Thanks

Dennis



  ST4 Iapetus Satrun Transit.JPG (Size: 141.83 KB / Downloads: 5) ]]>
However, when I look at this event in SkyTools 4, location Brisbane, the transit is shown in daylight at around 11:40am on April 30th (EST) (UT 30-04-2022 0140)?

Some replies to the post appear to confirm the 4:00am time using other planetarium programs?

Can anyone suggest a method of how I can verify the “truth”?

Thanks

Dennis



  ST4 Iapetus Satrun Transit.JPG (Size: 141.83 KB / Downloads: 5) ]]> https://skyhound.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=2275 Thu, 07 Oct 2021 03:25:41 -0400 Dennis]]> https://skyhound.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=2275
Nereid is the third largest of Neptune’s moons, and the second to have been discovered. It was discovered on 1st May, 1949 by the Dutch American astronomer Gerard P. Kuiper (for whom the Kuiper Belt is named) using photographic plates from the McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis, Texas. It is named after the numerous daughters, called Nereids, of the sea god Nereus in Greek mythology.

Nereid has a diameter of about 340 km (210 miles). It revolves around Neptune with a period of just over 360 days in a highly elliptical orbit—the most eccentric of any known moon—that is inclined by more than 7° to the planet’s equator. Its mean distance from Neptune is 5,513,400 km (3,425,900 miles), which is about 15 times farther from Neptune than Triton. Nereid is exceedingly faint, making observations with even the largest Earth-based telescopes very difficult.

I took 60x30 sec frames then after a Meridian flip, another 50x60 sec frames. I threw these into PixInsight which handled the Meridian Flip and differing exposure times without breaking a sweat.

Images taken with a Tak Mewlon 210 F11.5, Tak Reducer/Flattener x0.8 and ZWO ASI 294 MM Pro camera from our back garden in suburban Brisbane, under Bortle class 6 skies on 5th Oct 2021.

I have overlaid Screen Captures from SkyTools 4 Imaging to show some of the field stars as well as the lucky catch of the Minor Planet (1698) Christophe at mag. 16.63 (Diameter: 10 - 31 km). Perihelion Distance is 2.8 AU, Aphelion Distance is 3.5 AU. I haven't updated the Minor Planet database for a few months and wonder if this has led to the slight discrepancy?


When I set the capture time in ST4, the plotted position of Christophe did not match the actual trail in my series of images. In ST4 it seems that Christophe was “behind” the recorded position by 2 or 3 hours? ST4 is set for my back garden location in Brisbane and the Win 10 PC clock was synchronised with the Time Server.

Cheers

Dennis



  Nereid-30s-60-s-Combined_DBE-Crop-3600-Rot-180-ST4-Layers-Crop-1600--B-BG.jpg (Size: 213.33 KB / Downloads: 17)


  Nereid-30s-60-s-Combined_DBE-Crop-3600-Rot-180-ST4-Layers-Crop-1600-B-Text.jpg (Size: 201.85 KB / Downloads: 16)


  Nereid-30s-60-s-Combined_DBE-Crop-3600-Rot-180-ST4-Layers-Crop-1600-B-ST4.jpg (Size: 20.08 KB / Downloads: 12) ]]>
Nereid is the third largest of Neptune’s moons, and the second to have been discovered. It was discovered on 1st May, 1949 by the Dutch American astronomer Gerard P. Kuiper (for whom the Kuiper Belt is named) using photographic plates from the McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis, Texas. It is named after the numerous daughters, called Nereids, of the sea god Nereus in Greek mythology.

Nereid has a diameter of about 340 km (210 miles). It revolves around Neptune with a period of just over 360 days in a highly elliptical orbit—the most eccentric of any known moon—that is inclined by more than 7° to the planet’s equator. Its mean distance from Neptune is 5,513,400 km (3,425,900 miles), which is about 15 times farther from Neptune than Triton. Nereid is exceedingly faint, making observations with even the largest Earth-based telescopes very difficult.

I took 60x30 sec frames then after a Meridian flip, another 50x60 sec frames. I threw these into PixInsight which handled the Meridian Flip and differing exposure times without breaking a sweat.

Images taken with a Tak Mewlon 210 F11.5, Tak Reducer/Flattener x0.8 and ZWO ASI 294 MM Pro camera from our back garden in suburban Brisbane, under Bortle class 6 skies on 5th Oct 2021.

I have overlaid Screen Captures from SkyTools 4 Imaging to show some of the field stars as well as the lucky catch of the Minor Planet (1698) Christophe at mag. 16.63 (Diameter: 10 - 31 km). Perihelion Distance is 2.8 AU, Aphelion Distance is 3.5 AU. I haven't updated the Minor Planet database for a few months and wonder if this has led to the slight discrepancy?


When I set the capture time in ST4, the plotted position of Christophe did not match the actual trail in my series of images. In ST4 it seems that Christophe was “behind” the recorded position by 2 or 3 hours? ST4 is set for my back garden location in Brisbane and the Win 10 PC clock was synchronised with the Time Server.

Cheers

Dennis



  Nereid-30s-60-s-Combined_DBE-Crop-3600-Rot-180-ST4-Layers-Crop-1600--B-BG.jpg (Size: 213.33 KB / Downloads: 17)


  Nereid-30s-60-s-Combined_DBE-Crop-3600-Rot-180-ST4-Layers-Crop-1600-B-Text.jpg (Size: 201.85 KB / Downloads: 16)


  Nereid-30s-60-s-Combined_DBE-Crop-3600-Rot-180-ST4-Layers-Crop-1600-B-ST4.jpg (Size: 20.08 KB / Downloads: 12) ]]> https://skyhound.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=2175 Fri, 23 Jul 2021 04:43:04 -0400 Dennis]]> https://skyhound.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=2175
Here is an image of the Dwarf Planet Quaoar (mag 18.88) taken from our back yard in Brisbane on 19th July. (90x30 sec).

Quaoar is a planetoid that lies beyond Pluto's orbit in the solar system. Quaoar was discovered on June 4th, 2002 by astronomers Chad Trujillo and Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology, using images that were obtained with the Samuel Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory. The discovery was announced on October 7th, 2002, at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society. At the time, the object was designated as 2002 LM60, but would soon be renamed by Brown and Caltech his team.

Quaoar lurks in the Kuiper Belt, a group of icy objects beyond Neptune. It is about 42 astronomical units, or Earth-sun distances, away. That's about 4 billion miles (6 billion km) — a billion kilometres more distant than Neptune. It takes about 288 years for Quaoar to go once around the sun in a roughly circular orbit.

Quaoar has only one moon, called Weywot. it orbits around Quaoar at an approximate 9000 mile distance.

Some SkyTools Data:
(50000) Quaoar
Minor Planet, Dwarf Planet
Magnitude: 18.88
Orbit Period:  288.3 years
Diameter: 590 - 1900 km
Current Status:
Earth Distance:  41.9 AU
Total motion: 2.66 "/hr PA 264.0°


Cheers

Dennis


  Quaoar Raw.jpg (Size: 240 KB / Downloads: 10)


  Quaoar Label.jpg (Size: 243.58 KB / Downloads: 9)


  Quaoar Text.jpg (Size: 261.89 KB / Downloads: 9) ]]>
Here is an image of the Dwarf Planet Quaoar (mag 18.88) taken from our back yard in Brisbane on 19th July. (90x30 sec).

Quaoar is a planetoid that lies beyond Pluto's orbit in the solar system. Quaoar was discovered on June 4th, 2002 by astronomers Chad Trujillo and Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology, using images that were obtained with the Samuel Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory. The discovery was announced on October 7th, 2002, at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society. At the time, the object was designated as 2002 LM60, but would soon be renamed by Brown and Caltech his team.

Quaoar lurks in the Kuiper Belt, a group of icy objects beyond Neptune. It is about 42 astronomical units, or Earth-sun distances, away. That's about 4 billion miles (6 billion km) — a billion kilometres more distant than Neptune. It takes about 288 years for Quaoar to go once around the sun in a roughly circular orbit.

Quaoar has only one moon, called Weywot. it orbits around Quaoar at an approximate 9000 mile distance.

Some SkyTools Data:
(50000) Quaoar
Minor Planet, Dwarf Planet
Magnitude: 18.88
Orbit Period:  288.3 years
Diameter: 590 - 1900 km
Current Status:
Earth Distance:  41.9 AU
Total motion: 2.66 "/hr PA 264.0°


Cheers

Dennis


  Quaoar Raw.jpg (Size: 240 KB / Downloads: 10)


  Quaoar Label.jpg (Size: 243.58 KB / Downloads: 9)


  Quaoar Text.jpg (Size: 261.89 KB / Downloads: 9) ]]> https://skyhound.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=605 Fri, 06 Sep 2019 04:50:11 -0400 Dennis]]> https://skyhound.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=605
I have overlayed the 01 and 03 Sept frames and replaced the Neptune/Triton pair with single frames from each session that were not blown out. These accurately depict the relative position of Triton mid-way through each session.

How good is SkyTools 4 Imaging.  

Nereid is the third largest of Neptune’s moons, and the second to have been discovered. It was discovered on 1st May, 1949 by the Dutch American astronomer Gerard P. Kuiper (for whom the Kuiper Belt is named) using photographic plates from the McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis, Texas.

Cheers

Dennis

  Nereid 01 03 Sept 2019 Text.jpg (Size: 291.74 KB / Downloads: 13)

  Nereid 01 03 Sept 2019.jpg (Size: 281.54 KB / Downloads: 8)

  Nereid 03 Sept 2019 SkyTools 4 Crop 1200.jpg (Size: 71.1 KB / Downloads: 8) ]]>
I have overlayed the 01 and 03 Sept frames and replaced the Neptune/Triton pair with single frames from each session that were not blown out. These accurately depict the relative position of Triton mid-way through each session.

How good is SkyTools 4 Imaging.  

Nereid is the third largest of Neptune’s moons, and the second to have been discovered. It was discovered on 1st May, 1949 by the Dutch American astronomer Gerard P. Kuiper (for whom the Kuiper Belt is named) using photographic plates from the McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis, Texas.

Cheers

Dennis

  Nereid 01 03 Sept 2019 Text.jpg (Size: 291.74 KB / Downloads: 13)

  Nereid 01 03 Sept 2019.jpg (Size: 281.54 KB / Downloads: 8)

  Nereid 03 Sept 2019 SkyTools 4 Crop 1200.jpg (Size: 71.1 KB / Downloads: 8) ]]> https://skyhound.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=207 Fri, 27 Apr 2018 03:03:52 -0400 Dennis]]> https://skyhound.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=207  
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

  Jupiter and Europa M210 Tv2 ASI290MM Set26 Crop 800.jpg (Size: 113.94 KB / Downloads: 12) ]]>  
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

  Jupiter and Europa M210 Tv2 ASI290MM Set26 Crop 800.jpg (Size: 113.94 KB / Downloads: 12) ]]> https://skyhound.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=156 Wed, 21 Feb 2018 18:42:44 -0500 Dennis]]> https://skyhound.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=156 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

  Jupiter Europa Io Ganymede 11 M210 Tv2x0 ASI 120MM_S Crop 800.jpg (Size: 50.23 KB / Downloads: 21)

  Jupiter Europa Io Ganymede 11 M210 Tv2x0 ASI 120MM_S Text Crop 800.jpg (Size: 52.13 KB / Downloads: 18) ]]> 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

  Jupiter Europa Io Ganymede 11 M210 Tv2x0 ASI 120MM_S Crop 800.jpg (Size: 50.23 KB / Downloads: 21)

  Jupiter Europa Io Ganymede 11 M210 Tv2x0 ASI 120MM_S Text Crop 800.jpg (Size: 52.13 KB / Downloads: 18) ]]> https://skyhound.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=39 Sun, 07 Jan 2018 00:27:47 -0500 Dennis]]> https://skyhound.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=39
 
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).


  Jupiter Moons Mars BG Stars Crop 1200.jpg (Size: 61.16 KB / Downloads: 21)

  Jupiter Moons Mars BG Stars MASTER Crop 1200.jpg (Size: 63.29 KB / Downloads: 9) ]]>
 
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).


  Jupiter Moons Mars BG Stars Crop 1200.jpg (Size: 61.16 KB / Downloads: 21)

  Jupiter Moons Mars BG Stars MASTER Crop 1200.jpg (Size: 63.29 KB / Downloads: 9) ]]> https://skyhound.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=23 Mon, 27 Nov 2017 23:28:26 -0500 Dennis]]> https://skyhound.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=23

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

  Nereid Invert 27.jpg (Size: 131.44 KB / Downloads: 12)

  Nereid Invert 28.jpg (Size: 135.93 KB / Downloads: 9)

  Nereid Field 28 Aug Text.jpg (Size: 175 KB / Downloads: 11) ]]>

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

  Nereid Invert 27.jpg (Size: 131.44 KB / Downloads: 12)

  Nereid Invert 28.jpg (Size: 135.93 KB / Downloads: 9)

  Nereid Field 28 Aug Text.jpg (Size: 175 KB / Downloads: 11) ]]> https://skyhound.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=18 Sat, 18 Nov 2017 01:41:27 -0500 Dennis]]> https://skyhound.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=18 More with hope than confidence, I set up on Sunday night, 15th May 2016 to see if I could record the two moons of Mars; Phobos and Deimos. I expected Deimos to be fairly straightforward, lying some 60 arc secs from Mars but Phobos would only be 24 arc sec distant, bathed in the glare of the Martian disc. The seeing was very good and when the results came in, Deimos was unmistakable and I had a few grains of light as a promising candidate for Phobos.
 
After much image processing and stretching of the data, I was able to get everything to “pop out” in one aligned/stacked frame, including 4 field stars.
 
Taken with a Tak Mewlon 180 F12, TeleVue x2 PowerMate, Atik 414EX CCD camera, 20x4 sec exposures, 10:08pm AEST.
 
For the disc of Mars, I used a ZWO ASI224MC CMOS camera and overlaid the (re-sized) image over the grossly over-exposed Martian disc.
 
As usual ST3 provided the confirmation when I overlaid an ST3 screen capture and the plotted positions in ST3 precisely fitted the imaged positions.
 
Cheers
 
Dennis

  Mars Phobos Deimos 4 sec x 20 IP6 CombineFilesAvg AA6 Hist ST3 Overlay Crop 1024 Moon Star Text.jpg (Size: 105.97 KB / Downloads: 28)

  Mars Phobos Deimos 4 sec x 20 IP6 CombineFilesAvg AA6 Hist ST3 Overlay Crop 1024.jpg (Size: 92.05 KB / Downloads: 24)

  Mars Phobos Deimos 4 sec x 20 IP6 CombineFilesAvg AA6 Hist ST3 Overlay.jpg (Size: 53.34 KB / Downloads: 35) ]]> More with hope than confidence, I set up on Sunday night, 15th May 2016 to see if I could record the two moons of Mars; Phobos and Deimos. I expected Deimos to be fairly straightforward, lying some 60 arc secs from Mars but Phobos would only be 24 arc sec distant, bathed in the glare of the Martian disc. The seeing was very good and when the results came in, Deimos was unmistakable and I had a few grains of light as a promising candidate for Phobos.
 
After much image processing and stretching of the data, I was able to get everything to “pop out” in one aligned/stacked frame, including 4 field stars.
 
Taken with a Tak Mewlon 180 F12, TeleVue x2 PowerMate, Atik 414EX CCD camera, 20x4 sec exposures, 10:08pm AEST.
 
For the disc of Mars, I used a ZWO ASI224MC CMOS camera and overlaid the (re-sized) image over the grossly over-exposed Martian disc.
 
As usual ST3 provided the confirmation when I overlaid an ST3 screen capture and the plotted positions in ST3 precisely fitted the imaged positions.
 
Cheers
 
Dennis

  Mars Phobos Deimos 4 sec x 20 IP6 CombineFilesAvg AA6 Hist ST3 Overlay Crop 1024 Moon Star Text.jpg (Size: 105.97 KB / Downloads: 28)

  Mars Phobos Deimos 4 sec x 20 IP6 CombineFilesAvg AA6 Hist ST3 Overlay Crop 1024.jpg (Size: 92.05 KB / Downloads: 24)

  Mars Phobos Deimos 4 sec x 20 IP6 CombineFilesAvg AA6 Hist ST3 Overlay.jpg (Size: 53.34 KB / Downloads: 35) ]]> https://skyhound.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=17 Sat, 18 Nov 2017 00:56:21 -0500 Dennis]]> https://skyhound.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=17 On 24th October 2017 I managed to record the 5 brighter satellites of Uranus; Ariel, Miranda, Oberon, Titania and Umbriel. SkyTools 3 Pro was used to confirm the positions of 4 of these, namely Ariel, Oberon, Titania and Umbriel.
 
The following (edited) data was Copy/Pasted from ST3.

Uranus details:
Magnitude: 5.69
Size: 3.7"
Earth Distance: 18.9 AU
Diameter: 51118.0 km

Satellite details:
(Name/Mag/Angular separation)
Ariel                       14m3     11.2”
Miranda               16m7     09.5”
Oberon                14m1     41.9”
Titania                  13m9     23.4”
Umbriel                15m0     14.5”
 
Equipment details:
Takahashi Mewlon 210 F11.5.
TeleVue 2” Powermate x2.0
Efl 4830mm at F23
 
Camera details:
Atik 414EX Camera
Exposure 30sec
5 frames
Image scale of 0.28 arcsec/pixel
 
It was a tough job digging 16.7 magnitude Miranda out of the glare of the disc of Uranus but choosing the time of maximum elongation (9.5 arc secs) and favourable seeing, made the task feasible.
 
SkyTools has consistently plotted these fainter objects reliably and accurately compared to the other two Windows PC Planetarium programs that I also use. When chasing some of the more rare objects, it is comforting to know that I can rely on the accuracy of the SkyTools data.
 
The ST3 overlay in the 1st image shows how accurate ST3 plotted the 4 brighter satellites of Uranus. Hey Greg – will Miranda be added in ST4?
 
Thanks Greg, for such a fantastic, feature-rich program.
 
Cheers
 
Dennis

  M210 TV2x0 ATIK 414EX 30 sec x 5 Median Uranus Moons Names ST3 Overlay.jpg (Size: 88.9 KB / Downloads: 23)

  M210 TV2x0 ATIK 414EX 30 sec x 5 Median Uranus Moons Names.jpg (Size: 92.94 KB / Downloads: 25) ]]> On 24th October 2017 I managed to record the 5 brighter satellites of Uranus; Ariel, Miranda, Oberon, Titania and Umbriel. SkyTools 3 Pro was used to confirm the positions of 4 of these, namely Ariel, Oberon, Titania and Umbriel.
 
The following (edited) data was Copy/Pasted from ST3.

Uranus details:
Magnitude: 5.69
Size: 3.7"
Earth Distance: 18.9 AU
Diameter: 51118.0 km

Satellite details:
(Name/Mag/Angular separation)
Ariel                       14m3     11.2”
Miranda               16m7     09.5”
Oberon                14m1     41.9”
Titania                  13m9     23.4”
Umbriel                15m0     14.5”
 
Equipment details:
Takahashi Mewlon 210 F11.5.
TeleVue 2” Powermate x2.0
Efl 4830mm at F23
 
Camera details:
Atik 414EX Camera
Exposure 30sec
5 frames
Image scale of 0.28 arcsec/pixel
 
It was a tough job digging 16.7 magnitude Miranda out of the glare of the disc of Uranus but choosing the time of maximum elongation (9.5 arc secs) and favourable seeing, made the task feasible.
 
SkyTools has consistently plotted these fainter objects reliably and accurately compared to the other two Windows PC Planetarium programs that I also use. When chasing some of the more rare objects, it is comforting to know that I can rely on the accuracy of the SkyTools data.
 
The ST3 overlay in the 1st image shows how accurate ST3 plotted the 4 brighter satellites of Uranus. Hey Greg – will Miranda be added in ST4?
 
Thanks Greg, for such a fantastic, feature-rich program.
 
Cheers
 
Dennis

  M210 TV2x0 ATIK 414EX 30 sec x 5 Median Uranus Moons Names ST3 Overlay.jpg (Size: 88.9 KB / Downloads: 23)

  M210 TV2x0 ATIK 414EX 30 sec x 5 Median Uranus Moons Names.jpg (Size: 92.94 KB / Downloads: 25) ]]>