Have had a week of glorious sunny, if not hot weather in the last couple of days of august, first couple of september, with both sunny days and clear nights here in the west midlands. It was the last week of my holiday so had to get some viewing and imaging in.
The moon was past full in the early morning sky and was a view to behold in my C8 - I got a binoviewer earlier in the year, originally for solar work but the view was too dim in my Ha scope, however I really like using it on the moon and planets where there is plenty of light - I find it really easy to observe, giving me no eye strain, as I a result I find myself mesmerised at the eyepiece(s) spending much longer glued on the end of the scope. It gives a real impression of 3D on the lunar surface.
I wanted to take more lunar images but the hard disk on my laptop was filled with numerous video files waiting for me to process, however I did manage to squeeze one lunar image on there - of the crater Clavius. This was taken with my C8 2x barlow and DMK31 camera.
I'm really pleased with the amount of detail I picked up here, haven't really done too much 'close up' lunar imaging before, but weather permitting I hope to do some over the next 6 monthes when the moon is suitably high in the sky for me. I never tire of the moon - I studied geology and can sit for hours spotting the various features on the lunar surface. Lots of fun!
Next up was Jupiter. Haven't had a go at imaging him at all before. The last opposition he was just too low in the sky from my light polluted city sky scape, and I could only ever really glimpse him in between the houses or trees which never makes for the best views. This year though he is much higher in the sky and I hope to be seeing alot more of him over the coming monthes.
This was taken again with the C8 with 2x barlow and DMK31 camera. Would love to take some colour shots of him, so tempted to either get some colour filters to use with my mono cam, or maybe be lazy and just get a colour ccd. Either way, i'm fairly certain i'll be getting some more images of him before the year is out!
Hope you like them anyway.
Mark
