Bob Eisenman Posted August 27, 2019 Share Posted August 27, 2019 (edited) So....I'd mentioned my adventures and foibles with my Meade ETX 90 telescope coupled to a Sonfest Sac IV imager elsewhere on the forum: It turns out that the Sav IV imager I own was initially used with a laptop running Windows ME. The Win ME laptop's motherboard died decades ago so is not a goto laptop for the imager. I had tried to install the device driver for the Sac IV (device = 3com homeconnect USB camera) on a Windows 10 laptop in Windows XP compatibility mode but no luck. I'd built a desktop Windows XP PC from scratch decades ago which was gathering dust. I tried to boot the XP desktop but got a 'checksum error' on the attempt. I just happened to have an extra button battery for the XP's motherboard. Replacing the motherboard battery and telling the bios to boot with optimized default settings resulted in a good boot to the XP Desktop, a sight I hadn't seen for years. Inserting the Sac IV install CD and installing the software (later plugging in the Sac IV usb camera) resulted in the familiar 'device driver not installed' message in the device manager list of USB devices. 'Updating' the Sac IV driver with the CD inserted into the desktop pc's XP CD tray DID INSTALL THE DRIVER! Despite the bulky size of the XP desktop PC the Sac IV with it's long USB cord reached from the kitchen, where the XP desktop was, to the Meade ETX 90 on the porch 10 feet away allowed the XP softwares display of the Sac IV capture to be seen. Saturn was in view in the sky but after several attempts to get the Sac IV to focus on Saturn with both afocal and prime focus placements of the Sac IV I couldn't see the planet with the provided software. Perhaps when the next full moon arrives a large , easily focused and bright lunar target will appear on my XP desktops software display for the Sac IV. Fingers crossed.... So....over the last couple of weeks I had produced one good 'solid' image of the moon using afocal, hand held phone camera attempt. The idea came from Mike Weasner's ETX site where his collection of Apple iPhone afocal images can be seen. I was so encouraged by the lunar picture that I bought the Meade phone to telescope eyepiece adapter shown below: Not waiting for a good star/planet see'ing night I tried some terrestrial photography and was encouraged by the ease of use the bracket provided on imaging some leaf photos several hundred feet away. My Meade autostar allows multi fine levels of object positioning in the eyepiece, but the LED of the autostar device no longer works in terms of providing3 star alignments, star goto's or planetary/star tours of the night sky. On another next good seeing night I hope to try my new bracketed smartphone with targets like Saturn and Jupiter which are in the sky lately. The moon will be back in a few weeks. A moon filter for light reduction will likely appear on my next wish list. In the interim various camera apps for Android allow zooming, EV changes and ISO selection will produce various degrees of the desired result. Perhaps an smartphone astophotography movie processed by Registax will produce a good stacked image which is 'not overly bright' for the planets Jupiter or Saturn without using a moon filter. In any event I'm looking forward to using the Meade bracket, my Meade ETX 90 and my Android Smartphone. Moon photos should be more optimally focused than the handheld photo shown above. Edited August 29, 2019 by Bob Eisenman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Eisenman Posted August 29, 2019 Author Share Posted August 29, 2019 (edited) The weather has been cloudy and uncooperative for nighttime observing A few brief glimpses of Saturn and Jupiter led to the need to reorient the bracket mounted phone camera into a more favorably balanced position. And the finder scope's crosshairs needed to be adjusted to match the telescope's eyepiece field of view. Once adjusted the following daytime terrestrial photo sequence was made. 1_Phone camera - no zoom 2_Phone camera - with some zoom 3_an afocal photo with bracket mounted phone camera - no zoom 4_an afocal photo (camera app) with bracket mounted phone camera - with zoom 5_an afocal photo using a 'high zoom camera app' with the bracket mounted phone camera Camera shake with the telescope mount (inverted projection). The size of both Jupiter and Saturn in the eyepiece of the Meade ETX 90 are small but Saturn's ring(s) are visible as a band and the changing positions of Jupiter's moons can be seen. An approximate size of Saturn and Jupiter in the Meade ETX 90's eyepiece would correspond to the size of the yellow dot in this photo My telescope/ bracketed camera / camera app choices are ready for a night of astrophotography, on a small scale, when clear night skies return. Overall: 1-locate the telescope target in the eyepiece first. 2-position and affix the phone camera lens into the Meade bracket. 3-remove the eyepiece lens from the telescope 4-affix the eyepiece lens to the bracket-phone 5-reinsert the barrel of the eyepiece/bracket/phone-camera into the telescope. Note: the telescope's eyepiece field of view and camera app's display should closely match using this approach. Fine focus without an electric focuser is made by deflecting a clothes pin clamped on the focus knob (ex. Turn from 2 to 3 o'clock) Edited August 29, 2019 by Bob Eisenman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Eisenman Posted August 30, 2019 Author Share Posted August 30, 2019 (edited) It was a good night (8_29-2019) to try my new afocal astrophotography setup. Jupiter (white dot) at twilight above a house roof: Jupiter with 4 largest moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto - the naming sequence id for each moon shown below is unknown) Note: the fuzzy glow around Jupiter is a camera artifact resulting from turning up the exposure sensitivity to the point where the 4 moons can be seen. Jupiter eyepiece afocal video: The telescope is not set up to track the planet and this results in the planets transit across the eyepiece. ***** Saturn and it's rings: A single afocal Android phone app image of Saturn Stacked image from several pictures: Saturn eyepiece afocal video: Edited August 30, 2019 by Bob Eisenman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Eisenman Posted August 31, 2019 Author Share Posted August 31, 2019 (edited) On 8/27/2019 at 6:20 PM, Bob Eisenman said: Sac IV. Fingers crossed.... Well....the Sonfest Sac IV still takes acceptable daytime terrestrial photos..... although the awkwardness of positioning a desktop running Windows XP and the bulky Sac IV at prime focus is considerable Distant rooftop vent taken with Sac IV at prime focus. The Meade phone bracket is a HUGE improvement in simplicity for my limited interest in astrophotography. This is an 8-30-2019 photo of Jupiter and it's 4 moons which have changed position slightly since 8-29-2019 (Afocal Android phone camera shot using the Meade phone bracket) Edited August 31, 2019 by Bob Eisenman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Eisenman Posted September 4, 2019 Author Share Posted September 4, 2019 (edited) 9-3-2019 First night to try some lunar shots with my Android phone, the Meade phone bracket and the ETX 90 Camera images: (inverted (R/L) from telescope reflector element) post processed photo: Jupiter (R/L corrected) from camera app Jupiter prediction from Star Walk 2 app Saturn - from camera app Edited September 4, 2019 by Bob Eisenman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Eisenman Posted September 5, 2019 Author Share Posted September 5, 2019 (edited) 9-4-2019 (Wednesday night) ETX 90, Android phone images Moon (9-4-2019) Lunar maria https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_mare#/media/File%3AMoon_names.svg Saturn (9-4-2019) Jupiter (9-4-2019) Jupiter (+ moons orbits model) from Star Walk 2 (9-4-2019) Edited September 5, 2019 by Bob Eisenman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Eisenman Posted September 8, 2019 Author Share Posted September 8, 2019 (edited) In and out of the clouds tonight Moon 9-7-2019 Cloudy night Saturn (near moon) Edited September 8, 2019 by Bob Eisenman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Eisenman Posted September 10, 2019 Author Share Posted September 10, 2019 (edited) Fast moving clouds tonight with some breaks for lunar astrophotography. Moon 9-9-2019 A post processed image: A second post processed image (night enhancement) Edited September 10, 2019 by Bob Eisenman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Eisenman Posted September 11, 2019 Author Share Posted September 11, 2019 (edited) 9-10-2019 Some clouds, some clear Moon - 9-10-2019 Moon - (night enhanced) 9-10-2019 Lunar maria https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_mare#/media/File%3AMoon_names.svg Moon 9-10-2019 (later) Moon - (night enhanced) 9-10-2019 (later) Star Walk 2 model for Jupiter's moons 9-10-2019 Android phone capture of ETX 90 view of Jupiter and 4 moons on 9-10-2019 at about 9:10 pm Saturn - inverted 9-10-2019 Saturn 9-10-2019 Edited September 11, 2019 by Bob Eisenman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Eisenman Posted September 12, 2019 Author Share Posted September 12, 2019 (edited) 9-11-2019 Nice clear night Moon - 9-11-2019 ETX 90 Moon - 9-11-2019 (night enhanced plus increased contrast) ETX 90 Lunar maria https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_mare#/media/File%3AMoon_names.svg Jupiter and 4 moons 9-11-2019 Star Walk 2 orbital model Jupiter plus 4 moons 9-11-2019 ETX 90 Saturn 9-11-2019 ETX 90 Edited September 12, 2019 by Bob Eisenman 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erk1024 Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 Cool stuff @Bob Eisenman! Astrophotography is a challenge, so getting a nice shot is a big deal! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Eisenman Posted September 13, 2019 Author Share Posted September 13, 2019 (edited) 9-12-2019 Moon sequence to date for Sept. Clear night on 9-12-2019 Moon 9-12-2019 Moon (night enhanced) 9-12-2019 Lunar maria https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_mare#/media/File%3AMoon_names.svg Saturn 9-12-2019 Saturn 9-12-2019 Stellarium orbital model for Jupiter on 9-12-2019 (09:03 pm) Jupiter and 3 of 4 moons 9-12-2019 Edited September 13, 2019 by Bob Eisenman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Eisenman Posted September 14, 2019 Author Share Posted September 14, 2019 (edited) 9-13-2019 A good planet see'ing night for Saturn and Jupiter Jupiter's Star Walk 2 orbital model for 7:30 pm 9-13-2019 Jupiter 9-13-2019 about 7:30 pm Saturn 9-13-2019 Saturn 9-13-2019 Moon 9-13-2019 about 10:30 pm Moon (night enhanced) 9-13-2019 about 10:30 pm Lunar maria https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_mare#/media/File%3AMoon_names.svg Me, the moon, Saturn and Jupiter 9-13-2019 360 photo sphere (url) : https://kuula.co/post/7qMF3 Edited September 14, 2019 by Bob Eisenman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Eisenman Posted September 14, 2019 Author Share Posted September 14, 2019 (edited) 9-14-2019 Early morning - light haze Moon (night enhanced) - 9-14-2019 early morning Lunar maria https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_mare#/media/File%3AMoon_names.svg *********************** Moon (time-stamped and inverted) - morning of 9-14-2019 Moon (time-stamped) morning of 9-14-2019 Edited September 14, 2019 by Bob Eisenman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Eisenman Posted September 16, 2019 Author Share Posted September 16, 2019 (edited) 9-15-2019 Mix of clouds and clear sky Lunar maria https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_mare#/media/File%3AMoon_names.svg Moon 9-15-2019 Moon 9-15-2019 - higher magnification - Mare Crisium with (lower of 2 small craters) Picard crater https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mare_Crisium Note: curved left side is the eyepiece not the lunar edge Moon 9-15-2019 (night enhanced) Moon 9-15-2019 (night enhanced) at higher magnification - Mare Crisium with (lower of 2 small craters) Picard crater https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mare_Crisium Note: curved left side is the eyepiece not the lunar edge Edited September 16, 2019 by Bob Eisenman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Eisenman Posted September 20, 2019 Author Share Posted September 20, 2019 (edited) 9-20-2019 before sunrise Clear sky Google Moon map url: https://www.google.com/moon/ Moon 9-20-2019 Moon (night enhanced) 9-20-2019 Moon Atlas 3D - crater labels for upper right quadrant Orion - constellation - (below moon in photo) 9-20-2019 GoPro Fusion (ISO 800 30 seconds - FFMPEG extracted frame from multishot MOV file) Orion 9-20-2019 (Star Walk 2 model) The white streak near the belt is puzzling. Maybe the lens needs cleaning or there was a cloud or something else (meteor trail possible, jet trail?). A regular 30 second iso 800 picture was taken an hour later but the increase in daylight had washed out the star light. The GoPro Fusion Android app has specs that prohibit running on my Android phone so the desktop studio software was used to stitch the front and back image hemispheres. One lens was pointed up and the other down to make this photo. The wooden porch I use as a camera base is subtly shaky (on an astrophotography scale) .... as noticed in the replication of the three(3) stars that make up Orion's belt. The moon was very high in the sky when the photo was taken. The ETX 90 was almost pointing straight up. Timing wise in terms of the moon's location it was visible low and in the east-north-east in the evening (9ish pm) in other parts of the town where I live. By midnight it was still well behind the trees at the apartment where I live. By 3:00 am a quick look had it in clear view while other Tennant's were sleeping. I ventured out again around 4:30 am and decided to just 'go for it' in terms of imaging the moon and Orion, it's neighbor in the early morning sky. Long range (15-20 miles or more) Gotway Monster riding has been problematic (lately) for both of my knees. The Astrophotography is restful for my knees. Edited September 21, 2019 by Bob Eisenman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Eisenman Posted September 21, 2019 Author Share Posted September 21, 2019 (edited) 9-21-2019 Mostly clear, Pleiades in view just past midnight. Pleiades - Star Walk 2 model https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades Pleiades 9-21-2019 (Camera - YI 4K , iso 400 20 seconds, plus post processing) Stars in the Pleiades Pleiades 9-21-2019, cropped to the star cluster which was imaged with a YI 4K. Pleiades and moon 9-21-2019. (Camera- YI 4K , iso 400 30 seconds, plus post processing) Moon 9-21-2019 Moon (night enhanced) 9-21-2019 Google Moon map url: https://www.google.com/moon/ Edited September 21, 2019 by Bob Eisenman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunka Hunka Burning Love Posted September 21, 2019 Share Posted September 21, 2019 (edited) Okay all this astronomy stuff is cool and impressive. But the big question is when do we see some naked neighbour close-up photos all super zoomed in? Edited September 21, 2019 by Hunka Hunka Burning Love Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Eisenman Posted September 21, 2019 Author Share Posted September 21, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said: Okay all this astronomy stuff is cool and impressive. Wait....in a distant window....I see a man... wearing 'brownface'........his hand is on some woman's chest...no wait....it's just the evening news on someone's TV.. Edited September 21, 2019 by Bob Eisenman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Eisenman Posted September 21, 2019 Author Share Posted September 21, 2019 (edited) @Hunka Hunka Burning LoveMy ETX 90 has a history of unusual responses. Purchased locally decades ago from the 'Nature Store' I once decided to try to image Mars? Venus?. I went into the backyard, set up the scope and pointed it (across the adjoining neighbors lot) toward Mars? Venus?. Almost immediately my neighbor at the time turned on his back yard flood light, washing out the planet with light. I approached the neighbor without much success explaining my goal of imaging a planet. The man, from Chelsea MA, was not very receptive. What do people from Chelsea really care about astronomy? Last night, just past midnight, while waiting for the moon to come into view above the trees a neighbor in my new location turned on their back porch light. Given that trees exist between my porch and the neighbors light nothing impaired my viewing....but the memory of the Chelsea guy, a local school administrator, immediately came to mind. Edited September 21, 2019 by Bob Eisenman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Eisenman Posted September 21, 2019 Author Share Posted September 21, 2019 (edited) @Hunka Hunka Burning LoveThe same new neighbor from Chelsea had the habit of parking in the street in front of his house but using my driveway to turn his vehicle around in the early morning on the dead end street where I lived. Since I parked my (blue) vehicle (150,000 miles)in the driveway, leaving only a few feet between it and the bumper of his bad habit, it was uncomfortable for me when he chose to turn his vehicle around on my property. I had flown to a week long conference in California on hospital expense, leaving my car at the Rhode Island airport from where I took off and returned (then Southwest Air). A couple of days after returning I noticed subtle but significant front end damage to my car. Repair costs exceeded the cars value. I needed a new car, said nothing else to anyone and optimistically decided the damage was from a week long stay for the car in Rhode Island and purchased another car to replace it. Why do some people from Chelsea ignore the property rights of others? I drove the (red) replacement car (33k used) until it had 240k miles and then sold it for $50. Edited September 21, 2019 by Bob Eisenman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Eisenman Posted September 21, 2019 Author Share Posted September 21, 2019 (edited) @Hunka Hunka Burning LoveSince several of the people I worked for were affiliated with Brigham and Women's hospital and one was a gynecologist.. recently turned oncologist..the issues associated with women's health are taken for granted in the workplace there. I once asked a female coworker if she wanted to climb Mt. Washington with me. The thought was threatening to her on the job place and the email exchanges on the subject were raised with a supervisor as a precaution. The woman was already dating someone. Edited September 21, 2019 by Bob Eisenman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunka Hunka Burning Love Posted September 21, 2019 Share Posted September 21, 2019 So no sexy neighbour photos coming down the pipeline I take it. Oh com’on I think we’d all settle for a quick pix of someone, even a sports celeb, on the at least! https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7040183/J-Los-fianc-Alex-Rodriguez-caught-toilet-snap-taken-door-NYC-penthouse.html Dayam that toilet emoji comes in quite handy every now and then. Maybe I shouldn’t be enabling people to do not so legal activities with their legit equipment. Or drones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Eisenman Posted September 22, 2019 Author Share Posted September 22, 2019 On 9/21/2019 at 12:13 PM, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said: But the big question is when do we see some naked neighbour close-up photos all super zoomed in? Don't you guys have access to Tumblr? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Eisenman Posted September 26, 2019 Author Share Posted September 26, 2019 (edited) 9-25-2019 @Hunka Hunka Burning Love couldn't make this star watch session. My Meade ETX90 is the ETX90 EC version which was old and shipped with a controller called 'Autostar'. Over the years the LED display went electronically dead while certain motion keys remained functional. So....I decided to upgrade to the 'Audiostar' controller. Aligning the telescope with the celestial sphere allows the observer to slew the telescope from one object (stars, planets, constellations, etc) to another with fairly good accuracy at my observing site. It"s very cool when it is working properly.... Anyway....the controller slews the celestial object in the eyepiece to the rate of Earth's rotation. This means that the visible object (ex. Saturn , Jupiter) stays centered in the eye piece over time. The use of a higher power lens (9.7 mm) becomes easier to try. My Audiostar controller (black object hanging in the scope) Star Walk 2's orbital prediction for Jupiter Jupiter 9-25-2019 Saturn 9-25-2019 (higher magnification eyepiece image at about 150 X power) Edited September 26, 2019 by Bob Eisenman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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