Afocal Deep Sky Image's

At long last a decent clear night last night so I thought I'd try out some afocal shot's with a few deep sky target's. I do have a digital camera adapter but alas, my S4 Zoom doesn't seem to like it! Keep's shutting the camera down every time I try to use it! I am looking for another adapter but if the skies stay clear tonight I will try again.
I took all these handheld up to a 25 mm eyepiece and my 127 SLT Mak.
The Double Cluster I used ISO 1600, 5 sec exposure and Auto WB.
The Ring Nebula, ISO 3200, 8 sec exposure and Auto WB
The Andromeda Galaxy, ISO 400, 16 sec exposure, 1.6x Zoom and Auto WB
The Dumbell Nebula, ISO 1600, 10 sec exposure and Auto WB
And Lastly, Uranus, ISO 3200, 2 sec exposure and Auto WB.
I know they're not great but considering they're all handheld and with a mobile phone I'm pretty pleased. Now I'm going to try and see if I can get better result's with an adapter :).

The Double Cluster

The Ring Nebula

Andromeda Galaxy

The Dumbell Nebula

Uranus

Samsung S4 Zoom test shot's

I managed to get hold of a Samsung S4 Zoom and decided to try it out with some astro image's. The camera has manual control's which allows you to set everything except the EV. The max exposure is 16 sec's. It also has a number of smart setting's for long exposure's, I haven't yet had the chance to try them out.

Over the last week I've not had much of clear skies but I have managed to grab some Moon shot's, ISS and some constellation's image's. I'm quite impressed with it being it's only a phone! The only draw back I find is when I'm taking image's afocal the zoom doesn't like it, it crashes or refuses to focus, so I can't really get close up image's of the Moon like I can with my S3. Apart from that I'm pretty impressed :)

Here are some of the image's I've managed to get so far....Enjoy :)

Cassiopeia

Vega & Delphinus

Super Moon 10th August

Constellations 2/8/14

Had some clear sky last night but not for long! Wanted to get another star trail but alas a lot of cloud rolled in (although it was suppose to be clear all night!). I managed to get a few Constellation image's instead before I had to give in. Took all with my Sony CyberShot, ISO 100, 30 sec exposure's and Infinity focus.
Hopefully I'll get a good Star Trail tonight, clear night so the weather say's.....

Altair & Delphinus

Cassiopeia

Cepheus

Deneb & Cygnus

Lacerta & Pegasus

Vega & Lyra

Star Trail and possible Iridium Flare.

Taken last night (23rd July) using my Sony Cybershot DSC V1. 270 x 10 sec exposure's used and then stacked using a program called StarTrails. Tweaked the levels slightly in Gimp, think it gives a better contrast between the star's and the background colour. Also managed to find the frame that I captured the 'Iridium Flare'. I adjusted the levels and contrast in Gimp but nothing else. Hoping to get another chance to get even more frames, around 400, in the next few weeks. If  I do I will post the result's.

Polaris and 'Iridium Flare'

Waxing Gibbous Moon

Didn't have long but managed some quick moon pics with my Samsung S3 Sunday night. Used my trusty Skywatcher 130p, 25mm SP eyepiece and a 3 xbarlow for the close up's. ISO 100, auto white balance and adjusted the EV when needed. Run them through Gimp with very little processing, just adjusted the levels slightly to get a bit more detail out.

Clavius

Copernicus

Copernicus & Eratosthenes

Plato & Mare Imbrium

Waxing Gibbous Moon

Saturn

Been a LONG time since I done any webcam photography so grabbed the chance a few weeks back, 21st June, to re teach myself. Didn't have long to grab some of Saturn before it disappeared behind the houses here. Only had an hour, but after arguing with my capture software and spending nearly half an hour trying to remember how to get Saturn on to my screen (perfectly center in my eyepiece but nothing on my screen!!!) then forgetting the settings on the capture software, fighting the wind too, I did manage to get a few half decent avi's. Not brilliant but considering the trouble I had and being 7 years since I last done this I'm happy with the results! Used a 80GTL, 2xBarlow, 1100 and 1030 frames @15fps. Stacked and processed in Registax 6. 

I also took some Saturn images with my Samsung S3 and my new addition to my little family, Nexstar 127slt :). Lovely scope to use, only had a few hours using it last Friday night due to having to get up a silly o clock but managed to see quite a bit even with loads of LP here! Fingers crossed the weather reports are right and get a few hours of clear sky tomorrow night to grab some avi's of Saturn with the 127.  

                                          Saturn 1100 frames @15fps 80GTL

                                          Saturn 1030 frames @15fps 80GTL

                                          Saturn Samsung S3 auto white balance 127 SLT

                                          Saturn Samsung S3 Daylight white balance 127 SLT

Constellation's and The Sun

Been a horrid week again for weather! Only managed a few hours outside friday night and some today with the Sun. The constellation shot's are with my Sony dsc v1, 30 sec exposure's ISO 200. The Saturn shot's were taken handheld up to my skywatcher 130p, 25mm ep and 2xbarlow with my Samsung S3 and lastly today's sun pics were taken using my nexstar 80gtl 25mm ep and my Samsung S3. Have managed to get my old laptop up and running along with my old toucam pro, all I need now are some decent clear night's and no early mornings to get back into imaging the Moon and planets avi style! Finger's crossed!!

                                          Bootes and Corona Borealis

                                          Hercules

                                          The Plough

Vega and Deneb/Cygnus

The Plough and Cassiopeia

Not had very good weather again...surprise surprise for England! Did manage to get a gap in the clouds last night and got a few image's. The Plough with a satellite, Cassiopeia and The Plough Startrail. Also I used the 83 15sec exposures that made the startrail  into a video using the same program that stacks the images to make a startrail. I think it gives something different, you can see the changes to the night sky, colour, motion of the star's etc. Enjoy :).......As I've just noticed the Video is 28 sec long but for some unknown reason Blogger seems to speed it up! To see the 28 sec version go to my Flickr page via the link on the right hand side.

                                          The Plough

                                          Cassiopeia

                                          The Plough Startrail

Constellation Images

Have a few new bits of equipment I've bought over the last few weeks, all at bargain prices,  compact camera, Sony Cybershot dsc v1. It has manual control as well as shutter & Aperture priority and can do up to 30 secs exposure's. Here are a few constellation shot's I've done over the last few weeks. I also tried some Startrails which I've put in a separate post below.

                                          Cygnus/Nothern Cross and Vega

                                          Hercules & Vega

                                          Saturn rising in Libra

                                          Jupiter in Gemini

                                          The Plough

                                          Mars in Virgo

Startrails

Here are my attempts at Startrails. Can only do an hour as my battery can't hold out any longer. The 1st few were just short half hour attempts, 10 sec expsoure's each, to the last one where I managed to get an hour's worth of 10 sec expsoure's. I took as many photo's as I could and run them through a free program called Startrails. Very easy to use, just load all your images in and it does the rest for you!! I'll add a link under fav sites for anyone interested.