19:00 – 21:30
This evening I went along to the BAS solar viewing session. We had great fun. I took along my S50 and set about taking an image of the solar surface.
We were setup by the school at Cliddesden.
A small Lunt was also providing some lovely views.
I got a quick look at the Moon
Then I helped one of our members, Chris, setup his solar scope and get it into focus using an extended imaging train.
Success
This is real astronomy 😉
22:50 – 03:05
I setup with the 150 Esprit in the dome and both the Seestar S30 Pro and the S50.
I set about using the S30 Pro to capture M16 and M17 in a single frame. This was really my first time using the smart scope in earnest.
Meanwhile I setup the 150 Esprit to capture M13.
I stayed with this until the light started to increase and then went to bed. The final unprocessed image straight from the S30 Pro is below.
Once I had processed using PixInsight from the S30 Pro it looked so much better.
On the S50 I took some data on IC 1284.
11pm – 2:30am
I collected the new ZWO Seestar S30 Pro (S30P) today. I thought Luke and I could give it a little run, even though astronomical darkness is no longer with us until August.
I setup the S30P here on the observatory patio. Luke setup the S50 at his house. We then took a variety of test images on both to compare the different scopes.
Whilst I waited for darkens to fall I took a quick phot of Venus and Jupiter close together on my iPhone.
Then we setup the S30P so that it could be used remotely. You can share the scope but only 1 person can be logged in at any one time.
First we tested out just getting focus on Arcturus and seeing what FoV we would get with the much larger chip of the S30P.
Next we slewed to M13. Given the light nights it’s better not going for a galaxy or nebula.
Then I went fore M27 on the S50 only but I had problems with red banding on the photo. It must have been some interference, however I was not quite sure I knew from where.
Then I did M10 on the S50. At the same time I did M92 on the S30P as M10 was poorly positioned.
I then tried a Milky Way shot but this was too faint due to the night sky being so very bright.
Lastly I set the S30P performing a short Star Trails image on Polaris.
