I was expecting your images to come in already.....
Anyway, astronomy teaches you patience if not anything else, right? Let's try again tonight! This time I'll have moquito repellent and insect spray standing by. Plus lots of coffee......if clouds show up, I'll crack open a few beer cans instead. Always remember Boy Scout's motto - `Be Prepared!'

No lah, this is not a competition, please share what you can see from Kluang with us.....
We seem to be having good weather here in the Klang valley, the skies have been surprisingly clear! By KL standards,of course.

Some more shots using my Casio to share with you `unbelievers' (who says must buy Nikon, Canon, etc ?);
My best shot of Saturn so far.......



and below, a couple of shots of Saturn and its Moons Titan, Rhea, Dione, and Tethys taken about 24 hours apart:

Saturn & Moons @ 1:36am 29th Jan 2006


Saturn & Moons @ 2:17am 30th Jan 2006

Why don't you post some example for us to see? Usually a blue cast is caused by wrong white balance setting or underexposure...........happens to my shots alot too.

that's the best for my Casio (already hitting the limits of the low light sensitivity)...hehe.

I wish I had the patience to do a sequence shot of the moons over 6 hours just to show how fast they move. Somehow it's not as exciting as seeing them with your own eyes, if you know what I mean....

Unfortunately, you may be on the wrong path trying to use pseudo SLR type digicams with a telescope. Even if the adapter is available, it will be at very high price (you will most likely need to use 2 inch eyepieces), and it's not a very nice solution because your camera+adapter may be just too heavy and bulky for the ETX mount.

On the other hand, you can buy a cheap point and shoot camera (like what I have ), add a cheap digiscoping adapter, and use it happily with almost any light telescope......

Otherwise, upgrade to an SLR, use a T-adapter, and you've got a super telephoto setup!

if you haven't already done it, don't forget to update your Autostar firmware and database. Lots of free improvements in store for you.......

Over the CNY hols I built my own using some plastic pipes and plumbling fittings so that I could fit my Casio to any standard 1.25" eyepiece and it works on any telescope (yep, works perfectly well on ETXes too!)
Can't resist showing it off here.... changed the pic hope this makes it easier to understand how it works.


You can order a nicely built commercial one for under RM 300.00 from any of the local astro suppliers, i understand it's a hot item, quite often sold out hehe. What camera do you have? As long as there is a tripod screw thread underneath the camera, the adapter should work.

For easy Deep Sky stuff with the ETX, I think you have the new DSI, Pro and Pro II imagers to play with. But not in the Klang Valley, not even if you have a superduper 18" monster.

BTW hope to see you and future astropics as a regular here.

This post has been edited by March05: Feb 10 2006, 10:24 AM

Unless u also own a Casio Z750, i don't know if what i build will fit your camera.

Much of the fun is in building your own, you know........it's not difficult. Just need to spend some time at the plumber's store trying out different pipes hehe.

desperation and the lack of the green stuff makes good DIYers...

usually the right materials turn up when you least expect it, and not when you look for it. Anyway, i like to do things with my own hands just for the fun of it, and to keep my fingers out of mischief .

unfortunately, building a GOTO telescope out of junk is a little out of my league.

10 days already nobody got anything to report ah?

have you guys been looking at the morning sky? Venus, the Moon and Jupiter all in line......I took an panorama in a rush this morning with my Cassie, no time to check whether okay.....

As mentioned earlier, Venus, the Moon and Jupiter were nicely lined up this morning. Manually stitched 4 pics for this pic, no time to do any other fancy editing:

Morning Trio

If you look carefully, you can see Antares near the moon.

The skies have been quite good the past few mornings here in the Klang valley...

Hey guys, looking at the sky this morning, i saw another nice view of the Trio again!

We should have a good astrophoto opportunity this weekend with the Moon getting close to a brilliant Venus.......so aim your digicams (anything goes) to the east just before sunrise!

Added value for this weekend! The Comet Pojmanski will be near Venus and at magnitude 5, should be visible with binoculars! Happy comet hunting everybody....

Mr.LKM, your new 63mm binoculars will be extremely useful now!

No luck with the comet yet, i wasted too much time shooting Venus and the Moon, and the Sun came up.....

But I got some reasonable pics of Venus and the Moon and I thought I'll just merge them into one pic......


Must try again tomorrow morning.

The comet still eludes me! This morning, I was finally able to see Algedi, but where the comet should be, thin clouds gathering........

As a consolation, this evening we can try to spot a thin crescent Moon hanging above Mercury at sunset.

I managed this shot of elusive Mercury at dusk yesterday, but too late, the new Moon was just below the horizon already.

The rain came at about 5.30 pm and washed away my hopes of shooting the New Moon hanging above Mercury yesterday evening. I only glimpsed the new moon for a few seconds before the clouds closed in like the final curtains. Of Mercury there was not a trace....
It'll be a long long time before an event like this reoccurs.

BUT

finally spotted the COMET this morning! sorry no pic, light conditions too difficult, I'm facing the light pollution from KL city (same direction) and this comet is so dim lah.

Also I had a nice time looking at Jupiter (right overhead in the morning) before that.....and got some nice shots too!

These past few days really so many things to look at, New Moon, Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, comet etc. but why nobody posting anything here?

This should get somebody's ATTENTION!
this is my amazing shot of the c*met almost colliding with Venus!

Venus Near Miss!

This post has been edited by March05: Mar 2 2006, 06:38 PM

While waiting for you guys to show your comet pics, i'll provide some sideshow with these:-

the almost New Moon yesterday evening, with Mercury.

Hey, I can't see Mercury, you query. Sorry, it's hiding behind those low clouds......

Jupiter and 2 Moons


Blue Jupiter through the Casio

not as good as yours; not mine, pinjam saja.

yes to both, just more and more difficult. Narrow window to locate and view, one in the evening, the other in the morning.

wah SNP can use in the Delta Quadrant ah?
seriously, i think i need to consult u...i couldn't update the comets database (downloaded from NASA) in my copy. says there's an error in the text file......

u going to try watching it set? u the best!
actual magnitude i think is more like 12, based on what i saw yesterday morning. This has got to be the dimmest comet i've ever managed to see.

Good luck to both of you. I'm going to catch up on my sleep the next few nights since i've completed my main objectives for this week. Seen the comet, Mercury, Venus, Saturn and Jupiter, and the `new Moon'.....very happy lah.

the link is here: http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/dat/ELEMENTS.COMET (updated 2nd March 2006!) most accurate.... just to save you a bit of time.
Let me know when you've figured it out hehe.

Link: http://www.starrynight.com/
The best sky simulation software IMHO but not free.....

evidently not!
I've just figured it out: I have to manually create a new comet and then manually input all the Epoch, q, e, i, w, Node,Tp figures for Pojmanski.....gasp, gasp. But finally, the comet appears! Doing things the hard way, but these are the newest updates for the comet's position and the most accurate. Of course, if you've the latest updates from Imaginova, this comet could already in there. Then you just edit the ephemerides that need updating.


only 4.50 here.....