here's my data in blue to compare with yours.... and btw, how the hell you calculate angular separation....? me really noob in math....

Just another human being with a business card fetish.....

What objects are you going to use to check? I don't bother to update unless there's some new specific object I want to try to target with high accuracy. The only things requiring update are the comets and satellites. It is unlikely that the planets, stars and deep sky objects will have suddenly changed, right?


Eithanius, thanks for the final confirmation. There's little doubt that I was looking right at the comet, then.

Angular separation is basic geometry. Remember that the hypotenuse is the square root of the sum of the square of two other sides of a right angled triangle. Now derive the difference between the RA and Dec of both objects respectively and then input the data as the two sides of the triangle, therefore you have the angular separation.

Or you can just use the angular separation measurement feature in SNP.....hehhe. Simply change the cursor to the angular separation tool, point at HIP 109212, hold the left mouse button and then point at the comet, viola! you have the info!

This post has been edited by March05: May 20 2006, 02:24 PM

I mean I got to insert the RA and DEC into the autostar to point at SW3 as I think the data in my autostar maybe outdated.

Better to input the ephemeris instead, otherwise you will have to keep manually changing the RA & Dec continuously to track the comet...... This comet is really speeding past Earth now!
BTW the weather prediction for KL tonight is partly cloudly......so let's hope we will be successful this weekend!

Where to check the ephemeris of certain objects? How to insert it into autostar?

check back on post #658.

Ephemerides of almost every comet and asteriod you'd ever want is available at Nasa's Near Earth Object Program.
link here: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/neo/

Have fun!

Thanks bro. I was looking for the generate high accuracy ephemerides button. I just found it just now.

Ya, they really made it difficult to see....like treasure hunt lah.

I think I'm going to surrender doing visual observation of this comet. Only thing left is a camping trip and some astrophotography. But with the non-UHTC LX90 I think maybe the results will be disappointing. Your new LX90 will not face the same limitations.

I don't think there are not many differences between UHTC and non-UHTC. By the way, what do you use to do astrophography? Actually, this topic is talking about astrophotography but most of the times we talk about astronomy and the gadgets.

According to specs, there's a 10% difference in the light transmission - Which means its like a 7" scope versus your 8" monster!

In order do astrophotography, it is important to know where to point, and how to get accurate tracking, so I think everything we talk about is relevant. Except maybe when I talk about space aliens...sorry.

I mainly use my Casio digicam with any telescope I can beg borrow or steal. The Philips TouCam is great for planets (with stacking), but it can't do much else unless I change some of the ics, and I need to bring along a notebook if I want to use it, so troublesome. Since the digicam can zoom in and out, I only need to bring along one 32mm eyepiece, so convenient. And with 7 megapixel shots of the full moon...the details are unbelievable! This thrashes the TouCam flat. Of course, there are others with different opinions.....

geesh.... i know nuts about all these....

And i go nuts over dis astrostuff...so tat makes us......monkeys?

I have a Lunar planetary imager from Meade which costs RM950. I am wondering whether ToUCam Pro II is better than it.

You won't know until you try them out. The LPI is an integrated solution so it's easier to use out of the box. It does realtime stacking as you watch, thus you see instant results.

With the ToUCam, you'll have to find third party software to do stacking, and do your own settings to acheive optimum results. It seems to be more suited to the experienced astrophotographer who is quite pc literate. i.e. you must know how to do video capture, and how to import the captured movies into the image processing software.

Both will give great results if you know how to tweak them to the maximum advantage.

BTW this is what I got with the ToUCam during the recent Jupiter opposition.


Just to keep inline with the astrophotography theme so nobody can complain that we are not really doing astrophotography here.

Wow man, your photo is quite amazing! Was the sky clear that day? Can you observe the same result direct from the telescope instead of photograhing?

It was clear by Kuala Lumpur standards. if you know what I mean.

Direct viewing through the eyepiece, can easily see the two centre bands, and the great spot. But the eddies in the clouds cannot make out lah. The moons no problem, very bright as usual.

But I only put the the ToUCam directly and did the video capture. I did not use any barlow. I think usually other ppl add in a 3x barlow for larger image and more detail. I was actually looking for the comet at that time and only slew to Jupiter for a quick capture because I noticed the great spot. Then I went back to searching for the comet. I should have spent more time on Jupiter that night!

Maybe the clear in KL is even better than here. Most of the time, I can only see two centre bands but not the great red spot. Is it due to wrong timing? What's the time to view it? Nowadays, the sky is so cloudy...

I think barlow lens does cut some light. So, if I exposure for more, does it compensate the loss?

Ya, you will have to wait for the great spot to rotate into view, but since Jupiter rotates so fast, you can see it if you are prepared to wait.

Using the barlow will definitely require long exposure, since as you say it will cut some light. We will have to weigh the disadvantage of long exposure (softening of the image due to atmospheric effects) against advantage of slightly higher details. So if the sky is very clear, use the barlow. Otherwise, take it off. Of course, if got time, do both and then see which way turns out better.

Wow . What equipment you use? Can;t believe you can take such a clear pic of that planet . The best I've managed with my cam is just the normal shot of the moon without the aid of a telescope. Just the telephoto lens.....



Actual image size @ 432mm


Still beginning in this area. Hope to comprehend what all the discussions are about at the moment. In time......

This post has been edited by julchin_09: May 24 2006, 02:20 PM

That's one of the best shots of the moon posted here taken with a standard camera and normal telephoto! What equipment are you using? It looks like it will be excellent for recording the moon phases and both solar and lunar eclipses.
My Casio is quite cacat at shooting the moon unaided...hehe. You can see for yourself how bad it is on page 12, post #229 of this thread. Don't blame me if you vomit.....

julchin_09, don't worry too much about trying to understand what we are talking about. Astrophotography is fun when you experiment with what you have. It gets boring when you get too technical.

BTW what happened to Choostar? She seems to have disappeared in Oct 2005. As a member of APGM, she would be great to help us out here!