Yah, yah, I also see many football stars......

You mean that was the moon up last night? I thought it was the image of the football imprinted on my retina after watching 6 hours non stop World Cup TV.

Yo guys, you all are just too sick of world cup. I forgot to put bet for yesterday match... Spain vs Ukraine...

Anyway, I've done writing the observation report. I will write about the Moon looked like an egg and a grandma in the Moon tomorrow.

Took this pic around 9-10PM before I left the house for mamaking session. Lotsa stars but not knowledgable enough to name em. Those here kind enough please do so. Fist time using long exposure with my recently aquired camera so lemme know if anything can be improved for future photo taking.

The 3 bright stars and 1 faint star at the right forms the constellations called Crux. The star at the left is supposed to be Rigel Kentarius. I am not very sure about the one next to it.

Ah man. No planets? Well I guess I will continue to take shots and provide info on where Im facing the next few days should the sky be clear.....

When did you take the photo? After midnight? I think the Jupiter was at west at that time. Your pic is in the south direction.

I took the photo around 9:45PM and was facing South/West.

At that time, Jupiter was just slightly over the zenith.

You will be more likely to catch a planet if you shoot East, Over Head or West. Or try a panoramic sequence.

BTW, nice shot. Not much light pollution in Kluang.......

This post has been edited by March05: Jun 18 2006, 12:23 AM

Yeah. We don't have skyscrapers here or any other building higher than 15 stories. Wanted to post the original sized pic but can't seem to add the original in attachments.

I don't think you will be allowed to do that. LYN image attachments are not supposed to be larger than 800x600 (I think I read a rule about that somewhere), and photobucket will limit you to a file size of 256K unless you are a paid user. So we definitely cannot post our original megapixel images here!
Only way is through private email.

Another way is imagehack.

march, do you use your notebook when you are doing observing? I am thinking whether to get a notebook with hdd protection but no dedicated graphic card or a notebook which is just opposite of this but it's heavier.

This post has been edited by Mr.LKM: Jun 18 2006, 01:42 PM

Ohhh I forgot about that. You the man.
What's hdd protection?

Ya, I normally use my notebook if I'm observing from my garden. But if I have to do some impromptu observing, it's the binoculars first, then any telescope that's light. For astrophotography with the ToUcam or something like your LPI, of course the notebook is compulsory.
I don't think you really need any exceptional graphics capability for most astronomy software. BTW SNP looks nicer with OpenGL support but it's not a big deal.

Are you planning on getting the Core Duo or Turion X2 chipset?

Core Duo processor as I can't wait no longer. The intergrated graphic card (GMA950) does support OpenGL 1.4. Seems like the day of astrophotography is coming. After such a long pages of discussion, finally we have something serious to show.

Yesterday sky was so hazy. I was not lucky enough to have the view of the alignment of 3 stars, Mars, Saturn and Mercury.

Just remember battery life is very important when you are out observing for hours....processing power is secondary. My old Centrino can last me about 2 hours of almost continous recording with the ToUcam. Pretty good for a 2 year old notebook and original battery!

AAArrggg! Also missed last night's Mars-Saturn Conjunction. Sky was totally clouded over.

BTW on 29th June, we have the amazing alignment of the Moon, Mars, Saturn and Mercury in the evening sky. All within about 20 degrees of the sky. Don't need wide angle lens to shoot this event!

Woots, 29 June? I think my notebook is ready by then, I am not sure whether my telescope field is wide enough to take them all...

I am thinking whether my portable power station can provide current to the notebook. Do you know how to figure it out?

Wah, must bookmark this date.

Whats that? A generator running on petrol/diesel?

It just like the car battery but much smaller. It provides the current to my telescope.

The power station provides a standard 12 volt DC supply to the LX90. If you can get hold of a simple DC-DC adapter that matches your notebook's requirements, there is no reason why you cannot use the power station to power your notebook. I have done this in emergencies when my notebook battery ran dry during observation. But remember to fully charge up the power station and only use it as a last resort. The power station may drain its storage batteries very fast if you use it to power too many things.

Wow. Rather interesting gadgets you both have. Looks like its mostly the 3 of use chatting here these days.

I would really like to see the rig/equipments you guys use. Hope you guys can post pics of your setup for this hobby....