Hello from the rainy side of Washington. - Forums

Topic starter

Sep 30, 2021

Greetings,

My name is Ian. I am about 4 months into my DSO astrophotography journey. I am in a Bortle 4 or 5 area, depending on whose data I use. However, our skies are now moving into the months where stars are rare.

All of my images thus far have been captured with a DSLR and mirrorless Canon with a 300mm f4 lens. I am tracking with a Skyguider pro. I actually have my first telescope and a GEM45 mount on order.

Anyway, a quick glance at some of the images here reinforces how for down the learning curve I am from top notch captures. I am looking forward to the journey.

Well Written Respectful Engaging

David Nozadze

Sep 30, 2021

Hello Ian!

Welcome to Astrobin. Very impressive image of Andromeda with that equipment! Well done!

D

Well Written Respectful Supportive

Ian McIntyre

Topic starter

Sep 30, 2021

Thanks. After this image I learned about stepping rings. So later images don't have the pronounced diffraction spikes. But overall I am shocked I got this much detail. .
I'm still muddling around here. I'll put this in my gallery with all the specs tomorrow.

James Malone

Sep 30, 2021

Hello from Seattle.

Nice shot of Andromeda - the detail in the rings is awesome.

David Moore

Sep 30, 2021

I'd be well pleased with that with what you are using. Nice star colours too.

Michael

Sep 30, 2021

Welcome to AB, from the Ozarks in the midwest! Great image CS -

nwsorin

Sep 30, 2021

Hello from Snohomish,

That's a pretty good processing of Andromeda in your first 4 months. Check out Seattle Astronomical Society https://www.seattleastro.org/ I have learned a lot from them.

After having many days of clear skies this summer I am not looking forward to next few months of clouds in western WA. Time to head east.

Supportive

Salvatore Iovene

Admin

IOTD Staff

Frequent contributor

Sep 30, 2021

Michael:
Welcome to AB, from the Ozarks in the midwest!

The Ozarks! Reminds me of the Netflix show. Do you speak with *that* accent?

Michael

Sep 30, 2021 · Edited: Sep 30, 2021

Salvatore Iovene:
Michael:
Welcome to AB, from the Ozarks in the midwest!

The Ozarks! Reminds me of the Netflix show. Do you speak with *that* accent?

@Salvatore Iovene Yes Pretty close to the setting there, just a bit south from the lakes. Can't say if I speak in *that* accent, but I assume I do lol the show sounds normal to me! Great show too

Salvatore Iovene

Admin

IOTD Staff

Frequent contributor

Sep 30, 2021

Michael:
@Salvatore Iovene Yes Pretty close to the setting there, just a bit south from the lakes. Can't say if I speak in *that* accent, but I assume I do lol the show sounds normal to me! Great show too

I literally just read that in Ruth's accent from the show :-D Can't wait for season 4.

Ian McIntyre

Topic starter

Sep 30, 2021

Hello from Snohomish,

That's a pretty good processing of Andromeda in your first 4 months. Check out Seattle Astronomical Society https://www.seattleastro.org/ I have learned a lot from them.

After having many days of clear skies this summer I am not looking forward to next few months of clouds in western WA. Time to head east.

I am actually in far North SnohoCo. Over the Stilly from Arlington. I joined the Everett Astro Society. Their star parties are actually near Snohomish. Supposed to have one tomorrow night but the forecast has gone sour. I'm ok with it. I love the rain as much as anything else. Besides, my 8" RC isn't here yet.

There's always a chance of some nights to shoot in the winter. And they are nice, long nights up here to boot. I recall a very nice November 2019. Though I wasn't doing this back then. Probably the last time it will ever happen.

James Malone

Oct 1, 2021

upposed to have one tomorrow night but the forecast has gone sour. I'm ok with it.

No, no. Bad rain, bad.

I am looking out my window now and sad my solar scope is on a truck to me right now. I am going to attempt something stupid - to shoot solar (when I can) in the winter since it's sometimes sunny during the day.

Alex

Oct 3, 2021 · Edited: Oct 3, 2021

Nice Andromeda. You can see some of the dust lanes all the way to the core. What scope did you order? The RC 8"?

Also, hello from the rainy southeast corner of Louisiana. Just another rain storm, nothing to see here!

Engaging

Ian McIntyre

Topic starter

Oct 3, 2021

Alex:
Nice Andromeda. You can see some of the dust lanes all the way to the core. What scope did you order? The RC 8"?

Also, hello from the rainy southeast corner of Louisiana. Just another rain storm, nothing to see here!

Different kind of rain you guys get. Ours is frequency without nearly the quantity. It is rarely a widespread catastrophe here. Plus significantly less heat. I don't envy you.

I actually attached the above image in a rush and didn't post the the best version. I have the updated version up in my gallery now.

The scope I ordered is the iOptron 8" Photron Ritchey-Chretien.

nwsorin

Oct 3, 2021

Had the RC 8 for bit, good scope with crisp images. For the few days of clear nights in WA I recommend at least the .8 reducer to help speed things up.

Ian McIntyre

Topic starter

Oct 3, 2021

^I went with the Starizona 0.65.

Alex

Oct 9, 2021

Different kind of rain you guys get. Ours is frequency without nearly the quantity. It is rarely a widespread catastrophe here. Plus significantly less heat. I don't envy you.

Believe it or not that's just a regular afternoon storm. Disregarding the fact that Ida smashed us pretty bad, we get rain most days, but this year has been particularly wet. We hit our average annual rainfall at the end of July. That storm gave us about 9.5 inches of rain in a couple hours. We have a number of days where the Subaru Impreza would have to stay home because the water is too deep in the roads.

I can't wait to see what you do with the RC 8". I almost pulled the trigger on one a number of times before I succumbed and dropped the coin on a WO FLT 132, which was significantly more expensive, but I'm comfortable with refractors. I'll be following to see how things go!