I got a telescope and camera out last night before the cloud came over and it started raining.
There will be a full Lunar eclipse in 2 days (weather permitting, I've missed the last 4 with crappy weather locally) and I wanted to be prepared:

All images taken through a 152mm Skywatcher 1200mm focal length refractor (with Williams Optics focuser) on an EQ5 PRO guided mount.



20 images stacked in Registax, 1/1000 second exposure, shot with original Canon 5D


And here's two taken by my son through an eyepiece (30mm Vixen) using my Samsung Galaxy S8 phone, hand held:




Images shot at 1/3000 second. Ten or so images stacked in Registax




Images shot at 1/4000 second. Ten or so images stacked in Registax

Good going. I have a six-inch Celestron reflector upstairs (can't remember the focal length offhand) but there too much light pollution around here, despite it being a very small village. We're on a major crossroads.

Great shots. Just packed up the tent for a 2-3 week trip. I have 7 nights booked into 2 dark sky preserves in North and South Wales. Will hopefully see some good unpolluted displays; cloud cover and sticky brake pistons permitting.

Dai wrote:Good going. I have a six-inch Celestron reflector upstairs (can't remember the focal length offhand) but there too much light pollution around here, despite it being a very small village. We're on a major crossroads.

Code:

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/589151-baader-neodymium-skyglow-filter/

Have a look at the Baader range of filters, they are supposed to be amazing at cutting light pollution.
I still say getting a scope and or camera out and looking at the night sky is the most relaxing thing I ever do.

I have a mild collection including 2 x 80mm refractors (one is the little Williams Optics Megrez travel scope, an amazing little unit) and an older Tasco heavily modified with a Vixen ED lens and baffles/flocking and a Williams Optics focuser, a Skywatcher 90mm refractor, a Skywatcher 102mm Refractor, the 152mm (6") Skywatcher refractor used in these shots, an 8" GSO reflector and a 5" Celestron reflector, along with a Skywatcher EQ 3 pro guided mount and the Skywatcher EQ5 PRO guided mount.

I also have the original mounts for all of the above scopes, all equatorial and, a top of the line Williams Optics focuser which swaps out between most of the refractors in seconds.

Problem is where I live just west of the Blue Mountains (NSW, Australia) in Lithgow the weather turns quite nasty at times with -12 in winter, occasional snow and the clearest skies (when the cloud decides to be nice for me)..It just gets bloody cold out there and requires the services of a hair dryer to defrost camera and telescope lenses.

Of course were I to have the money (disability pensioner) I can by some nice dew heaters but they are far from cheap to fit my range of scopes. I'll probably end up winding my own Nichrome wire coils and putting them in custom made bands to fit my scopes.

I've tonight received confirmation I'm being loaned a Canon 5D MK IV 30Mp with an 800mm F2.8 lens for the night of the eclipse. The original Canon 5D I did the above photo is also on loan (long term) from the same gentleman. I'm going to use the MK IV with the 800mm lens for the eclipse along with the older 5D on the 152mm scope to do a series of shots during the night but I'm most looking forward to attaching the MK IV to the telescope to see what I can do with 50 stacked images of a clear, full moon and later in the winter a series of Milky Way shots.

I'm hoping to get some amazing images over the duration of the night on Wednesday (which I'll post here if members like this kind of stuff) and now that I've said something it will bloody-well rain......
June 10 will see a total Solar eclipse and depending on finances and availability I may look into a solar filter for my 152mm scope, if I can get delivery in time.
I've never photographed a solar eclipse before.

Great shots. Just packed up the tent for a 2-3 week trip. I have 7 nights booked into 2 dark sky preserves in North and South Wales. Will hopefully see some good unpolluted displays; cloud cover and sticky brake pistons permitting.

Hopefully you'll get amazing weather for the entire trip, the camping will be beyond amazing and you get to enjoy the night sky.

I'm not certain, parts of the UK have the Milky Way visible as do parts of the US but I'm not certain which parts, hopefully ion the dark sky locations you may get some shots and if you do, I'd love to see them.
The Milky Way is still the most amazing thing visible from earth I say. I can spend hours outside just staring at it, no camera, no telescope, just enjoying the marvellous view.

I've seen two total lunar eclipses(Blood Moon) from a sail boat in the Atlantic. Unfortunately, couldn't get any photos because of the boat motion. Full moon 600 miles offshore with a crystal clear sky and no light pollution. Spectacular! Amazing how red the moon gets. Hope you guys can get some good photos.

I guess APOD is a daily stop for you too . The two places I'll always remember for stunningly clear skies were at the bottom of the Grand Canyon (where the starlight - no moon - was so bright you didn't need a torch to find the 'restroom') and Chandrataal in the Himalayas. At Chandrataal the clouds only cleared for about thirty minutes but when they did... again, no moon, but at that altitude it was well below freezing so I didn't hang about looking up for long.

Stu: make sure you take a half-decent pair of binoculars with you. I bought a pair of Meades for the India trip - don't ask me what the model was but they cost me £250 - and now I've -er- misplace the little -er- blighters.

The most memorable night skies I can remember is the sky over the Simpson Desert in Central Australia. There was no light pollution and the moon was just starting to rise.
It was simply spectacular. The lunar eclipse will be a great sight in central Australia ( if visible in that area) Cheers Tom

My son stacked 13 images to get this when I was in bed last night:




Absolute CRAP of a day with strong winds (30Kg hanging off the scope mount helped) and cloud came across around 1 hour before I was going to start photographing the entire thing. The cloud was still around till after 1:00AM when I decided I'd had enough (eclipse was finished) and packed up my gear, then the skies cleared in minutes........

I think I got stuff all photos, squeezed some in between cloud cover but not what I wanted.
And I have the Canon 5D MK IV on loan to capture it all.........

There will be more images, I'm just too disappointed to even look at the moment, that's the last 5 lunar eclipses ruined with crappy weather, from the most gorgeous day the day before.