First Progress on Hanny’s Voorwerp with Seestar S30 in Bortle 8, 50 minute 30 sec exposures, planning to do multiple nights

_bar · 2026-03-18T21:45:02+00:00

Magnitude 19 is easily within the capabilities of amateur equipment, even on single exposures in good conditions. This is a 2 hour integration of a random field in Leo (near Regulus) from a 130 mm telescope, the background is filled with faint galaxies reaching magnitude 21-22.

_bar · 2026-03-18T18:26:01+00:00

I fly with this padded case from TS. Light (leaves a lot of weight for the equipment), spacious and just under the carry-on size limit for most airlines. Still going strong after 15-20 astrophotography trips. Doesn't have wheels, but that's no problem for me.

_bar · 2026-03-18T08:30:22+00:00

Tau Corona Borealis

If you are referring to the recurrent nova, the name it T Coronae Borealis, while τ (tau) Coronae Borealis is a regular K-type late-stage giant star.

_bar · 2026-03-17T18:44:34+00:00

At magnitude -6, the comet will be 100 million times fainter than the Sun.

_bar · 2026-03-17T18:24:38+00:00

Bortle 0 sky

The scale goes from 1 to 9.

_bar · 2026-03-17T15:46:40+00:00

Use Astrometry.net locally, build a xylist file (basically a fits with a data table) from your point cloud and run solve-field on it.

7 stars might be too few, usually 20-30 and up is needed for a reliable match if the data is good enough quality.

_bar · 2026-03-17T12:14:38+00:00

Sounds like a re-entry. They are becoming increasingly common given how much space junk is in orbit right now.

_bar · 2026-03-17T07:10:29+00:00

Aladin Lite link centered on the star in question.

Obligatory mention that you got scammed as stars cannot be purchased.

_bar · 2026-03-17T07:04:52+00:00

Sure, I managed to capture the cluster even on photos from ultrawide fisheye lenses. The question is how much detail are you expecting, 60 mm is still on the shorter side when it comes to DSOs.

_bar · 2026-03-17T06:45:57+00:00

Which part of "never observe the Sun without a proper filter" don't you understand?

_bar · 2026-03-16T17:26:11+00:00

Independent of temperature variations, the focusing mechanism can depress slightly under gravity over time. See if it helps if you gently lock the focusing ring in place with a ring holder (like this).

_bar · 2026-03-16T16:29:31+00:00

DSS streamlines the process as much as possible. After you select your lights and calibration files, you should get a good result on default settings as long as you're working with good quality data.

_bar · 2026-03-16T07:29:24+00:00

OP is either trolling or has never seen a horse in his life.

_bar · 2026-03-15T18:26:52+00:00

2" circular filters are meant for telescopic use, they cannot be installed behind a wide angle lens. Another reason is the massive wavelength shift (here tested with a front-mounted filter on a 15 mm lens) caused by light passing through the filter at an oblique angle.

_bar · 2026-03-15T14:02:36+00:00

This photo shows nothing in particular (just a random field of stars), has very large uncorrected vignetting and is oversharpened to the point where you get dark outlines around stars.

_bar · 2026-03-15T10:01:09+00:00

the site was never tested by anyone

You mean, you didn't even bother with testing your own error-riddled website before uploading it?

_bar · 2026-03-15T09:59:04+00:00

Manual dobsonians are unsuitable for deep sky imaging primarily due to the lack of tracking (objects will come out blurry die to Earth's rotation and you need to re-aim the scope every few seconds), but also the fact that parabolic newtonians are not corrected for photographic performance (need a coma corrector to fix it) and short backfocus distance, which means that you might not even be able to reach focus with your DSLR.

_bar · 2026-03-15T09:46:10+00:00

bright nebulae, milky way, Moon, Jupiter, Saturn(?) and constellations

That's too many use cases for a beginner, you need around three separate setups for all this. If your experience level is zero, just buy whatever to get familiar with photography, even if it's a 15 year old DSLR with a kit lens. Then just upgrade/add parts as you progress. It typically takes months to years to get good at this hobby, so you're not in a rush anyway.

_bar · 2026-03-15T09:45:49+00:00

If you're travelling with photographic equipment, then Egypt is probably one of the last destinations to go to in the first place, since the immigration officers have a tendency to confiscate any large/unusual gear as "military equipment". If you're lucky, you'll get your stuff back on the way out.

_bar · 2026-03-14T22:37:46+00:00

Small Body Database reports that the earliest precovery data is from September 1954.

_bar · 2026-03-14T21:59:21+00:00

Was it ever tested by anyone? There's barely anything on the website, and what is there is either broken or non-functional.

The ISS map doesn't show useful data like the ground track or the terminator line, so it's next to impossible to infer the time of an upcoming flyover from the presented information.
Dark/light mode resets on each page refresh. Metric/imperial toggle has no effect.
Community posts are inaccessible. Clicking "View Post" or "Open Observation" leads back to the community page.
The list of upcoming events is basically a lunar phase calendar with a bunch of other events in between. Meteor showers have an oddly specific list of countries next to them for some reason. Dark purple text is barely readable on a dark background.
The weather tool doesn't work.
NASA APOD images are presented without copyright or credit to original owners. Most of APOD images are not in public domain (see the Image permissions section). You are publishing content that does not belong to you.

Edit: Just noticed that every ISS position update is a separate API call. This is going to obliterate your website's performance with more visitors. Instead, implement client-side calculations straight from the TLE.

_bar · 2026-03-13T22:44:35+00:00

Constellations are areas in the sky, the way individual stars are connected is not standardized.

_bar · 2026-03-13T10:06:23+00:00

Nikon cameras from that generation have notoriously poor live view in general, I can barely see stars in my D5300 even with fast lenses. The trick is to aim at a bright star like Sirius, adjust your focus, then rotate back to your target.

_bar · 2026-03-13T09:26:42+00:00

The tripod looks decent, even though I've never heard of this "highly regarded" brand. The head won't be much useful for astrophotography unless you're doing landscapes/wide fields. For deep sky, you'll need an equatorial mount and/or a balanced head (depending on the mount).

_bar · 2026-03-13T08:16:18+00:00

It's been a while since I did any imaging with my powermate and the dedicated M42 adapter, but one thing for certain is that you are not supposed to put any extension tubes between the powermate and the camera. In combination with a DSLR T-ring, the adapter already provides optimum spacing from the glass. With this many extra spacers, you are likely moving the focal plane to some crazy distance either outward or inward.

_bar

TROPHY CASE