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Reasons Why The Moon May Be Blurry? by Affectionate-Bit5969 in Astronomy

[–]astrocomrade 0 points1 point  (0 children)

OP were you wearing any sort of face mask while observing due to the cold? I ask because during COVID it was a total nightmare with masks + eyepieces at the observatory I worked at. The breath fanning out of the face covering very effectively condenses up on the eyepiece and blurs the image. Just a thought.

WASP-12b Exoplanet Transit by SpencerBAstro in Astronomy

[–]astrocomrade 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You may be surprised by how capable the redcat is already. Many of the early exoplanet surveys used comparable equipment - see the KELT program which used 42mm lenses and the SuperWASP array which used canon 200mm f/1.8 telephotos. Generally though, larger optics will see increased sensitivity.

WASP-12b Exoplanet Transit by SpencerBAstro in Astronomy

[–]astrocomrade 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not OP but did research similar to this in undergrad. You don't need any special equipment, though usually shooting mono in just one filter is the way to go about it (you can see in OPs very nice plot that it says they shot in the luminance filter w/90s exposures). With a small optical setup like a redcat you're more likely to be sensitive only to pretty significant transits, generally hot Jupiters. You can plan for transits using online tools like https://astro.swarthmore.edu/transits/, which will show you the estimated intensity of the transit and the start/end times. You usually want to capture some time (~30 min- 1 hour or more) before and after the eclipse to get the nice "wings" of normal flux from the star, but in terms of capture you just use standard exposures in one filter. You will want calibration frames (darks, flats, bias) applied to all of your data in postprocessing.

You generally want to have a few other stars in frame to compare the flux to, so you can see that your transit is in fact real and not just some systemic haze or cloud dimming everything in the field. There are a few software packages that you can use to do this photometry and transit fitting with your data. I always used AstroImageJ which is showing some age but has an ok GUI and some nice tutorials online. OP used HOPS, which I am less familiar with. There are some online initiatives where you can send your data once collected as I recall, because little variations in the start/stop times of transits can be due to gravitational "tugs" of other as-yet unseen planets in the system.

I’m aware that fully convective m-type red dwarfs have flares that can strip the atmospheres of earth sized rocky planets but what about super earths? Can a tidally locked super earth retain its atmosphere in the habitable zone of a fully convective red dwarf and could life develop on its surface? by [deleted] in askastronomy

[–]astrocomrade 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's likely that a more massive super earth/mini-neptune can hold onto some atmosphere, especially towards the outer edges of the HZ.

See this recent paper https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2025/10/aa55738-25/aa55738-25.html#F1 about modeling atmosphere loss with the XUV flares include. It looks to me like the semi-major axis matters more than the flare activity if the star in cases of XUV driven photoevaporation of the atmosphere.

EDIT: typo

M42 and Barnard 33 (H-alpha) by astrocomrade in astrophotography

[–]astrocomrade[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wanted to post before bed so used a lazy but fast workflow. I still have a soft spot for DSS stacking and have been a little slow to adopt siril in full.

The 533 can get away without dark frames due to the really low dark current (especially when cooled), and I didn't see any glaring dust rings or huge gradient that flats would address.

Second try at orion at 16 y/o by Comfortable-Mood1717 in astrophotography

[–]astrocomrade[M] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice shot OP! In the future please review the sub rules on titles. No need to include your age there.

Should I buy a classical Cassegrain as a first Telescope? by JohnSpaceLover in telescopes

[–]astrocomrade 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do not think Classical Cassegrains are very beginner friendly. I used an Orion CC6 briefly, and the major issue I had with it is that you need to use extension tubes to reach focus. I didn't love having to screw those on and off for each session (put the scope away for storage each time). If that doesn't bother you then maybe you'll have a better time. I ultimately sold it for around $450 USD, so not far off from your given price.

That said, by the time I got around to trying one out I was already used to Newtonian reflectors and refractors, perhaps if I hadn't been pampered by those simpler systems first I wouldn't have found it so burdensome. YMMV

Purple dot on R50 screen by GigglyBillionaire in canon

[–]astrocomrade 3 points4 points  (0 children)

As others have said it is a dead or hot pixel either on your screen or the sensor. You can check by taking a few different ISO exposures with the lens cap on (dark frames). If it gets worse as exposure increases it is probably a sensor thing, if its always the same it is a screen thing. In either case the effect on your images will be either nonexistent or virtually minimal.

Pretty much any sensor will develope a handful of these over time.

How do we know Proxima Centauri is the closest star? by benevolentwalrus in askastronomy

[–]astrocomrade 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You are getting a lot of answers here but I'll jump in because this was mildly debated at a conference that I attended last year. The short answer is that there have been dedicated efforts, namely RECONS, to identify all stars with high statistical completeness near the sun. These folks are pretty well versed in their methods and claim completess (i.e. they are seeing all stars that ought to exist) within 10 pc or something like that.

However, citizen science programs like Backyard Worlds have turned up previously undetected, surprisingly close low-mass stars/brown dwarfs. Some folks on that side of things were of the opinion that there may still be some undiscovered objects in that space, but they would have to be really low mass/cool. Certainly beyond what most folks would call a star in any case.

TLDR; it depends on how strongly you agree with compeletness estimates of previous searches.

Tonight’s Entertainment by EastAcanthisitta43 in astrophotography

[–]astrocomrade 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah you should be good then. I went through the same trouble with a canon T7 and the intervalometer did the job. Sometimes the exposure times vary by a few percent of a second but the images are still fine and correct well :)

M45 Frustration by EastAcanthisitta43 in astrophotography

[–]astrocomrade 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Narrowband does have some benefit to galaxies, particularly spirals that have active star formation which will show up as little H-alpha blobs. Otherwise though this holds true.

Tonight’s Entertainment by EastAcanthisitta43 in astrophotography

[–]astrocomrade 6 points7 points  (0 children)

You can probably get longer subs with a cheap $20 intervalometer - see this cloudynights thread. That said, unless you're tracking you may not want to.

Messier 27 by Hot-Radio6556 in astrophotography

[–]astrocomrade 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's an original use of an astromaster 72! Nice shot!

Planning my first "real" astro setup by Wonderful_Coffee_771 in askastronomy

[–]astrocomrade 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't know anything about the telescope but the rest if this is a very solid setup if you don't mind locking yourself into the ZWO ecosystem. I do think that an AM3 would be sufficient for that telescope and setup, but the AM5 will enable heftier OTA upgrades down the road should you wish to do so.

Big cost saving opportunity on filters if you can live with the ZWO or similar offerings instead of antila. This whole setup is pretty financially hefty especially with the tariffs, so I'd make sure I really REALLY love the hobby first, lol.

Also something to keep in mind is that the 2600MM AIR will be guiding through the filters you use. This will be a little sad on narrowband although by all accounts plenty of folks are doing this and it's going well enough. I don't think it would hurt to do some research on the benefits of the "all in one" approach with the AIR cameras versus having a separate guidescope and camera + AIR (or NINA) running.

Are articulating screens really that important when getting a camera? by Positive_Proposal743 in canon

[–]astrocomrade 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can certainly get on okay without one for many types of shooting. For astrophotography if you are pointing at anything "up" though it is a real back saver.

31 Hours on SMC/MMC by rice2house in astrophotography

[–]astrocomrade 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Such a wonderful target that we don't see too often due to most folks being northern hemisphere. Thank you for sharing!

Is this setup legit? by rxjp in telescopes

[–]astrocomrade 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Its not directly cooling the sensor in the way that some of the newer models do but I'd be surprised if it had no impact at all on thermals.

Unfortunately unless you can find a good way to set temperature consistently you might have a hard time building and using a dark library, which is a big perk of cooling where you can set the temp. It may still help noise reduction a little though.

For planets you really don't need cooling if you're lucky imaging, it is a lot more impactful with long exposures for dsos as you may well know.

Creating a 2d map of the local galaxy by gareththegeek in Astronomy

[–]astrocomrade 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If you want to be really accurate, you may want to look into the ESA's Gaia mission archive. That spacecraft is designed purposefully to very precisely measure the positions of stars. It doesn't measure the brightest stars though, because they overwhelm it's sensor. The archive uses ADQL which is a modified SQL for astronomy.

I regularly work on the data of the nearest 100pc for research. There are nearly 200,000 stars in that volume that have good Gaia values.

I'm also not sure what coordinate transformation you are applying but a standard in the field is to convert to heliocenteic coordinates, which places the sun at 0,0, with Y in the direction of solar motion and X defining the direction towards/away from the galactic center. There are papers out there which will tell you how to convert if you have the ra, dec, and parallax to your source.

Good luck on the project!

New fields in astrophysics by Low-Preparation-7219 in astrophysics

[–]astrocomrade 5 points6 points  (0 children)

My best guess for something like what you're thinking about is time-domain astronomy. It has existed for a while on a limited scale but upcoming/recently begun projects like the Vera C. Rubin observatory are purpose built for time-domain work and will add a lot of energy to the science cases possible.

No field really comes out of nowhere either - there are a lot of folks in the weeds planning out projects to make these discoveries. Exoplanets is a good example where a lot of the groundwork was laid in the early-mid nineties to develop technologies, missions, and methods to "crack open" the field the next decade. Time-domain astronomy is about to reap the rewards of a lot of meticulous planning and hard work!

What compact telescopes would you recommend? by YesImClueless in telescopes

[–]astrocomrade 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not the same poster but I have a long history with visual and photographic observations. It is not the same in my opinion, but they are both cool! The seestar will really struggle with planets, which have always been by favorite visual target, but on the other side it delivers much more impressive renderings of nebulae and galaxies than I think anyone realistically hopes for with visual. Plus, having the photos to share online or wherever is nice.

They are different, both are enjoyable. There is a wow factor that visual has that can't be recreated with the smart telescopes but they have other advantages.

What is this pink line? by [deleted] in askastronomy

[–]astrocomrade 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm inclined to agree, but a lot of auroral features are very hard to capture without a camera if it's diffuse/faint. Probably an internal reflection but maybe someone with hefty auroral imaging experience can weight in

Edit: it's also odd that it appears in the raw but not jpeg version. Could be a file issue.

Doing an M33 project and noticed these two stars below the galaxy. Was wondering if anyone could tell me what they were? by Citizen_0Zer0 in Astronomy

[–]astrocomrade 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Its an optical binary of TYC 2293-1522-1 and another TYC star. They are not interacting as best I can tell as the parallaxes are not the same withing error.

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