11th observation report.

[arwinjohn]

So its been a while since I posted anything here. Thought I would kick of 2016 with the 11th report. This will be a compilation of multiple reports dating from January 2016 to May 26th 2016. So to sum it up, I had a good time with Jupiter. For the first time, I managed to see and observe the great red spot on Jupiter with Orion XT8 dob paired with a 6mm edge on eye piece from Orion. I took some time of to set up my camera to capture photos of Jupiter and it seem to turn out decent. Whats even interesting about this photo is, its merely a stack of only 13 frames. Due to using a high magnification barlow, the struggle to keep Jupiter within the frame is really hard and challenging thus i cant use a smaller frame to bump up the frames per second to gather more data. But im impressed with this given the short comings and challenges I faced.

Jupiter
Date: 4/13/2016
Time: 9.34pm
Camera: ZWO ASI 120MC and GSO X3 barlow
Scope: Orion XT8

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Now, this is a crappy photo of Orion nebulae. I didn't take this with my astro photography gear or anything. I just hovered my Ipad camera on my telescope eye piece and took a quick shot of it and increased the exposure using photo editing software to amp up the view. Hence why it looks grainy. Nevertheless, The bright glow surrounding the bright stars and all is Orion Nebulae. Thought i would share this here as it was part of my quick observation on January 24th

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And of course during the month of May, about few days back, I bagged Mars for the first time. I have looked at Mars before but it was nothing but a blob of red light but thanks to how close it is now, this has been a magnificent seeing for me. I could literally make out the details in mars with a 6mm eye piece but i have to say Mars appeared extremely bright similar to Venus thus i had to use a variable polarizing filter / moon filter to cut down the brightness and bring out the details. I managed to get a good photo of it as well given the short 10 minutes observation session before the clouds came in. Have to say this past couple of months, its been cloudy almost every day here in Malaysia.

Date: 5/24/2016
Time: 10.58pm
Camera: ZWO ASI 120MC
Scope: Orion XT8

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That's pretty much it for now as for the observation report. Also I recently bought my 4th Newtonian scope. Should be receiving this weekend or on Monday. Its the Levenhuk SkyMatic 135 GTA. A 130mm Newtonian Reflector On Alt-Az Synta Computerized GO-TO Mount. Wanted something portable that wont take an hour to set up and easy to be packed in the car to be brought anywhere and these seems to be perfect. Bet the clouds will come in hard this week and next week Here's the photo of the scope i bought.

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Could have gone with the skywatcher 102 reflector but wasn't a fan of its Chromatic aberration plus the doublet or triplet cost a premium, so i settled with the newtonian as the best bang for buck. The other option was a maksutov but i would be limited to its field of view thus again, another reason why i settled with a 4th newtonian You can't have enough scopes. There's always room for another one

I know its been a while since i talked to anyone here so I hope you all are doing good and in good health. Clear skies to everyone. Signing out from my humble N7 Observatory.

[skldvenom]

Great Report

[arwinjohn]

Great Report

Thank you sir

[bladekeeper]

Hi Arwin! It is good to see you! It has been a long while. I hope you are doing well and are in good health as well!

Great report, Arwin, and very nice images too! Congrats on the upcoming addition to your scope family.

It has been cloudy and cloudy here as well. Next time I'm complaining and someone says, "well why don't you just move to Malaysia then?", I'll say "nope, it's not any better there".

Clear skies soon Arwin!

[arwinjohn]

Hi Bryan, Its so good to hear from you. I've missed talking to you buddy. Good to know you are doing well. hahahahahahhaha true that. The struggle for clear skies is real I so want to view Mars and get a much closer shot of it in video before the end May but so far its been a real struggle with all the clouds. Wish there's a new filter technology to unblock clouds and see through them. hahahaha Indeed. Malaysia's been cloudy lately since Early January. Constant clouds and rain through out the past 4 months and a half. Fingers crossed for better scope nights. Clear skies to you Bryan. Can't wait to share more soon.

[utd1]

Thanks for posting your interesting and well written report, Arwin - it's nice to have you back!

[Gabby76]

A great report and congratulations on the new scope too! I hope it arrives safely and you can get it out right away.

[KT4HX]

Hi Arwin, nice to see you back again. Nice shots you got there with the XT8. Jupiter and Mars look great. While the quality of the M42 shot may not satisfy you, it is still very easy to recognize it for what it is. Congrats on the new scope and hope it serves you well. Have fun!

[helicon64]

Thanks for the report Arwin. Good to hear from you again.

[arwinjohn]

Thanks for posting your interesting and well written report, Arwin - it's nice to have you back!

Thank you so much Lea. Its so good to hear from you again and I hope you are doing well. It feels good to be back.