Astronomy Picture of the Day - A Beautiful Trifid

APOD.NASA.gov ^ | 12 Aug, 2021 | Image Credit & Copyright: Mike Selby

[dragnet2]

Btw, don't sweat not being at a real dark site if you have an interest in planetary, lunar, star clusters and other bright objects.

For example, using filters in the optical train, I shot this part of the Veil Nebula NGC6992 while living in "white zone" in the LA area.

[telescope115]

Can I ask what scope, camera and filter you use?

[dragnet2]

Right now a 10” Schmidt Cassegrain scope, along with several unmodified Canon cameras, using Astronomik CLS filters. Btw, my scope is over 20 years old all mounted to about 1200 pounds of concrete/pier, which is independent of the observatory floor to reduce vibrations.

[telescope115]

Thanks. We are apartment dwellers now, with too many TREES blocking the sky. Our local astronomy club (long time member) has a 10” refractor in an observatory. We are starting public observing sessions again, the first since March of last year.
I can’t remember precisely, I would have to hunt for my observing log but I remember seeing a portion of the Veil, the one with 51 Cygni in my 6” mak from a quarry in southern Wisconsin. Those were the days…

[telescope115]

That is so cool. We have a few members who have their own observatories
It has always been my dream to have my own , but, for now anyway, I will be happy if I can get a clean bill of health and get my strength back so I can get under the stars again.

[dragnet2]

I understand. It about killed me digging the footing for the pier, after moving the entire observatory about 300 miles to my new location. Btw, hope you get your heath/strength back.

Oh, and all my stuff is pretty dated, much of it bought used, and even the half inch mounting plates for the scope mount were from junk yard steel scrap and the observatory computer which controls the scope movements I found cheap at a Goodwill store. I look at it as a challenge to see what kind of images I can produce while working with what I have.

But if I ever win the lotto, I'll get a PlaneWave CDK 24 scope and have someone else install/set it up.☺

[telescope115]

That’s part of being an amateur astronomer. My accomplishments in the
do-it-yourself dept. are not as great, but it was fun. Many Moons ago I made an eyepiece case out of a micrometer storage box, and a wedge for my Quantum Maksutov by using Gary Seronik’s plans in S&T. I had bought the scope before the company folded, and they didn’t send me the case for the base or the wedge. I cobbled something together that I used for a number of years, and then I saw the plans in S&T.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

**Sea water kills triffids like the common cold kills martians.**

Only in the movie. The book ended with humans still trying to find a way to kill them.