Grants Astronomy Review Blog

 Hi gang.  So the last couple of weeks - the end of August and beginning of September between the smoky skies here in western Canada and between imaging Jupiter and Saturn once they are high enough in sky usually around 2:30am in the early morning it is time to start imaging our 2 farthest planets in our solar system.  There are several challenges with imaging both of these dim planets.  Uranus is a bit easier to capture than Neptune since it is a bit brighter.  Due to our sky conditions (smoke and lots of haze in the sky and light pollution) right now it is impossible to see either planet with your eyes are there are only a few visible stars in these conditions in the area of either of these planets.  So to solve these issues I use a Celestron computerized alt-az goto tracking mount to locate these planets.  First you need to use either 3 star skyalign (the most accurate mode) or planetary align on one of the bright planets like Jupiter or Saturn to c...

Hi gang.  Well the weather again here in western Canada is really bad again nothing but cloudy skies, rain and smoke!  So being bored and all I have decided so compile a list of my favorite planetary images so far I have got from my Svbony SV305C camera I just purchased in July (early last month).  I have had it out now about 5 times outside a few hours at time for each session imaging usually some DSOs first on my small Orion 80mm goscope tesitng various settings and integrations.  The later at night at the planets come up just above the houses I switch out to my 102mm Mak and start imaging Saturn, Neptune (if visible), and Jupiter.  I also managed to just get Venus when I first purchased this new camera just when it was starting to get very low on the horizon at twtlight before I lost total visibility below the houses.  Anyways here is my list of images so far enjoy! The Planets - Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Neptune! Venus-Super Enlarged at 25 degrees Satu...

Hello again fellow astronomers.  I finally got to see Jupiter for the very first time this year with my new Svbony SV305C Camera I just purchased using my Celestron 102mm Astrofi Mak telescope! The smoke from fires is finally clearing up here. I live in a city with major light pollution in the bortle 7/8but still with the smoke going away  seeing is definitely getting a bit better.  I have taken out the new Svbony SV305C camera a few more times now since my initial first light testing with a few DSOs and have done some more imaging of Saturn. There is some good and not so good with this camera.  Since the SV305C is a new camera from Svbony with a new Sony sensor there is of course a newly developed camera driver for it which has some issues.  The new camera driver definitely has a few small issues  Svbony needs to work out.  For example, the camera driver from time to time especially when changing resolutions will sometimes hang while capturing frames....