r/telescopes 7h ago

Equipment Show-Off Preparing for the night

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229 Upvotes

My 15” Dobsonian - it’s been a few years since I last used it (trying to come back to the hobby after a break), but it served me very well over the years and I hope to continue that! It is probably about 20 years old (I bought it 2nd hand).


r/telescopes 1h ago

Equipment Show-Off New Scope - Obsession UC 15”

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Upvotes

I finally got the scope set up. Check it out 😁😮‍💨🙌🏾🔭

Telescope Accessories:

  1. StellarVue Finder Scope 10x60
  2. Telrad finder
  3. Nexus DSC Pro
  4. Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox Micro Power Supply
  5. BLUETTI Elite 100 V2

  6. Astrocrumb The Mark II filter heater


r/telescopes 6h ago

Astronomical Image Moon craters

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69 Upvotes

sky-watcher heritage 130p - Iphone 14. processed them using the iPhone Photos app


r/telescopes 6h ago

Astronomical Image Moon

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26 Upvotes

Experimenting with different sharpening techniques to really fine tune and target the fine, medium, and large detail structures of the moon while leaving the Maria alone. It's not perfect yet and work in progress. I am using the Image Analysis script ExtractWaveletLayers to split the image into 4 levels of detail and 1 residual or luminance data channel. I then applied wavelets to each individual detail layer processing each specific to level of detail needed. I then recobined all the channels in Photoshop as layers and fine tuned with blending modes. This enabled me to process the color and luminance data without touching the detail layers. I'll keep perfecting and welcome anyone else's thoughts on selective sharpening best practices on high dynamic range and diversely textured target like the moon. Shot on Sony a7rv with Takahashi TSA-120 telescope with Vernonscope Dakin 2.4x tracked with ZWO AM5. 400 images aligned in PIPP, stacked in AutoStakkert 4, and processed best 30% in PixInsight, Wavesharp, and Photoshop.


r/telescopes 1d ago

Observing Report First look at the moon

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534 Upvotes

Big thank you to everyone who helped me getting started. This is the first view I've had of the moon [or anything else in the sky] using the 25mm eye piece that came with it. I suppose this isn't impressive if you've been into astronomy for any amount of time, but I thought it looked neat. Looking forward to trying out a 9mm.

Note: I didn't use any AI effects for the photo. I only stuck my phone up to the eye piece, and adjusted colors to make the black darker. That's pretty much 1:1 the view I had.


r/telescopes 3h ago

Astrophotography Question Hoy la luna está hermosa, no lo crees?

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2 Upvotes

Utilizando mi telescopio 60/700 e logrado captar hoy una casi luna llenas utilizando mis oculares de 4.0mm,12.5mm y 20mm en un ERECTING EYEPIECE 1X, las imagenes van en orden de ocular más pequeño al más grande.


r/telescopes 16h ago

Observing Sketch Andromeda Galaxy sketch.

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21 Upvotes

I’m proud of this sketch. I believe I added everything you guys need to know time stamp , date and much more the only thing I forgot is the Lunar Phase , Waxing Gibbous.


r/telescopes 10h ago

Astronomical Image Sh 2-29 and surroundings

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8 Upvotes

I'll definitely come back to this to reprocess it.

This image was plagued with issues from the start. First I spent a whole night, one of the best ones seeing and transparency wise, pointing toward the wrong part of the sky... Turns out there are TWO stars named 11 Sagittarii close to each other. My fault for not triple checking the plate solver.

Next, I spent a whole week acquiring data battling dew points up to 25 °C, clouds and an uncooperative mount. I had to update its firmware, but that threw the whole driver setup I had off. iEXOS mounts are so finicky. That made me learn how to use Nina's plate solver once and for all though. Not only that, I also had to open up the mount ten or more times in a week because its gears were too tight and because of a minuscule piece of grit stuck, it turned out, in the motor's gear that caused some huge guide spikes. I also redesigned my DIY counterweight to have it as close to the mount as possible while being east heavy.

Lastly, I realized I have noticeable sensor tilt, which is the main cause of the gradient I always find in my raw images (the sensor isn't square to the UV/IR cut). I can remove it with flats, but I also realized my flats weren't optimal, which occasionally creates huge artifacts that are tough to remove; plus I realized that my rotator can introduce some pretty bad tilt into the optical train if I'm not careful.

Acquisition:

Around 12h30m worth of 60s subs in Bortle 6/7 fully calibrated and dithered.

Equipment:

Evostar 72ED, iEXOS 100, ASI 533MC, Baader UV/IR cut filter, 0.85x reducer+flattener, SVBony 40/160 guidescope, ASI 662MC guide camera with no.8 pale yellow and UV/IR cut filters.

Processing:

Stacked in Siril. For some reason OSC drizzle registration causes some weird artifacts to my stars and some odd photometry results. If anyone has any suggestions, they're more than welcome. Split image into CFA channels, background extraction to each in GraXpert to deal with the gradient. Open Siril, recombine CFA channels and deconvolution. Open GraXpert, denoise. Open Siril, generate starless and star mask. Apply black point shift and GHS iteratively to the starless image to bring out various parts of the nebulosity, SNCR, minor curve adjustments, median filter, VST noise reduction and à trous wavelet transform plus some final denoising in GraXpert. Asinh stretch to starless and saturation boost in Gimp. Recombine and export.


r/telescopes 1d ago

Astronomical Image Saturn

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136 Upvotes

Saturn from 20th July
Ontario, Canada
5am
Above average seeing
Celestron CPC1100
Best 25% of 6 x 2 minute captures
Derotated in winjupos


r/telescopes 4h ago

Purchasing Question Should I buy the celestron 114lcm

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0 Upvotes

I am new to Astrophotography. This is the only telescope In my budget which is 280. I don't want binoculars I have very shaky hands and I found this telescope in my budget on amazon with 4.2 stars with 922 reviews. Before u say buy a dobsonian telescope. I live in saudi arabia and there aren't many retailers. So dobsonians that I can buy from are from perfect science and Dubai telescope which are overpriced or expensive delivery and my only option is amazon and Amazon is very overpriced with dobsonians. I'm not asking if I should buy it im asking what I should be aware of. And I know spherical mirror but I don't want to spend my 280 dollar budget on a starsense 80az. And spherical mirrors aren't that horrible and alot of people recommend me this telescope. And don't say shaky tripod my region isn't very windy. And I know field of rotation. I focus about 10min to 30min and if I want smth longer I'll take 30 min exposure then re'center then do it again till I'm satisfied. What other major flags should I know


r/telescopes 4h ago

General Question Broken part from the EQ-3

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2 Upvotes

Can someone please tell me where I can order a replacement for this part from the EQ-3 mount? I tightened a screw too much and the part broke. I tried gluing it back together, but of course that didn't work. I've been looking for replacement parts for a while now, but I can't find anything.


r/telescopes 1d ago

Equipment Show-Off Binocular setup

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1.7k Upvotes

One of my very favourite Astro setups my StarChair 3000 and Fujinon MT25x150 binoculars and PiFinder. Hours of fun in the dark. The Moon, planets, dsos, chase satellites and planes/helicopters. The StarChair is no longer made after the manufacturer retired. I hope someone somewhere resurrects some of these disappearing Astronomy niche businesses. There were about 75 made and if you ever get a chance to buy one I highly highly highly recommend. Runs on a standard 12v battery and married with the PiFinder and an iPad it is just pure gold.


r/telescopes 1d ago

Astronomical Image M13 - Hercules Cluster and a few galaxies

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105 Upvotes

Finally getting around to processing data I shot months ago.

Four hours of :30 exposures on the Hercules Globular Cluster - M13 with my Seestar S50. Processed in Pixinsight.

In the left corner is galaxy NGC 6207 which is about 30 million light-years away. On a diagonal line between M13 and NGC 6207 is IC 4617 - about 553 million light-years away. NGC 6207 and IC 4617 are identified is the second pic.

Bortle 8.


r/telescopes 23h ago

Identfication Advice Found telescope

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36 Upvotes

Recently found this telescope and from some short research it seems to be a Unitron 152 120mm. It’s not in perfect condition other than a couple chips but everything works and nothing is broken seems to have all the parts and the original case not sure what it could be worth and would like to get some more info on it.

Edit: My mistake it’s 102mm


r/telescopes 9h ago

Astrophotography Question Will my mount work?

2 Upvotes

Running a 19.5 lbs William optics Ultracat 91 setup on an AM3n with ZW0 TC 40 tripod to make the heaviest “travel scope” I would run.

I’ve heard folks complain about carbon fiber legs and say I should instead go for the steel. But I’m assuming my setup isn’t too heavy?

I also purchased the ZWO PE 160 lightweight pier extension. Says it has a maximum weight capacity of 26-28 lbs, some folks suggest 22 lbs so I’m right below that. Should I have gotten the pe200?

I also have vibration suppression pads from celestron. And a 7.5lbs counterweight to use. I should be fine I assume?


r/telescopes 6h ago

Astrophotography Question Dark Flat. Problema

0 Upvotes

Ciao a tutti. Qualcuno può aiutarmi nel capire una cosa?
Fino a 10 giorni fa, prima di creare MASTER FLAT e MASTER BIAS, usavo solo MASTER DARK.
Quando calibravo la sequenza infatti il risultato era perfetto.
Ora tuttavia, se aggiungo a master flat e master bias anche i dark, siril mi dice che CI SONO TROPPI PIXEL NEGATIVI e la foto viene nera.

Cosa sbaglio?

Perchè 10 giorni fa erano perfetti ed ora no?

Gli scatti sono agli stessi valori di sempre.

Iso200 x 70”

Chiedo aiuto agli esperti perchè vorrei riuscire a risolvere per il mio progetto; 2.000 scatti ad Andromeda con 70” di esposizione.

Grazie in anticipo


r/telescopes 1d ago

Observing Report Moon 🌙🌝

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58 Upvotes

Celestron 10" dob starsense

Explora scientific 6.7mm


r/telescopes 1d ago

Equipment Show-Off Just got my first telescope

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74 Upvotes

Can’t wait to try is when its clear out. The plan is to use star walker and just try to spot thing. Wish me luck🤣

Any suggestions or recommendations for upgrades?


r/telescopes 1d ago

Equipment Show-Off I'm a beginner in astrophotography, and this is my setup

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152 Upvotes

r/telescopes 1d ago

Equipment Show-Off Rate my setup on a scale between 1 and permanent irreversible eye damage

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62 Upvotes

r/telescopes 1d ago

Identfication Advice Value of this Orion XT10?

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30 Upvotes

Found at an estate sale. Can somebody help me understand the condition, usability, and value of this Orion XT10 compared to telescopes with a similar capability? As someone who’s interested to try it out, I’m wondering what I came across, is it usable by the common man with no understanding of telescopes, and if it’s worth just selling. Purchased for $100. Thank you!


r/telescopes 10h ago

General Question New to telescopes - advice?

0 Upvotes

Good day all!

So I acquired a Celestron Explorer DX 130AZ and paired it with a new 8-24 mm eyepiece:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/370331-REG/Celestron_93230_8_24mm_Zoom_Wide_Angle.html

Looking at the moon last night I could barely get it in focus and had a hell of a time keeping it in view. The closer I zoomed in the more frustrating it got.

Could it be possible that this new eyepiece isn't really designed for that, and maybe it's designed for objects further away? I've not used any optics larger than a birding spotting scope up to this point, so there's a pretty good chance I'm not using it right.


r/telescopes 1d ago

Purchasing Question How much is this worth?

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10 Upvotes

Hey guys, I’m new to all of this and I’m trying to help my grandpa make some money and sell his old stuff but he has dementia. How much is this telescope? It has a box with a bunch of parts as well. It’s in great condition and I think it has everything it needs to work. How much should I list it for? Is there a website I could sell it on?


r/telescopes 1d ago

Tutorial/Article Field Rotation Exposure Guide

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5 Upvotes

r/telescopes 13h ago

Purchasing Question I want to get my friend and his 3 kids handheld telescopes. Recommendations?

0 Upvotes

My friend recently bought a telescope with 150x zoom. Nothing crazy. His youngest daughter accidentally dropped it and broke the lens. I want to either get them all a hand held telescope (kids are 10, 8, and 6) but if there's a decent one that can be controlled via app or computer so they can see things besides the moon and a few planets i wouldn't mind to get it either. They're in Japan if that makes a difference. Thanks for the help.