11 replies to this topic

[NucleusPhoto]

So next week Mars will be near the Pleiades.. I'm planning to have a go at shooting them together. By the 2nd or 3rd the moon will not be up yet during the (early) evening so that won't be an issue. 
Do you guys have any pointers? I was trying to find out if I'll be able to frame both mars & the pleiades with my 420mm scope with Telescopius, but it appears as though it doesn't show Mars. Will I be able to fit both in the frame with this scope? Or will I have to revert to my 70-200mm telephoto lens? 

 

Surely there must be others here who are planning the same thing? I would love to hear from you! 

[deansjc]

A great question.  So, I have the same scope with a 1.0 field flattener and Nikon crop sensor.  Stellarium shows that this is achievable, however the only way to find out is to give it a go and with a 420 mm, there will only be one evening where this is achievable.  I would start with SkyWatcher and have a 200 mm - 300 mm on standby for the same night, and the nights before and after.

 

Here is my forecast based on Stellarium.  Camera rotation will be important so that you can use the diagonal of the sensor!

 

Good luck.

Attached Thumbnails

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Edited by deansjc, 26 February 2021 - 06:15 PM.

[galacticinsomnia]

I shot Pleiades in a half moon when it was almost in the same field of view.

 

They are amatuerish, whatever that means, but regardless, I'm happy with them and can improve upon them later.
I used a canon t6s that has been full spectrum modded by lifepixel.  I believe I shot this with my SVbony 503 scope, but I didn't take notes.
There was an L2 Filter in the image train, but got a bit of star bloat anyway 
Iso 800, 4min Exposures, Dithered lights, no darks, or flats, and one edited in DSS and photoshop, and the other in Siril and photoshop.

Not sure what gear you will be using, I used a cem25p, with a really cheap windows 10 minipc that runs on 12v at the mount, running iOptron commander, PHD2, and APT to run the session.
This way I can camp out were it is warm and remote in with some freely available desktop sharing software to check on things.

What are you going to be shooting with ? 

 

 

[pejorde]

Thanks for the tip! I didn't know about this event. 

This is my image from last April of Venus and M45, taken with a Takahashi FS-60CB with 1.04x field flattener (374mm focal length) and Nikon D5300:

 

 

It seems that Mars will be not this close to M45, so a wider field of view may be required. I think a 200mm lens would frame them nicely.

 

Per Erik

[Kendahl]

Mars and the Pleiades would be framed nicely by a 200 mm lens on an APS-C DSLR. Make sure processing preserves Mars' color.

 

For accurate planning with Stellarium, you can set up your camera, under Sensors, and lenses, under Telescopes, in the Oculars dialog box (wrench icon).

[NucleusPhoto]

@Kendahl Thanks! I found what I needed, and I'll set up the M50 with the 70-200mm most likely.. (Though I think the 6D & Evostart 420mm would work as well..) Now lets hope we have clear skies 

[fishonkevin]

After reading this post I decided to check my Starry Night Pro.  The closest approach seems to be on March 3rd.  It frames nicely using either my Quantaray 300mm Mirror lens or the 200mm Canon L lens.  The camera angle @270* is parallel to the RA axis.  Hoping for clear skies that night. 

 

[Serial]

I shot it this last weekend with my DSLR and 200mm lens.  Untracked.  

 

Check it out here: https://www.cloudyni...and-mars-image/

[NucleusPhoto]

That's pretty cool Serial.. especially untracked.

I went out last night and captured some lights and darks.. unfortunately I did not have time for flats which.. is very unfortunate. I'll see if I can work the data to get something decent but.. I doubt it. 

Anyone else who got mars & the pleiades? 

[indio]

That's pretty cool Serial.. especially untracked.

I went out last night and captured some lights and darks.. unfortunately I did not have time for flats which.. is very unfortunate. I'll see if I can work the data to get something decent but.. I doubt it. 

Anyone else who got mars & the pleiades? 

If skies are clear tonight and tomorrow I plan on doing it .

[Kendahl]

Mars and the Pleiades on Monday night, March 1.

 

 

Unmodified Canon T3i with 28-105 zoom at 105 mm on iOptron iEQ45 Pro unguided.

15 subexposures, ISO 1600, f/4.5, 80 seconds. Flats and dark flats.

Converted everything to 16-bit TIFF files. Aligned and stacked.

 

It would have been nice to bring out the nebulosity in the Pleiades but the stretching required would have created a halo around Mars.

[Alen K]

Very nice. You could always use Mars to create a mask that is just around it (like a star mask, but only with Mars in it) and use that to protect it from any additional stretching required to reveal the nebulosity.