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#dwarfii

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rdm<p>Last night was the last night of clear weather for a week or so for us, so, despite the full moon, we popped the Dwarves up on the roof.</p><p>First up let's look at what I got the <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DwarfII" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DwarfII</span></a> to do. I thought I'd revisit my old favourite, <a href="https://aus.social/tags/C63" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>C63</span></a> the <a href="https://aus.social/tags/HelixNebula" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>HelixNebula</span></a> . What I got surprised me greatly. </p><p>Here is the same scene - about a fortnight apart - one shot on the <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Dwarf3" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Dwarf3</span></a> and the other on the DwarfII. In both cases there is about 7 hours of exposure, at gain 80, and both are using a dualband <a href="https://aus.social/tags/OIII" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OIII</span></a> / <a href="https://aus.social/tags/HII" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>HII</span></a> filter. </p><p>Both were post processed in the <a href="https://aus.social/tags/StellarStudio" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>StellarStudio</span></a> and finished in <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Snapseed" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Snapseed</span></a> . </p><p>I am utterly amazed at just how good the Dwarf2 stands up. No, it is not as good as the Dwarf3, but it is still a solid image, and one I am very pleased with.</p><p><a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Astronomy</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/astrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>astrophotography</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Astrodon</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/SmartTelescope" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SmartTelescope</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/BackYardAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>BackYardAstronomy</span></a></p>
leece<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://eigenmagic.net/@buddhawilliams" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>buddhawilliams</span></a></span> well, I've had an exciting time with my clusterfudge. Firstly my final one just kept closing when I went to check on it, so, unlike the Titanic, was unsynchable. </p><p>So I quickly entered up another, well as quick as I could, on another tablet in case my first one wasn't stable because of the Beta Dwarf App. Phew, got that done.</p><p>Then my DwarfIII tried and tried to calibrate, but it looked like something was wrong with the focus, so <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://aus.social/@rdm" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>rdm</span></a></span> found the option to reset the 0 point fhe second target to my immense surprise. I had no idea it was THAT resilient!</p><p>Hope yours is going well too!</p><p>My Dwarf 2 has settled on the VDB 102 reflection nebula for much of the night and the Great Winter Solstice-ish ClusterFudge is underway!he second target to my immense surprise. I had no idea it was THAT resilient!</p><p>Hope yours is going well too!</p><p>My Dwarf 2 has settled on the VDB 102 reflection nebula for much of the night and the Great Winter Solstice-ish ClusterFudge is underway!</p><p><a href="https://aus.social/tags/astrodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>astrodon</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/LeecesClusterFudge" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>LeecesClusterFudge</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>astronomy</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/SmartTelescope" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SmartTelescope</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DwarfII" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DwarfII</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DwarfIII" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DwarfIII</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/dwarflab" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>dwarflab</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/SouthernHemisphereAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SouthernHemisphereAstronomy</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DrivewayAstrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DrivewayAstrophotography</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Astrophotography</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/BackYardAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>BackYardAstronomy</span></a></p>
rdm<p>In between the clouds, I snapped a shot of the <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Sun" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Sun</span></a> . Some impressive <a href="https://aus.social/tags/SunSpots" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SunSpots</span></a> visible today.</p><p><a href="https://aus.social/tags/DwarfII" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DwarfII</span></a> Baader Solar Continuum filter, Dwarf ND1e6 solar filter. 10x1/40s</p><p>Post processed in <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Snapseed" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Snapseed</span></a> </p><p><a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Astrodon</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Astronomy</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/astrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>astrophotography</span></a></p>
rdm<p>I am officially impressed.</p><p>As you all know, I own a bunch of Dwarflab telescopes along with <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://aus.social/@leece" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>leece</span></a></span> .</p><p>Two years ago, Dwarflab made the DwarfII available to the general public after a successful Kickstarter campaign. Last year, they released an updated version, the Dwarf3. </p><p>Since then they have been releasing updates to the Dwarf3's firmware roughly once a month. Cool.</p><p>What has impressed me more is that roughly every two or three months, they have been releasing many of the same updates for the DwarfII.</p><p>Today I noticed that DwarfII had an update pending - this time they added the post-processing and multi-session stacking features, giving it almost the same feature set as the newer telescope. </p><p>This level support for a discontinued product is amazing in this day and age, so kudos to Dwarflab!</p><p><a href="https://aus.social/tags/Dwarf3" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Dwarf3</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DwarfII" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DwarfII</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Dwarflab" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Dwarflab</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Astrophotography</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/SmartTelescope" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SmartTelescope</span></a></p>
rdm<p>Proof that you can take Star trails with a <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DwarfII" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DwarfII</span></a> !</p><p>Well, OK the photo was taken with an <a href="https://aus.social/tags/OlympusTG4" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OlympusTG4</span></a> - but it has a DwarfII in it, so that counts, right?</p><p>And yes, I know I have not cleaned up the residual noise.</p><p><a href="https://aus.social/tags/Startrails" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Startrails</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/photography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>photography</span></a></p>
leece<p>So continuing with my ramble about the Gingin trip we had to take some astrophotos. So you're sitting in the siding, next an open paddock as your photos stack, and suddenly a loud noise starts up and continues for quite some time. </p><p><a href="https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations/272712152" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">inaturalist.ala.org.au/observa</span><span class="invisible">tions/272712152</span></a></p><p>It sounded like a fox to me, I've never heard one that close before, so see what you think.</p><p>A couple of Gingin policemen helpfully drove over with all their spotties on high beam, but turned them off apologetically when they realised we were not the droids they were looking for and then got very interested, and received a quick course in astronomy.</p><p>So things can be quite eventful when you're just sitting around, getting those frames stacked.</p><p>Here's a couple of photos that <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://aus.social/@rdm" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>rdm</span></a></span> took of me on the last night, where we just set up behind our accomodation just to do a little. You can see I have Sandqvist 149 there, and the other photo I'm sharing with you today.</p><p>For your viewing pleasure I fed it into nova.astrometry.net so you can see what's what. But the simple answer is the Tarantula Nebula and friends. I accidentally stopped part way through - even the new long press required isn't foolproof, but with the new mega stack function I was able to start it again and squish the two sessions together so it turned out very nicely.</p><p><a href="https://aus.social/tags/DwarfII" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DwarfII</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DwarfIII" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DwarfIII</span></a> <br><a href="https://aus.social/tags/WesternAustralia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WesternAustralia</span></a> <br><a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Astrodon</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Astronomy</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Astrophotography</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/SouthernHemisphereAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SouthernHemisphereAstronomy</span></a></p>
leece<p>So to continue with highlights from our <a href="https://aus.social/tags/astrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>astrophotography</span></a> expedition to Gingin, another subject I had some fun with was Sandqvist 149. </p><p>Yes, I'm aware of its other, more popular name but let's let the discoverer have some kudos, huh?</p><p>This is a dark nebula, a star-blotting-out mass of dust that looks like a crack in the sky. You can see some stars in front of it which gives me a sense of three dimensionality to the usual flatness that I get of looking into the infinity of the night sky, and gives perhaps the sense that it is a dust cloud there, not a crack in reality.</p><p>The image on the left I took with the <a href="https://aus.social/tags/dwarfiii" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>dwarfiii</span></a> - 60 second exposure, with a gain of 80, and stacked 40 of them. </p><p>That's coming to us straight out of camera, and I'll do some post to it sometime. </p><p>The image on the right was taken with the <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DwarfII" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DwarfII</span></a> with shutter 15 and gain 80, for about 330 frames - and is the first time I've used a stellation mask.</p><p>I think that they look a bit silly - because stars don't look like that and it's a really artificial sort of prettiness that's a bit kitsch to me. Sorry to everyone who uses them - I mean they can look pretty, I admit...but for me they're usually meh.</p><p> I thought it would be funny to use one for a dark object.</p><p><a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Astrodon</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/AstroPhotograhy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>AstroPhotograhy</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/SouthernHemisphereAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SouthernHemisphereAstronomy</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DarkNebula" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DarkNebula</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Sandquist149" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Sandquist149</span></a></p>
rdm<p>Mission Control</p><p>2xDwarf2, 2xDwarf3 all in a dark sky reserve.</p><p><a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Astrodon</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>astronomy</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/astrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>astrophotography</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DwarfII" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DwarfII</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/dwarf3" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>dwarf3</span></a></p>
Stephan B. :verified:<p>Gestern Abend war der Himmel wieder ziemlich klar, so dass ich spontan nachgeschaut habe, von welchem Deep-Space-Objekt ich mal eine Aufnahme versuchen könnte. Bei meiner Recherche bin ich auf den Rosettennebel (Caldwell 49) gestoßen, in dessen Zentrum sich der offene Sternhaufen NGC 2244 (Caldwell 50) befindet.</p><p><a href="https://www.spacetaxi.de/blog/rosettennebel-caldwell-49/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">spacetaxi.de/blog/rosettennebe</span><span class="invisible">l-caldwell-49/</span></a></p><p><a href="https://bonn.social/tags/astrophoto" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>astrophoto</span></a> <a href="https://bonn.social/tags/Astrofotografie" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Astrofotografie</span></a> <a href="https://bonn.social/tags/caldwell49" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>caldwell49</span></a> <a href="https://bonn.social/tags/deepspace" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>deepspace</span></a> <a href="https://bonn.social/tags/dwarfii" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>dwarfii</span></a> <a href="https://bonn.social/tags/sanktaugustin" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>sanktaugustin</span></a> <a href="https://bonn.social/tags/blog" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>blog</span></a></p>
rdm<p>So last night I had a go at some fairly challenging targets.</p><p>This post is not about them, well it is, but it is really about what I did while my Dwarf3 was working on things that should really be left to a proper dark sky area, not the middle of suburbia.</p><p>I started the night with my Dwarf3 having a go at Barnard's Loop, using the wide angle lens. This is a massive structure, but very faint, and after 20 frames at 90s, I gave up, because the light pollution just killed any hope.</p><p>While that was running though, I pointed on of my DwarfIIs at the Tarantula Nebula, and got a solid two hours out of it before I crashed and shut everything down.</p><p>This is the result after some smoothing and enhancement in Google Photos.</p><p>480*15s@80</p><p><a href="https://aus.social/tags/astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>astronomy</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/astrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>astrophotography</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Astrodon</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DwarfII" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DwarfII</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/dwarf3" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>dwarf3</span></a></p>
rdm<p>Last night we (myself, <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://aus.social/@leece" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>leece</span></a></span> , and her mum) saw in the New Year with a star party for family and friends.</p><p>To make it as accessible as possible, we found a park in Como that is almost completely dark, despite being only a couple of kilometres from the CBD. Adjacent to this park is the Como Croquet Club, so we hired their clubhouse as a base of operations. </p><p>Two days before, we got a panicked message from the club, asking if their members could have a gathering of their own - which was fine with us, as long as they did not want to turn on the field lights. So we had twenty odd people turn up, along with about the same number of Croquet Club members. As it turns out, the son of one of my workmates played in high school, and got his family into playing a game, much to the delight of the rather elderly club members. </p><p>We started proceedings with a couple of shots of the sun and the current sunspots (Me: "This is what it looks like right now!" 16yo daughter of a work mate: "Well, actually it's what it looked like 18 minutes ago." Me: Applause), and then ate dinner while waiting for the sky to go dark. At 8pm, we got our Dwarf3s aligned, and synchronised their schedules for the night. Then we fired up the DwarfIIs, got them running on some ad-hoc targets, and called everyone out, including many of the Croquet Club members, who were also interested.</p><p>We opened with some spectacular views of the Orion Nebula, the Sculptor Galaxy, and the Horsehead Nebula. We also started on a shot the Helix Nebula. Most targets we scheduled 30 minutes for, before the Dwarf3s would move on to new targets. </p><p>Aiding us in our explanation of what was on display was <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://masto.ai/@ariaflame" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>ariaflame</span></a></span> , a physicist from Murdoch Uni, and a good friend. We talked about the way clusters and nebulae are formed, how stars aged, and just how far everything is. </p><p>Around 8:30, the last of our guests arrived - workmate and Perth Observatory volunteer (and former professional astronomer) Steve Ewing, who had with him a 10" traditional telescope. By about 9pm he had it up and running, and was showing off Saturn and Jupiter, which are too small for our smart telescopes to resolve meaningfully. Steve's enthusiastic explanations of planetary dynamics were a highlight of the evening.</p><p>Sadly, as 10pm rolled around the sprinkler systems on the oval started up, and we had to rapidly tear everything down before they reached us. As Leece said - "Rain stopped play."</p><p>Despite this, it seems that everyone enjoyed themselves, and we got some great images to share with everyone after.</p><p>And that is how we saw in 2025.</p><p><a href="https://aus.social/tags/astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>astronomy</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/StarParty" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>StarParty</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Astrodon</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/NYE2024" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NYE2024</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Astrophotography</span></a> #2025 <a href="https://aus.social/tags/dwarf3" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>dwarf3</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/dwarfII" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>dwarfII</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/SmartTelescope" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SmartTelescope</span></a></p>
rdm<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mastodon.online/@xylophilist" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>xylophilist</span></a></span> <br>I'm impressed you got some of the nebulosity coming out with a <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DwarfII" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DwarfII</span></a> ! Great work!</p>
Tim ☑️ 🔭🌃📷🚴🌳<p>Why do the skies have to be clearest when the main rig is down for repairs? Anyways, have Dwarf.ii, needs must...</p><p>7.5hr on M45, the Pleiades, last night. </p><p>EQ-mode worked, although I didn't notice the difference in the data anyway. Took two runs, giving 999*2 = 1998 files (half fits, half TIFF because the dwarf doesn't put timestamps in its filenames). Also took all day to process the stuff properly in PI.</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>astronomy</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/astrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>astrophotography</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/pleiades" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>pleiades</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/m45" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>m45</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/dwarfii" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>dwarfii</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/scotland" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>scotland</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/photography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>photography</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/nightsky" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>nightsky</span></a></p>
rdm<p>So Astrofest is done and dusted for another year. For the first time since the early 2000s (when we did model rocket displays) we were volunteers. This time we were running one of the telescope pods - the Smart Telescope pod, which, unlike the other pods, was not limited to a single target. We were all over the sky, making the most of the ease of control and versatility of these fun devices.</p><p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://aus.social/@leece" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>leece</span></a></span> and I had three DwarfIIs, there was a pair of Seestar S50s, a Unistellar EVScopeII, and even a Vaonis Vespera II (which is a work of art, as well as being a stunning telescope).</p><p>We even had someone doing it oldschool with a guide mount and a DSLR with a very beefy lens!</p><p>We started the afternoon with sun and moon viewing - made challenging with the sunlight on our screens. After, one of the S50s continued with the moon for the rest of the night, while the rest of us went on to other targets, including 47 Tucanae, the Cat's Paw Nebula, C65 (The Sculptor Galaxy), The Lagoon Nebula, the SMC, the LMC, and even a random star that someone had the coordinates for tattooed on their arm!</p><p>We were on our feet pretty much from 2:30 when we set up to 10:30 when we finally departed, and talked to the public almost non-stop from about 4pm. We answered questions about what these weird looking devices were, and why people were not looking through them, what they could do, how much they cost, and which were the best. This last one was a tough one, as we own one brand, and there was another brand in the same price bracket right next to us :) We were fair, though, and highlighted the pluses and minuses of each. And explaining, many times, that we were not selling them. </p><p>Early in the evening Leece did duck off to watch the Astrophotography competition awards, as she had been shortlisted. And, to her surprise, she had just sat down when they announced the winner for the Night Sky Friendly Lighting category - with her image of the rising galactic core over a resort near Bindoon taking the prize!</p><p>It was a fantastic, if exhausting experience, and one we look forward to repeating in Feb 2026. </p><p><a href="https://aus.social/tags/astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>astronomy</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/astrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>astrophotography</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/ScienceEducation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ScienceEducation</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrofest" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Astrofest</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/PerthWA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>PerthWA</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrofest" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Astrofest</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrofest2024" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Astrofest2024</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Bindoon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Bindoon</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DarkSkyAlliance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DarkSkyAlliance</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DwarfII" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DwarfII</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/SeeStarS50" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SeeStarS50</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Unistellar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Unistellar</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Vespera2" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Vespera2</span></a></p>
rdm<p>Orion (or Nyingarn in here Nyoongar lands) is starting to rise at a reasonable hour, so I thought I'd take another look at this classic target.</p><p>This time I threw on the OIII/Ha filter, and it seems that there is not much going on in the OIII band, because the end result is just about pure Ha.</p><p>DwarfII, OIII/Ha dual-band filter, 240x15s@gain 80. Post processed in Snapseed and Google Photos.</p><p><a href="https://aus.social/tags/Orion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Orion</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/OrionNebula" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OrionNebula</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Nebula" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Nebula</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/astrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>astrophotography</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>astronomy</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Astrodon</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DwarfII" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DwarfII</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Snapseed" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Snapseed</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/GooglePhotos" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>GooglePhotos</span></a></p>
rdm<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://aussie.zone/u/Gorgritch_umie_killa" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>Gorgritch_umie_killa</span></a></span> <br><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://aus.social/@leece" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>leece</span></a></span> has at least one photo in the exhibition!</p><p>And we'll be on the field with our <a href="https://aus.social/tags/dwarfii" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>dwarfii</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/SmartTelescope" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SmartTelescope</span></a> s. </p><p>The BOM promise the sky will clear!</p>
rdm<p>So we headed down to the beach in the hopes of the Kp index going up and granting us an <a href="https://aus.social/tags/aurora" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>aurora</span></a> but it is not playing ball tonight. Maybe tomorrow.</p><p>While waiting, though, we thought we'd run our <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DwarfII" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DwarfII</span></a> scopes. I targetted a little <a href="https://aus.social/tags/OpenCluster" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OpenCluster</span></a> called <a href="https://aus.social/tags/NGC6451" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NGC6451</span></a>, or The Tom Thumb cluster.</p><p>All sorts of fun stuff going on around it.</p><p><a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Astrodon</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Astronomy</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Astrophotography</span></a></p>
leece<p>Very early and cold but clear of smoke and clouds, <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Comet" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Comet</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/tsuchinshanatlas" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>tsuchinshanatlas</span></a> looking great before sunrise this morning in <a href="https://aus.social/tags/PerthWesternAustralia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>PerthWesternAustralia</span></a> </p><p>Straight out of camera for you this morning we have I think probably about 15 frames on the left and just one frame on the right. The frame on the right was taken later, just before it became a mug's game due to that naughty Sun coming up like a bully in the playground.</p><p>Shutter 5 gain 60 as I recall.</p><p><a href="https://aus.social/tags/DwarfII" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DwarfII</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/dwarf2" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>dwarf2</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>astronomy</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/astrodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>astrodon</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/astrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>astrophotography</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/SouthernHemisphereastronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SouthernHemisphereastronomy</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DrivewayAstrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DrivewayAstrophotography</span></a></p>
rdm<p>One of Australia's largest birds, the <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Australian" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Australian</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Pelican" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Pelican</span></a>, at <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Gallup" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Gallup</span></a>, <a href="https://aus.social/tags/PerthWesternAustralia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>PerthWesternAustralia</span></a> . </p><p>Shot on a <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DwarfII" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DwarfII</span></a> , and post-processed in <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Snapseed" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Snapseed</span></a>.</p><p><a href="https://aus.social/tags/Bird" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Bird</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Birdwatching" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Birdwatching</span></a></p>
rdm<p>So this morning we got up a while before dawn to see if C/2023 A3 Tsushinchan/ATLAS was going to play ball at last. Things were a bit dicey because of smoke from many, many prescribed burns going on, but we had a go anyway.</p><p>And we were rewarded! The comet is increasing in brightness (now at +5.1, a full magnitude brighter than at the start of last week), and moving away from the rising sun just enough to get in a set of 50 subframes before the sky gets too bright.</p><p>(This is all Southern Hemisphere-centric.) Because of the combined movements of the Earth and the comet, it will appear to move back towards the sun from our perspective after Wednesday, and then reappear in the evening towards the start of October. During this time it is expected to continue to brighten, possibly even becoming daylight visible, with peak visibility expected around October 14.</p><p><a href="https://aus.social/tags/Comet" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Comet</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/TsushinchanAtlas" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>TsushinchanAtlas</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/C2023a3" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>C2023a3</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Astrodon</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Astronomy</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Astrophotography</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/OrbitalMechanicsAreWeird" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OrbitalMechanicsAreWeird</span></a> </p><p><a href="https://aus.social/tags/DwarfII" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DwarfII</span></a> 50x8s@80 Postprocessed in <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Snapseed" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Snapseed</span></a> and <a href="https://aus.social/tags/GooglePhotos" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>GooglePhotos</span></a></p>