I don't think I had your email address. PM me your email address.Great Pics WeiXing. BTW can you email me the full res photos?
Have a nice day.
Obs report - Mersing overnight 3-4 May 2008
"The universe is composed mainly of hydrogen and ignorance." 
My last trip up to Mersing was sometime early last year which was a long time ago. Thanks to folks like Weixing and Richard who keep reminding me to go, I finally did take advantage of a break in my travel schedule to go. Swimmaniac and Starfinder were great company on the drive up (and back of course).
In a nutshell though, I was very glad to make the trip. It was certainly one of the best. I thought it would turn out mediocre or worse, a wash-out, but feel greatly rewarded for making the call to stay on (in spite of the temptation to call it a night and follow the rest back home to a comfy bed). Certainly many oohs and aahs after about 2.30am onwards. Nice to see the milky way once again, and especially under Starfinder's tutelage, could appreciate it much more ! But I still don't get the "dark horse", so maybe next time... :-)
The meteors were fun to see, especially the few which seemed to literally sail, and not fly, through the sky. Almost like drifting along. For those who've been through national service, it was like live firing at night where tracers don't just dart off, but sail or float off into the darkness, but this time of course, they were sailing in. I did try to catch them on "film", but not a single one graced any of my frames.
Here are two pictures of the milky way that I managed to capture. Took them with a 450D with a 10-22mm lens at 10mm, f/3.5, Raw mode, tracked on an LX75 mount. Live view on the 450D is really excellent - makes life so much simpler. "Milky Way 1" was 4min at ISO400, and "Milky Way 2" was 6min at ISO200. Thanks to Weixing for the help in setting up the camera parameters properly ! I touched up the photos in Photoshop : color balanced, curved, and adjusted contrast.
In a nutshell though, I was very glad to make the trip. It was certainly one of the best. I thought it would turn out mediocre or worse, a wash-out, but feel greatly rewarded for making the call to stay on (in spite of the temptation to call it a night and follow the rest back home to a comfy bed). Certainly many oohs and aahs after about 2.30am onwards. Nice to see the milky way once again, and especially under Starfinder's tutelage, could appreciate it much more ! But I still don't get the "dark horse", so maybe next time... :-)
The meteors were fun to see, especially the few which seemed to literally sail, and not fly, through the sky. Almost like drifting along. For those who've been through national service, it was like live firing at night where tracers don't just dart off, but sail or float off into the darkness, but this time of course, they were sailing in. I did try to catch them on "film", but not a single one graced any of my frames.
Here are two pictures of the milky way that I managed to capture. Took them with a 450D with a 10-22mm lens at 10mm, f/3.5, Raw mode, tracked on an LX75 mount. Live view on the 450D is really excellent - makes life so much simpler. "Milky Way 1" was 4min at ISO400, and "Milky Way 2" was 6min at ISO200. Thanks to Weixing for the help in setting up the camera parameters properly ! I touched up the photos in Photoshop : color balanced, curved, and adjusted contrast.
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starfinder
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Very very nice photos of the Milky Way, Joo Beng! I especially like the second one, with a very good framing of the foreground tropical coconut trees. Got to get that lens too!
I think it would be good to have it on the SingastroWiki page on Mersing!
It's amazing what can be taken nowadays with DSLRs in just 4-6 mins at low ISOs. I recall the days of film photography when I think this would not have been possible.
Regarding the Dark Horse, here is a Wikipedia article and close-up photo of it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Horse_%28astronomy%29
In your second photo, it is the large dark U-shaped patch just right of centre, at the 2 o'clock position from the brightest patch in the centre of the Milky Way.
And tks also Weixing for the group photos! Your camera flashes were as bright as Omega Centauri through the Portaball. Ha. I can still see them.
I think it would be good to have it on the SingastroWiki page on Mersing!
It's amazing what can be taken nowadays with DSLRs in just 4-6 mins at low ISOs. I recall the days of film photography when I think this would not have been possible.
Regarding the Dark Horse, here is a Wikipedia article and close-up photo of it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Horse_%28astronomy%29
In your second photo, it is the large dark U-shaped patch just right of centre, at the 2 o'clock position from the brightest patch in the centre of the Milky Way.
And tks also Weixing for the group photos! Your camera flashes were as bright as Omega Centauri through the Portaball. Ha. I can still see them.
![[smilie=embarrassed3.gif]](./images/smilies/embarrassed3.gif "embarrassed3")
Thanks Weixing. Yes, it's the EFS 10-22 USM. If I go again, can graduate to try some more challenging targets. Till then, have to keep scratching the many sandfly bites that my super repellant didn't seem to be able to keep away!! :-) But it's worth it lah :-Pweixing wrote:Hi,
WOW!! Nice, beautiful Milky Way! Great shot!!![[smilie=admire.gif]](./images/smilies/admire.gif "admire")
Have a nice day.
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Airconvent
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