MERSING Expeditions (2024) Info/Report

[rcj]

Yihan: great to see you have managed to bag a collection of photos this time around! Looking forward to more.
Wee Ern: Do share your Orion Nebula please!

[shirox]

wow yihan, beautiful images!

[rcj]

It was once again another dark sky trip to Teluk Sari in Mersing. Last week's clear weather certainly got everyone excited, anticipating a productive observing/imaging experience. The dates of 15-17 were chosen to coincide with the hope of seeing Comet Panstarrs. Since the comet was expected to be low, we were worried about the transparency at twilight around the western horizon, in order to see the comet clearly. At around 7:15PM onwards, the western sky was very clear, and the crescent moon showed a distinct accompanying earthshine effect. However, all 30 of us could not catch sight of the comet. It seemed to be dim, and some of us even thought it "disintegrated". The sky was surprisingly clear then, and we were anxious to start off our night of observing and imaging. Therefore nobody could have expected the chalets to have a power outage. Great clear skies, great company, and yeah, no power. Still we continued on with visual observations and the imaging guys waited for the power to come back.

At around 10PM, we were back in business, doing drift alignment, preparing for a list of objects to look/shoot, etc. Although the day was pre-dominantly clear with light passing clouds, the night we experienced were greeted with several spates of running cumulus all over. Nevertheless, most of us tried short exposures and managed to capture numerous objects, notably Rho Ophiuchus, Rosette, Thor's Helmet, Orion Nebula, some galaxies, and many more. Our resident audiophile, Elton, also setup a surround sound system that had two sound systems in sychronization with heavenly music throughout the night. Environment wise, frequency of mozzie attacks were kept to a minimum level, and there was little or no dew for both nights. Second night proved to be a challenge for imaging as there was frequent strong winds coming from the northwest. Warm winds were prevalent throughout the two nights.

I have uploaded the following photos on my web server for this trip, capturing the spirit of this March's expedition.

Many thanks again to those who helped drive attendees up, kept insects at bay, and the selection of drinks and snacks throughout the night!


Western horizon landscape shot with crescent moon during Friday twilight hour.


Dusk. Preparing for the night. Interestingly, the density of telescopes within the fixed usual area at the end was quite high this time-around, most of us had to be very careful moving around the area, but it was a fun-packed moment having everyone closer together.


The Squeeze. 4 full fledged imaging setups within. Yes, it is possible!


E210-PMX setup against the setting Orion constellation.


FSQ85ED ready for action on the stars.


Newtonian Astrograph with off-axis guiding being prepared for the night.


Dual-Borg astrophotographic setup for wide-field image captures. A very fine image of Eta Carinae resulted.


Another wide-field imaging setup using Tak FCT76.


Astro Buddies Mooey and Melcolm eager to test out their Borg 71FL and Mamiya Lens CCD setup.


Jay preparing his VMC200L setup for visual observing.


Wide-grinning Mike and his Tak FCT76 targeting Rosette and Rho Opiuchus Complex later.


Morning preliminary group shot (not everyone was included here, perhaps another attendee can post too)


Next Mersing trip -> 12-14 April 2013

[globe53]

and i was just about to post asking for the group photo ... lol

sweet , the next date is on my off weekend as well

[cataclysm]

Thanks to Remus for once again organising a spectacular trip! What a big turn out, with lots of setup and more guys doing imaging. For once I did feel congestion on the field, really brings out a starparty atmosphere, buzzing with activities! Below are some images of the night scenes, in particular guys in action with their instruments.



Mooey & Malcom with their array of widefield imaging optics


Yihan getting very productive by grabbing lots of images with his Mach 1 GTO , Stellarview refractor & Starshoot pro cam


Elton with his G11 & the twin small but mighty MiniBorg, Eta Carina looks spectacular captured from those instruments


Remus with his PMX & Epsilon 210. The gusty wind seems to be of no effect on this monstrous setup.


Jay with his all Vixen setup


Michael with his fabulous FCT76 & GM8, also aftering some widefield targets.


My Mach 1 GTO & Newtonian imaging setup

[ebeyonder]

Thanks all for your kind words about my images... obviously a lot a lot left to learn. This time I was just so happy to drift align properly (thanks to Kelvin and Lton for being patient with me this time revising it) and get decent exposures. I then became more of a image 'tourist' and took as many shots as possible. I think I didn't take dark frames or flats haha. Next time I will be less of a tourist and try for quality.

Thanks also for the write-up and pictures, Remus and Kelvin! Really very nice! And I am really, really looking forward to the next one. I will repair my Astrotrac by then!

[melcolmlee]

Haha nice photos from Yihan !

This has been a fruitful trip ! Just wanna share what we have done.















Lastly, This is a timelapse I made from the first night.

http://youtu.be/Gh4MkYQ4FIA

Hope you guys enjoy !

[shirox]

Beautiful!!!!!

[Enterprise]

Hi everyone, I think I had a really good time at Mersing with the fine company, food, music (!!!) and the open skies. Firstly a big shout out to Remus for inviting me along, I think the trip went very well, must have been a heckload of admin to do for it (even had a printout for everyone), kudos!

As for the comet, every time i see a picture of it, i feel like firing some photon torpedoes at it

It was my first time using my Vixen setup in such good skies (last time was still using my 6SE), the chance to do some photog was totally coincidental as my colleague had a lens he wasnt using and lent it to me to piggyback the VMC. Visually the VMC was very good, despite its not-so-good conditions, the panoptic 35mm really shines in dark skies, in Singapore u usually see juz red empty space around your objects. Made out many DSOs that I personally havent seen in Singapore on this trip. Thanks also to Yihan for lending me his 24mm panoptic which produced brilliant results as well. On to the photog, everything was done using DSLR unmodded with a 70-200mm lens, unguided and no drift alignment (the pier doesnt allow it apparently). So all 1 min or less exposures and stacked. Can't hold a candle to the pros that were with me on the trip, they had really impressive stuff and it was a joy to walk around seeing Matthew, Lton, Yihan, Kelvin and Remus's single exposures as they captured them, there was never a dull moment.

A big thank you to Matthew for lending me the extra counterweight and ballhead i needed to balance that huge lens! Ok enough words, here are some of my humble shots:

1. First up, wide angle of Orion's belt


2. Stacked images of Orion's Nebula M42


3. A poor attempt at horse head


4. Rho Ophicus cloud complex, a very popular target that night for us!


5. W centauri


6. An obligatory wide angle (11mm) of the milky way


7. Setup shots, a wide variety of gear was seen




8. Group shot taken just before we left, see you all again soon!


Cheers to a great trip!

[shirox]

Jay, those are very very nice images!!!