Southern Cross & Coalsack Nebula - Bedok

[PETER LOO]

31 May 2014, Canon 35 mm F2.0 Fixed Lens at F3.5. Cam = Canon 500D Filter Mod, ISO 400 3.0 mins X 19, focus slightly out, piggy back on TS-65, GPD2 Mount guided, one image cropped

Crux 31 May 2014 crop by Astro shots & stuff, on Flickr

Crux 31 May 2014 by Astro shots & stuff, on Flickr

[Sivakis]

Very nice!

Yeah, skies were quite clear here in the East last night, I saw the clear skies, I contemplated, I slept, too tired lol.

[PETER LOO]

Thanks Sivakis, do you stay around Bedok area ? Can join us

[antares2063]

he stays around Bedok reservoir i believe

[Sivakis]

he stays around Bedok reservoir i believe

/gasp!

Lol, antares is right, I do stay pretty near Bedok reservoir, Wawa is probably about 10 mins walk away :-P

[PETER LOO]

Thats nice, we all stay nearby, know who to look for lio

[wind]

Hi Peter and Sivakis, been following both your image threads and i myself keen to learn more about AP from the more experienced forum members. I am staying opposite the Reservoir too and would like to have an opportunity to join in your future shooting session so I can observe your setup and learn more about the equipment and know-how if you are kind enough to share. Thanks in advance! Rai

[antares2063]

Maybe can gather over kopi someday and astrochat..aha. I stay at bedok north, reservoir is bus-accessible for me...

[CuriousOrion7]

Hey guys! can I join as well? I am staying around sengkang area but really don't mind coming over Bedok for an astrochat. I have a beginner scope-Celestron 80eq and Sony SLT A-65(24.1mp) for beginner AP along with a upclose G@ celestron 10x50 bino for scanning the sky. Thus far I have taken simple shots of the moon/night sky(constellations) and just recently got a NexImage 5 Solar System imager. Can't wait to capture Saturn, mars and espcially Jupiter by this June as we would't be able to catch it after that.

This has been a wonderful learning journey thus far. However I get tired of screwing the equatorial mount and it gets a lil tight at times. And I also noticed that I can't piggback my dslr onto my scope at a degree lesser than 90 degrees due to the imbalance problem. Can I solve this with an extra counterweight? anyone else faced this issue before?

And as for tracking I bought a motor drive but I ain't good with screws and allen keys! Sometimes I wish I was a guy. haha. I would greatly appreciate any kind souls here willing to help me out with these issues. You could guide me and I can will do them myself. I just lack guidance

-Magdalene Uma Maheswari

[PETER LOO]

Hi Magdalene, may be you can post some picture of your set up at "Equipment Discussion" thread, we might be able to give some ideas for the piggy back arrangement etc, you & others are most welcomed to join us, may be can contact Jun Wei (Antares), he is the admin for WatsApp group "Astro Buddies", as for myself, i'm near retirement age, so, now slowly letting go of this hobby, (trying hard though) .. cheers