#20xbinoculars

[reflexletterpress]

Finally a clear night, although there’s too much gloppy snow around to drag the telescope out. 20x binox to the rescue! I think Venus is still at gibbous phase but at 20x you’re not gonna see that. Have an angelic choir style image of Hesperus the Evening Star instead. Thin crescent Moon with Crisium nicely outlined and some polar mountains catching the light. Bonus Earthshine for you, and Phi-3 Aquarii as the bright star to the left. And Ganymede-Jupiter-Io-Europa this evening, Callisto is in eclipse. So all of these were done using the Halide app and the 3x iPhone telephoto, amazingly it was pretty smooth sailing, nothing to gripe about. #iphoneastrophotography #lunarphotography #themoon #20xbinoculars #shallowskyastronomy #galileanmoons #jupiter #io #europa #ganymede #callisto #venus #eveningstar #hesperus #marecrisium #waxingcrescent #earthshine https://www.instagram.com/p/Cn0jTFYrQbl/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[mindhuestudio]

Finally a clear night, although there’s too much gloppy snow around to drag the telescope out. 20x binox to the rescue! I think Venus is still at gibbous phase but at 20x you’re not gonna see that. Have an angelic choir style image of Hesperus the Evening Star instead. Thin crescent Moon with Crisium nicely outlined and some polar mountains catching the light. Bonus Earthshine for you. And Ganymede-Jupiter-Io-Europa this evening, Callisto is in eclipse. So all of these were done using the Halide app and the 3x iPhone telephoto, amazingly it was pretty smooth sailing, nothing to gripe about. #iphoneastrophotography #lunarphotography #themoon #20xbinoculars #shallowskyastronomy #galileanmoons #jupiter #io #europa #ganymede #callisto #venus #eveningstar #hesperus #marecrisium #waxingcrescent #earthshine https://www.instagram.com/p/Cn0i8p3suuP/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[reflexletterpress]

Another telescope evening, plus some on-location with the binox. Got a great shot of Venus and Mercury together after traipsing around a couple blocks trying to find the horizon; that’s what the binoculars are best for, and their tripod is much lighter than the telescope. Plus, at 20x both planets fit in the image (Venus is at lower left). Later, when it got darker, I hit the backyard and got the Moon and Jupiter with the reflector. The new eyepiece protocol is working much better; I also discovered that if I lowered the equatorial axis to 0° then the right ascension and declination axes became default altitude and azimuth axes (last pic). That actually made it so much easier to find things that the wonky finder scope was not as much of a problem. Using the 25mm with the Barlow gave me 72x, which fit the Moon nicely in the eyepiece. Unfortunately, my eyeball could adjust to the shorter focal distance of the Barlow but the camera couldn’t, so the full-disk pic is straight 36x. Weirdly, the detail pics are 180x; the camera had no problem with the 10mm plus Barlow, but that focal distance is much tighter. There’s a good shot of the Theophilus/Cyrillus/Catherina trio, and details of what must be a maximum libration, as Mare Marginis, Smythii, Humboltianum and Australe are all very visible. Then Jupiter! Callisto-Europa-Ganymede-Jupiter-Io tonight, all very close but discernible in the 90x, which is where the telescope really does outperform the binox. I took a shot at 180x just for funsies, but there’s not much else to see in the photo. With my eye I can get hints of cloud bands, but the camera just doesn’t get that subtle. One problem with higher magnifications, the little jiggle when I press the screen to take the picture sometimes has unfortunate results. #iphoneastrophotography #lunarphotography #themoon #20xbinoculars #shallowskyastronomy #newtonianreflector #telescope #114mm #galileanmoons #jupiter #io #europa #ganymede #callisto #lunarlibration #theophiluscyrilluscatharina https://www.instagram.com/p/CmxkWnmriy0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[mindhuestudio]

Another telescope evening, plus some on-location with the binox. Got a great shot of Venus and Mercury together after traipsing around a couple blocks trying to find the horizon; that’s what the binoculars are best for, and their tripod is much lighter than the telescope. Plus, at 20x both planets fit in the image (Venus is at lower left). Later, when it got darker, I hit the backyard and got the Moon and Jupiter with the reflector. The new eyepiece protocol is working much better; I also discovered that if I lowered the equatorial axis to 0° then the right ascension and declination axes became default altitude and azimuth axes (last pic). That actually made it so much easier to find things that the wonky finder scope was not as much of a problem. Using the 25mm with the Barlow gave me 72x, which fit the Moon nicely in the eyepiece. Unfortunately, my eyeball could adjust to the shorter focal distance of the Barlow but the camera couldn’t, so the full-disk pic is straight 36x. Weirdly, the detail pics are 180x; the camera had no problem with the 10mm plus Barlow, but that focal distance is much tighter. There’s a good shot of the Theophilus/Cyrillus/Catherina trio, and details of what must be a maximum libration, as Mare Marginis, Smythii, Humboltianum and Australe are all very visible. Then Jupiter! Callisto-Europa-Ganymede-Jupiter-Io tonight, all very close but discernible in the 90x, which is where the telescope really does outperform the binox. I took a shot at 180x just for funsies, but there’s not much else to see in the photo. With my eye I can get hints of cloud bands, but the camera just doesn’t get that subtle. One problem with higher magnifications, the little jiggle when I press the screen to take the picture sometimes has unfortunate results. #iphoneastrophotography #lunarphotography #themoon #20xbinoculars #shallowskyastronomy #newtonianreflector #telescope #114mm #galileanmoons #jupiter #io #europa #ganymede #callisto #lunarlibration #theophiluscyrilluscatharina https://www.instagram.com/p/CmxkShPMk45/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[mindhuestudio]

The one big bonus that the binoculars have is that they’re very easy to set up and use, especially on a gusty, mostly-cloudy evening when a telescope would be at the mercy of the wind and there wouldn’t be a whole lot of visual opportunity anyway. So — we caught the mildly gibbous moon and Jupiter with retinue in-between banks of clouds and before the wind made everyone too chilly. Tonight’s lineup is Io-Jupiter-Ganymede-Europa-Callisto. #iphoneastrophotography #lunarphotography #themoon #20xbinoculars #shallowskyastronomy #galileanmoons #jupiter #io #europa #ganymede #callisto https://www.instagram.com/p/ClpR2NuMnjs/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[reflexletterpress]

The one big bonus that the binoculars have is that they’re very easy to set up and use, especially on a gusty, mostly-cloudy evening when a telescope would be at the mercy of the wind and there wouldn’t be a whole lot of visual opportunity anyway. So — we caught the mildly gibbous moon and Jupiter with retinue in-between banks of clouds and before the wind made everyone too chilly. Tonight’s lineup is Io-Jupiter-Ganymede-Europa-Callisto. #iphoneastrophotography #lunarphotography #themoon #20xbinoculars #shallowskyastronomy #galileanmoons #jupiter #io #europa #ganymede #callisto https://www.instagram.com/p/ClpRwnXL6lE/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[mindhuestudio]

At this point, we’ve settled on the 3x for point sources, 1x for larger objects. I didn’t bother posting the telephoto Moon this time, it was still mushy. Waning gibbous here this evening, crunchy terminator encroaching on the eastern maria. I did contemplate getting up to see the lunar eclipse on Tuesday morning, but it just didn’t happen. Everybody’s clustered around Jupiter tonight, Callisto is the only easily visible moon, with Io just barely discernible on the left of Jupiter’s disc. Callisto-Io-Jupiter is what you can see, with Ganymede-Europa in there somewhere. Europa’s shadow is transiting, which would be nice if I had a stronger scope. And speaking of point sources, the slow but steady movement of the celestial spheres has brought a new friend into view — Mars! It’s reasonably bright and noticeable, and definitely red to the naked eye, but getting a proper color balance in this context is pretty much un-do-able. 🤣 #iphoneastrophotography #lunarphotography #themoon #20xbinoculars #shallowskyastronomy #galileanmoons #jupiter #io #europa #ganymede #callisto #mars #waninggibbous https://www.instagram.com/p/Ckw5iZospCV/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[reflexletterpress]

At this point, we’ve settled on the 3x for point sources, 1x for larger objects. I didn’t bother posting the telephoto Moon this time, it was still mushy. Waning gibbous here this evening, crunchy terminator encroaching on the eastern maria. I did contemplate getting up to see the lunar eclipse on Tuesday morning, but it just didn’t happen. Everybody’s clustered around Jupiter tonight, Callisto is the only easily visible moon, with Io just barely discernible on the left of Jupiter’s disc. Callisto-Io-Jupiter is what you can see, with Ganymede-Europa in there somewhere. Europa’s shadow is transiting, which would be nice if I had a stronger scope. And speaking of point sources, the slow but steady movement of the celestial spheres has brought a new friend into view — Mars! It’s reasonably bright and noticeable, and definitely red to the naked eye, but getting a proper color balance in this context is pretty much un-do-able. 🤣 #iphoneastrophotography #lunarphotography #themoon #20xbinoculars #shallowskyastronomy #galileanmoons #jupiter #io #europa #ganymede #callisto #mars #waninggibbous https://www.instagram.com/p/Ckw5dL8uhFI/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=