A fun night with the 4.5" Starblast

[dark drum]

Date: 9/21/2024
Gear: Orion Starblast 4.5 tabletop dob + ZWO ASI120MC-S + Orion 2x Shorty Barlow (for the planet images only)
This little scope is an absolute beast for the size and price. If you're a beginner, I highly recommend this telescope to you. This was my first mineral moon image ever. Everything was stacked in AS!4 and processed in Registax6. I feel like I'm pretty happy with this mineral moon processed only in Registax but if you have any tips they are greatly appreciated.

here's a pic of the scope in case someone wants to see it

[vague elbow]

You stack in As! And process in registax?

[dark drum]

Yep!

[vague elbow]

How many frames on the planets?

[dark drum]

roughly 10,000 total for each of the planets

I forget how much I stacked but it was like 10% or 25%

@vague elbow

[vague elbow]

Sorry I don't like coffee

[dark drum]

bro just leave

you asked a question and I answered

such a jerk

[vague elbow]

💀

I'm dying rn

[dark drum]

good

[vague elbow]

🪰

Apologie gift

[dark drum]

https://tenor.com/view/baby-dead-chomp-fat-baby-gif-8520593905880901561

[vague elbow]

Interesting, must be such a pain in the booty to hand track

[dark drum]

you gotta do what you gotta do

it's way easier than hand tracking my 8" dob though

[vague elbow]

Do you take a minute (more or less) of video and then recenter?

Btw that Mineral moon is impressive!

Frikin' moldy

[dark drum]

no I take one continuous video and reposition the planet right before it drifts off screen

[dark drum]

thx

[vague elbow]

How loose is your dob💀

[dark drum]

wdym?

it works just fine

[vague elbow]

Mine is heavy so it's really tight

[dark drum]

you can loosen the bolts to make it turn easier

[vague elbow]

So when I move up and down it's a little jagged

[vague elbow]

Then it drifts

[dark drum]

looser turning actually makes hand tracking easier

[dark drum]

that's because of the earth's rotation bro 💀

[vague elbow]

NO

it like moves

Because it's loose so it just drifts until the scope is facing straight up

[dark drum]

that means your scope is unbalanced in its holder/mount

if your tube is held in place by a clamp ring like mine, you just loosen it a lot and slide it until it's balanced

[vague elbow]

Mine is a dovetail

[dark drum]

then either bolt it to different holes on the dovetail or attach counterweights to whichever end is too light

[vague elbow]

Too much work

It's probably fine

[dark drum]

hand tracking with an unbalanced scope is torture, just telling you now

[vague elbow]

I'll just keep it tight

[dark drum]

my 8" dob needs a counterweight to even be useable pointed at low altitudes

[vague elbow]

It's probably not even that tight, I haven't used it in a while

[dark drum]

that makes it so much harder 😭

[vague elbow]

Maybe I'm just forgetting how it feels

[brittle kindle]

wish my moon was this good

[solid flicker]

Good details on jupiter

[dark drum]

thanks :D