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Duncan Waldron

Duncan Waldron

@ozalba.bsky.social

430 followers 250 following 4.2K posts

Planetarium astronomer • Feckless dillettante • Scot-ish • Signatory to the Subject-Verb Agreement • Book: http://blurb.com/b/2211254-from… • Skinflint, First Class • Eukaryote • Slightly above just below average

http://blurb.com/b/2211254-from…

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Duncan Waldron @ozalba.bsky.social · 14h

Thanks Rami. If it stays clear tonight, I'll take it to a darker sky and compare.

Duncan Waldron @ozalba.bsky.social · 14h

More #Seestar first impressions:

• …Pluto, at m<14.5, was visible after 3-4 minutes. Took it to 6m for this image. Stars as faint as m=15 (according to Stellarium) are visible.
• Battery discharged from 100% to 27% over 3-4 hours.

13/n 🔭

A varied star field, with a tiny dot arrowed. The dot is Pluto.

Duncan Waldron @ozalba.bsky.social · 14h

More #Seestar first impressions:

• …or because "stacking failed". Either way, some of my images had ~50% dropped exposures, others hardly any. 50% failure rate, for a long exposure, might be significant.
• The magnitude limit, even in a short (1-2 min) exposure was impressive. Pluto…/

12/n 🔭

Duncan Waldron @ozalba.bsky.social · 14h

More #Seestar first impressions:

• Re the last point: if it's a dim object, you might need to expose for a minute or more before you can assess if the aiming is good.
• Some exposures will be discarded from the live-stacking process; this can be because trailed stars were detected, or…/

11/n 🔭

Duncan Waldron @ozalba.bsky.social · 14h

More #Seestar first impressions:

•…so you'll need to ensure a good patch of sky is visible (I fell foul of that: one of its recalibration targets was behind a corner of my house, and I had to move the tripod again).
• It's not always on-target; instead of the Horsehead, it was beside M42.

10/n 🔭

Duncan Waldron @ozalba.bsky.social · 14h

More first impressions:

• you can start in one location in your backyard, then move to another location for a different object, but it will need to recalibrate and find its way again (especially: assessing the effective horizon, if the horizontal alignment is different, 2nd time around), so…

9/n 🔭

Duncan Waldron @ozalba.bsky.social · 14h

First impressions?

• It's a seductive beast, capable of producing images almost straight out of the box (after a quick look at the manual, natch)
• It will be good for showing the brighter deep-sky objects to the public, quickly.
• Even in a suburban sky, with limiting mag ~4, it works.

8/n 🔭

Duncan Waldron @ozalba.bsky.social · 14h

This has been my first serious attempt to get something out of the #Seestar S50, apart from quick tests in the daytime, and an abortive, cloud-stopped-play, session 10 months ago. It's a work scope, so I'll be collating the images and preparing notes for my colleagues ASAP.

First impressions? 7/n 🔭

Duncan Waldron @ozalba.bsky.social · 15h

…select the Stargazing menu item again. The scope was still on the same observing field, so by starting the image-stacking again, it ignored the comet to concentrate on the stars. Worth exploring this option, if you're struggling to get a comet with a #Seestar. Now, where's the RAW files…? 6/n 🔭

Duncan Waldron @ozalba.bsky.social · 15h

I'm hoping I can access the RAW files for these comet images, so I can create a properly stacked final image. It seems that any attempt to track a moving object like a comet, with the #Seestar, is likely to fail. My approach was to centre on the comet, quit & return to the start menu, then…/ 5/n 🔭

A contrast-enhanced, cropped stack of both images from the previous post, approximately aligned on the comet. Signal-to-noise ratio now improved, at the expense of doubled stars and a still-trailed comet.

Duncan Waldron @ozalba.bsky.social · 15h

Two more attempts at C/2025 R2 (SWAN). The first, supposedly tracking the comet (while also presumably trying to stack the star field images), shows some non-uniform motion of the comet. The second, making no attempt to follow the comet, shows a more uniform comet trail plus sharp stars. 4/n 🔭

A green misty patch against the stars.

The same green misty patch, but this time showing a distinct motion trail.

Duncan Waldron @ozalba.bsky.social · 15h

LDN 1795; near Baade's Window, at the boundary of Sagittarius & Scorpius, it needs more time to properly show the contrast between the dark molecular cloud and the brightness of star clouds near the galactic centre, but a tree got in the way… Also, open cluster Messier 7. 3/n 🔭

A dark dusty cloud, one of the catalogue of Lynd's Dark Nebulae (LDN), in front of yellowish clouds of more distant stars.

A cluster of brighter stars stands out against more distant clouds of stars towards the galactic centre.

Duncan Waldron @ozalba.bsky.social · 16h

I let the camera run off 50, night before last, but there's nothing obvious. I'll have a harder look later though, just in case there's any tiddlers. It's been a long time since I tried meteor photography.

Duncan Waldron @ozalba.bsky.social · 18h

Large and Small Magellanic Clouds now, both of which are too large for the #Seestar S50 field of view; the S30 would be better. A measure of the relative brightness of LMC &SMC is that SMC had 4x exposure of LMC, for similar appearance in the image. 2/n 🔭

5-minute exposure of part of the LMC bar, roughly centred on star cluster NGC 1986.

20-minute exposure of the SMC; bright object near the top is star cluster NGC 330.

Stellarium screenshot of LMC with S50 FOV overlaid.

Stellarium screenshot of SMC with S50 FOV overlaid. Globular cluster 47 Tucanae is at lower right.

Duncan Waldron @ozalba.bsky.social · 20h

Another session with the #Seestar S50 last night. Getting a feel for what it can/can't do, but there's much to learn—including accessing/using the RAW files; maybe this weekend. Also need to test it in a dark sky, not suburban.

Here's 3x Orion neb w/ different exposures, and the Helix nebula. 1/n 🔭

1-minute exposure showing brighter parts of the Orion nebula, without burning out the centre; the Trapezium cluster remains visible.

6-minute exposure of Orion nebula; fainter areas coming into view, and image noise reduced, but centre now overexposed.

30-minute exposure of Orion nebula; more faint regions, and even less image noise, but dark background now has a blue cast.

45-minute exposure of the Helix nebula; the main helix shape is clearly visible, and the fainter arc to north-east is becoming visible.

Duncan Waldron @ozalba.bsky.social · 21h

So frustrating, especially with comet Lemmon available to you. Hope you get a glimpse soon.

Duncan Waldron @ozalba.bsky.social · 1d

I see what you did there. 👸

Duncan Waldron @ozalba.bsky.social · 1d

Good, good. I'll have access to the work scopes for another 2-3 years, so there's incentive for you :)

And the guest accommodation should be ready by then. It's a bit open the the elements atm 🤪

Duncan Waldron @ozalba.bsky.social · 1d

Would be good to give you a tour. I showed an Alaskan some of these things once; the Tarantula, in perfect seeing, was almost beyond words, and she was suitably impressed by omega Cen.

Come around this time of year, for Milky Way in early evening, then Crux, LMC & SMC in the early hours.

Duncan Waldron @ozalba.bsky.social · 2d

Thanks, Scary 😊 They turned out a lot better than my first attempt last December - 3 poor minutes on M42 and then cloud rolled in. Haven't managed (or found enthusiasm for it) since then.

Both of those comet pics are nice in their own way though.

Duncan Waldron @ozalba.bsky.social · 2d

Answer: a target that the telescope doesn't have trouble tracking. It kept failing on the comet, so I spent the evening having my first proper play with the Seestar 50 on more cooperative targets. 🔭

The Dumbbell Nebula, Messier 27. A greenish oval patch of light with orange fringes.

$Globular cluster 47 Tucanae (identified by the Seestar as Caldwell 106) - a cluster of millions of tightly packed stars, only a fraction of which are revealed in this image.$ NGC 253 - an almost edge-on spiral galaxy in the Sculptor constellation. A lot of dust is seen blocking the brighter regions of the galaxy.

NGC 253 - an almost edge-on spiral galaxy in the Sculptor constellation. A lot of dust is seen blocking the brighter regions of the galaxy.

The Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud - a tangled arrangement of gas and dust, bright in the centre, containing a rich cluster of stars; one of the largest star-forming regions in the Local Group of galaxies.

Duncan Waldron @ozalba.bsky.social · 2d

A glass of wine, a comet, and a smart telescope; what more could a person want? 🔭

Screenshot of Seestar app, while it gathers light from comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN). A small greenish fuzz is visible among the stars.

Duncan Waldron @ozalba.bsky.social · 2d

There's a couple of images on Spaceweather, when it was near M16 & 17, which give a good idea of how faint the tail is: spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload... and spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload... 🔭

Comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN) With M16 & M17

spaceweathergallery2.com

Duncan Waldron @ozalba.bsky.social · 3d

As Archimedes said: "Give me where I may stand, and I shall make a merry quip."

Duncan Waldron @ozalba.bsky.social · 3d

Haven't had many clear skies lately, but tonight obliged so I pointed a camera at comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN). 16 6-second exposures, ISO-1600, f2.8.

In the photo, SWAN is comparable in brightness to M22, but through 9x63B, it was more like M23 appears in the photo. 🔭

Comet SWAN appears as a green dot in the centre. Various Messier objects—open clusters, globular clusters, and nebulae—are circled. Star clouds of Sagittarius, Scutum, and Aquila can be seen in the lower half of the image.