SN2011fe

Hi

The afternoon had heavy showers.
The evening brought a lovely splash of golden sunshine down the estuary. So I set the mount up in a fit of optimism. As soon as I had levelled and balanced the scope the sun went away. I de-mounted the scope and covered the mount in a tarp tout-sweet and made tea. At 21:00 the sky cleared again. The moon was beautiful and bright to the SSE. After aligning via the polar scope and drift. The clouds came over again so I covered the scope and sulked back in. Checking the clouds and rain several times just after 23:00 I decided to bring the kit in. Stepping out the door to find a lovely clear patch. So I: did a goto alignment; set the camera and got focus. I then blindly pointed the goto at M101 ready to make some shots to see if I could get anything in the wind and moonlight. I got 4 60s shots in between racing banks of clouds only one of which was not spoiled by the wind.

The result is not a pretty picture. But I’ve captured SN2011fe. For that I like it.


www.flickr.com/photos/steve_beaney/61353...es/l/in/photostream/


Clear skys
Steve

Hi Steve,
you nailed that supernova nicely, it looks brighter in your pic compared compared to when we saw it at BSP a week ago, comparing to the star directly opposite the galactic core (about 1\5th as far from the core). It was so bright that we weren't sure it was it!

Nice shot Steve - easy to pick out the SN there.

I have put a finders guide and a crude shot of my own on the IAA website here....

irishastro.org.uk/m101supernova.html

Paul.

Dave, Paul

Thanks, I wasn't sure I'd get anything with that much moon in the sky. I guess this shows the value of a well pacticed set-up routine

Steve