Any Other Insominiacs see the Eclipse?

[JestersHK]

I've been star gazing in a whole different level lately... I've been trying to get a good pic of the Andromeda galaxy as you can really see the spiral.

Here's a good one of the milky way. 

First time on a clear night it looked like space invaders up there as you can see all the satellites under NV

[jdmidwest]

Makes me want to go out and buy the NV.  What are you using there?  Just a standard monocular?  Those are pretty cheap now.  IR is where the night vision on hunting is going now.

[oneshot]

11 hours ago, jdmidwest said:

Makes me want to go out and buy the NV.  What are you using there?  Just a standard monocular?  Those are pretty cheap now.  IR is where the night vision on hunting is going now.

Me it is a no go anymore. Too many trees and lights.

oneshot

[JestersHK]

On 11/25/2021 at 8:25 PM, jdmidwest said:

Makes me want to go out and buy the NV.  What are you using there?  Just a standard monocular?  Those are pretty cheap now.  IR is where the night vision on hunting is going now.

I kind of jumped all in, although still not as crazy as some others in this game.   That's an OMNI 7 PVS14.  I'm running it paired up with a helmet mounted MH25 thermal for night time hunting. I've only been out 7 or 8 times so far and have a skunk and an unrecovered hog and a bunch of missed shots on hogs and yotes as I get used to shooting at night with IR laser. 

Having NV in dominant eye and thermal in the other gives me a good blend when chasing night time critters.  It's about the most fun you can have with your clothes on as I'm getting within 10 to 20 feet from some of these animals in the dark. 

 

[jdmidwest]

Wow, over 10 grand to shoot vermin.

I have been looking at some of the low end scopes that run less than 2g's.  Gotta have to control the varmints at the farm, been run over with yote's, bobcats, and foxes.  Gonna have to get rid of the big yellow dog and start running cable restraints again.  Lots cheaper.

[JestersHK]

22 minutes ago, jdmidwest said:

Wow, over 10 grand to shoot vermin.

I have been looking at some of the low end scopes that run less than 2g's.  Gotta have to control the varmints at the farm, been run over with yote's, bobcats, and foxes.  Gonna have to get rid of the big yellow dog and start running cable restraints again.  Lots cheaper.

Not quite that, but yes it can get crazy expensive real quick. 

For me being a nocturnal creature already it was about literally buying a superpower.  Being able to see in the dark, and track with thermal is a game changer.  

You can jump into some gen 2night vision for 2k. I unfortunately have friends who have expensive tastes... once you look through high end gear it ruins you...

It's truly buy once cry once, but for me as much as I'm out in the dark I'll use it way more than the guys who just LARP with it and it sits in their safe.  I've probably got close to 40 hours on my stuff already in just the past 2 months. 

Some guys by 40k boats or drop 5k on a set of golf clubs.  Or dare I say have as much in tackle as I got tied up in this.   It's all relative.  

If you want to take it for a spin I'd be happy to show ya, but fair warning that's how I got started in this mess 😆 

 

[jdmidwest]

I was impressed by the 3d view of the Milky Way.  How did you record that?

In retirement at the country place, I plan to spend more time viewing the heavens than chasing critters.  The new digital stuff clears out all of the ambient earth lights.  I had a customer last year with his own little observatory in the middle of town.  His computers took his images and enhanced them into Hubble style photos.  It was pretty nice, but he spends way more than the NV you have.

[JestersHK]

I just took my phone and held it up to the lens to capture that.   They make adapters that clip on, but yeah the first time I looked up on a cloudless night I was blown away...

The NV astrology stuff is ungodly expensive but truly breathtaking.  The first time I saw Andromeda I was very humbled.

 

[Al Agnew]

Haven't been on here for a bit, so didn't see this thread until now.  Mary and I were still out in Montana.  We didn't set an alarm to see the eclipse, but happened to wake up at the perfect time, about 30 minutes before the maximum.  Our hot tub is right outside the bedroom, so we just jumped in with our binoculars and watched it for that 30 minutes.  Air temp in the low 20s, water temp 103.  Can't beat that!