fwm891

I like to use https://www.12dstring.me.uk/fovcalc.php

you can use the ‘M’ or planet’s search but I like to go to Target / search and enter the object’s name ngc etc… it takes longer to display but photos are higher quality and the framing can be moved around and rotated (90 degree steps). Shorter fl’s and large sensors may not fill frame but the scale and frame size seems accurate.

eg: Attached a couple of images for my OO VX10 and AA 26C camera combo

FoV for Zenith Star 80 and 26C the white line shows the frame extent.

I hope that helps

Given you are under b3 skies then dslr and lens are a good option. I’m under b4 skies and usually use uv/ir cut filters. However. It will depend on the lenses used. The SW Adventurer has a weight limit and longer fl camera lenses can be heavy with their internal focusing mechanisms, where an Astro optic of similar spec will generally be lighter (physically). Should you change to an Astro camera at some stage camera lenses may not be adaptable, or accept filters…

Superb

Well, I’ll try again with ic443. Not tonight as the moon is virtually on top of it, probably wait until it’s well out of the way…

I know the main target tonight was IC443. I only got 3x 300s subs due to cloud but decided to process them anyway. But there's what almost (to me) looks like a trailed comet to the left of IC443. I've looked at different sky charts physical and on-line but nothing is shown in that area? The bright star (lower right) is Propus.

Help?

12 minutes ago, OICURMT said:

Might want to double check your update, C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is currently in Camelopardalis, directly above Polaris.

Confirmed via https://theskylive.com/c2022e3-info

Forecast is for Feb 6th 2023 circa 21.00 hrs (UK) 

Heads up....

Just updated the comet data in CdC and tracked C/2022 E3 (ZTF) for a few days and found these two almost on top of each other. East of NGC1499 (California nebula).

I too would look at going for a refractor with a shorter focal length. You'll see more stars and a lot of the neubulosity too...

I can't blame you with FLO but why the 9.25 ? if you can give a reason for going with this scope it will make other recommendations a little easier...

10 hours ago, bosun21 said:

I have no idea how he’s making them, or to what design. I trust his woodworking and mechanical skills as he has sold about 50 of them and there’s been no complaints. I have already bought my 1 meter spirt level. Which camera are you using with your dobsonian? And are you using a coma corrector? Thanks 

I've been using a Nikon D5100 with a Baader MPCC Mk 3 coma corrector mainly becuse it's a light weight (physical) body and I have a intervalometer with it to take a number of or single frames. I've yet to try with a astro camera. The small chips on mine I'm guessing will make object location a pain. At least ther nikon is DX/APS-C format so finding things isn't too bad.

Gap in clouds job this morning. Single 2 min sub at circa 05:20

Altair C26 and 102 Ascent ED refractor

4 hours ago, bosun21 said:

Great work 👍 I’m waiting for David Lukehurst to finish my EQ platform for my new 12” dobsonian. It should be sometime in February. I am now going to put some thought into the how I can PA align accurate enough to take photos. Thanks you have given me some inspiration.

Not sure how David is building his EQ platforms. I've made my south end pivot on a big ball bearing the rear edge of its support I've cut to my latitude angle (52°N) and glued a side piece/fence to act as a shoulder. I have a low power green laser that I tape against the shoulder piece/fence. I do a rough ish eyeball to get my baseboard pointing North, then I level east/west and finally north/south with a bubble level. Then I switch on the laser and make finer adjustments until I get the laser pointing at my guess to the rotational pole. There may be some iterations to the levelling depending on the ground level I'm working off.

A previous version held a raci finder in a little cradle but I can't get down that low these days to look through it. The laser's much easier to see without breaking your neck! Make sure you can't see any aircraft when using the laser.

Francis

I'm definitely liking the smaller stars...

Just a test image with my Altair 102 Ascent refractor and a new Altair 26C camera. 5x 300s subs done to test the spacing between the 26C and the Baader MPCC MkIII coma corrector. Stars in the corners all facing out radially so I need to modify the spacing slightly. Just need some clear stuff again to do it!

2 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

Cheers again, I started removing the stars from the subs at 9:30am. It’s still churning away at the 250 subs and I’ve a fairly decent PC! Should be done by tomorrow afternoon sometime.  

I think there are 3 versions of the AI module for star removal, the largest file is the slowest but it makes the best repairs to the background image once stars are gone. The smallest file is fastest and good if your denoising  the background image. The middle one is a halfway house version…

Set the alarm for this one.

Comprises 29x 60 second subs with an Altair 102 Ascent ED refractor, ASI585MC camera (gain 253) Baader MPCC MkIII coma corrector and Baader UV/IR cut filter on an iOptron CEM60 EQ mount.

Subs were guided on the star background and the comet alignment done later in PI. The nucleus is mow quite bright and caused some problems with its removal from the stars only  (good as StarXTerminator is it couldn't remove the comets coma for the stars only image).

I saved the stars plus coma image as a tiff file and transported that into PS where I used the colour range selection tool to gradually fill selections with background colour until I had a selection of the whole background minus stars filled with the background colour.

Back in PI I added some saturation to the star colour and added the comet and stars together with pixelmath.

Added single sub with streaker....

I hope you like

Just closed up the ops after imaging the comet (C/2022 E3) and now transferring all the subs from laptop to PC...

Shot some 'normal' stuff whilst waiting for the comet to get over our neighbours roof line (NGC2264, IC434, M51...) looks like a day of processing 😃

Clear skies

@rnobleeddyTake a look at the Altair astro refractors 

Thanks @Tomatobro I should have read the blurb rather than just downloading and using!

As an aside I've just done some processing with starXTerminator and used debayer'd image files (comet aligned) it will remove the stars from these files but the star image content is useless. Comet content however is fine.

I've been playing with StarXTerminator on some comet subs but does anyone know what the 3 different AI selections do/are for?

Thanks for looking

16 minutes ago, The Lazy Astronomer said:

I like this object, the tadpoles are very interesting structures, (shooting some SII on this as l type in fact), but that must be a typo, no? Surely this is not just 28 minutes of data?! 

Yes. Just checked the file folder. 16 were captured but 2 were discarded. one for heavy sat trails the other poor tracking.

Part of my first real outing with the 585MC. Great camera, very sensitive.

Happily if you gave a 100 different APer's the same set of files, the same software to process them with and even the order the processing should take. You'll still have 100 different images to view...

Having for years having had to produce sets of images and a signed piece of paper to say what I'd done, I now have great pleasure (and some frustration) in no longer having to justify the outcome. If I get something I like I keep it . If not it's worked on till I'm happy or discarded.

If stars are the 'stars' of the composition then I make them the stars. If the backdrop is the feature then stars become less relevant and are treated as such.

I enjoy both the capture and the following drama.

+1 for RGGB

Though the first one I had would only debayer with a BGGR Pattern otherwise colours we’re mixed up.

Imaged on the night of 16/17th January comprises 14x 120 second subs using:

Altair 102 Ascent ED refractor and ASI 585 MC camera, IDAS NBZ filter and Baader MPCC MKIII coma corrector.

Processed in PI

Thanks for looking

M1 or the Crab nebula in Taurus.

M1 was imaged on the night 16/17th January 2023 whilst waiting for comet C/2022 E3 to clear a neighbour's roof line.

Imaged as two sessions one filtered with a UV/IR cut filter (Baader) the other with an IDAS NBZ filter and the two combined.

UV/IR 23x 120 second subs, NBZ 12x 120 second subs (more were shot but thin cloud spoilt them)

Both sets processed in PI and combined with pixel math.

Altair 102 Ascent ED refractor, ASI 585 MC camera IDAS NBZ and BAADER UV/IR filters, Baader MPCC Mk III coma corrector all on an iOptron CEM60 mount.

Thanks for looking