Graeme

The Medusa Nebula is a dim target and sitting as it does low to the south above the Medway Towns light pollution but it was a good test for what I can see in that part of the sky. The Medusa Nebula is a planetary nebula in the constellation of Gemini. I managed five hours of LRGB exposures which I whittled down to four after blinking out the wind gusts and CGX guiding quirks. All at 240 seconds, Captured in NINA. Processed in PixInsight.

Graeme

Here's my Hyades and Pleiades. I chose this target because initially, in my head after playing about in Stellarium, I could fit in the adjacent Uranus and comet 144P/Kushida, which altogether would have made an excellent image. Unfortunately, the reality of the field of view decided otherwise!

I used my 18mm-55mm Canon lens on the front of my ASI294MC Pro fixed onto the top of the 9.25mm SCT. Last night was the first time in ages we had a clear sky in the South East close to a new Moon. But with 20mph winds I decided to go for unguided 20 second exposures with the hope of capturing an adequate percentage of good frames. I set up in NINA and captured nearly 300 frames. After blinking through them in PixInsight to take out the drifting clouds I put 142 into WBPP. It's been so long that I've forgotten how to do this astrophotography thing because I forgot to take some Flat frames and took the dew shield off when I was done without thinking! I haven't got any 20 second Darks either so there's a faint hint of the 294 starburst at the top right. The lack of Flats left a very uneven vignetted background with what looked like a central blob of lens condensation. So I used Starnet2 to produce a clone star mask and starless image. I ramped up the contrast on the starless image with a Histogram Transformation and clone stamped out the M45 nebulosity, then used it as a mask on the starmask version to protect the stars and nebulosity while toning down the unwanted artifacts.   

A fun challenge!

Graeme

Jupiter 28/11/23 with Europa shadow transit. Europa off the Western limb. Io further to the West. 

30sec Red 30sec Green 30sec Blue. 25% stacked in AS3. LRGB Combine in PI. Looks grossly over sampled but capturing the event was a craic!

Graeme

Sorry, 1900mm internally, 2100mm externally. I forgot the 100mm clearance on the end of the 800mm radius!

3m x 2m would be a bit tight for two telescopes and space for the desk and a set of drawers is really useful if you have it.

Graeme

Thanks Aleixandrus

I'm glad you like it! I'm pretty chuffed with it myself! 

The Observatory is 3m x 1.9m externally and the pier is in the centre of an 800mm radius at the far end. Well to be precise, it's 100mm off centre to allow space for the flat frames light box when the telescope is parked.

Graeme

Well I finally got round to installing the roof motor:

This is Pickering's Triangle from the Veil Supernova remanent in Cygnus.

Captured over three nights 09, 11 and 13 September, each night from astronomical dusk until the humidity topped 95%. 

L x 29, R x 12, G x 13, B x 13 at 5 minutes each. 5.5 hours integration, my longest ever! Captured with NINA/PHD2. Processed in Pixinsight.

Cheers

Graeme

That's a lovely image.

I did the M31 core recently but yours, to the side and including M32 is a much nicer composition.

Graeme

This is Caldwell 12 - The Fireworks Galaxy. Which is in Cygnus but it sits on the boundary with Cepheus. Its distance from Earth is about 25.2 million light-years. Ten supernovae have been observed in this galaxy in the 20th and early 21st century. This is about ten times the rate observed in our Milky Way galaxy, even though the Milky Way has twice as many stars. For this reason, it is known as the "Fireworks Galaxy".

This image comprises 42 x 4 minute LRGB (21L 7R 7G 7B) exposures giving a total integration of just under 3 hours over three nights as I struggled with 95% humidity playing havoc with my USB connections!

Block paving reinstated around the 4"x4"s and sanded. I was two brown blocks short so I used grey ones to finish off. Keep it quiet for me and I don't suppose anyone will notice! 😀

So that's about it then, other than some final tweaking, there's always some tweaking to do! I need to put the roof motor on, but I'm ok as it is for now. I had a couple of Arduino ideas and they're both completed on the breadboard, I need to do some soldering to get them going. The flat frame light box could do with a refurb. I've been using the cardboard and duct tape version for a couple of years now! I think I'll take out the GU10 downlighter above the desk that's switched from the door. The LEDs when they're outputting white are good enough for back lighting.  I'll  put in something a bit brighter for when something a bit brighter is needed. I have the solar fan and I've put the 230V fan in but it's plugged into a socket! It needs to be controlled automatically and I need to put the fan heater in sometime before winter! 

Lessons learnt? Yeah, I got loads of them! First of all, don't ever build an observatory on existing block paving. Every time it rains the wet soaks in between the bricks, like it's meant to do and keeps the soil under the floor nice and moist! Yeah, I know, there should be a damp course membrane across the whole area not just under the 4"x2"s! Or better still, I should have taken up the block paving and built a wall all the way round on a concrete ring beam. Now I've got to seal the blocks all the way round in a 3' wide path.

Spend lots of time looking at other observatory builds and thinking about them. Spend lots of time looking at your own build and thinking about it as you go.

Put the air bricks in the base level as you're building it! It's a lot harder to cut them in afterwards.

Measure twice, cut once. Yeah, we all know that one, but it's so true.

Aim for perfection, accept 5mm out, anymore than that, do it again.

Get a chop saw before you start cutting any timber. It will be the best tool you ever bought.

Don't rush it as you get near completion. That last timber that's different from the rest that you thought nobody would notice will annoy you every time you see it. That last brick block that's a different colour from the rest that you thought nobody would notice will annoy you every time you see it. 

I'm sure there's more but that's me done. If you're thinking of building an observatory, of any type, to save lugging your stuff out and setting up every session, then do it. It's the best astronomy decision I have ever made.

Thanks for following along. It's been emotional.

Regards

Graeme

My ROR has a line of keypad controlled RGB LEDs down one side. And I have a GU10 over the desk that's switched from the door. But I might change that to something brighter because the LEDs are bright enough when imaging and something brighter when required would be useful sometimes.

Graeme

Cheers GTom

Yes, the 9.25 SCT has a 6.3 focal reducer on it.

Looks like my signature is a bit out of date now!

Graeme

Here's the First Light image from my new ASI1600MM, Messier 31, The Andromeda Galaxy, or rather the core of Messier 31, The Andromeda Galaxy. Captured 19/08/23.

It's also the first LRGB image I've captured or processed.

After the observatory project was finished I discovered my CGX was unable to guide properly. So it's also the first image I've captured with the newly re-greased worm drives.

With my mount uncertainties, I chose the core of M31 as it's viewable from astronomical dusk to dawn without requiring a meridian flip. I set up a simple NINA sequence with no dithering, capturing 4 x luminance, 4 x red, 4 x green and 4 x blue at 180 seconds, repeating until astronomical dawn. I kept it a bit too simple, I forgot to add a line for the auto focus routine!

The newly re-greased mount took a couple of hours of calibrating and guiding assistant tweaking before it was happy to go. The guiding was poor all night, caused either by my sickly mount or the sickly seeing sitting directly under the jet stream as southern England was on the 19th. Or a combination of both.

Processed after watching The Lazy Geek's My Simple LRGB Processing Workflow, an excellent tutorial.

Comments welcome:

For a first LRGB attempt with a dodgy mount, I'm not too unhappy with it!

Graeme

The floor is all done.

Anybody want to buy a tripod?

I bought a sheet of 2mm rubber and cut an 8" hole in it. Makes a nice seal!

I bought a cheap solar powered extract fan to suck out the hot air when the sun shines.

Does the job!

Wilson the apprentice astronomer Cocker likes it!

So here's the inside. There's two runs of mini trunking. One for 230V and one for 12V and comms. The big white box is my cardboard and duct tape flat frame box. It's mounted on hinges to swing out to the telescope when in the parked position. It's 12V supply comes from variable output on the Pegasus PPB sitting on top of the pier, so that I can control it from within NINA. The small white box will house a DHT11 temperature and humidity sensor. I need to drill some holes in it! The medium box will house two Arduinos and two relays. The two conduits to the right are for the security camera and the supply to the roof motor. The low level shelf hides cables and provides somewhere for the 12V bench supply.  

Also comes in red!

On 05/07/2023 at 18:30, ArmyAirForce said:

By the end of the afternoon, I'd partially filled fifteen bulk bags with around 3~400Kg in each to be within the lifting ability of my Dodge, without overloading the rear springs. It was really tiring, so assuming I can move tomorrow, I'll get the Dodge out again and start transporting it to the back garden.

How's your back?

On 03/07/2023 at 08:23, michael8554 said:

Hi Graeme

I could ask lots of questions like:

How many steps did it take to Cal RA ?

What did you set the guide speed to, both RA and Dec the same ?

What driver?

But best to upload a link to the PHD2  GuideLog, make sure the date and time in the file name are relevant.

Michael

Thanks Michael

Ask away!

So the calibration did about 12-15 steps (from memory!) East and West Can't remember South, then it was failing after 50-60 steps North.

The mount guide speed was 0.85,  RA and Dec, auto detected from the settings in CPWI. 

ASCOM driver.

The PHD logs were uploaded on the same night. The first time the advice was to upgrade to download PHD2 2.6.11dev6 and run the Calibration Assistant. The second attempt had the same symptoms and the logs were uploaded. The ever helpful and knowledgeable Bruce advised that there is a serious problem with the mount. This is the graph he produced from the logs:

As advised, I have checked for mechanical binding, cable snags and OTA imbalance. 

This leaves Dec drive motor or related firmware problems.

I did a Star Test and the image clearly shows star Ts instead of star crosses. 

So the next question is, what is the next step to take to try and find the fault? Or does anyone know of a company in southern England that offers a mount maintenance service? 

Cheers

Graeme

On 26/06/2023 at 23:57, ArmyAirForce said:

I put some 4 inch wooden edging along the far side of the railway to form an edge for the ballast.

 

As long as it doesn't cause a tripping hazard in the 4ft!

My CGX has been in the garage for 10 months. I've just put it on my nice new pier only to discover that whilst it slews ok, it is unable to carry out movements to the North on the Dec axis when calibrating in PHD2. I have checked all of the recommendations from the PHD2 Google Groups which leaves me with a suspected problematic mount.

I tried releasing the clutches on the Dec axis and slowly rotating it to see if I could feel anything untoward but it feels ok.

Could anyone suggest please the next set of steps to take to try and find the fault?

Or does anyone know of a company in southern England that offers a mount maintenance service?

It's a bit frustrating to build a ROR and then to find your mount doesn't work!

Thanks

Regards

Graeme

Cheers Ady. 

Mine's in the post! The initial inertia to open my roof is a bit high due to the friction of the side timbers, so I hope the motor can cope. I might have to grease up my moving parts!

Graeme

On 22/06/2023 at 00:03, adyj1 said:

I followed astrobloke-and-joe's ROR guide (with a few tweaks) with this motor from Amazon (currently £140,got it pre-pandemic for just over £100)

CO-Z Electronic Gate Opener Kit Automatic Sliding Gate Opener for Gate Up to 600KG 200W Gate Opener Motor with 8 Gear Racks and Remote Controls (200W)

 

Cheers Adyj, just ordered mine!

Graeme

17 hours ago, Starflyer said:

I use a 174 with an OAG at 1200fl and have plenty of stars.  I get some vignetting with the QHY OAG prism, but I wanted the sensitivity, large(ish) pixels and large sensor.

Thanks for that. I'm leaning towards the 174 but I'll try my 224 first. 

Mind you, FLO have a 220 on sale now! Starting to loose sight of the forest because of all the trees! 😁

Graeme