heathenwoods

I've got an SV105 and use it (occasionally - keep meaning to upgrade!) with SharpCap 4.0.9268.0 in Windows. Exposure, gain, contrast are all available and work okay. The camera is pretty limited but I've no problem in SharpCap so it might be in the Windows<>Mac conversion?

On 14/07/2022 at 14:56, Laurieast said:

You can sometimes easily remove the green tint in one click with a plugin for PS and Affinity, Hasta La Vista, Green, from:

https://www.deepskycolors.com/archivo/2010/04/26/hasta-La-Vista-Green.html

As mentioned by AstroMuni, the new GHT (generalised hyperbolic transform) tool in Siril is way better than just levels and curves. 

Nice result already with your last image above!

 

Thanks, Laurence! I haven't really looked at GHT and have continued to use the Asinh tool; I'll have a look at it tonight! I'll also have a look at Hasta La Vista. Cheers 🙂

I've come to realise just how powerful levels and curves are! I think I've got all the curves more or less in the same place now and it's been fun trying to push just a little bit more detail out of the core. It's been amazing to see what a huge difference three astute tips made 🙂
(Although I'm not sure the background isn't a tiny bit too red now!)

Carole - not quite my first but my first for quite a while. Although I realise the CG5 is bordering on 'vintage' it looks as if guiding should be relatively straightforward to setup (🤞)

Okay, I've tried to follow @ollypenrice's advice (as much as my data allows!) and I think this coming on a little...

Thanks very much, Olly. That is all very helpful.

Starting from your last comment, I'm not dithering - I'm just using the camera with an intervalometer. I'm guessing that I could set up the mount to dither with Phd2 or similar software? I don't have a guiding setup but this might be a god way of familiarising myself with the software before fully going down that route.

The blue/green balance is probably out because I tried to push the blue in the middle of the nebula with curves - possibly the source of a number of issues!
And, yes, I meant flats when I wrote lights for the second time.

I'll try reprocessing using those tips - again, thanks so much for taking the time to make these suggestions.

On reflection, this image owes a lot to the classifieds here and Astro Buy & Sell:
90x60s lights with a Canon 1000D through a 130PDS on a grumpy old Celestron CG5.
Also: An Altair Astro CCD-CLS filter but I'm not yet convinced it's a massive help. Bortle 5 skies
30 flats (I've assumed I leave the filter on for these?) [edit: had originally called them lights]
30 biases
Stacked in DSS and played with in Siril and PS. I think I've overdone it as the background looks quite uneven and gritty.

I'm coming to the conclusion that (i) I need to keep track of my processing workflow and (ii) I need to look into getting guiding worked out.

..and now you point me towards it, so obvious! Thanks very much - I think I must have just skimmed past 'Cleaning and...' without clocking the 'Protection' bit.

[Edit: That was replying  to @GSmith. Thanks also to @Zermelo - I was struggling to find the size I wanted, 50.8mm/2" among those links]
 

I've found a few old threads with links to UK-based sellers of eyepiece caps or ebay sellers but the stores are either gone or no longer sell to the UK. Has anyone found anywhere recently? I'm looking for 2" mainly. Cheers.

I tried processing the data again and I think this looks a bit better

That is beautiful and a standard to aim for.

I had my second attempt with the 130p-ds. My daughter said that Orion was her favourite nebula - none of my ids have shown any interest in astronomy up to now - and so I had to try and get an image while I could; it's begun to disappear behind the trees at the bottom of the garden earlier and earlier in the evening. Looking at the forecast Sunday evening might have been the last chance I get in full darkness.

I know I blew out the core but that is something I can work on in the Autumn. I'm pretty chuffed with it as it's been a few years since I last had a scope that I could think about doing this with. Stars at the edge are showing the effect of trying to stack a 60x30s image with a 60x60s image. Photoshop didn't align them perfectly at the edges.

I had a very similar story to Rob above.
This was my first bash at imaging with the 130P-DS and with a new-to-me CG5 mount (thanks to everyone across the two threads I posted recently for help with both focuser and mount!) I wish I'd spent longer and there was some light cloud drifting across throughout the session but I got an image out of it so no complaints 🙂

M45
75x45s
20 darks
20 bias
20 (wrong) flats - made w/camera lens a couple of weeks ago. I was lazy - I wanted to use the SiriL automated script
450d
Stacked and a bit of processing in SiriL and a few curves in Photoshop

Good news. I was referred on by the Derby shop to 'Electronic Services Derby' (actually Burton) and it was sorted in minutes for a tenner. Phew!
Thanks again for everyone's advice and kind offers.
 

Wow. Thanks for the advice and kind offers. What a helpful crowd, thank you. And no insult taken, Carbon Brush, I know I would risk wrecking things if I tried myself!

I'm about to set off down the road to Potts in Derby (mentioned for locals to nod their heads at - lovely, old-fashioned shop) who should be able to sort me out. Otherwise I'll be in touch with one of you kind people.
Thanks again.

Hi,

So, I bought myself a new mount second hand - Celestron Advanced GT/CG5 - with the understanding the power sometimes needed switching on/off a couple of times. I was fine with that as I've just sold an old nexstar frac that did the same. However, I set it up tonight and when I swapped the power supply for another one it seemed to work fine. And then it didn't. One of the pins inside the jack has snapped off. Obviously, it was a problem waiting to happen. But now it doesn't work. Not the seller's fault as it happened when the mount was with me.

I'm a bit annoyed especially as my dad had given me some cash towards it as a birthday gift (I'm not young, he's just a kindly old fella). And I've not even got anyone to be angry at.

But I'd like to fix it if possible. Unfortunately, the mount is old and the part that needs replacing (NXW414) is discontinued and isn't available anywhere. So, my last hope is a physical fix. Can the power jack (in the photo) be replaced by this ebay part? (Also this on Amazon but I don't really need 30) Would it be an solder? I haven't a clue but my kids have got a soldering kit... (Oh. ANd what's that small blue square under the jack?)

Or any other ideas?

 

7 hours ago, alacant said:

Hi

We can't tell because we don't know what camera you have nor your budget. I'll assume a Canon dslr. Here are three of the many possible solutions.

1. minimal

• a m48 t ring
• a 30mm extension tube

Screw the extension into the t ring. 

2. optimal

• a m48 t ring
• a 4 element gpu coma corrector (cc)

Screw the cc into the t ring.

3. Many other possibilities depending upon your skill level and budget. Remember the pds is bottom of the range material so you'll need to pull it apart a few times to get the most out of it.

For example: drill and tap a third thumbscrew in the focuser collar, remove part of the protruding focuser barrel... etc... etc...

We would not recommend a pds for visual observing.

Cheers and HTH

 

 

 

 

Very helpful, thanks!
It came to me with the third hole tapped and I think the focuser barrel has been shortened but I can check that when the time comes.

Thanks again for the advice and for the links.

57 minutes ago, fozzybear said:

If my memory serves me right you only need the longer 2" ext when using 2" eyepieces What CC do you have in mind maybe ask @alacant as well conversed with the 130pds for help

Thanks! I've been reading the thread in which @alacant tested four different CCs. I've got it bookmarked - it's really useful.
After that I'll next work on guiding the CG5 I'm hoping to pick up 🙂

I bought a second hand 130pds and it came with the basic 2" fitting (whatever the name is) on the focuser:

I've not got the original 1.25" adapter so don't have the T-mount fitting that is part of it (if I've understood correctly). But I already have a 2"-T mount adapter I can use to attach my camera. I'm going to get a 2"-1.25" adapter so I can use a couple of cheaper 1.25" eyepieces for locating objects &c (no original 2" 28mm)
 

What else do I need? Anything? Do I need an extender at this point or does that only become necessary when I pick up a coma corrector?
Hopefully I should have a mount sorted for it in the next couple of days so I thought I'd better start getting other bits together for it.

Hi Whitlow! Welcome 🙂

(Also hi to PXR5 from another Hawkwind fan)

Thanks, guys. I think I struck lucky with the seeing. Tonight's effort isn't quite up to the same standard but I could see in SharpCap the image was wavering a lot more. Working out the problems/solutions and knowing what I'm doing just seems to add to the fun 🙂

I think one of the pieces advice that is most off-putting is 'you can't do X with Y'. It's often well-intentioned and intended to prevent people building up false expectations. But it can often be a barrier to just biting the bullet and giving things a go. Sometimes, sure, you can fall on your face and realise that even with the best polar alignment in the world isn't going to help your star tracker turn that £10 135mm lens you got from fleabay into a Samyang rival. But sometimes it's worth the risk.

'Scope: Nexstar 80GTL £30 from Facebook Marketplace
Camera: SVBony SV105 £35 during their December sale
I knew the 105 got bad reviews when I bought it but I figured it would pair well with telescope - or at least let me mess about with solar system targets until I worked out how to balance the scope with my DSLR.
Sharpcap/Registax/Microsoft ICE did the software stuff for free. I messed around with it in PS afterwards but nothing I couldn't have done in Gimp.

I know the photo's not great but it's better than I could have imagined being able to produce considering how bad I expected the camera due to it not being 'good enough' and the low-end nature of the scope. Low cost? Low risk. Just give it a go.

 

That's really helpful, thanks! It saves me a lot of hassle 🙂

Yeah! I'd definitely like to see the specs. The Vixen accessory prices are crazy so I'd love to hear about other solutions 🙂

Hi, just curious if you worked out a solution for this? I'm....alarmed at the cost of the official polarscope!

RIP Sir Patrick.

When I was a wee'un his enthusiasm and knowledge planted a seed that is still flourishing and I know for a fact that this is true of many others too.

Thank you and godspeed you, SPM.

M45. Actually done last week and posted in another thread but still my first :-)