rodrigol

Hi, This is my first try at the NGC 2359 and it surrounding, rich star field, which is relatively low in the sky but has it's best appearance on my skies these days. In spite of the fact the moon was full a couple of days ago and there was a lot of sky glow the shot worked out relatively well. This is due to the use of a quad filter, I suppose. I took 20x 500s guided on my CGEM-DX using an Esprit 120 + 0.77 FR and ASI071MC Pro. I'm also very impressed with the skywatcher 0.77 FR for the Esprit 120. Thanks for watching! R:)

This is my latest M42 taken while the skies opened up at -5C. I used an Esprit 120 with a 0.77 FR and ASI071MCP with quadband filter. 20x500s lights using multistar on the latest beta from PHD2. The FR was too close to the sensor - I should have used the filter drawer and instead chose to put the filter inside the FR 🤪! (again - the image looks weird here in SGL- misty for some reason)

Fantastic! Could you please post an image of how you connected the reducer to the camera?

Thanks for watching 🤗

Hi, The Rosette nebula and NGC 2244 using an Esprit 120 with a ASI071MCPro, a quad filter and a Orion 0.8 FR. I managed to get 8x300s lights of which only 4 did not have clouds. I did manual stacking in PI and some basic processing to get to the image below, which is not perfect, but it is much better than I anticipated with 4 frames. With so little data it is really mad to do what I did but the seeing was good and the individual frames look promising. I'm very pleased with this camera. The Orion 0.8 FR is great but not perfect. I'm waiting for the dedicated FR for the Esprit. After uploading the image I just noticed that my dynamic crop did not get everything I wanted. I cannot see these borders in my computer. I guess these are exposed during further image compression after the upload? Thanks for watching!

Last weekend 'clear' skies, the first in 2021 for me, allowed me to go for a new target, the Cocoon nebula. Conditions: -5°C with 2-5 m/s wind. I managed to get 20 x 300s lights of IC5146 using an ASI071MC at -10°C on my Esprit 120 with an Orion 0.8 FR and a Quad band filter. The image is cropped. The sky was not clean, foggy and there were high thin clouds and the moon. Processed using PI only. Really enjoyed my first session in 2021!

This shows anything is possible 😊 There are many ways of adding doors, slots and of further stabilising the tank once cut. To ame a success of this project you need to take into account temperature control inside the tank and importantly ways of dealing with condensation. Ignoring these will ruin the entire project. But you are here and there are plenty of posts regarding ventilation, dehumidifiers and insulation. Great idea. I wish you good luck and lots of fun! R.

Awesome project. And with Bortle 3 and sauna who wouldn't?!? Amazing shots too! Many thanks for sharing. 👍

Very cool and interesting variation. I did something very similar and ended up with what you see on the video in the post below. So far no big issues except for the bad weather. These garden gate motors are really neat and reasonably quiet. My only problem - more a worry - is that the start of the open or close run is very hard. I wish there was a slow start setting. Hmmm. Look at that. It's clear tonight and I've been working all day until now. Argh. I'm dying to get out to test my new setup, which includes a NUC on top of the scope and that controls everything using NINA. To be or not to be.

And another clear spell 2 nights ago. I then managed to add ~3h more of data using 300s exposures on M45. The current result is below 🙂 I'm really happy with the Esprit 120 and the ASI 294MC Pro combo. I wish there was a cheaper reducer out there that works with it. Thanks for watching! R:)

I have finished processing the Omega nebula data (I think) and below is the result. Maybe I can do a bit more with sharpening but that always introduces artifacts. I did do a bit more of LHE to get some more detail of the nebula using a luminance mask.

Last night I got a pleasant surprise: Clear skies (nobody bought anything new yesterday?!) So, I rushed out and managed to get 20 x 300s L of M45 and the Omega nebula with an Esprit 120 and ASI294MC Pro. Both a processed with PI. By the time I finished everything was soaking wet with dew, which I admit is a bit frightening! Comments welcome 🙂

Wow - 16 hours?!? How long are your exposures? If there is a single frame with some cloud it will ruin the whole stack even if registration and integration are successful.

This is first light of an Esprit 120 with flattener and my ASI294MC Pro. It's a quick processing job in PI only of 20 x 120s with 20 x 120s Darks only. I've tested autofocusing with a Sesto Senso 2, which worked well, but my steps are too small and it took more than 20 minutes to get to the lowest HFR this night. I'm overall very pleased with the result. My trusty CGEM-DX is doing nicely after I readjusted the backslash setting. My only grudge is that CPWI insists in parking on the opposite side of where I want and at one point it started the park routine after I had closed the observatory, sending everything crashing with the roof. I manged to get to the clutches just in time. This was taken the day after that episode... Comments are much appreciated (I know about the gradients and the big black dust speck at the bottom 6:30 position, which has been found and removed now) 🤔 R:)

Many thanks! Perhaps you can share your imaging settings as well? Auto stretch factor, back clipping, star sensitivity, noise reduction.... Much appreciated!

You would have to cut the foam, I guess. I personally wouldn't do it because the focuser motor sits lower than the focuser knobs and the fit would be very questionable. This would put a lot of pressure on the focusing axle when the case is closed.

I recently got the esprit 120 with the sesto senso I'm wondering if you can share your step size, if possible? Thanks 😊

As silent as possible was one of the conditions. Obviously, if I had managed to place the motor and the track inside, it would be quieter, but that would have meant loosing about 30-40cm opening space. I'm not quite there with full automation but I already have the IFTTT switches. The whole project makes up for the lack of clear skies lately 😁 Thanks for the comments! R:)

Merlin. No idea. Its playing on all the browsers I tried.

The weather has been unforgiving. Wet and/or windy. I purchased a rolling gate motor last year but never had time to install it and test various points to get good relative tracking and maximum roof opening. Some minor adjustments still to do. The whole structure is solid without being too rigid. Smooth operation thus far... 20200822_093309_1.mp4

x6gas: Yes, I would expect this to affect the collimation as well...Only route away from this issue would be to go for an RC or a Crayford and lock the mirror.

Thanks for watching and for the advise! Yes, I need to be brave and get longer exposures and let the dithering do it's job. Still learning but I know the galaxy arms stretch beyond the mag 10+ double HIP 48635 stars. I also have the issue with the CA on the east side of the pier, which I'm afraid may be due to mirror flop? I do focus often to get things tight but I'm beginning to see this more often when I image on the east side of the mount...

M81/Bode's nebula. C11 Edge HD + 0.7FR + ASI294MC Pro 30x60s lights and calibration frames from my library. Dithering is a game changer and my focuser work in automated mode for the first time. I took this using NINA (no relation - it works!) and processed with PI (working on the background but it taking time. I need some advise) Done the usual background removal and color calibration steps but getting rid of the gradients is a challenge. Note these are heavily accentuated in the jpeg below.

Work took over. I'm sorry it took this long to get back here. Indeed yes. That night Cambridge has a large NLC group overhead but i had the wrong lens to frame both the comet and these. I think I have a shot or two of these.... Ah! here it is. This was taken with my smartphone (Samsung S20+)

Saturday 11 July, ~3am. Nikon Z6 w/ Sigma 70-200 at 70mm, ISO 500, 1s exposure. I did a little PS to get as much of the comet's tail as possible.