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poogle

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Posts posted by poogle

  1. Sooo I finally got my remote observatory up and running after some intense weekends of building during the summer and autumn. I'm so glad everything seems to be working out as planned!

    This is my first image from the new location, it's a two pane mosaic of the Rosette Nebula consisting of 50 minutes per filter and pane, so around 5 hours in total. Not much integration time compared to what I'm used to imaging from home next to and airport in the middle of Stockholm :)

    I also started using the Xterminator-tools in PixInsight, what a game-changer!! It feels like cheating, but I never really enjoyed the image processing part of the hobby before so I'll just ignore that feeling.

    Thanks for watching!

    Patrik

    rosette_nebula.thumb.png.709f061feb5dd5e253e918bbfa409bb1.png

    • Like 5
  2. 6 years later and it's time for an update 😀

    I never bought any roof opening device, so I have to open it manually each night I want to image. That's no problem though and only takes a couple of seconds. The build itself has worked flawlessly, no leakages and no problems with humidity or bugs! The only annoyance is having to take the scope in after the imaging season ends in March, due to dust and pollen accumulating on the gear between April-October

    However, I have decided it's time to move the observatory to the countryside, making it fully automated 🤑 I'm gonna try converting the roof to a rolling one. Except for that there should be no need for other adjustments.

    My new babies arrived the other day, hopefully it will fit in the "new" observatory without any major modifications (1.2x1.2 m is really on the tight side for my current setup). It's an Altair pier and a iOptron CEM70G. My AVX has worked fine (except for DEC backlash) giving me 0.7 RMS guiding, but the CEM70 should be a better fit for a remote observatory three hours away.

    PXL_20230415_1250499512.thumb.jpg.f804b896c939b54b9adfcae51fcf53ba.jpg

    The goal is to have everything ready when imaging season starts again in October!

    • Like 1
  3. Sooo, this is my first attempt at a mosaic, and my first use of the Omegon veTEC 571M.

    So far there are 2 panels, BIN 2x2.

    HA: 15x5 min per panel

    OIII: 15x5 min per panel

    I think I spent more time in PixInsight than the total integration time just to get everything stitched up and ok looking 😆 The image might benefit from less stars, but StarNet2 would not play along.

    I am very pleased with the camera so far (especially considering the price)!

    Thanks for looking :) 

    MOSAIC_crop_hist_nr.thumb.png.f99add7772718ec04d602790ac4ad058.png

    • Like 10
  4. 20 hours ago, Adam J said:

    You mention a better coma corrector, not entiarly sure that its all not still colimation or flex in the tube due to the weight of the camera, but the other thing I see in the above image is evidence of primary mirror pinching. Might be an idea to slightly back off the primary mirror clips and see if that helps you.

    If the ES corrector will work then its a great option if not then another long barrel 4 element ED design, there are a few clones on the SW Quatro corrector about.

    Adam

    Thanks Adam, how did you notice the primary mirror pinch? I can understand it in the post made on the 20th of August where the star shapes are off, but in the image from yesterday I cannot really see any odd shapes?

  5. Finally had a chance to image for an hour with decent conditions. Collimated my scope last week, and the star shapes look way better than in the last image.

    Here is the result with perfect framing as you can see ;) 

    5x300s HA, 5x300 OIII. GAIN: 0 in SGP, but the FITS file says 100, so not really sure. Binning 2x2.

    Had to crop it somewhat since I got some strange effects in one of the corners in my OIII stack, might need new flats. Just used the AutoIntegrate-script in PixInsight to do the processing for me :)

    z_AutoRGB_extra_20220907_212102.thumb.png.82ebee4bd5ab01e00e899f7b215e87be.png

    As a comparison below is my last try in 2018 using my old CCD, think it was around 2-3 hours total integration on that one.

    1154255977_EasternViel.thumb.png.c5d7fef2c665e0ffa0bc2b38c3dd627b.png

    • Like 1
  6. Thank guys for all your input, very insightful indeed!

    I went ahead and bought the Omegon veTEC 571 mono last week and managed to test it once, under quite bad conditions with high clouds. Attached is a single frame with only STF applied in PixInsight. I'm certainly no pro, but the vignetting seems manageable, I don't know about tilt though?

    The coma seems a bit worse than before, so might have to get a better coma corrector, will have to measure the remaining distance of the focus tube though since some of the better CCs are quite long.

    Veil_120sec_2x2__0001_HA.png

    • Like 1
  7. 19 hours ago, gorann said:

    Sorry to hear this! It is worrying and a hassle to have to ship it to China. For others that are thinking about a Touptek made IMX571 camera but do not want to buy it from China, I think Omegon veTEC 571C is a safer alternative as it is sold by several European companies that would also have to handle service or replacement of a broken camera. It is almost half price of the ZWO or QHY versions and I just bought one. Now I am just waiting for astrodarkness to return to Sweden.

    https://www.astroshop.eu/astronomical-cameras/omegon-camera-vetec-571-c-color/p,67320

    Same here, but I ordered the mono version, it's due to arrive next week 🙂

    I'm mostly worried about sensor tilt since I won't be able to add a tilt plate to my imaging train without getting a sensor distance of 57,5 mm from the Baader MPCC instead of the specified 55 mm. Might have to buy a thinner filter wheel if nothing else works.

    Not many swedes longing for October, but glad I'm not alone 😁

  8. Hi all!

    I've finally decided to upgrade my imaging setup. I'm currently using a StarlightXpress H-18 CCD. At first my plan was to get an ASI294mm, but now I'm leaning towards getting a camera with the IMX571-sensor instead, probably the Omegon veTEC 571 mono with the same price tag as the ASI294mm.

    The reason is mainly that I suspect that I will need to put more effort into processing (which I'm not very fond of) withe the 294.

    My question is: Will the sensor be a good fit for my Skywatcher Explorer 150p (FL 750mm), with a Baader CC MKII, StarlightXpress filter wheel with 36mm narrowband filters and a Moonlite focuser?

    The setup will be located under Bortle 4 skies.

    Cheers 

  9. Thank you for your detailed explanation ONIKKINEN! I'll put it up on my christmas wishlist 🙂

    I downloaded CCD Inspector and it clearly shows my left-right tilt. I was gonna fix this issue tonight, but on my first image one half of the mechanical shutter got stuck and wouldn't operate, making half the image black 😭 I did however rotate the camera 180 degrees and took another picture and by eyeballing the focus of the stars it would seem that it is still the left side of the image that is out of focus. This would indicate sensor (or maybe focuser?) tilt and not telescope collimation issues if I'm not mistaken? 

    Well, pleased with the fact that I now knew which screws to turn (due to the position of the malfunctioning shutter in the image) I gladly removed the camera and brought it indoors, just to realize that both shutters of course had closed upon disconnection of the camera. What a night... I did consider both incineration and trashcan for the whole setup, lol.

    I haven't tried taking a new image after taking the camera indoors, but the shutter probably just didn't like the cold, -14 degrees here tonight. Back to step one, either fixing the shutter or just putting it back on the scope and redo the rotation to verify the origin of the tilt, sigh

  10. 1 hour ago, ONIKKINEN said:

    I would say its far more likely that you have tilt between the secondary mirror and comacorrector instead of between the corrector and camera sensor since you're imaging with a newtonian. I recently also thought that i had sensor tilt but the more i looked at it the more i realized that i have no way of knowing for sure whether its actually sensor tilt or not. Therefore its probably a good idea to check secondary mirror collimation first as it will also produce effects that look like tilt. Your focuser could have tilt aswell...

    Good point, might as well be secondary or focuser tilt...I should have bought a refractor from the very beginning ☹️

    Anyway, I have a Cheshire/sight tube, maybe that's the first step, but I find it really difficult to verify that the secondary is perfectly round in the sight tube. I can't even imagine how to make sure that the focuser is square, I'll have to resort to Google I guess 🙂

    1 hour ago, vlaiv said:

    ...but I don't think you need to waste clear night on that. It can be done with artificial star...

     

    Great explanation, I'll give it a try after trying to make sure that the focuser is square and that the secondary is well aligned. I now remember that I made an artificial star some years ago, just need to find it 😃 And I'll also stop drizzling until I start my new career as a Hubble image processer at NASA 😃

  11. Thanks for your input vlaiv, much appreciated!

    I image using my SXVR H-18 CCD with Baader NB filters. You are correct about drizzle, I followed the tutorials on Light Vortex, and they drizzle, therefore I drizzle 😁 When is it suitable to use drizzle?

    Regarding my 150p I replaced the stock focuser with one from Moonlite, so that should be fine. What about focus in the rest of the image? I run the autofocus routine with my motorized focuser in SGP before each session.

    How would I go about fixing, testing and measuring the tilt? I know my camera has collimation screws to adjust tilt, but which one should I adjust, and by how much? Do I need starry nights, or will flat frames suffice?

    Again, thank you for sharing your wisdom! 😃

  12. Sooo, finally got around to processing my first target of the season. It's ~6 hours of HA data captured in central Stockholm. I like the capturing process and end result the most, so no heavy processing apart from DBE and a stretch. The Soul nebula doesn't fit in my FOV, so I framed the part I like the most :) I'll have to decide if I should do a mosaic or add OIII and SII data as well.

    I'm quite pleased with the result, except with the somewhat bloated stars and the star shapes bottom left. I guess the bloated stars might be due to poor guiding with my AVX-mount, my RMS is around 0.8, I'm not sure if this is good or bad with a pixel scale of 1.65? Any inputs on this?

    I blame my Coma Corrector, refractor collimation or CCD spacing for the elongated stars bottom left. Not sure how to fix this before my next imaging run...maybe by buying a refractor, lol.

    Any suggestions or pointers on how to improve are always welcomed!

    234362472_soulnebula.thumb.png.f15325698c2478fbd30a9cae046c4d3c.png

    Thanks for looking! 

    • Like 4
  13. Thank you very much for your thorough answer @MartinB, it means alot!

    I purposely made the background dark just to give it a more "realistic" look, but also trying to keep Alnitak at a minimum and being afraid of introducing too much noice. I guess you're right, 10 hours should be enough to give it a good stretch 🙂 Will definitely have another go with the processing trying different stretches, and also dive into the noice reduction section of Light Vortex and perhaps learn how to use masks.

    Great tip with the log tool, will have a look at that since I'm having some troubles with the Dec-guiding, where the calibration differs each time I run it. I suspect it's due to extensive backlash and I tried guiding Dec in one direction only, but if the calibration is bad so is the guiding I guess. Will try to have a look at the mount this off-season and see if anything can be done.

    Again, thanks for your great input! Heading over to FLO to do some window-shopping now, would love not having to do collimation and mirror cleaning each season 😂

    /Patrik

  14. I managed 4 more hours on NGC2024, totalling just over 10 hours. Also gave it a bit more love during post processing, but I think that someone more experienced would be able to produce a way better end result :) Maybe I stretched it a bit to far, looks too noisy for 10 hrs 🤪

    I think this is about my limit under my Bortle 8 skies with my current equipment. Thanks for looking!

    NGC2024_take2.thumb.png.59921cedd3683c348fd230aa0d51b85d.png

    • Like 2
  15. As the imaging season is coming to an end for me I thought I´d share the two images I´ve been working on this winter. I still consider myself as a beginner, especially when it comes to processing, I´ve been following the Light Vortex tutorials for Pixinsight. As I live next to an airport in Stockholm it feels like I have everything working against my imaging, but I´m not giving up :) I have an Celestron AVX mount with a Skywatcher 150p, and an Starlight Express SXVR-H18 and some Baader NB filters. What do you all think would benefit my imaging the most, upping the mount, scope, camera or filters? :)

    The first one is a first draft of roughly 6 hours if HA data gathered on NGC 2024 (10 minute subframes), the Flame star nebula. It´s a difficult one, trying to contain the bright star. I´m hoping to get 4 more hours of light on this one. The one thing I´m not satisfied with is the star shapes, maybe I wasn´t selective enough when selecting subframes. Might be some high clouds or bad guiding on some of the frames.

    NGC2024.thumb.png.0cc97cc36c258af29a2f5f1775a1ca07.png

    The second one is a classic, M42. Almost 10 hours of HA data (again 10 minute subframes, and some 30 second subframes for the core). Better star shapes on this one I think. I´m hoping to get some colour on this one next winter :)

    M42.thumb.png.b2c5902435e12307121aecc3c72e3998.png

    All constructive critisism is welcome :D 

    /Patrik

     

    • Like 5
  16. Looking great!

    I tried ethernet over power cable for my obs, but had lots of trouble with network stability due to the fact that my router was not on the same circuit. I eventually had to drill a hole in a wall near the router and connect the obs with a good old network cable. My wife hasn't noticed the hole yet, and 3 weeks has passed, keeping my fingers crossed 😅

    /Patrik

    • Like 2
    • Thanks 1
  17. 5 minutes ago, Skipper Billy said:

    I use an Intel NUC - i5 - 16 gig Ram - SSD - has worked down to minus 20º - 6 USB ports - cant fault it. Controlled by RDP from inside. The bit of heat it generates keeps it dry - its currently running a 'darks' sequence' in this sort of weather.

    https://www.davidbanksastro.com/equipment

     

    Wow, more snow than I've seen all year here :) Do you know the model name/number of the NUC? I have only found Intel NUCs with four (external) USB ports

  18. 52 minutes ago, TerryMcK said:

    That looks like a good chunky computer having an I7 cpu and USB3 ports. Try to spec it with SSD drive - less moving parts then (probably none as it is fanless). I have never seen a computer with so many hardware com ports on! Most systems do not have one hardware com port nowadays.

    Check out in the specs what the environmental recommendations are for operation. I'm not sure of your local conditions in Sweden but you may find it is ok.

    I know, it's a bit overkill with all those com-ports, must be designed for indusrial use. I do like 8 usb-ports through.

    SSD is a very solid advice. Most computers are rated for operation above 5 degrees, but I don't think the cold (down to -10 degrees) is any problem, maybe humidity and dust.

  19. 27 minutes ago, Frank the Troll said:

    Very intresting, and affordable too

    seems a shame its limited to just 8 gig of ram, upgraded my lappie to 16 gig

    Yes, but I think 8 gigs will suffice, it's only gonna be used for controlling all my gear running SGP and PHD

    • Like 1
  20. 1 hour ago, Xsubmariner said:

    Hi Patrick,

    If your roof hinges open about 90 degrees I would consider a gate motor control system. There are relatively cheap gate control systems that provide all the kit in a package (inc remote controllers). For example I used a roller gate system for my ROR observatory (cost £150) complete. 

    Thanks for the suggestion, I was thinking along those lines as well. The lid open around 110 degrees and comes to a rest leaning on my houses roof :) However I over-compensated while building the lid, so it weighs around 80 kg and I would probably need two acutators with a stroke length of around 120-130 centimeters 😅

  21. Hi

    Now that my obs is finished I'm trying to make everything fully automated. There's two things left, opening/closing of the lid/roof and acquiring flats. I realized that I'm gonna need a better PC that can withstand the humidity/temperature 24/7.

    Does anyone have any suggestions? First of all I'm thinking small size (to be fitted on the scope to minimize flexure), fanless and lots of USB-ports so that I wont need a USB-hub. Something like this maybe? 

    https://www.banggood.com/Eglobal-GK-Mini-Pc-I7-4500U-8G-RAM-128G256G512G-SSD-Wifi-DDR3-Windows-78910-Linux-1_8GHz-Fanless-Mini-Desktop-PC-p-1548691.html?ID=6270229&cur_warehouse=CN

    Here's a shot of my "box observatory"

    /Patrik

     

    IMG_20161207_123407.jpg

    • Like 2
  22. 2 hours ago, Magnus_e said:

    Looking good! :)

    No more of that pesky calibrating every night.

    Just need one of these then? http://www.clasohlson.com/se/Kabelsamlare/Pr365203001 and a few of these :)http://www.clasohlson.com/se/Dubbelsidigt-kardborreband/Pr318147000

    DSC_0527.JPG

    Lol, exactly. That cable snake pit needs some tidying up :) 

    Your setup looks really nice. Also I need to get me a pair of those struts, where did you buy yours?

    How do you handle flat frames?

  23. Scope in place and hooked up to the network! :)

    Managed to get some first light images of a random star field last night. All worked like a charm, and I just love being able to stay inside while imaging. The diy arduino focuser is also working great. Theres still some minor things left to do, but I'll get to that later

    IMG_20161207_123407.jpg

    IMG_20161207_123346.jpgFirstLight.jpg

    • Like 1
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