rockinrome

Hello all, this is going back some years, but I think it has legs!

Rosette Nebula in Monoceros.

Altair Astro 72ED-R and field flattener with Canon 600D stock at prime focus with SkyTech CLS clip-in filter. Total 1hr 40min @ ISO1600.

Hello, I would recommend the Jackery units (I have the 250). Have used one for around a year now with no issues. Similar power requirements to yourself, lasts about 3 hours.

All the best.

On 25/11/2022 at 10:21, sinbad40 said:

Hi All,

I want to be able to get a wider field, and want to know if the 533 is alright to fit onto the 50ED or would i be better to get a reducer for the 80ED (more light etc).  Skywatcher do a .85 reducer/flattener, but it doesn't give that much more fov.  Any recommendations or pointers are more than welcome.

 

Another quick on, the HEQ5 rowan mod, did anyone do any testing before and after, been looking at sorting that but wanted to know from others if they found it to be a good investment.  I am not bothered about the noise decrease, just the tracking improvement.

 

Hi Sinbad40

I have done the Rowan Mod on the HEQ5PRO and can confirm much better quiding (less corrections) with no (very, very little?) backlash.
Well worth the investmant.

All the best
Matthew

Hi

As an aside for others - APT has had the Altair drivers included for a while now, so you don't necessarily need to install the drivers for this.

Regards
Matthew

I *think* I might have answered my own question.

I have just read one of my fits file headers (using Python) and two of the parameters are E[lectronic]GAIN and GAIN.
EGAIN is set to 0 and GAIN to 201 (there is no parameter for HCG), so ...... I can only assume (that word is used too much!) that HCG is on as gain is at 201 (over 200 to switch it on in the camera)

I *think*

Matthew

Hello all, trust all is well with you.
I have some confusion that I would like your take on.

I use AstroPhotography Tool (APT) with an Altair 533C camera (the IMX533 sensor).

I know the camera has a High Conversion Gain setting (HCG) with I would like to turn on and this can be done via APT - all well here.
(I am pretty sure that tle Altair (unlike the ZWOs?) needs HCG manually activating, i.e. does not make the flip at a certain gain value.)

My question is to do with Gain value. Now I know this can be a minefield depending on your camera and software and how they work with each other and what values they show.

HCG kicks in with the 533C at Gain 200 - so I have turned on HCG and set gain to 201 - is this correct do you think??

I only ask this question in light of an explanation on the NINA website. Here NINA needs you to convert the gain manually to take care of HCG. So with the IMX533 the HCG multiplier is 3.05x, so I would have to set "Gain" to (say) 70 to get it to be over 200 so that HCG in the camera is switched on......????? (I think)

I cannot set Gain below 100 in APT (this is the lowest actual gain the IMX533 can do) so I assume (again) that my settings in APT are correct and it just sorts itself out.

<and breath>

Thanks in advance
Matthew

On 03/02/2022 at 16:46, teoria_del_big_bang said:

Is anybody going to Kelling in September ?

Steve

I will be going for the weekend of 24/25th and would be really good to meet some of you. I am on T276. There should also be some folk from my local society - Chesterfield.

Regards
Matthew

Hi @DavideBar 
I had a mac a few years back and had these kind of headaches too which I wrote about on my blog here which may be of use:

https://mmastrogroup.blogspot.com/2019/07/astrophotography-auto-guiding-setup_16.html (Part 1)

https://mmastrogroup.blogspot.com/2019/08/astrophotography-auto-guiding-setup_28.html (Part 1b)

https://mmastrogroup.blogspot.com/2019/09/astrophotography-auto-guiding-setup.html (Part 2)

I eventually went back to a (used) Windows laptop to drive my image acquisition as it was WAY LESS painful than running a Mac for this.

Kind regards
Matthew

My ten-penneth ....

This has no upside what so ever - it only has a downside for every living creature including ourselves. Even if you forget about the nature that this directly affects you have to consider the human cost too and the harm that unnatural light does to our natural rhythm, health and well-being.

In my opinion we are already past the point of no return with our planet and it is only a downward spiral and has been for years.
We are polluting everything and no one is cleaning it up, just passing it to the next incoming politicians/generation.

RIP Earth.

I once heard - "There is no plan B, as there is no planet B."

Kind regards to you all
Matthew

I get this same problem sometimes when I have been doing too much "faffing" with APT and camera settings.
I simply restart APT and all is good and I never get it during an image run.

Kind regards
Matthew

On 17/05/2019 at 11:55, carastro said:

I would always prefer mono as it is so much more versatile insomuch as you can do narrowband whereas with OSC its really only broadband and with a bayer matrix it will be less sensitive.

I did buy a OSC once to try to save on time, but found it funnily enough far more complicated to process due to the bayer matrox settings so gave it up and stuck to mono.

Glad you are changing your mind, it is more expensive with all the "bits" and there is a bit of a learning curve to combine data (I have some You tube tutorials on this) but worth it in the end.  Some targets really show off at their best in narrowband.

Carole 

Not soooo fast there Carole. I use a OSC with an l-enhance filter and it is sound for narrowband data.
I get that mono is more sensitive and I guess more versatile too (with the incurred expense and learning curve) but OSC is going to be my only choice for the short/mid-term at least.

Kind regards
Matthew

On 03/05/2021 at 08:15, StuartT said:

I have a DSLR that I have been starting out with, but I want all that nice red stuff so am thinking about buying a modded DSLR for astrophotography (as I don't want to mess up my regular camera). But then I thought, why not just buy an actual astro camera (CCD or CMOS).

Advice please.... modded DSLR (only used for astro) or actual astro camera?

Thanks 

My ten-penneth is .....

A OSC like the Altair Hypercam is worth a look. Approx. £500 new. It's like the thinking mans alternative to the DSLR.

All the best

Another thing to check would be the guiding scope setup in PHD. I had issues when I had not put in the correct focal length details here.
Good luck.

8 minutes ago, gilesco said:

It may be worth waiting for the skywatcher one, it is specific to the ED80 and will be better for that scope than a generic.

Not sure, but Altair says: "Works particularly well for refractors telescopes of F5.5-F8 focal ratios, however also known to work with RC telescopes."

2 hours ago, CalumM said:

What  one do you use I'm struggling to get the skywatcher one at the moment 

I have the Altair Astro 0.8x reducer/flattener - https://www.altairastro.com/lightwave-08x-reducer-290-p.asp

..... oh ... and .... those stars look pretty good to me at 4min subs!!!

Great picture!
Just a word of caution with OAG and refractor. I used (with some success) an OAG with a 72mm refractor. I say some succes as guiding was lost from time to time through loss of clarity in the star. My guiding graph was "OK" but was a bit saw-tooth like.
I then moved to a 32mm mini-guider and my guiding is now near perfect everytime - guide graph is almost level with minimal nudges.
This was the only change and my images are much sharper as a result.

The final image is of course the real test!

Best regards
Matthew

It will certainly improve your images.
I use a 0.8x but not this one. It will reduce your effective focal length and therefore the f-number, allowing you to take deeper images (more light gathered for the same exposure time when compared without the reducer).

Regards
Matthew

Agree with Chefgage - flattener/reducer is a must.
You will also need the T-ring adapter to attach the camera onto the back on the reduder (I have the altair and this is possible - don't know about the OVL).

With this you will need to handle the back focus of the reducer to the camera - so from the lens of the reducer to the focal plane of the camera (should be in the spec. of the reducer).
For my reducer this is 55mm. I have a Canon 600D - from lens flange to focal plane this is 45mm, so I make up the 10mm difference (luckily) with the T-ring that screws into the reducer.

Easy really - just seems complex!!

All the best
Matthew

Hei! Welcome!

I use the Optolong L-eNhance and that is really good with my OSC.

Matthew

The Star Adventurer or iOptron will be fine with a small refractor or something like the William Optics Redcat.
Also .... these can be used with ST4 for autoguiding at a later date if required.

Matthew

Hi there!

There is a useful tool for image scale on the Bintel website: https://www.bintel.com.au/tools/astronomy-calculator

This lets you input your scope etc. details along with the camera and shows you (for example) if you would be under/over sampling or just right.

Don't forget you can also BIN your image to get better sampling (and possibly use drizzling at the post-processing stage).

All the best
Matthew

Hi Paul
I have the Altair 72ED-R with the FPL51 glass and it is superb.
Had it a while but been using it in ernest now for over a year for astrophotography with the 0.8x reducer.

All the best.

1 minute ago, rockinrome said:

Hi there Ivor!
Depends what exactly the issues are with your guiding, but one thing that helped me enourmously is setting the focal length of the guide scope properly in PHD2.
Brain icon > Guiding Tab > Calibration section > Focal length (mm)

(Of course it goes without saying - so I'll say it!! - you need to have your polar alignment spot-on. It looks like your stars are a little dragged to the right?)

All the best and clear skies
Matthew

 

Ooo also ....
I did find my guiding much smoother using ASCOM Pulse guiding rather than ST4.

Matthew