DaveS

Jordan Wright, AKA "The Angry Astronaut" has a thing or three to say (Mostly exceedingly caustic) about the whole Boeing / Starliner / SLS debacle

https://www.youtube.com/c/TheAngryAstronaut

The link is to the home page of his channel.

Yes, it's way oversampled. Part of my tentative plans will be to capture the RGB at bin 2 and with G2v calibration (Rough, first order only). I think I will still get the Luminance at bin 1 on the off chance that there is any resolution below 1.2".

I did try software binning but it produced some crazy gradients.

TBH, the data is so rubbish that I don't want to spend too long in re-working it, but may have another look at soft binning.

This is old data, pretty much "First Light" with the ODK / G3 setup. Just 1 hour each RGB and 2 hours L, all Bin 1. My first processing was so rubbish that I didn't bother getting any more data, plus I was fighting a series of borks, plus the weather was against me (Even more than normal as I recall).

This is the first version that had me running screaming for the hills.

After getting some better (Though still not perfect) calibration frames, and applying better techniques with the new tools in AA8, I managed to produce this.

Still not brilliant, but it makes revisiting M33 if the weather cooperates this autumn an attractive proposition.

+1 for the mini PC, just RDP it from the comfort of your sitting room.

Waiting for Betelgeuse to go BANG!

It will probably happen during summer and we'll be clouded out for months.

22 hours ago, vlaiv said:

Actually, as far as color gamut is concerned, best filters to combine with mono are absorption filters rather than interference filters.

Due to lower QE they are not as popular, but they are much cheaper.

Good combination would be blue, green and orange. However, blue and green are only 70% at peak transmission.

Up side with absorption filters is that you lower probability of nasty reflections (if properly implemented of course with AR coatings).

Astrodon do a set of Johnson-Cousins photometric filters that might fit the bill. Baader also do a set, using a combination of coloured glass and dielectric coating.

Have a look at These filters from Astronomik, you'll have to scroll down to see the curves.

Don't know if anyone uses them though.

This page is for the colour version, I think it now has all the modes available for the mono. Just note, that unless you're logged in the prices are ex VAT

The 2600 has a higher QE, lower noise, and no amp glow. Plus if you go for the QHY version you have the option of different readout modes depending on your target, though in practice I would stick to just one or two.

The 071 is old tech. If you must go OSC (And it's actually debatable whether it's actually quicker) then I would look at the ASI 2600MC to duplicate the FoV.

I personally would be reluctant to go down the ASI air route as I don't like being locked into one manufacturer's system, plus my preference would be for the QHY version.

I pretty much define "cack-handed" but managed to build my own obsy. A big mitre saw and somewhere to keep / use it will go a long way to baking the build easier. I went for 2.2 metre square, but wish I had gone for 2.5 as it's a bit cramped. Fortunately I'm an imager so don't have to be in there with the 'scope all the time.

Link to my obsy build thread complete with mistakes, wrong turning and back tracking.

It might also be worth looking at an Antlia filter set, with 3nm Narrow Band. A lot cheaper than Chroma and even more so than Astrodon.

If you're getting a new camera plus FW, then it might be worth looking at the QHY 268M and the CFW 3 M-US 7x36mm, which has a short connection to the camera, minimising vignetting, and a direct link, reducing the number off USB leads.

Yes, filter wheels usually have a 36mm unmounted option. The filters are held in by (Usually) 3 small screws.

There's a filter suitability tool in the Astronomy Tools suite, but for APS-C, 36 mm should be fine.

Waaay back when I started out with a DSLR (Canon 550D) I used APT and found it very good. The developer is on here,

Something like This perhaps, but as they say, "if you have to ask how much..."

Mind. Blown.

Part two on tonight, 9 pm BBC 4.

On 20/05/2022 at 17:19, Astro Noodles said:

3. Get a camera with a smaller pixel size - ZWO ASI 178 might be a good solution.

Don't bother with the ASI 178, it's not cooled and OSC to boot. If you want a new camera (And everyone could use a new camera LOL) then go for one with set-point cooling. At one time I would have insisted on mono, but the latest batch of CMOS OSC are worth a look.

Go into Preview and check the raster size.

I remember when the milky way was visible from my house in west London, Acton about 8 miles from the centre. It wasn't bright, but definitely there. Certainly all the main stars of UMi were clearly visible.

This was before the obsession with turning night into day  .

Eyes give me the heebies, but thanks for posting that scary or what 😱.

Not had anything quite that bad, but I did get bright flashes all round the perifery of my left eye vision. Got on to the optician PDQ. Put strong eye drops in and had good look around. Diagnosed Posterior Vitreous Detachment. Referral to the county hospital, where they put in even stronger drops and had more thorough look. Decided that it would be OK.

The only side effect is that my dark adaptation takes longer, the drops might have affected how quickly my irises dilate.

This is 2 hours each RGB in 10 min subs collected in March '20 with the TS apo / ASI 1600 rig. I did collect 6 hours Luminance but the focus was slightly off. This was before I installed an autofocuser. I was, however, able to use the Lum data (After application of a heavy hammer) as a reference for coregistering the RGB channels.

The combined RGB was given a DDP and Richardson-Lucy deconvolution before green reduction and saturation boost. Saved as JPEG.

Yes, the galaxy cores are burned out somewhat. I may revisit this area next March-April but probably will be swapping cameras *again* putting the G3 16200 on the TS apo to image a wider field.

I think the Bortle scale was developed in the American South West, with dryer climate. Saying the Sagittarius star clouds cast a shadow in Bortle 1 doesn't make sense when they barely rise above the horizon here. Also what suburbs have Bortle 5 skies? I lived in the West London suburbs and would have cheerfully killed for Bortle 5.