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Thalestris24

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Everything posted by Thalestris24

  1. Thalestris24
    Hi It's when the sensor/camera isn't square to the incoming image light . This results in one side or part of it having elongated stars. Louise
  2. Thalestris24
    Hi Thanks but that was essentially what I was doing but it was a PIA plus it relies on my judgement... They also mention ccd inspector so maybe that would be better. Cheers Louise
  3. Thalestris24
    Hi all So I finally got around to shifting my trusty qhy8l over to the 130pds last week I took a load of subs the other day and at first glance they seemed ok. However, on closer inspection there was some obvious tilt present - tut! It's painful to have to throw subs away... I tried to correct the tilt earlier but I think there might still be a hint present. I'm using the qhy tilt ring as well as the focuser screws. I'm wondering if there's an easy, foolproof way of getting the adjustment spot on? Is CCD Inspector the way to go or is there another magic technique I can use? I don't want to waste more subs! Grateful for any input/advice/suggestions. Thanks Louise (have also posted this on the Cameras forum)
  4. Thalestris24
    Alas, I don't have a tent and, even if I did, I've no easy way of getting there... Louise
  5. Thalestris24
    Well a misty patch is better than nothing! My neighbour just came back from a trip to South Africa. He visited the Karoo - many miles from any artificial light. Of course, what he saw in the heavens was amazing. He said he thought of me. Very thoughtful of him! Still, I have to make do with pictures Cheers Louise
  6. Thalestris24
    Rob: I note you can see the Milky Way - at least sometimes! I don't think I've seen it since I was a child! Maybe one day...
  7. Thalestris24
    Very nice! As always, Rob! Louise
  8. Thalestris24
    Indeed, though TazG appears to be in Nova Scotia so I didn't mention it!
  9. Thalestris24
    Hi TazG The 130pds is a great scope but unfortunately it isn't all you need and the scope (ota) can be pretty much the cheapest part of an imaging system. Imaging is a money pit! It is also quite demanding in terms of time and effort (and frustration!). I recommend you read up on astrophotography and what it entails before buying anything. There is a lot of info here, of course, but a good up to date book on the subject is a good place to start. Louise
  10. Thalestris24
    I guess so but not easy to fit to my setup and might be difficult to focus. I'm not really a solar imager but it makes a change plus it's good to be able to image during the day
  11. Thalestris24
    Looks like it was this though I'm pretty ignorant about such things! http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/246872-ar2371-close-up/
  12. Thalestris24
    Hiya So maybe the OIII adds a little contrast. Well, solar flares cause auroras several days later but I don't know if there's any link to today's sunspots. I'll have to look in the solar section to see if anyone caught the offending flare! The original frames are auto-cropped to 1500x1500 by Pipp, then I reduced the stacked output image by 50% so the posted ones are half actual size. Louise
  13. Thalestris24
    Ok, will try that next time if I can find something suitable to cover the 130pds+solar filter. Thanks Louise
  14. Thalestris24
    Sun was out this morning so had a go with some solar imaging today Just in white light but also had a quick go with some standard NB filters. I wasn't expecting them to have any effect but there may be some subtle differences - or could just be quality variation? All taken with a fs modded Canon 1100d fitted with a cls-ccd. I preprocessed in Pipp (1500 x 1500) and stacked the best ones in Registax 6. Anyway, here you go: First - plain white light: Using Baader 7nm Halpha: Using Baader OIII: Using Baader SII: Hmm... I obviously need some flats too but not sure how to do them for solar? I'd have posted in the Solar forum but was too embarrassed by the dust bunnies... Louise
  15. Thalestris24
    Added some more data (7x600s total) and made it less red / more blue (and stretched a bit more): Edit: Maybe not so good...
  16. Thalestris24
    Here's a version of NGC6940 taken at the beginning of May with the modded 1100d. It's just 3 x 600s. I have lots more data but, erm, my flats didn't seem to match... I'll have to investigate... Stacked in dss with flats, darks and bias frames. Just for fun I processed in Gimp and I decomposed into separate red, green and blue and adjusted and stretched each separately. I figure this is a bit like mono rgb processing? Unfortunately the current dev version of Gimp has a problem with (re)composing the rgb image so I had to revert to the older non-16bit stable version. Still, it was interesting to do (on a cool, cloudy day). Louise
  17. Thalestris24
    I just made a solar filter (Baader Astrosolar 5.0) for my 130pds Nice little job for a Sunday afternoon. Hope to get a chance to use it in the coming week. I tried last year with the ST-80 but could never get sharp focus. I thought it was either me or the scope but it eventually turned out that I hadn't removed the clear plastic film - d'uh! So more hopeful this time I made it from some leftover original foam packaging from the scope and some cardboard plus a glue gun - real Blue Peter stuff! It has a net aperture of 120mm so just under F6. Can see the sun through it quite clearly by eye Louise
  18. Thalestris24
    ps If anyone's interested there's a useful video here for adding the SW autofocuser to an ED80 - same Crayford focuser. The video maker adds a Hitec usb controller + Focusmax. However, just for fun, I built my own usb interface based on a Motorbee board, and wrote some software to control it . Louise
  19. Thalestris24
    Hi, it's the skywatcher one to which I've added a usb interface
  20. Thalestris24
    Just fitted a SW autofocuser to the 130pds . With a bit of luck might be able to put it to use tonight - fingers crossed! Louise
  21. Thalestris24
    Hi I actually have an oag I got off ebay However, I've no plans to fit it to the 130pds. But I might try it with the 150pds+qhy8l+mpcc which has been in 'dry dock' for a while. Louise
  22. Thalestris24
    Hiya I have a modded 1100d so thought I'd experiment with the filter drawer just for Halpha really but haven't actually put it to much use yet. The filter drawer takes up about 15mm so I think an oag could fit in its place ok. With everything using M48 I don't notice any vignetting The cc lengthens the focal length of the 120pds to 715mm but slows the scope to F5.5. The cc spacing isn't as critical as some and seems to give maybe 3 or 4 mm latitude which might be useful. Louise
  23. Thalestris24
    Hi You might be able to get an oag to fit behind a gso F4 coma corrector e.g. from Teleskop Express or from Ian King. I have one of these with a Canon 1100d and filter drawer on an (originally) F5 130pds and it works well. The cc has a backfocus of about 75mm and it increases fl by 10%. Louise
  24. Thalestris24
    Only £159 - can't go wrong really! Noticeably lighter than my 150pds too. They do require adding a weight at the primary end to balance but otherwise easy to use The reason I mentioned the GSO cc was that people have reported having problems with the focus tube cutting off stars when they've used it with the SW cc. Louise
  25. Thalestris24
    Hi Carole Not sure about Atiks but I've been using my 130pds with a dslr and a TS/GSO coma corrector plus a filter drawer. The cc gives about 75mm backfocus and also increases focal length by about 10%. No problems focusing and the focus tube doesn't intrude I'm going to add a SW autofocuser soon Louise
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