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sagramore

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  1. Can confirm - I shifted my primary up the tube and didn't modify the focus tube at all. Protrusion is negligible now and the mod is reversible. Although I would guess a combination of both, as suggested by 8472, is in fact the optimum final result.
  2. Hi everyone. Long post coming as it's the first time I've had anything to contribute for a *long* time. Weirdly, I discovered by coincidence that the last time I imaged anything was exactly 1 year ago to the day - and my offering, below, actually has data from two sessions, 365 days apart 😂 So I *finally* used one of my days off to be productive and installed the mirror clip mask that I printed almost a year ago. I also took the opportunity to dramatically tighten my focuser because I realised it was slipping pretty badly with the camera and filter wheel on it and I could very easily move it in and out by hand despite the auto focus motor attached, which was not ideal. Lastly, despite having owned this beautiful scope for years it was the first time I've ever done a *proper* cheshire collimation following Astrobaby's guide. Everything here was taken using the 130PDS with the primary moved up the tube to help with the focus tube protrusion. I am using a ZWO ASI294MM Pro with filter wheel, attached via a Skywatcher 0.9x coma corrector. I am using the LRGB/Ha/SII/OIII filter set from ZWO (7nm band pass on the narrowband), and the ZWO EAF to focus. Guiding is done with a piggy-backed Startravel 80 and ZWO planetary cam. All mounted on an NEQ-6. All my image acquisition is with Astrophotography Tools and guiding with PHD2. Pics of the mirror clip mask installation: My first question, therefore, is would you all mind taking a look at the following few frames and telling me whether you think the collimation, clip masking, focus, and coma corrector spacings look "ok" to you? I often find it hard to be sure and I'm a bit worried the star shapes aren't quite right, especially at the edge of the frames. I have a collimation star test, in-focus, and then near and far out of focus. Then I have two single full frame luminance filter images. Both are 300 seconds guided at 120 gain and 2x2 bin and are "out of the camera" unstretched, just converted to high quality jpg. Collimation star test: Mirror clip masking test. Before on the left, after on the right. NB. Not the same star, just a bright one with similar acquisition settings: A couple of full 300 s guided luminance frames: I hope they look OK, particularly the collimation, but I'd be happy to hear if anyone has any thoughts! I also think the clip mask has helped with the uneven halos around bright stars, but I don't have a perfect before/after to check really. Then, as I found myself set up and with clear skies for a short time, I set about collecting some actual data. One of the things I thought I'd try was adding a bit more time to my Horsehead/Flame image that I happened to be imaging a year ago to the day. I'm also experimenting with a new PC and freshly installed software. Stacking here was done in Siril with Sirilic and once I had the RGB composite (as SHO, hubble style), I shoved it into Photoshop and used levels and curves and selective color as well as some of the Astrophotography Tools tool set. Overall I think a) I pushed it a bit too far like I always do, but b) I like it more than my previous attempts. It's a total of 3h20 data across all three filters, but they're not even. Lots of artistic license taken to get the nice hubble colours but otherwise I'm still honing my craft when it comes to image processing. Astrobin link with more details here: https://www.astrobin.com/ivagmc/ That's all for now. Thanks a lot for looking and any comments gratefully received.
  3. I've never tried it but a dew heater on the secondary might give just enough warmth at the open end of the scope to reduce humidity inside and help? At least you can buy those off the shelf. Otherwise a nice long dew shield could also help without needing extra power or wires so I'd try that first once it arrives!
  4. This is *genius*. As someone who spent "astronomy gear" level cash for the wrong-sized dew shield and then was too disorganised to send it back for a refund, I've just been persevering without one. This, however, looks like it's far closer to my budget... I guess the question though is whether or not flocking it out costs a lot... I have no experience with that either. Although I do need to install a mirror clip mask so maybe while the scope is disassembled I should look at flocking the main tube too. Do people find it makes a large difference? Then again, I've had a belt mod for my NEQ6 sitting in the box for nearly a year because I've not found time (and the courage) to install it so maybe none of this will ever get done....
  5. Hey all. Found a gap in the clouds and the effort to get the gear and and try some imaging on the Wizard's Head last night. First try on this target with the 130PDS and the ASI294MM-Pro narrowband. Turns out I still don't really know what I'm doing with processing narrowband in Photoshop but the first try isn't too bad. I'm tempted to give Pixinsight a go but haven't had the nuts to pull the trigger on the cost of it yet. 1 hour (12 x 300 s) each of SII, Ha, OIII quite close to the horizon (below 27 degrees). Stacked in Siril with Sirilic. Each filter then pre-processed with Photoshop before combining into an SHO image and further Photoshop processing. Two versions as I also tried my hand at some basic star removal right at the end. Content-aware fill is some kind of magic... I think I prefer the pseudo-starless myself as the stars got pretty blown out by the end of it. I need to investigate using a star mask and putting them back in afterwards. Thanks for looking!
  6. Haha, yeah it's been pretty rough! I managed to get some time with gaps in the clouds on a couple of nights though... Looking back at my imaging folders I apparently had the scope out on 15th and 29th, although the 29th (with the horsehead) was definitely cut short by clouds.
  7. My first try at this target with my new ASI294MM-Pro and ZWO 7nm narrowband filters. After fighting with the lack of data imaging M33, this was an absolute stunner even with a single 5 minute Ha sub. So bright! I am still learning a lot when it comes to narrowband processing and the clouds came over during my OIII acquisition so things aren't as clean as I hoped (plus, I have a tendency to process while zoomed out and I push things too far, haha). Still, overall I am pretty pleased with the results. Two versions - the first in HSO and the second in SHO, as this brings out more detail to my eye but it also even crunchier with the noise. I also think I was suffering with some nasty tilt after the meridian flip as my SII and OIII stars are elongated in one direction, whereas the Ha are nice and round. I haven't properly collimated in a while and I haven't yet put a mirror clip mask or used silicone sealant to deal with any possible astigmatism either. I also still have a belt mod for my NEQ6 I haven't had the courage to fit yet, so my guiding was a bit rough, total RMS was about 0.7-0.8" throughout. Grateful for any constructive criticisms or tips!! Stacked in Siril with Sirilic but RGB composite and processing done in Photoshop using lots of levels, camera RAW filter, and Astronomy Tools v1.6. Ha - 14 x 300s = 1h10 SII - 9 x 300s = 0h45 OIII - 4 x 300s - 0h20 TOTAL INTEGRATION - a mere 2h15 130 PDS on NEQ6 with SW 0.9x CC, ZWO EAF and filter wheel Guided with PHD2 using Startravel 80 and ASI120MC Thanks for looking!
  8. I'd second what Ratlet said - the focal length of the 130 PDS isn't amazing for planetary stuff - they might seem a little small compared to some other bigger scopes. My Skywatcher 200P Dobsonian is my preferred for visual. I managed to pick one up second hand a few years ago for only about £180 and it's a great scope for star hopping, learning the skies, and looking at some faint things as well as having the focal length to see some planets. I can recommend that. It's 100% not the way to go for photography though, so there's that to consider if that's truly your medium-term goal! If you do want to go down the photography route, you probably want to be prepared to spend a *lot* more on the mount than you do on the scope. It's all about stability and good tracking, and for that you need to almost go "overkill" on the mount. You can put a bad scope on a good mount and get some half decent images. But a good scope on a bad mount will be horrendous to work with. EDIT: When I say spend more on the mount than the scope, that's only true for these neat and efficient newtonians, like the 130PDS. You can spend a *lot lot* more on scopes if you want to
  9. Love this! I have been having a go at it myself with my new ASI294MM - I wasted a lot of my limited clear skies trying to shoot the iris nebula in narrowband (lesson learned, reflection nebulae are not NB targets....) but then managed about 2h each of Ha and OIII on this. I feel like you've either done better with the data or you are just better with focus/collimation/etc than me as yours looks really nice. Do you mind sharing what your camera and filters etc were for this? I'll try and remember to post my attempt when I get home later...
  10. This is cool to see! I was having the exact same conversation with myself just 2 nights ago - I don't want to pass up the opposition to get some nice Jupiter pictures, but also I didn't want to have to deconstruct the 130PDS + camera + guide scope to put the 200P on the mount! I should really invest in another dovetail... haha. Thanks for sharing though, looks cool from such a small scope.
  11. Yes, thank you! I was fortunate enough to just go with it and reaching focus hasn't been a problem. Ensuring I have perfect focus has been a problem... but reaching it at all is fine 😂 Speaking of - does anyone have any tips for focusing with the ZWO EAF and a filter wheel? I don't know if it's just all part of the hobby but I've struggled to find the best way to ensure I've got the best focus I can. I try to use the focus aids in APT, tweaking the focus position to minimise FWHM on a star, but it seems harder than I was expecting! Also, how much offset would you expect on focus position between the SII, Ha, and OIII 7 nm ZWO filters? I know the LRGB ones are meant to be parfocal, but I don't know if that's true for the narrowband ones?
  12. Hi everyone. It's been a long time since I posted here! My Canon 550D started to refuse to connect to my laptop around the same time I had my first child and so my gear has been left gathering dust in the shed for a good couple of years. However, I recently got a bit of inheritance from a parent and decided it was high time I treated myself to some "proper" AP gear to get me back into it all. I already had a 130-PDS reflector (with 0.9x CC) sitting on an NEQ6 but I invested in the ZWO ASI294MM Pro, a set of ZWO 31mm unmounted LRGB/SII/Ha/OIII filters, electronic filter wheel, and electronic focus motor! The most astounding thing is that I've had two nights since they arrived that I was actually able to get it all out to start to learn what the heck I'm doing. Night 1 I couldn't help but give some narrowband a try. The Eastern Veil was in a good spot and so I gave that a go. Below there is an SHO image and a (slightly sloppier in terms of processing) HOO version. Night 2, I thought it would be a good idea to have a look at LRGB and so M13 was my target. Both nights had intermittent cloud, and I spent a lot of time learning how to use everything, so my data acquisition times are very low for both, however this only adds to my joy given that the results are already far better than I ever would have achieved with my old setup. I'm also totally new to processing anything other than DSLR colour images (which I also wasn't great at...) so if anyone's got any constructive criticisms or tips I'd be really grateful to hear them. I've tried to give full acquisition details and some processing steps for all three images. Thank you for looking! Acquisition details: Skywatcher 130-PDS on NEQ6 (primary moved up the tube to help reduce focus tube protrusion) ZWO ASI294MM Pro with ZWO 31 mm unmounted 7nm bandpass filters (SII, Ha, OIII) in a ZWO EFW Gain 120 Sensor -5 C Exposure 300 s - 7 frames each filter for a total of 35 mins per filter & 105 mins total (default "2x2 bin" mode) Astrophotography Tools for plate solving and acquisition Guiding: Startravel 80 + ZWO ASI120MC-Pro using PHD2 Processing details: Stacked in Deepskystacker using 6 dark frames and 20 flats per filter Each filter image imported into Photoshop 2022 Converted to 16 bit Levels and curves Astronomy Tools v1.6 "Enhance DSO & Reduce Stars" More levels and curves Combined into RGB in Photoshop Continued with levels and curves Astronomy Tools v1.6 "Deep Space Noise Reduction" Selective colour tweaks to improve "SHO Hubble Palette" colours Exported to Lightroom Tweaked clarity, colour noise, and exposure Acquisition details: Skywatcher 130-PDS on NEQ6 (primary moved up the tube to help reduce focus tube protrusion) ZWO ASI294MM Pro with ZWO 31 mm unmounted LRGB filters in a ZWO EFW Gain 120, offset 8 Sensor -10 C Exposures: L 12x180 s 1x1 bin (36 mins), RGB 3x180s each 2x2 bin (9 mins each) - TOTAL: 63 mins Astrophotography Tools for plate solving and acquisition Guiding: Startravel 80 + ZWO ASI120MC-Pro using PHD2 Processing details: Stacked in Deepskystacker using 8 dark frames for L, 6 dark frames for RGB, and 20 flats per filter Each filter image imported into Photoshop 2022 Converted to 16 bit Levels and curves More levels and curves Combined into LRGB in Photoshop Continued with levels and curves Selective colour tweaks Camera RAW noise removal Rotated and cropped Exported to Lightroom Tweaked clarity, saturation, and noise removal
  13. Another "first" for me - all the new kit from my previous post but I wanted to try out some LRGB. I only managed to catch an hour or two between clouds last night but M13 was a juicy looking target to test things out. I thought that as this was quite a "high resolution" target I'd try out the L in 1x1 binning mode, although I'm not sure my seeing or focus really benefitted... Still, good to try all the fancy features of new gear. Again, as with my Eastern Veil, above, I am pretty happy with the results for a) only 60 minutes total exposure, and b) my inexperience with the gear & the processing methods. My back garden is in the middle of a medium town so I'm quite pleased with the lack of LP issues all things considered. Thanks for looking! Any comments or C&C are gratefully received. I need to learn to process these mono subs properly! Acquisition details: Skywatcher 130-PDS on NEQ6 (primary moved up the tube to help reduce focus tube protrusion) ZWO ASI294MM Pro with ZWO 31 mm unmounted LRGB filters in a ZWO EFW Gain 120, offset 8 Sensor -10 C Exposures: L 12x180 s 1x1 bin (36 mins), RGB 3x180s each 2x2 bin (9 mins each) - TOTAL: 63 mins Astrophotography Tools for plate solving and acquisition Guiding: Startravel 80 + ZWO ASI120MC-Pro using PHD2 Processing details: Stacked in Deepskystacker using 8 dark frames for L, 6 dark frames for RGB, and 20 flats per filter Each filter image imported into Photoshop 2022 Converted to 16 bit Levels and curves More levels and curves Combined into LRGB in Photoshop Continued with levels and curves Selective colour tweaks Camera RAW noise removal Rotated and cropped Exported to Lightroom Tweaked clarity, saturation, and noise removal
  14. So all the new gear I ordered, including the ASI294MM Pro, arrived yesterday morning and in some stroke of sheer luck the skies were clear that very same night! This is my first time getting set up with anything other than an old colour DSLR so I had to get all my other kit out from where it's been gathering dust for a year or two, fit the filters in the filter wheel, get the focus motor set up, fit the camera to everything and work out where the coma corrector fits in the new optical train, and then get everything out in the garden. You can imagine my upset when I plug everything in and realise that the 12V power on the camera is not just for the cooler, but for it to function at all. It still seems mad to me that this isn't stated *more* obviously (in hindsight it is stated) when you buy it. It's also mind-boggling that a £1500 camera doesn't come with a simple power supply in the box, but c'est la vie. Due to my impatience and the forecast suggesting that night was my only night for the foreseeable future, I decided to jury rig a home-made power solution that I previously have used to power my laptop from a 12V battery when in the field, so that it could hook the camera up to my 12V DC mains power supply (which the NEQ6 runs off). Thankfully I didn't screw any of my wiring or polarity up and it actually all worked! I spent some time getting used to the focus motor and the filter wheel, various settings (as well as a very updated and new version of APT since I last imaged anything), and then decided to give narrowband a go for the first time. The following image is my first light with this camera on the 130PDS and I couldn't be happier considering a) it's only 35 mins per filter, b) I've never processed any narrowband data before, and c) I've loved the Hubble palette ever since I understood what it was and I'm stoked to be using it now. Acquisition details: Skywatcher 130-PDS on NEQ6 (primary moved up the tube to help reduce focus tube protrusion) ZWO ASI294MM Pro with ZWO 31 mm unmounted 7nm bandpass filters (SII, Ha, OIII) in a ZWO EFW Gain 120 Sensor -5 C Exposure 300 s - 7 frames each filter for a total of 35 mins per filter & 105 mins total Astrophotography Tools for plate solving and acquisition Guiding: Startravel 80 + ZWO ASI120MC-Pro using PHD2 Processing details: Stacked in Deepskystacker using 6 dark frames and 20 flats per filter Each filter image imported into Photoshop 2022 Converted to 16 bit Levels and curves Astronomy Tools v1.6 "Enhance DSO & Reduce Stars" More levels and curves Combined into RGB in Photoshop Continued with levels and curves Astronomy Tools v1.6 "Deep Space Noise Reduction" Selective colour tweaks to improve "SHO Hubble Palette" colours Exported to Lightroom Tweaked clarity, colour noise, and exposure I'm well aware this is barely any time at all, which is one of the reasons I'm so pleased with the result. I also actually performed my focus using the luminance filter and then forgot/didn't have enough time to tweak focus between filters so I'm going to blame some of the dodgy star shapes on that. I think my coma corrector is doing a reasonable job, but if anyone has any tips or constructive criticisms then I'd love to hear them because this is all really new to me! Thanks a lot for looking. EDIT TO ADD: I wanted to try a quick HOO version as I see this is a more usual treatment of this nebula. I didn't spend as much time as above and so I've overcooked the background a bit, but I still think it looks quite nice. Which do you all prefer?
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