tomato

Firstly let me emphasise that I do not photometry, but I did enjoy reading this introductory article: https://www.cloudynights.com/articles/cat/articles/first-steps-into-variable-star-photometry-r3302

This is IC342, the Hidden Galaxy, in Camelopardalis, 149 x 2 min subs taken with the dual Esprit 150/IMX571c/QHY268c rig. I was hoping for 10 hrs+ on this one before the moon intrudes but have been curtailed by clouds and a virus (not Covid). Calibrated and stacked in APP, processed in Startools, PI (Starnet to reduce the stars) and Affinity Photo. Thanks for looking

Thanks for the link to the photos, I must be getting old as I missed these despite numerous visits to the website. Great to see the telescope and mirror chassis under construction, there might still have been room for some less high tech engineering on the project. On a separate flight of fancy, I was wondering if the folding mirror and motor driven collimation will ever find its way into the amateur market. The big expense for large amateur scopes is usually making the large mirror, would it be cheaper to produce 18 x 6” mirrors (with the right individual figure of course) then using a camera, software and actuators to collimate them when assembled. I suppose the big stumbling block is making the deformable mirrors, but we already have the camera, software? and actuator technology. Imagine, a 30” Dob that would fit in the back of a Corsa! C’mon Synta, give it go, I’d beta test it for you.😊

I’ve used the Baader kit and method on Esprit 150s with no issues for a number of years, usually twice a year. I agree if only inert dust settled on the lens then cleaning would be a rare event but most amateur scopes tend to be in back gardens and hence in close proximity to all sorts of biochemicals.

Thanks for the info, can I ask what scope are you using?

Here is my JWST animation, a crop made up of 45 x 2 min subs taken with the Esprit 150/QHY268c on the 1.01.22, when it was around 750 000 km distant. Conditions were less than ideal, with frequent cloud passing through, hence the JWST moving into hyper speed on a couple of occasions, and the pulsating stars, reminds me of the Rhubarb and Custard cartoon style of animation.😆 I managed to download and install the ancillary files required to make the Blink tool in Pixinsight produce a GIF file, but although it runs OK it wouldn't load into SGL, so I used an online resource (EZGif) instead.

Wow, the deployment looked a bit scary, just like the real thing, hope you got it hoisted and secured without any mishaps.

Very impressive, are these taken with a mono version and filters or the OSC with or without filters?

I hoping there will be some real iconic PR images taken by the scope itself, like the 'Pillars of Creation' did for the HST. I'm pretty sure everybody knows what the JWST looks like, I agree with it's gold hex component mirror and sunshield, it is more photogenic than the HST.

With regard to the lack of cameras, it is an extremely (and expensive) serious scientific endeavour, not a social media exercise, so I can live without camera feeds. I would rather see what the JWST can discover about the very early universe and the nature of exoplanets rather than it take selfies. We can let Starlink take care of that.😉

It would be quite a feat to look through a hole in the primary mirror of a terrestrial Dobsonian.☺️ I’m sure it won’t happen but I guess if the hinged sections of the primary failed to deploy, we still have a mission but with reduced capability? It’s fading into history now but what a great job done by the Ariane 5 launch vehicle, way to go ESA!

Hopefully all that ground base testing will prove to be time and money well spent.

I’m not sure how relevant this is but looking on the net if I have this correct, the IMX571 sensor came out in Sept 2018, and the first Astro cameras were available around Feb 2020 so around 18 months if the commercial drive is there.

Awesome project, as you say hard to believe that this can even be contemplated with amateur equipment. If we had a decent number of clear nights I’m sure I would give photometry a go but alas sky time is a scarce commodity in our neck of the woods.

Happy New Year Goran, a great result especially as you were under the influence! I thought at first glance you had imaged the Spaghetti Nebula, as by a strange coincidence this also has a bright compact nebula adjacent to it. It was outside the FOV on my RASA image but it’s on my SY135 FOV. This area makes for a great large mosaic, just right for your dual rig…☺️

Hey, I was on my roof last year fixing a couple of broken tiles, but it wasn’t exactly Parkour. Access took about an hour and a half, replacing the tiles about 2 mins. I did enjoy a lovely view of the Wrekin while I was up there.

I have total respect for anyone who succeeds in observing the JWST visually. I have a 16" Dobsonian which I presume would go deep enough from a Bortle 5 location, but it took me two attempts to find it with a plate solving imaging rig. I'm certain my observing skills are nowhere near good enough, but best wishes and hoping you get a clear, still night.

7 K, I didn’t know what figure they were aiming for, but of course as it’s looking for extremely faint IR radiation, it would have to be. Interstellar space is 3K, so it is clearly designed to be a very efficient heat shield.

Here is my capture from last night, I would love to have had a couple of the naysaying "its all a hoax" brigade with me during the capture and processing process, but I guess they have a retort for everything.

Here is a cropped GIF to keep the file size down. It is easier to spot as a trail, but seeing it move across the background sky is cool.

Love the galaxy in the centre of the FOV.

Think I have it this time, I'll make a GIF out of the best subs. Thanks to everyone who put me on the right track (literally).

After concluding on my previous thread that I was pointing the scope in the wrong place I had another go last night, again through frequent clouds. This is 93 x 2 mins covering a 2 hr period, using the Esprit 150/IMX 571 OSC dual rig. I'm 99% certain the trail visible right of centre, 75% up the frame is the JWST, the trail is the right length for the exposure duration and it is in the right place. It is also slightly curved, I didn't process out the near earth satellite trails, so it can be compared to these. The changes in brightness of the trail can be attributed to taking subs through varying amounts of cloud, and the object was climbing higher in the sky as the session progressed. The artefacts on the bright stars were caused by me not rotating the dome aperture properly so one scope was partially obscured during some of the session. The trail appears to have a yellowish colour (due to being illuminated by sunlight, I presume) but alas, I can't make out the mirror...😉 I'll make a GIF animation from the best subs and post this also, the solved and annotated version is also attached.

It did say at the end of the video that in addition to the risk of injury, they could be charged with trespass. It’s definitely more benign than shooting out the lights…

The LP Ninjas!