assouptro

Hi Carole I cannot see the image? Cheers Bryan

Hi Fotografo we all have to start somewhere, and this is better than my first attempts! If I was to offer any advice, make sure you double/tripe check the focus. If you don’t own a bahtinov mask, buy one or make one, zoom right in to a bright star and spend a bit of time making sure that focus is as tight as you can get it. Thanks for sharing, looking forward to many more images! Bryan

That’s a lovely rendition of one of my favourite DSO’s thanks for sharing Bryan

Thanks Tony! Yeah, it made my day! Bryan

Hi again After sorting through the images I took over the weekend in Northumberland I have been adding a bit more info to the original image, I had 2 hours Ha and an hour Oiii to play with. The Oiii data wasn’t the best by any means so I ended up stretching it then putting it through StarNet to remove the stars which were bloated before adding it as blue and green. It will never win any awards, but still, I am happy with what I was able to achieve in 3 hours imaging! thanks for looking Bryan

Thanks Steve I have always wanted to capture these 2 objects together and I was excited to see the tail on the Heart in just 4 min! Bryan

Thanks gorann It’s true, major under-sampling, I would love to own a cooled CCD that could do true justice to this lovely lens but as yet I don’t have the funds. I enjoy experimenting with with the equipment I own and ’pushing the envelope’ you can sometimes get pleasantly surprised by the outcome. Thanks for the link to the adapter, it looks like it could be a useful and thanks for the comment Bryan

That’s huge praise Olly! I am very happy you like it! Thank you, seriously, Thank you for your comment. Bryan

Thanks Carole the image was helped by a trip to Northumberland, I can’t believe the clarity of the skies on the east coast! I want to live there! The adapter works. It just screws straight in and pretty much gives you the correct spacing. I do have a slight amount of tilt that I have noticed when I zoom into one of the corners, but this could be an issue anywhere in the image train? Possibly the lens itself? Thanks again for the comment Bryan

Hi Simmo thanks for the comment, I know what you mean, it’s tricky, I have an Astro fund that I put money into each week, sometimes I have to use the saved money for other stuff but I try and let it build up so I can treat myself once in a while! I think I paid around £300 for the lens which by Astro equipment standards is quite cheap? I got mine from these guys. https://www.e-infin.com/uk/item/2793/samyang_135mm_f/2.0_ed_umc_lens_for_sony_e-mount?gclid=Cj0KCQiAqNPyBRCjARIsAKA-WFzrJ0oeqDunjxTnCUgCVjDVilKAfs2Tj_2iB-cDPg95PZ4DAX_WUFcaAmVBEALw_wcB I’d love an eq8r but I honestly don’t think I would get away with something that costs the same as a second hand car, or a 2 week villa holiday! cheers Bryan

Just been playing with starnet ++ Its a pretty powerful tool! I added a starless image as a luminance layer then lowered the opacity to 50%

H Craney thanks for the comment I think the 414 has the same back focus as the 460 so this adapter should work for you too! It’s easy, just screws in to the 54mm thread on the filter wheel, done! Not expensive either! https://www.modernastronomy.com/shop/accessories/adapters/qhy-m54-canon-lens-adapter-020071/ Cheers Bryan

Hi all I have left it late this year to try and adapt my Atik460 to take wide field images, all the good stuff is drifting to the west which I cannot see from my back garden Whilst looking for a way to adapt the camera and Efw2 to canon lenses I came across an adapter made for qhy cameras with an m54 thread which in theory should screw straight into my filter wheel giving me 45mm from lens to sensor, allowing for the effect of the filters on the light entering this should give me close to 44mm spacing! https://www.modernastronomy.com/shop/accessories/adapters/qhy-m54-canon-lens-adapter-020071/ I emailed Bern from Modern astronomy and he was initially worried the filter wheel was too thick but after trying to find me an alternative he said it was the best option and should work. I am away for a long weekend in Northumberland and there was the possibility of a couple of hours clear skies so I brought some Astro kit with me and managed to get an hour of Ha last night, albeit through high haze. camera Atik 460 lens Samyang 135mm f2 stepped down 2 clicks 4 min subs unguided on an Azeq6 I would love to continue with this but it’ll have to wait now till late autumn from my location Thanks for looking Bryan

Thanks Martin, The tadpoles are Interesting shapes and deserve a bit more time. With regards the spacing of the fr/ff, I’m sure I have achieved it before with the adapters I own. I’ll have another go, it will speed up the imaging time, but it will Alter the FOV and the flats / dark flats I have taken so far will need redoing. Ah well, there’s always another hurdle in this hobby! thanks Bryan

Oh yeah! I forgot about Saturn! It’s been so long since I’ve seen a decent view of that wondrous planet! I used to love sharing the view through my eyepiece with anyone who cared to look and watch their reaction as they realise that “star” is actually a ringed planet! I don’t do much planetary imaging, it’s a different skill set and we haven’t been ideally aligned for it in the northern hemisphere for quite some time. I have just been looking at some old m13 images I took last year and I think I may have a go at reprocessing. Thanks for reminding me! At least you can process the data and try new techniques when it’s cloudy! Bryan

that’s Lovely Gina! I saw you developing this on the anyone playing tonight thread with interest. are you hoping to add some colour? Bryan

All fine renditions of a tricky target rodd I would be happy with either but if I was forced to make a choice, I’d probably pick the lrgb I love this target, it has a special place in my heart as it was the first DSO I saw through my first 12” goto “motorbike replacing man toy” and I was blown away by it and wanted to share which lead to astrophotography! I have yet to take an image of this wonderful globular cluster that I am completely happy with and when I do, it’ll be on the wall! thanks for sharing Bryan

Thanks Dave the Rosette Bok globule interest is as a result of my wider rosette image that was liked by a member of this forum (glowingturnip) who pointed out the Bok globule and it’s interesting shape whicjh he described as “a so-called elephant's trunk - they are caused when a knot of heavy density gas is able to withstand the strong solar winds from the stars in the centre of the nebula better than the lower density gas around it and protects the gas behind it in its shadow, causing the pillar. However, what's special about this one is the helical nature - magnetic field lines and electrical current flowing along the axis of the pillar have cause the material to swirl around it, creating those 4 or more intertwined helixes that you can just about make out” I looked at the image and thought, yeah! That’s interesting and deserves a closer look! But yeah, the owl probably deserves a few more hours and some colour! cheers Bryan

Lovely video Carole. It takes a long time to acquire that many images! Bryan

I guess it's down to the time spent acquiring the data?, It would appear there is no substitute to collecting photons!

Nice medley of images and a great diary of a year spent under the heavens My favorite is the deer lick group with stephan's quintet but they are all great images! Thanks for sharing Bryan

I don't make life easy for myself sometimes.... I have had some pleasing results lately from my new(ish) camera and telescope combo but having collected a few scopes over the years and spending long periods on the same objects the boredom was starting to creep in. We haven't exactly been spoiled this winter in the NW and when a couple of clear nights were forecast last week instead of just switching on and aligning on a familiar object I decided to change scopes. I rushed home from work at about 6.30, swapped my f6 ed100 for an F10 8inch meade sct. I was originally going to use my 6.3 Focal reducer Field flattener but I had forgotten the spacing requirements and was getting horrible coma, at this point, its dark and clear for the first time in yonks and I still have to cook tea for the family, so I quickly swapped for my TSflat2 that was being used on the ed100 and got pretty good initial results. That's it then. I am resigned to imaging at F10 not F6(ish) as I had wanted but hey, lets see what happens, Its a pretty full moon anyway so a good time to experiment! Night 1....which clouded up about 11pm 40 min ha 2x20min Bin 1 on the helical Bok globule in the rosette. Night 1 and 2 1 hr40 Ha and 1 hr Sii on the tadpoles in IC410 Night 2.......clear all night 2hr 40min ha and 2 hr sii on the owl nebula M97 The question is... do I continue with one or more of these and see whats possible? or should I return to the familiar comfort of a shorter focal length? Any input greatly appreciated. Many Thanks Bryan

inspirational!!

Lovely crisp crab! it’s sharp and detailed yet you’ve kept it natural looking thanks for sharing Bryan

Thanks for sharing Martin that’s one incredible image, and well worth the time you’ve invested! I love it Bryan