CCD Imager

nice weather coming next week, just in time for the disappearing moon

Short nights and bad weather over this summer, so found this unprocessed data from last year. 12 hours in total thru SHO filters with ASI6200 and SW Esprit 150 Adrian

yep, same sensor! Steve Hale made the camera body here in the UK, but used the same sensor

Now we are reminiscing! I once had a Hale camera with a back illuminated sensor 1024 x 1024 array, 24u pixels and without ABG. Those were the days

10 minutes, but was blooming even when I was framing with a few seconds Adrian

Hi Chris Thanks. Its remarkable you managed to get anything from the UK, excellent result, it only gets 14 degrees above our horizons and could only get about an hour at this time. It really is down in the murk. Yes my image was with M8 overhead, but you have achieved excellent S/N from shooting through the atmospheric muck Adrian

Hi Peter I an excellent object to choose with contrasting objects and colour and of course, well executed processing. Can I ask what field flattener you are using with the scope? I am half thinking of getting another fast Newtonian Adrian

Here is a quick raw to remind you of the days without ABG camera's

I thought it was about time I processed this nebula. In 2004, I visited friends in South Africa on a long family holiday, but managed to hide a G11, Tak SKY90 and ST10 in the hold baggage, I think my wife was too busy with our 5 year old twins at the time In those good old days, we only took short exposures, so total exposure was just under 3 hours, but the Lagoon was riding high over head in fairly dark skies. The ST10 did not have ABG so I was confronted with many bloomed stars and I am not sure how to process in Pixinsight, so used an old version of MaximDL to deal with those. Nonetheless, it was fun processing with modern tools. I have recently completed images of M16 and M17, but the Lagoon is just too low from the UK. Adrian

Thank you for the encouraging comments! Adrian

I am now blessed with a decent southern horizon, so started this project of M16 July 2022. I can only grab 2 hours a night and during permanent twilight in June/July. Over about 12 nights in total, I accumulated 19 hours of photons, an SHO pallete. Taken with an Esprit 150 and ASI 6200. Two views to view, the latter with a 100% crop of the pillars of creation. Adrian

NIce image, the second is much better with a neutral background, was bluish in the first, and more resolution Adrian

Thanks Matt, pleased it stimulated your taste buds! Adrian

A deep image (for me) of the M81/M82 area showing many other features. I processed 25 hours of data in LRGB and Ha. I could have brought out the IFN more, but it was detrimental to the galaxies even with masking, so instead there is more of a subtle glow Taken in rural Beds with an Askar 107 PHQ and ASI 6200 Adrian

Great image Keith, very similar to my recent version. Its a cool group of galaxies to photograph. I see you have the Pegasus rotator, I'll be buying one tomorrow at the PAS. Adrian

Nice image Paul, great vibrant colours. Couldnt help but notice the brighter corners as if flat frames havent quite worked. Pleased to hear someone else still likes Photoshop You cant beat its finesse and real time viewing when processing. Adrian

It is a refreshing change to see a smaller higher resolution object and you have captured it well. Maybe you should offer a challenge to imagers on SGL - planetary nebula!! Watch em struggle with those Adrian

A lot of hard work has paid off handsomely, excellent final result. It reminds me a little of the Finnish guy who did a whole mosaic of the milky way and it only took him 1o years, lol! Adrian

Very impressed with the Askar 107 PHQ, superb resolution for a little 4 inch refractor. This image is around 7 hours luminance and 3 hours RGB taken over 3 nights. I had an issue with the camera rotating (coming loose!) and not noticing, unfortunately. I used the ASI6200 and a good job I had some real estate around the galaxies to crop out the misalignment. Lots of tiny galaxies around and the arc/stream coming off NGC3628. Adrian

Only managed 6 hours on this one, Ha, OIII and S2, but with modern processing techniques, it has processed well and happy I dont need to add extra hours. Taken with an Askar 107 PHQ and ASI6200, image reduced 2x for a manageable size! Adrian

Olly, I have every single raw image from 1992 The good old days with an ST4, lol Ive just started reprocessing the horsehead data I took with you , now 6 years ago! The difference is marked Adrian

Hi Olly Russ Croman has really changed the landscape for astro editing over the last year. Its Star, Noise and recently Blur Xterminators. Wish I had these 20 years ago Adrian

Excellent image, the amount of data collected has certainly paid off and shows what can be done from polluted skies. I agree there is much to be gained from reprocessing old data with new software tools, the only problem is I have 30 years worth of data! Adrian

It is likely you would have off axis aberrations with the reducer and an APSc sensor, have a look at Lukamatico's video. I'm hoping Askar will release a Mark II version in the not to distant future! Adrian

Hi Thanks for your kind comments! The Askar is excellent in many ways, the optical performance is stunning and there is everso slight star elongation in the corners with a full frame camera, but you wont see them in this image coz it has been reduced in size. I am very pleased. The PHQ line of Askar refractors are their premium scopes and I can attest to that. I also have an Askar 400mm F5.6 which is good, but there are more aberrations and softer stars, than the PHQ, but I am quite happy with it, especially as it does well with full frame sensors. Their focal reducers are a different story, I'm afraid. The version for the 107 and 130 PHQ give poor off axis performance, stars in my images start to degrade about 1/3 the way to the corner of the sensor. I am currently liaising with Zoltan as to whether I have a bad copy or are they all like this. Then I saw Lukomatico's Youtube video of the same reducer on the 130, it gave similar results to me. Its a shame, because an F5 option would have been great. So your choice, better more expensive scope, but slower F ratio or cheaper faster scope, but not as good optically. If you are using a FF camera, then it is likely you will reduce the image size by at least half to display on forums, social media and the relatively minor optical aberrations will hardly be visible. Hope that helps Adrian