TakMan

Can't remember the last time I processed something up in colour... Was hoping to get some SII, then produce something along the lines of Brendan's superb rendition: https://www.kinchastro.com/rosette-nebula.html But, with the weather being abysmal, used a revised 'Cannistra' method for combining what I had - Ha and OIII http://www.starrywonders.com/bicolortechniquenew.html Ha 8x 1200 and 13x 600 (some from way back in 2013 before I took a break from imaging) OIII 19x 1200 From my suburban, light polluted Bortle 5-6 back garden. FSQ106ED with FR (385mm @ f/3.6) and the STF8300m and Baader 7nm and 8.5nm filters All sorted on a MacBook Pro. Wasn't sure the best way to combine different lengths of subs(for the Ha), but threw the lot into APP and it got on with it! Preprocessed (darks, flats and dark flats) aligned and stacked in APP. As this was just a bit of fun/experimentation, sorted in-between walks in today's snowfall, decided to give SiriL a (first) try for stretching the data, before doing all the 'arty stuff' in Photoshop CC2017. Quite a few areas that cause me concern, bloated stars, noise, that overly bright area under the belly of the 'leaping Puma', etc, but it has been good fun today all the same! Hope you like.... it's... 'colourful', if nothing else! Here as a full size jpeg (click it), showing warts and all. Stay safe... Damian

I had this issue when I moved my planetarium/scope control and guiding over to an old DELL i3 laptop running W7. I never had the issue with the even older MacBook Pro. I am currently using both and it is pretty nippy tonight! I still use the Mac for camera and Robofocus control. I think the Mac has slowed, not quite sluggish, but it is just on the table outside next to the DELL... Anyway, I couldn’t work out why the DELL would shut down (at different times so it wasn’t due to ‘updates’. Having only ever used Macs (graphics) I was at a loss, but decided to put the PC into my solar pop up light box/shroud (just silvered fabric - Amazon), but made a base and back for it from silver backed foam from Mountain Warehouse (camping foam mattress). Touch wood, it’s been fine since I’ve used the DELL in it’s little shelter!

Lucky enough to be in a position to grab a few hours imaging on the night of the 24th, just the usual problem with the moon in attendance! From my suburban, light polluted Bortle 5 back garden. FSQ106ED with FR (385mm @ f/3.6) and the rather 'out of fashion', old CCD based STF8300m and Baader 7nm filter - hence the halo, or two, or three! Preprocessed (darks, flats and dark flats) and stacked in APP and then into Ps CC2017 Ha 14x 900sec, so three and a half hours worth. Lost one due to clouds rolling in. Usually find if I can get around 25 subs the visible noise rapidly falls away, so looking forward to another clear night soon to add to this... but pleased so far. Full size jpeg attached... 'warts and all'... Does anyone else think that huge cloud of hydrogen rising above the HH looks rather like a vulture..? Damian

Thanks for the positive comments! AS!2 is giving me a hard time... from what I can gather, even the Ms PC version had issues with large files, something that was addressed in v3. I just haven’t been able to work out how to get the 64bit version of WINE to open the .exe AS!3 programme file - I should in theory just be able to double click it (the .exe file I believe), but nothing happens. As for stitching together, Ps does a great job and hardly ever those a tantrum!

Thanks Nik ! Two more to add - 5x TV PM. D

All as above, but with the TV 5x Powermate. I'm calling this - The Lunar (upside-down!) Heart: best 400 from 6000 files. Can you see it..?

Recently picked up a hardly used Atik 16200m and a new EFW3 via FLO. Hope to use the Christmas break to hook everything up and test. Currently use the Tak focal reducer with an SBIG STF8300m and an old TruTech wheel with Baader 2" mounted filters. Toying with the idea of still using the F/R and would like some advice on the best adapters to use to get to the required 72.2mm back focus (or 72.9mm if I add 0.7mm for the Baader 2mm thick filters). I believe I have this correct, from Olly's diagram and this previous thread... Perhaps the preferred option to minimise any vignetting 1) Attaching the filter wheel direct to the camera (so, minus the 'extra' camera front plate - total back focus used up in this combination 34.5mm) = 38.4mm spacer required. or... 2) Leaving the camera plate attached (41.5mm) = 31.4mm spacer required. Any suggestions (plus a link would be helpful !), or a link to a European (or UK) maker of such things (bespoke adapters) would be great. Didn't FLO used to offer this service...? I know this combination (F/R + 6 micron pixel camera), will be rather under sampled (3.19"), but should give a nice FOV. Native would be 2.33". As a comparison, the Atik 11000 samples @ 3.5" native. I might just end up with using the scope at it's native focal length, but I thought I'd work out my options now before dismantling the current SBIG set-up! Thanks in advance, Damian

Very nice, got some good details - especially in last last image. D

Missed a bit - never mind, first ever go trying to capture the full length ! I made it more tricky for myself when I tried to compose the 'Lunar V and X' to fit diagonally though the original first image... A continuation from this thread (have some more data sets to add to that trying out the 5x TV Pm): TEC140ED - TV 4x Powermate - Baader Red 610 Longpass filter - Basler acA1920-155um (Sony IMX174m) - Captured in Basler's Pylon software - MacBook Pro Processed in AS!2 and ImPPG (both via WINE) and PsCC2017 (including stitching). Best 500 from 6500 - 8500 files (struggled with AS!2 running out of memory on some of the data sets, so had to reduce the number of tif files on some (the Basler software doesn't allow me to save .SER/.AVI movie files, just .tifs - used 10 individual sets in total - plenty of overlap). 4000ms, 164-5fps, Mono8. Do the tap and you’ll get the higher res version! Damian

Quick go before bed of one data set, taken earlier this evening. Had to shoot through the neighbour's tree, so data slightly compromised - will update through the coming week as I sort more.... TEC140ED - TV 4x Powermate - Baader Red 610 Longpass filter (courtesy of FLO a week ago!) - Basler acA1920-155um (Sony IMX174m) - Captured in Basler's Pylon software - MacBook Pro Processed in AS!2 and ImPPG (both via WINE) and PsCC2017 Lunar V and X: best 750 from 8500 files. 4000ms. Mono8. The image continues to grow... Takes a bloody long time to process through 8500 files and AS!2 often crashes (out of memory), so needs to be re-set for each data set! The wife sent me an image of me in the process of capturing the data - so engrossed, I didn't know she'd taken it !

Very nice Steve... was also out trying to get some close-ups, hampered by the neighbour's trees - this will make a useful reference image! The 'V', 'X" and the 'Lunar Heart' - just made that one up, but can also see it on your image 🙂 Damian

Some artwork for you with a 'spacey' theme. This time from one of the UK's favourite artists, although not my cup of tea to be honest. Here we have three cold cast sculptures: "Its Good to be Bad', 'Catch a FallingStar' and 'Space Cadets'.

Outstanding, as usual Wouter!

Apologies for the delay in posting. I'm getting back into astro and the recent emphasis has been to get images up onto SGL. I got the Borg 90FL off here last year for a song - very lucky. The intention was always as a travel scope. I've used it at home occasionally to test things out both visually and with a camera (plus dedicated flattener - 1.08x DG field flattener, Part #7108 - I picked up from FLO). The flattener really helps tame the field curvature, pity it can't be used visually. This baby Great Tit was shot with an APS-C Nikon. The scope has a very narrow focus point (both visual and photographic), plus doesn't 'snap to focus' like my 'best' corrected scope - that's the TSA102s before you ask... rather than the TEC140ED. The Ethos were a no-go for me, too much FOV and way too much of that showed out of focus stars for my liking. So I experimented with the other eyepieces I had and made up a travel pack - all in an old LowePro rucksack that was in the loft (not including the tripod or WO EzTouch mount of course!) Below, my first 'proper' go with it, from a darkish site, as I intended when purchased - just what can you see with just 90mm..? (Taken from a WhatsApp entry) And forget all that nonsense that Flourite is some sort of physics defying astro-wonder element! *Observing notes: Amroth, South Wales, Tuesday 25 Aug - 10.50 to 11.40pm* Last night down at the caravan. Good dark site. As predicted, an hour or so of clear skies with gale force winds (Storm Francis) and clouds racing through, so me tucked between mum’s and my little sister’s two large static caravans - it means I can make as much noise as I like and move around the patio to find the best spot to shield me from lights (and the weather!) not having to worry about neighbours! First go at trying out the ‘travel scope’ (Borg 90FL fitted to a Manfrotto 058B and W.O. EZTouch alt/az Mount), from this location as have usually used cheapo Revelation 15x70 binos. Thankfully this bigger tripod/head, fits down the back of the front seats of my diesel VW Polo and was definitely the better choice considering the weather. The scope is easy to carry and the doublet glass is quick to cool, also a bonus for fickle weather... From earlier experiments at home, the Pentax 20mm XW is a good fit for the optics, stars keep their shape up to 80 odd % out, then the field curvature kicks in. As long as I don’t go looking for it, it’s not too off-putting and provides a comfortable viewing experience. This combination apart from being just a nice observing tool also has a wide enough FOV to act as a finder eyepiece. In conjunction with a simple red dot finder taken off the dob and a laser pen that I can take out of a warm pocket and rest on the indents of the two scope rings - this is simple but effective, gives me enough options to find what I want to observe (although not as accurate as my ‘proper’ encoder equipped observing mount, my Nova Hitch has spoilt me!) Swept through the upper reaches of the Milky Way... so many stars and ‘clusters’ and little asterisms your brain conjures up and subtle colours...and even more stars set against an inky blackness... so much easier to take in the view than the binoculars, better optics, cleaner and brighter stars, more contrast.... lingered on and around Cygnus. Rocking Horse open cluster NGC 6910 next to Sadr and then down to Albireo - a clean split and lovely colours of yellow and blue. Dropped down to the Coathanger asterism that easily fits the FOV and then up to Lyra. Vega nicely under control, slight blue shimmer. Then to the Double Double. Both stars showing slight elongation - a hint to their own binary nature, but couldn’t say they were split as well.... Ring nebula easily seen unfiltered. Swapped to a cheap Meade 5 element 32mm 2” Plossl. Brought this along to carry my spare 2” Lumicon UHC filter. Enjoyed the filtered view of M57 before hunting out M27 in Vulpecula. The main reason to bring the filter/eyepiece combination though was back in Cygnus - The Veil. Obvious. Large C shape. Both elements of the Witches’ Broom a tad more difficult due to the star it sits upon, but fairly easy. Spent plenty of time enjoying the view and waiting for the clouds to roll by to enjoy again and again.... Ran out of patience with the clouds to find the Crescent Nebula, so switched back to the unfiltered Pentax and found Andromeda. Once clouds had obscured that, I lingered around Delphinus (Jobs Coffin) and found the four globular clusters that surround nearby Equuleus; NGC 7006, NGC 6934, M15 and the lowest, M2. Beneath, I can just see the upper stars in Aquarius from my location, the rest obscured by the valley hillside that the caravan park is nestled in. With the clear spells becoming few and far between, called it a night. Pleased this combo has worked out. Have a few things to tweak for the next outing, but a solid start. 90mm of aperture is not a lot, but the dark skies down here means it’s probably showing just as much as my TEC140 does from home.... *Observing notes #2: Amroth, South Wales, Wednesday morning 26 Aug - 4.15 to 5.15am* Woke up, looked out the window... bloody hell... like the saying from the film Zulu, “stars, thousands of ‘em!” Waterproof trousers hastily put on over pyjamas, then two fleeces (well, holidaying in Wales, in August, you know!) grabbed gear and was set up under 10 minutes... Crikey, that’s Cygnus.... no, Cygnus setting over in the SE, what is that...? aahh, Triangulum..., faint patch above... must be M33 naked eye... red dot finder zoned in, 20mm Pentax... beautiful open cluster - NGC752! Load up SkySafari (SF) on the iPad... wrong side, M33 to the right... smudge visible naked eye... re-align... bang, M33... nearly half the FOV... say a third, always over egg it when excited! Bright core, perhaps as bright as Andromeda from home... fainter extremities, at least one curving ‘C’ arm above and perhaps a backwards one below.... can’t be... check SF and the ‘C’ is backwards. Check the view again. God damn it, flip view in SF to ‘Horz’ to match optics (refractor with diagonal) and bingo, confirmed... at least one spiral arm, perhaps two and then again perhaps a second in the upper region. Up to Andromeda. Nearly vertical, extends through the FOV. M110 as clear as day to the left above at the 9 o’clock position. Darker flattened ‘(‘ shape between it and the main core... the main dust lane - “wow” as Andy (observing buddy) would say! M32 more difficult to trace, embedded within the right extended region of the galaxy, matching the flipped SF image. Back to the Triangulum Galaxy, just to check that I can see ‘structure’! Feeling over confident, spot some galaxies below M33, well, below the pointy end star of Triangulum, ‘Metallah’.... NGC684/672/IC1727.... Can’t make out any of them (mag 10.8 - 12.3 ) On closer study, perhaps the larger, brightest on, NGC 672, but can’t confirm that. Instead, in the same FOV, open cluster Cr21, a small bright ‘C’ of 7-8 stars, very nice... Another brighter region catches my eye between Triangulum and Perseus, used red dot finder and M34 open cluster is sparkling in the eyepiece, the stars mirror perfectly the image on the iPad.... all the bright outer stars surrounding the dimmer central ones - superb. Take in the splendours of Mirfak and surroundings in the centre of Perseus and then drop down to attempt the California Nebula. A distinct lack of stars in the correct area. Is it vertical..? The astro images (including my own), always show it on it’s side...? Grab the Meade plossl still with the UHC filter attached from the previous session.... yes, think it’s there, but the view is no better. Swap back to the unfiltered Pentax 20mm. Check SF, it is vertical. Check stars, confirm.... faint grey patches, especially along the right side ‘shoulder/elbow’ region (where the kink is anyway). Another visual first for me.... Pleiades rising, fills the FOV.... well, the best bit of it fills the most corrected bit of the FOV, the rest spills out and we try not to look there to see the field curvature. Can see ‘nebulosity’ around some bright stars.... ‘some’ being the operative word. Without thinking, pop on red head torch and check for fogging of the eyepiece, then pull scope down and check objective - none. Have to re-align of course - what a **** - idiot I say to myself! Nebulosity..... study... not ‘even’ and not the same around different stars... check SF, sort of matches outlined areas of nebulosity, wow, seriously(?), bloody hell! Sky starting to lighten. Over to Venus in the East. Very bright, some false colour, half crescent and to it’s left, star HD55919, pretty. Try out the old Takahashi Erfles I’ve brought with me (I think they are anyway), LE 7.5 (66x) and 5mm (100x) eyepieces I picked up years ago. Nice and light - hence why packed in the first place as an 8th the size of the equivalent TV Ethos sitting at home. Solid rubber eye guards, no safety undercut so easy to swap without disturbing the alignment. Perhaps a ‘warmer’ view than either the Pentax or Teles...? Finish with Mars, riding high due a South, just crossed the Meridian. Perhaps still some false colour.... from the eyepieces or the Borg fast doublet objective? Don’t think this scope takes high magnification anywhere near my Tak although that is a different beast and is not here tonight because it is a 'different beast' (big and heavy for a 4”!) Need to check folks’ images on SGL when I get home and have an internet connection to confirm features seen.... two bright (polar?) regions @ 11 and 5 o’clock and a darker inverted ‘y’ across the front. Driving home later tonight so the brightening skies call a natural halt to proceedings... pity the clear sky didn’t come a few hours earlier! Damian

Something I really wanted... but was out-bid ! A vintage lunar crater glass paperweight. "What was I going to do with it?" asked the wife.... no idea, but it looked great! https://www.caithnessglass.co.uk The explanation of the design - why I posted it here! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expo_'70

Thanks all... D

Thanks! Still learning and refining the process of capture and the art of lunar processing... Have ordered a Baader Red 610 longpass filter to give me another option. D

Getting back into Deep-Sky stuff, both imaging and processing... (plus lunar, solar and trying to get Mars!) Some recent attempts - all WIP to some degree. All from my suburban, light polluted Bortle 5 back garden. FSQ106ED with FR (385mm @ f/3.6). STF8300m, Baader filters. Preprocessed and stacked in APP and then into Ps CC2017 M106. First full LHaRGB image - 2nd process L 82x 300sec Ha 18x 600sec R 20x 180sec G 25x 180sec B 37x 180sec 1st process Crescent and Soap Bubble - 3rd and 2nd attempts... Ha 11x 1200sec OIII 18x 1200sec North America and Pelican, First ever full 3x narrowband data set image. 1st process SII 25x 600sec Ha 27x 600sec OIII 31x 600sec Plenty to be getting on with... Clear skies, Damian

Nothing special, just turned the scope towards the planet once the moon (that I had gone out to image), had gone behind the neighbours tree. TEC140ED - TV 5x Powermate - Baader UV/IR filter - Basler acA1920-155um (Sony IMX174m) - MacBook Pro Processed in AS!2 and ImPPG (both via WINE) and PsCC2017 From Oct 26th. Best 300 from 4140 files. Mono12p 12,000ms Don't have 1.25" colour filters, so colourised it in Photoshop later based on other SGL member's images! Quite pleased for a first attempt and the seeing not being particularly great/ Damian

Found this young chap looking out at me from a mixed bag of old black and white press photographs. Recognise him... sans monocle..! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Moore A Hermes silk scarf, decorated with signs of the Zodiac. 88cm square. Estimate £140-160 https://www.hermes.com/uk/en/category/women/scarves-and-silk-accessories/#||Category

A 'Star Sapphire' ring. A type of gemstone that exhibits a star-like phenomenon when a bright point source of light is pointed at it - known as an 'asterism' - there you go, two 'astronomy' links! A new one on me, photographed plenty of Moonstone rings, but not one of these before... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapphire#Star_sapphire So, let's add a Moonstone ring into the mix... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonstone_(gemstone)

TEC140ED - Baader BBHS diagonal - TV 4x Powermate - Baader UV/IR - DMK41 Firewire mono camera - MacBook Pro All pics created from the best 70-100 images from 452 (30s movies). Camera running at it’s maximum of 15fps, exposures between 10-14ms, tweaking the gain and gamma depending on target brightness, via OACapture Processed in AS!2 and ImPPG (both via WINE) and PsCC2017 Image 1: Copernicus Image 2: Montes Jura Image 3: Crater Hippalus and Rimae Hippalus Image 4: Plato ...and playing with a tilt/shift effect, just for the fun of it! Image 5: Tyco Region #1 Image 6: Tyco & Clavius Region Image 7: Schiller Region Image 8: Brighter Region Panorama Image top left taken with a Nikon D3 on the TSA102s. Upper right close up (just for a comparison), a NASA image from an Apollo mission. Thanks for looking, Damian

Bit late in the day, still getting around to processing, posting and archiving.... apologies! TEC140ED - TV 4x Powermate - Astronomik IR742 - Basler acA1920-155um (Sony IMX174m) - MacBook Pro Processed in AS!2 and ImPPG (both via WINE) and PsCC2017 Image 1: 'Copernicus, Eratosthenes and Montes Apennines'. Best 250 from 1952 files. Mono12p 23,000ms. 2 pane mosaic. Image 2: Plato region and the 'Jewelled Handle' of the Jura Mountain range. Best 250 from 1664 files. Mono12p 30,000ms. Image 3: Best 150 from 1498 files. Mono12p 23,000ms. Image 4: Panoramic. Best 150 from 1498 files (per pane). Mono12p 23,000ms. 4 pane mosaic. A 3D Anaglyph version for you... Damian

Seeing not as good as hoped, but managed to grab a few sets before the clouds rolled in... This time imaging the waning crescent moon which made a nice difference and also reverted back to Mono8. Usually use Mono12p for solar, as find M8 gives some strange vertical column effects in the dark regions when stretching. Didn't happen this time, so must investigate that... wonder if it is something to do with the ambient temperature as cables and aquisition software (Basler Phylon) was the same...? TEC140ED - TV 4x Powermate - Astronomik IR742 - Basler acA1920-155um (Sony IMX174m) - MacBook Pro Processed in AS!2 (still can't work out how to run the newer v3 in 64bit WINE) and ImPPG (both via WINE) and PsCC2017 Image 1: best 600 from 8688 files. 8000ms. Image 2: 2 pane mosaic, best 600 from 9920 files for each pane. Ran the camera at 7000ms. Did finally try the Solar Continuum filter that Vlaiv recommended, but the exposures for that filter (to get the histogram the same as with the IR742,) was over 20,000ms and decided the conditions weren't a good fit for that. Must get a Red 610 long pass filter next to try (and/or the 685nm... or the Astronomik 642...), to try and find a good balance between steadying the image, speed and resolution. Any suggestions, please drop me a note here! Inverted versions as I quite like the hidden details it reveals plus a final 'play' as an Anaglyph 3D - sort of works in certain areas, just a bit of fun! Damian

Spent an hour or so clearing down my external SSD that I use when imaging. This was a data set not even looked at. 800 frames from 3500 - Aug 1st. Trying out some processing ideas I’ve been formulating to give it a bit of ‘glow and life’ to the writhing mass of solar plasma! TSA102s. Captured and processed on a MacBook Pro with Basler’s Phylon software, AS!2, ImPPG and PSCC2017. No darks or flats used. Damian