Star101

Scope was Telescope Optics OTA: Planewave 20" (0.51m) CDK Optical Design: Corrected Dall-Kirkham Astrograph Aperture: 508mm Focal Length: 3454mm F/Ratio: f/6.8 Guiding: Active Guiding Disabled Mount: Planewave Ascension 200HR

Camera PDF details CCD: FLI-PL6303E CCD camera QE: 68% Peak Gain: 1.09 Full Well: ~100,000e- Non Anti Blooming Gate (NABG) Dark Current: <.005 e-/pixel/sec. @ -45º C Pixel Size: 9um Square Resolution: 0.81 arc-secs/pixel Sensor: Frontlit Cooling: Set to -30ºC default Array: 3072 by 2048 (6.3 Megapixels) FOV: 27.8 x 41.6 arc-mins Filters: AstroDon Tru-Balance Gen 2 E series Luminance, Red, Green, Blue, 5nm Ha, 5nm SII, 5nm OIII, and AstroDon Johnson/Cousins UvBVRcIc Position Angle: 270º

The things I did learn about using the T30 Telescope at Itelescope was the sensitivity of the camera. I did have to test the scope/camera first to get a feel for how M16 would look. Here are the test shots. Had I done 300 second subs then the image would be poor. So there is a little bit of work required Personally, I cannot afford to purchase such a great scope as T30. I don't have a spare £60K, I have also been to Ollys place and what a lovely part of the world he lives in and yes, I am envious of all the wonderful scopes he has there. I would love to have clear skies every night where I live but its not going to happen....So should I be ashamed of using other scopes? Does this mean only the rich, who can afford expensive scope setups, should be allowed to image and submit those images?......Of course not!! For me, I agree with Olly above, It all comes down to how its presented. Which category etc. Show where it is captured and just be honest. 60s 120s 300s

I would hate to think that the images I get from any remote imaging sites are from stock photos and not taken at the specified time I paid for. I did read iTelescope data is private and is yours and never shared.

Thanks for the very interesting replies I do have my own back yard ROR Obsy so setting up is not a problem. All my images except this M16 above have been taken with my own equipment. My view of M16 from my garden is a 20 minute slot as it passes between two houses. And yes, I have imaged it from home too. I agree that images should have indications with them showing how they were taken. The reason I used iTelescope is that I sucumed to their advertising a couple of years back and at the time we had nothing but clouds for several weeks. iTelescope seemed to be the perfect answer to my lack of imaging chances. Cost ! - I payed £15/month which gets me 20 points each month. Over the two years its gradually grown and I do receive loyalty bonus points now and then. Each scope has a different price/hour to use and there are discounts for the moon being around or not. For this image of M16, I booked just short of one and a half hours of telescope time. I got 50% reduction due to the moon being close by. It still cost me 98 points. Thats around £75 !!! Not cheap by any stretch of the imagination. For that £75 I do get to use, as I desire, a scope with a camera that I could only dream of and skies that are impossible from my back yard. I did a quick check on camera and scope only, come to £44,000 without pricing in the mount. Am I happy with this image? Yes, I am. The pleasure I got taking this image was very different to imaging on my own rig. As I said above, on my own rig, watching the clock and checking Cartes du Ciel for M16 location. Setting the scope up for the 20 minutes visibility I have of the DSO. And finally setting the camera to image and seeing my first shot appear on my screen, Fantastic! …..Compared to iTelescope, take a test image, find the camera is (removed words) sensative. Reduce exposure to 30 seconds per sub. Fill in the form 40 subs Lum, 15 subs RGB all at 30s . Choose the time on the free space of the calendar. Wait!. Three days later, due to clouds lol, get an email to say the image has been captured. Download from here. Images in RAW and already calibrated forms. Its great. I got very clear and in focus image of a DSO that I find wonderful. I have found remote imaging this way is great for imaging stuff that is nearly impossible from my current location. I will keep spending my modest £15/month for times like now, where we have no darkness and lots of clouds. But I do prefer my ROR Obsy. I love the tinkering. The chosing objects on a whim. The cable issues and neighbours security lights!! lol. So, yeah. There is room for BOTH And I will be honest and indicate where/how the image was taken.

After a couple of days closed roof...Even remote imaging has cloud issues, sometimes. 😛 Finished product. M16. 40 x 30s Lum 15 x 30s RGB Taken using iTelsecope.net T30 scope in Australia. About 90 mins booked. Processed in Pixinsight....I need more practice

I agree MarsG76, now you come to mention it. It does look like a jellyfish ( I think its called the crescent nebula due to only a crescent being visible in wide band light ). And I also agree, that globe does get in the way a tad too often. When all this rain goes and the skies clear next week...The globe will be there, reflecting that other day globe to show it is still there.

Thanks for the info on 60s mimimum charge! I thought it was on time...booking 1 hour/1.5 hours or 2 hours etc!! did not expect to get a bill for twice the time!! Having just read the pricing, I can see what they mean...Its OK. I have worked on 1.5 x the actual imaging time. So, allowing 30 minutes extra for each hour. I chose 30s because if one looks closely, one can see bleeding on some stars, looking over exposed. At 60s....so, thought 30s would be about right. My set did not run today due to cloud (roof on) so maybe I could rethink my ideas before its too late.

I have been a subscriber to iTelescope.net for a couple of years but never gotten around to imaging. I have imaged M16 from my garden before but my limited view between the houses allows me to only get about 20 minutes viewing. Today, I was looking at iTelescopes wide range of scopes. I compared some settings with a FOV calculator and before I knew it I was selecting M16, using the T30 telescope in Australia. Here is image using 4 x 60s Lum quick process in Pixinsight. Following on from this session I decided to book an hours time on same scope tomorrow afternoon my time using only 30s subs to see if I can get a decent colour image Do many others use remote imaging by subscription? What is your opinion? Thanks for looking

This area of the sky is HUGE!!! Even my TS65Q 420mm APO only shows part of it. Taken last week around 28 May. Camera ASI 183mm Pro Mount Mesu 200 ZWO OAG with Lodestar X2 for guiding. Astrodon 3nm Ha filter in a ATIK EFW3 Processed in Pixinsight and 64 Bit GIMP 2.10 ( freeware ) I removed lots of stars manually using Clonestamp as my star reduction technique needs some working on Thanks for looking.

Great report Steve. Took me back there. My wife and I spent a week at Olly's around April last year so I know what you mean. We were very lucky and had clear skies every night. Although I was there for the Astrophotography, mainly M51. Olly did break out the Meade 14" for my wife and I to view through. We checked out some globular clusters and a few galaxies. The skies there are phenomenal. I'm glad you and your family enjoyed your time there too.

12 x 300s Ha added as L and R. TS65Q scope ASI 183mm Pro camera Mesu 200 mount Astrodon 3nm Ha filter Processed in PI and GIMP Thanks for looking

Clear Outside for my location is almost identical to yours Johninderby. But its raining at the moment.. Any how, here's hoping

Hi Sara, I have used this easy online site to create GIFs https://www.onlineconverter.com/mov-to-gif

I agree Adam. The more I looked into this the more I realised, new technologies are in the pipeline but will not be readily available for several years yet. And the conversation was for this year....As you say, most likely CCD/CMOS. Either way, I look forward to the new cameras and how they compare to presently available products.

Fantastic. I love it. Finishing with that question!! 😮 This is a wonderful video, thanks for sharing. 10/10.

Welcome back

At present, its hard to say ."impossible" But as is shown in Star Trek shows themselves, there are occasions when the technology fails and those transported "don't make it" Personally, I think it would be impossible to transport live creatures, never mind humans. One has to also take into account the electrical impulses that are happening all the time. The transport would disrupt those! Not to mention the energy required!!

Very nice. Yeah, shame about the rain. Maybe the weekend will bring clear skies!!

If one looks at the far right image, one can see how clean ( less noise ) the sensor appears, compared to the conventional sensor.

Impressive images. Those dark skies do look very attractive too. Thanks for the info and sharing your images.

That's a great start with Pixinsight. I discovered Astro Dudes videos a couple of weeks ago and found the series of 12 beginner tutorials very informative.

I love the detail in your image. Yes, the colour is out in my eyes but the detail, wow. Very nice.

I tried M13 earlier, iusing short exposures of 10s upto 30s but could not get them to stack using PI. Watching a instructional video, it mantiones that stacking requires some stars to be visible before stretching. In other words...Longer exposures. So, I pushed the exposure to 120s so I could see some stars even when the image was linear. This proved to work much better Stacks all but the dodgy subs. Managed 15 x 60s Lum 15 x 120s RGB. ZWO ASI 183MM Pro, Astrodon LRGB filters. C11 XLT, Mesu 200, Guided using PHD2 with ZWO OAD and Lodestar X2. SGPro and Pixinsight. Thanks for looking.

Mesu 200 mount.