geoflewis

16 minutes ago, kirkster501 said:

Well done Geof, looks lovely.  Quite a handful at that focal length!

Thanks Steve,

Yes, it is a handful, but the AP1200 doesn't break a sweat with the C14 and (fingers crossed) I'm gaining confidence in the settings I'm using in PHD2 for guiding. I also used SGP's focus target tool for the first time as I've consitently found that using autofocus on target for globulars just isn't reliable. The focus tool requires manual intervent so hardly automatic; I had to stop guiding, slew to a focus target, run autofocus, then slew back, resart guiding and resume the sequence, but it definitely gives better focus than what I'd been doing focusing on the cluster itself. FYI below is a screenshot of PHD2 guide log analysis for just the red filter.

Total RMS after excluding the dithers was sub 0.5", with RA 0.27"and Dec 0.35", being similar for all 3 filters.

Cheers, Geof

11 minutes ago, JamesF said:

Very nice.  Interesting that the star colours in the cluster appear mostly yellow.  Many of the globs I've imaged have been mainly blue/white.

I must get back into imaging clusters and globs again.

James

Thanks James, I know what you mean as most of the brighter clusters I've imaged tend to be dominated by blue stars, e.g M2, M3, M13, M15,, etc. I did find this reference from an article on M71 in 'Universe Today', from Nov 2018....

'In NGC 6838 the giant stars are red and become bluer with decreasing brightness.....',

....hence I'm fairly confident that I got a true representation of the star colours in my image.

Cheers, Geof

I settled on imaging this cluster as the full Moon made the sky to bright for me to shoot any faint targets in RGB. It is just 9x120sec subs for each of RGB, so just under 1 hour total integration. The data was captured with my QSI583wsg camera through my classic C14+Optec telecompressor lens for an effective F7.

Despite the very bright sky it turned out quite nice with good star colours. I think that it makes quite a striking view, being located amongst the rich star field of the Milky Way.

I hope that you like it and thanks for looking.

Geof

Hi Dougie, as Rob says, you need a barlow to increase the image scale. Does your DSLR offer a video mode and better still cropped video? If it does, then capture a couple of minutes video then use something like Autostakkert (AS3!), Registax, etc., to grade and stack the best frames (lucky imaging) and Registax wavelets to sharpen the resulting stack. It's possible to get pretty respectable images of the planets with a DSLR, but be aware that DSLR video is usually a compressed format not readily supported by AS3!, Registax, etc., so you may need to research software to convert the video file to a readable format. Another method is to stream bitmat images from the camera direct to a laptop, then grade and stack those. I've also done that, capturing about 8 frames per second, not the high frame rate of dedicated planetary cameras, but still worth trying if your DSLR and capture software supports that.

Good luck, Geof

That's pretty impresive from the UK, probably about as good as it gets I'd say with Saturn at such a low elevation. Have you tried using the red+green stack as a luminence layer to sharpen the RGB? It can really make quite a difference and you could also use the IR data as L, but I find that IR can throw the colours off.

Well done, Geof

Hi Lucas, another superb image from you to go with that brilliant Jupiter that you posted recently. I am not at all envious, I'm not, really I'm not....

Cheers, Geof

28 minutes ago, Lucas_M said:

Thank you very much Geof.

Here I had Jupiter at 88°, almost exactly in Zenith. What was the highest altitude he appeared to you? Maybe between 10 and 20°? It is not a fair comparison. 😂

I'm sure you could have great images If the planet was higher at your sky.

Hi Lucas, this year both Jupiter and Saturn were at max altitude of 16 degrees from my 52N location. I tried a couple of times but gave up ☹️

Geof 

Hi Lucus,

It is a superb image, far better than anything I could even dream of from the UK this year, hence I did very little planetary imaging in 2019.

Best regards, Geof

Hi @jinchuriki,

As others have said, in my experience a one size fits all scope is likely to leave you disappointed and frustrated. FWIW here is my experience with some of the options you are considering...

I previously owned a 10" Meade LX200 on a wedge - it was great for visual and planetary imaging, but just didn't cut it for DSO imaging. At the time I owned it I used a DSLR for DSO imaging with a separate guide scope. The drive mechanics of the LX200 were dreadful with huge periodic error and the accuary of polar alignment adjustment with the wedge left a lot to be desired. If you are considering imaging with a large SCT then whichever scope you get, be sure to spend as much if not more on a high quality equatorial mount, such as AP, Mesu, 10Micron.

I now own a classic C14 permanently mounted on an 12 year old AP1200GTO mount, permenently set up in a RoR observatory. As you mentioned in your opening comments, the C14 is HUGE and HEAVY, so much so that in my case it is only usable because it is permanently mounted. I've had it 3 years and have NEVER been able to mount it on my own as I need two hands to hold it in position and at least a third hand to release/tighten the dovetail mounting knobs. The first time I tried it I had my wife to help me and we nearly dropped the scope, so now I ask a friendly neighbour whenever I need to take it down, or set it up again, but it is something that I avoid and it hasn't been off the mount for 2 years...!! The thought of repeatedly setting up and breaking down the C14 on cold winter nights when my fingers are frozen to me seems a certain accident in the waiting....! I had no such problems with the fork mounted 10" Meade, so would think that the C11 is comparable, but the C14 is something else.....

My C14, being the classic version suffers from coma, so I only ever image DSOs with it using an Optec telecomressor lens (combined field flattener and focus reduced), which gives me an effective F7, which is great for most small targets, e.g. PNs, individual galaxies, etc., but still too small a FOV for any larger galaxies, or nebulae. For those I have a 4" APO (TSAPO100Q) piggybacked on the C14. I know that you said you'll use the Hyperstar with the C11/C14, but from everything I have read about them, this is not something that you'll want to chop and change if switching between visual, planetary and DSO as they take a fair bit of configuration to get them accurately set up - note I've never used one so this is just heresay on my part, but experience regularly collimating SCTs suggests that is likely a true statement.

The AP1200 mount is a beast and handles the C14 with the 4" APO piggybacked without breaking sweat, but please be assured that guiding a C14 even with a high quality mount remains a challenging experience. I now image with a QSI583wsg, so OAG with a Lodestar X2 and I would advise that an OAG is essential when imaging with anything the size of a C11, or larger and possibly even a C9.25, or C8.

I suggest you work out what are your main interests and get a couple of scopes to give you different options and a high quality mount to future proof you. It might also be worth waiting on a large SCT if you are thinking planetary, as both Jupiter and Saturn are very difficult targets from northern latitudes for the next few years, though Mars should be a reasonable target in the latter half of 2020 with it's opposition on 13 October 2020.

I hope this helps,

Geof

3 minutes ago, Paul M said:

Did it look like I knew what I was doing?   That is the first time I've ever plate solved!

3 minutes ago, Paul M said:

when the DSS image option popped up I got an idea...

Necessity is the mother of invention....!! 👌

3 minutes ago, Stargazer33 said:

Thanks Geof, unfortunately I think I'm a planetary kind of guy, so it's either persevere 'till the planets reach a more sensible elevation or do nothing. I have dabbled in DSO imaging, but the planets are so much easier to find! 😀

Bryan, I completely get it as I too love imaging the planets and can get a bunch of data in minutes rather than hours or days reuired for DSOs. Planetary is pretty much all I've done the past few summers. With them so poorly placed I decided to try for some summer DSOs this year, but family stuff got in the way for much of June through mid August. I'll be ready for Mars next year hopefully without a huge dust storm 🤞, then by 2021 Jupiter is once again gaining altitude.... 😀

Geof

Absolutely gorgeous, well worth the 3 nights I say....

Geof

4 minutes ago, Stargazer33 said:

Final reprocessing of this data!

The three derotated images above were resized to the smallest image (307 x 307 pixels). They were then stacked in AS!2 with a drizzle of 1.5. Wavelets tweaked in RS6 and then PS CS4 for final manipulation.

I think I've now done this data to death, but I learnt about Winjupos (thanks to YouTube video tutorials) and I refreshed my memory re: processing. So all in all a happy bunny with my first serious attempt at imaging for a long time. 😀

Bryan,

That turned out pretty nice, so well done for persevering with it. I gave up on the planets this year after just a couple of tries, in fact I think I only took one run at Saturn......

Geof

14 minutes ago, Gina said:

Looks like next year for any more imaging on this target for me.  ATM I'm concentrating on widefield imaging.

This is my best attempt from way back in July 2016.  Hubble pallet.  Must have been with MN190 scope and Atik camera though I can't remember which.  Processed in Photoshop.

That's really good Gina, thanks for sharing it. I do think that the hubble palette works  better than RGB for this target, but I don't have the NB filters for that (yet)...

Geof

1 minute ago, kirkster501 said:

Great picture Geof, especially considering it is low in the UK and the limited time that it is visible.

Thanks Steve, I appreciate the feedback. Geof

Excellent solution Paul, thanks for the lesson - definitely one for the astro toolkit

Geof

9 hours ago, Xiga said:

Wow, i think that looks amazing Geof. Despite the capture difficulties, the amount of detail on show is still remarkable. It honestly doesn't look like an image that was captured under those conditions! 

Well and truly 'in the can' i'd say 👌

Thanks Ciarán, you are too kind, but it's good to see it through other folks eyes 😀.

Cheers, Geof

15 minutes ago, Stargazer33 said:

I think the saturation is fine. The bigger/brighter stars have burnt out, as they do, but there is still colour around the edge. I can't remember off hand how you do it, but there is a technique where by you reduce the bloated stars size and spread the colour which survives around the edge into the middle. I'm desperately trying to remember where I read it, but it's not coming to me at the moment!

Either way I would be very chuffed with an image like that. 😁

Thanks Brian, if you do recall the technique for blending the edge colour of stars into the star centers I'd love to have that please. I've also seen that process described previously, but like you can't lay my hands (or memory) on it. I seem to recall it was was using a mask and blurring the star layer, or something.... 🤔. Cheers, Geof

1 hour ago, lukebl said:

Unfortuantely, I'm not sure!

Ok Luke, no worries.

I tried a couple of things in astrometry.net advanced settings, but as you reported it doesn't want to play, so I'm not sure that I can help further, sorry....

Geof

Hi Les,

My bet is that yes, you'd be able to see Saturn's rings. My first scope bought for me by my parents in 1971 when I got good grades in my 'O' Levels, was one of these and it gave me my first view of Saturn's rings....

https://www.gumtree.com/p/binoculars-scopes/charles-frank-saturn-astronomical-telescope-4-inch-diameter-mirror/1300999639

Give it a try....

Good luck, Geof

8 minutes ago, davew said:

http://nova.astrometry.net/upload

Quite simple really. Give it a go,

Dave

Hi Dave,

Luke said that Astrometryt.net wouldn't solve it in his original post. I tried it and it failed for me too - now trying advanced settings with expected coordinates, but it's not looking promising (UPDATE - it failed again...!!). I no longer have Astrotortilla or I'd try that and PS2 needs very accurate coordinates, so that's probably not going to work either.

Luke, what is the image scale, e.g. degrees radius?

Geof

Nige,

In my experience an Ha clip filter definitely makes a significant difference on Ha rich regions, e.g. Rosette, Heart and Soul nebulae, etc., but my modded Canon 600D did pretty well on it's own for many targets. I don't have a wide field lens, so I never tried for Barnards Loop, hence can't advice on that one.

Good luck, Geof

Thanks Neil,

It's a darned tough target from here, but I wanted to have a try at it.

Cheers, Geof

23 minutes ago, alan potts said:

Superb effort make mine look tame and I can steal about 11 degrees on you.

Alan

Thanks Alan,

I’m reasonably satisfied with it, but I’m never going to get a great result from 52N. I generally prefer RGB/LRGB to NB Hubble palette, but I do think that this target looks much better in false colour NB.

Cheers, Geof

On 20/08/2019 at 01:00, Xiga said:

Thanks Alan. I went for a Bi-Colour Ha-Oiii approach, was yours an Ha-RGB per chance? The different methods of capture and processing can yield to totally different looking images. I personally love that about AP. 🙂

Thanks John. It's a funny one - it's such an iconic object, so i AM happy that i ended up with an actual image (of sorts), but then the perfectionist in me really hates the low quality & quantity of data i had to work with. So the way i see it, this is just v1. Hopefully i'll have many years ahead of me to try and get some better data (and equipment!) and really do it justice. 

Totally agree. Adam, it's a tough one for us for sure. And the fact it's a summer target, with no astro dark, only makes it harder. Funnily enough, it was seeing your version last year that actually gave me the courage to even have a go. So thanks for the inspiration! 🙏 

Thanks Geof, and sorry for not responding sooner. Summer is a busy time for me, so I've been caught in a 'work-eat-sleep' black hole of late, which hasn't left much time for anything else recently. Really sorry to hear about your Mum 😥 . I have yet to go through the pain of this myself, so i can't offer much of worth i'm afraid, but what i can say is that 92 is a serous innings! Even as a (relatively) young man of 41, i would take that right now if i could. 

Hope you have some luck on M16 and i look forward to seeing your future work. 

Hi Ciarán,

As discussed a couple of weeks ago, I did have a go at M16 and have just posted it, so here is a link to my version.

Cheers, Geof