geoflewis

@PhotoGav - I'm sorry to have wound that SGP key in your back 😏. It is frustrating, but for the comparatively low price, SGP has transformed my imaging routine, so I just accept that AF for globs and some other targets is a bit challenging....!! FYI I've just processed (and posted) my M10 from the same session. I used SGP AF on each filter and whilst I'm not sure if it completely nailed focus, it was good enough for me to update my Messier collection with an improved image. Cheers, Geof

Hi all, My intention had been to shoot close up views of globular clusters M4 and M19 with my C14, both of which live down around 10 degrees from my location. Whilst I was waiting for them to gain altitude I decide to shoot M10, for which I only had a poor quality image taken with a 4" APO in LP skies in Surrey. M10 itself was only at an altitude of ~25 degrees and I started capturing durring nautical twilight in a pretty bright sky, so far from ideal. I captured 10x120s each RGB, of which 8 of each were aligned and stacked giving 48 mins total integration. Here is the processed result.... I never did get M4 or M19, the latter I started, but had focus issues then lost it behind trees.... Thanks for looking. Geof

An excellent night's work Gav, glad to see that I'm not the only one hunting globs currently. Like you I'm still having issues with SGP autofocus on globs, I wish they'd provide an alternative to the all FOV option, but despite the lengthy discussions it's clearly not a priority...!! It's particularly bad when shooting the very low down ones like M19 which I was trying a couple of nights ago, as the combination of poor seeing and poor autofocus is a nightmare. Here's a stack of 8x120 red taken through my C14 roughly processed and clearly not fully in focus.... I trried refocussing, but then lost the target, so will have to try again another night. It was down at ~10 deg and only above my obs wall briefly, before diving behind a neighbour's trees, so a very tricky target for me to capture RGB. I think that I'll have to use an alternative target for focus, then turn AF off whilst it cycles through the filters, which are pretty parfocal anyway, to see if that's a better method for this one. Yes, they are all a bit samey, but then maybe not, when you look more closely, as I posted previously with my collection from earlier this month. I particularly enjoy viewing them visually too.... Cheers, Geof

Well that didn't go as well as planned. The sky was clear at 11pm and just about dark enough to try imaging, so I started by capturing M10 while I waited for M4 and M19 to gain altitude. I missed the slot for M4, so went after M19, a new target for me, but after only 8x120s on red, I lost that target too. I wasn't sure whther it was increasing cloud at the horizon, as nearby Jupiter looked as if it was being seen through cloud, or whether M19 had gone behind my neighbours trees, which is what I suspect. The net is I didn't get what I was after, so I will have to hope for another night. I spent the next half hour or so messing around with some test subs on M51, which I've also never captured with the C14, but it soon became apparant that indeed the entire sky was clouding over, so at around 2am I gave up and shut everything down. C'est la vie, Geof

It’s cleared out here in the last half hour or so. The Obs roof is open, so I hope to be out there imaging in about 90 mins from now. If all goes well it will likely be some more low down globs with the C14. M4 which I’ve imaged once before with the 4” APO and then M19, which will be a new target for me. Both hover around 10 deg altitude from my location, so challenging targets.... Geof

Stunning image.....

Hi Paul, I'm not familiar with SharpCap as I use FireCapture, but can you select a smaller region of interest (ROI), as you have a lot of black sky above and below Jupiter? The black sky adds nothing to the image, (unless you are trying to capture distant moons to the left and/or right of the planet), but it's all data that has to be downloaded, so it really slows down the capture rate. If you can set an ROI around Jupiter or Saturn, then you should see a significant increase in the fps. If SharpCap doesn't allow setting an ROI then I would encourage you to try FireCapture, which is what many of the top planetary imagers (Damian Peach, Christopher Go, Anthony Wesley, Avani Soares, etc.) use. It is free software, so definitely worth taking a look at it. (http://www.firecapture.de/) Also you can improve the Jupiter moon image by processing that seperately to align the RGB channels and then accurately placing it back over the main image, typically approximately where the green channel moon image is located. That said, I think they are both a pretty good images and I envy your Qld, Aus location with the planets running high in the sky. Keep them coming, there's a lot of interesting developments in the GRS right now, so definitely worth capturing images to monitor that. Good luck, Geof

I also use the DSM app. In my opinion it's a pretty reliable, cheap alternative to a dedicated SQM meter working down to about SQM 21.5.

Hello and welcome from South Norfolk

Thanks

Good luck Alan, I find GCs a welcome source of targets during the light summer nights and very useful for doing some testing. Geof

A superb composition Rodd. I've only ever imaged this close up, but I really like to see it alongside the adjacent dark nebula with rich star field background. Cheers, Geof

Thanks Alan, it's so low down for me that it almost doesn't exist at my location ☹️, along with several other summer Messiers. M107 is another cluster that I haven't imaged for a few years, so I may try that one again this year as it's at a much more accessible altitude. Cheers, Geof

Thanks Andy, cheers Geof

Many thanks 😀

Well maybe not quite a fest, but a 4 course meal.... I previously posted my recent M5 image, but I continued capturing more globular clusters during the clear, but Moonlit nights earlier this week, so here are 3 more... M92 - the 'other' Hercules Cluster M12 M28 At first glance globular clusters can all seem somewhat similar, but seen side by side they take on their own character. The seeing for M92 was better than for M12 and M28 and in addition M28 was a very challenging target as it only just about reaches 10 deg altitude from my location which is the limiting altitude for my scope seeing over the observatory wall. All the green data subs that I collected over 2 nights proved unusable, so I resorted to processing the little red and blue data by creating a synthetic green to produce a colour (RGB) image. Nevertheless seeing the cluster against the backdrop of the rich starfield in the direction of the center of our Milky Way galaxy makes for an interesting image and I'm please to add this one to my personal Messier collection. Anyway, I hope that you enjoy seeing these 3 and thanks for looking. Cheers, Geof

Welcome Matt, that MW pic is a great way to introduce yourself. You'll find lots of great advice on here. Cheers, Geof

Thanks Donal, it's good to have some bright RGB targets to image during the summer months, and/or when the Moon is around. I'm having a go at M92 now, then later hope to capture a few more subs on M28, which is down around 10 deg alt, so only available briefly. I got a few last night, with luck I'll get enough to process an RGB image; I won't bother with any Lum for that one. Cheers, Geof

Thanks, I'm pleased that you like it.

With the planets too low this year for successful imaging, permanent astro twilight almost upon us and a bright 1st qtr Moon riding high last night I decided to capture the bright globular cluster M5 whilst experimenting with different PHD2 guide algorithms. I used PPEC for RA guiding and Hysteresis for Dec both for the first time. I had excellent guiding of <0.5" total RMS with both axes reporting ~0.33" over 3.5 hours (excluding dither excurtsions). Here is the resulting image, which came out pretty well considering the bright background sky. LRGB: 30:15:15:15 x 120s The data was captured with the QSI583wsg using SGP through my C14XLT + x0.63 Optec telecompresor lens, with a Lodesar X2 for guiding. Calibration and post processed using Registar and ImagesPlus6.5. Thanks for looking. Geof

I was out imaging until dawn, stopping just after 4am with a bright blue sky, both to capture some targets, but also to do some summer nights testing. The sky never got really dark as the brief true night was lit up by the Moon, then we were well into twilight by the time it set. I was RGB imaging a couple of globular clusters for my Messier list as they are bright targets that can cut through the bright background pretty well. Certainly not much point going afrer any dim targets for the next couple of months, but with Jupiter and Saturn so low this apparition I thought I'd use this summer to grab some of the brighter summer Messiers that I have previously ignored, or have only got poor versions. I was also using the opportunity to experiment with PHD2 algorithms by using PPEC for RA and Hysteresis for Dec, the combination of which gave better guiding performance than my previous Hysteresis for RA and Resist Switch for Dec. My AP1200 is a well behaved mount with very little backlash, so the thinking is that Resist Switch might be a too aggressive DEC algorithm, so I'll continue with the new settings for a while. Here is a screen grab from PHD2 Log Viewer which reports less than 0.5" RMS (excluding the dithers) over a 3.5 hour session on M5, with both RA and Dec in balance at 0.33", showing a nice even scatter graph. This dispalyed graph is just the last half an hour or so, with stats and scatter for the full 3.5 hours; the graph looks pretty much the same the entire 3.5 hours. I've yet to process the M5 data, but hopefully it will turn out ok. Cheers, Geof

True if you want to wait for it's maximum altitude, but it's up to ~25 deg by 2023 and gains about 5 deg altitude per year the following few years, so with an ADC I can work with that.....🙂

I use the Dark Sky Meter app for iPhone. It definitely is not as reliable as a dedicated SQM meter and is only capable of readings down to ~21.5 SQM, so I would take any readings better than that with a huge pinch of salt. When my sky is truly at its darkest, I sometimes get a warning ‘too dark for this device’. That said my readings broadly fit to on line estimates of sky quality where I have used it, so i think it’s a reasonable guide. I’ll accept Bortle 3 as likely correct, but as for Bortle 2, nah, that’s probably wishful thinking..... ? Cheers, Geof

I also vote for more clear (and moonless) skies, but not sure if I want to give up my bortle class.....?. Here's a series recent of readings off my iPhone using the DSM app, which average at the lower end of Bortle 3, but with several readings in the Bortle 2 range. I usually take 4 readings one after the other pointing towards the zenith, but facing roughly E,S,W,N in sequence. The actual phone camera angle (90 deg being vertical) is shown, so somewhat less than the zenith and generally tilted slightly in the direction I'm facing.

Hi Ian, Why not buy one and return if you don't like it. Having had success with the ES 68/40, I tried an ES 82/18, but couldn't get on with it so I returned it. Other than the cost of return shipping I got a full refund from TH (which included their shipping costs to me). That's one of the great benefits of buying on-line. Under the Consumer Contracts Regulations, you have the right to cancel at any time from the moment you place your online order, and up to 14 days from the day you receive your goods. Of course in the UK you might get 14 days of cloud, but..... Good luck, Geof