Susaron

Carol, I think that´s the focuser drawtube protuding the light cone.

Cheers.

Mario.

8 hours ago, al-alami said:

Decided to start again on M42, it's such an artistic target

I might add a third exposure of the outer areas since I think I can get more out of them.

Filter: Ha

Exposure: 60 x 128 sec for the outer area and 200 x 32 sec for the core

Processed in PI and PS

 

Try to use 15 secs subs for the core Fakhri, in order to have a better defined trapezium. I think with 32secs subs is overexposed. Anyway in Hapha it looks awesome. Need to find the time to test my new Optolong Halpha 12nm.

Thanks Alacant, I forgot to ask the same for APT Dither Seetings

Talking about dithering with PHD2, can anybody post a screenshot of its PHD2 dither parameters please?.

Twice I have tried to dither with phd2 but it seems to be unable to stop the dither loop and continue with the exposures, so I guess my parameters are not correct.

Cheers.

Mario.

22 hours ago, Jon Sales said:

Been watching this thread for a long time. 

I have the Star Adventurer mount for widefield with my EOS760D and lenses. 

Now looking at a telescope again for visual and AP. 

Is the 130pds on the EQ5 PRO worth the money or should I go for the 150?

I do use the 130PDS for visual duties as well, it is a perfect grab and go telescope for your holidays. I use an AZ4 mount along with the AZEQ5 pier tripod, all the pack fits in a sports bag.

Cheers.

On ‎11‎/‎19‎/‎2017 at 11:27, al-alami said:

My first try at the Owl Cluster (didn't even know about it actually). 

L 10 X 128s

RGB 5 x 128s for each

It was a quick grab at the end of the night and the weather was getting bad, I hope to revisit it because its such a pretty target.  

On your left corner you have the NGC436 cluster as well, this little scope allows these wide fields.

Yes the Optolong are Chinese less expensive "copies" than the Astronomiks. if you want to take a look to the transmission curves, Carlos Tapia a Spanish physicist student who works in the faculty laboratory, has characterized every filter he can find or borrowed. Take a look to his page and the comparison among the Optolongs and the Astronomiks.

http://www.carlostapia.es/curvas_filtros/Comparison_UHC.html

Needless to say I own the UHC/OIII/CLS and an incoming Halpha from Optolong, I am actually very happy with them, the vision of the Veil Nebula with the OIII is simply astonishing

19 hours ago, Galen Gilmore said:

Yea I agree. I was doing 2 minute exposures before, but I was getting a horrible gradient. I though shorter subs would get rid of it or reduce it, but it didn't. Would a LP filter help reduce these gradients?

Galen go for an IDAS LPS D1, you won´t regret, it is an excellent LPS filter, take a look to my pictures taken last month with first quarter moon.

Moreover today I have seen excellent pictures taken with the Optolong UHC filter from the Double cluster in the Spanish forum www.astronomo.org, and it seems to be another and cheapest option as it does not change the colors of the stars.

Cheers.

Just a small retouch with Fitswork sharpening tool (Gaussian), hope you don´t mind.

18 hours ago, Uranium235 said:

I've started ordering the bits required for a 130pds dual shooter, starting off with the mountings... a new vixen saddle, and some M5 socket head screws and nuts. Next up will be an ultra-short t-ring adaptor, then finally the telescope itself. Cant get it all straight away, but it should be ready sometime in December (with luck).

I'll be running the DSLR (for RGB or OIII) via the SWCC for the extra boost in photographic speed, and the CCD via the MPCC MkIII for (luminance or Ha).

This can be considered an abbuse. A 130PDS dual binocular astrophotograph destroyer. You can call it HMS 130. :-)

I have plans to make the same dual pair with a Zenithstar 61 for the DLSR to increase even more the field.

1 hour ago, alacant said:

IC1396 en cefeo. I tried this before without a filter but got a flat nebula which was hard to process. This is an experiment with a CLS; easier and there's more detail. Any comments most welcome, especially from anyone who has used CLS with the 130. Clear skies and thanks for looking.

** oh, and the streak. A bit of a mystery as it doesn't appear on any of the light frames. There's always something....

Not a CLS, but I tried once with an UHC filter (Optolong) and my unmodded camera 70D, using M27 as target. Even with 60s subs I was able to get a good signal under light polluted skies.

Some pictures from yesterday night, I suffered problems with the new APT 3.40 which hung up from time to time, so with the first quarter Moon and these problems, I went for short pictures of some well-known objects, NGC457 along with NGC436, The Double Cluster and M45. The QHY168C set-up was Gain 6, offset 2 (to clip the briliant background to some stage), Temp -10ºC. The pictures for the NGC457 and Double are 40x30secs, and 40x60s for the Seven Sisters, no darks, flats or bias. The equipment our beloved 130PDS+AZEQ5+EZG60+ASI120MM.

Quick processing with DSS, and PIX (crop+ABE+curves).

19 hours ago, rotatux said:

I'm about to flock my tube too, but just a question BTW: is there any risk the flocking material could accumulate water / humidity, and raise condensation, during moisty nights ? or do you combine it with some heating device to avoid it ?

PS: what I actually have for flocking is a somewhat thick felt (I mean maybe equivalent to ±15 sheets of paper)

Aside from flocking which provides a darker tube, it is a good idea to cover the scope with thin camping carpets, that prevents dew/frost development on cold nights. Even in the driest Spain as we observe at 700-800m altitudes the temperature drops quite fast in Winter and after one hour after dark you can find frost on your metal tube.

On ‎10‎/‎24‎/‎2017 at 23:48, al-alami said:

Hi Adam,

Do you think this:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/flo-compression-ring-adapter-for-skywatcher-newtonians-m54.html

would be a good temporary improvement to keep the tilt (or lack of) constant? By temporary I mean till I can budget for a moonlite.

 

I have used the Geoptik ring in my 200PDS, it is pretty good as well, it uses nylon screws instead of metal ones, though for our beloved 130PDS nothing beats the light and hard Moonlite focuser.

Just to mention a discussion I had with some colleagues about the suitable drawtube length for the Moonlite focuser mounted on the 130PDS. I went for the 2'' (50mm) drawtube as I wanted the tube for visual duties. There were discussions about if the long drawtube protruded on the light path etc, etc..., I have checked that with the DSLR there was not protrusion, and with the QHY168C I had to push the drawtube till the end of its length to achieve focus, so even less problem with any protrusion. I am indeed very happy with this decision, I am sure that using the qhy with a 38mm drawtube caused me to use any 2'' extender.

This morning Moon Gents before running to work.

2 hours ago, al-alami said:

 

Hi Susaron,

I wish it was easy to get the moonlite, its on my list, but I always have to worry about shipping and customs costs.  Out of curiosity, which tube length did you get? I want to image with the scope but still use for visual.

Hi mate,

Well regarding the shipping costs, because I was the launch customer for the 130PDS tube plate adaptor,  I bought the pack directly to Moonlite instead of FLO, that caused a cost increase due to export taxes.

You are lucky now because the adaptor for the 130PDS is available at FLO.

Regarding the drawtube length I had a discussion with the FLO colleagues, in principle I wanted the 130pds not only for photo but for visual duties as well, so I ordered the 50mm (2'') drawtube. I can assure you that this drawtube does not intercept the light cone in the photo configuration, neither with the Canon 70D nor with the QHY168C. But it is suggested by FLO that a 38mm drawtube is more suitable for astrophotography, then if you want to use the scope for visual duties you can always fit a 2'' extension tube.

22 minutes ago, tony8690 said:

Is there much difference in what you can capture in photos? quality wise? will there be DSO i can capture on a 150 and not on a 130?

Thanks,

T

 

With the 130PDS you have a wider FOV closer to the one an ED80 provides. The shorter focal length of the 130 vs the 150 makes guiding a little bit easier, moreover it is lighter.

On the other hand the amount of light being captured by the 130 is smaller, but that can be counteracted by longer time exposures.

Anyhow a friend of mine has a SW150PDS on a NEQ5 and he is very happy with it.

A ghost moon taken last week while rising with the SW130PDS

3 hours ago, al-alami said:

Hi All.  

I've got sort of an issue, I think with the focuser. In theory I have the correct spacing between the Baader CC and my QHY 163M (with a manual filter wheel in between). It looks like I have some tilt.  I tried aligning the focuser and it seems to be okay, well at least without the imaging train attached.  Is there any way for me to work on the tilt with the camera attached during the day?  It is kind of frustrating at the moment.  I've included an image which I shot yesterday.  To be honest the image was just shot to see the stars and not for anything else, it was also shot from my light polluted roof. 

Any help would be much appreciated.

Fakhri

 

This is one of the reasons why I changed the original focuser with a Moonlite one, I have no tilt at all with the QHY168 (just for the record, I measured its weight along with the MPCC and it is around 1150 grams).

Regards

On 7/9/2017 at 19:11, lnlarxg said:

great thread, this has caused me to have just made a purchase on a neq6-pro! Sorry quick hijack, is a 200p-ds too big to fiddle with for astrophotography? (If so I will stop dreaming for the 250p-ds....)

The NEQ6 Pro is just the minimum to use the 200PDS for Deep Sky photography, though many people tune the mount with belts in order to have smoother operation.

I did use a 200PDS for visual and planetary duties on an AZEQ5 but with the traditional tripod not the pier one as this is too shaky.

Cheers

And yesterday full Moon,

Moon shoot from home yesterday evening with the Canon 70D and the 130PDS Moonlite tuned. ISO 100 at 1/320, series of 5 frames stacked with PIPP, AS2 and little processing with Pix wavelets.

Dear all,

Last Friday I went out to the outskirts of Madrid (85 Km Northeast), just to practice with some guiding issues I had in June. While testing I was able to shot a couple of test images, first one is the Tulip Nebula (Sh2-101) along with the NGC6781 cluster in Cygnus (3 subs of 4min, with no calibration frames), the second one is well-known, M11 (13 four min. subs), with no calibration frames.

Pictures taken with the QHY168C at Gain 10, Offset 4, RGGB Debayer, Temp -10ºC

Cheers.

On ‎7‎/‎3‎/‎2017 at 10:59, alacant said:

Moon again. Last night of this sort of deep sky stuff for a week or so. Oh, and that awful halo-ridden aliexpress cc...  3 minute snaps with 700d.

 

Which object is this?