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Adreneline

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Everything posted by Adreneline

  1. I have imaged these many times and have in fact named them the Pita Nebula. They can exhibit great structure and colour and can be captured easily with any telescope/camera combination - preferably short exposure and no guiding.
  2. You need to rotate the focuser until the grub screw comes into view through the hole underneath. HTH.
  3. Didn't realise Brocken Spectre was included @shinebug777 Caught flying out of Frankfurt on route to Prague - with my iPhone.
  4. Here is my Canon 6D (unmodified) attached to my Samyang 135mm and perfectly focussed (to my eyes anyway) on a star field. What's good enough for Canon and Samyang is good enough for me! Right or wrong I do everything I can to adjust the backspacing between camera sensor and lens to ensure I get focus within the base of the 'L' for every filter. I accept that each filter (L, R, G, B, Ha, OIII, and SII - all 2mm thick) does not focus in the exact same position but everyone does focus within the base of the 'L'. I am not sure why I would want to image without a filter, but if I did then with the SY135 the focus mark will most definitely move outside the base of the 'L' as implied by @geeklee. If it focuses anywhere else then I would suggest the spacing is sub-optimum. This is my 1600 in my SY135 with 1mm Astronomik filters and spacing adjusted to ensure the focus mark is within the base of the 'L'. (Sorry it's a rubbish photo - I thought I had a better one but can't seem to find it ). HTH Adrian
  5. That is an impressive amount of detail Alan, and 49 hours on a galaxy target is serious commitment. I was considering using continuum subtraction on one of my own images the other day - I need to take a proper look at the process. Thanks for sharing. Adrian
  6. On my version of SkySafari if you go to the settings screen you can select Horizon (seems to be the default), Equatorial (what you need for the ASIair) or Ecliptic (for people more clever than me!) If you select Equatorial then the App will give you the RA and Dec settings you need for the ASIair GoTo HTH Adrian
  7. With all this cloud and rubbish weather imaging opportunities are (a) few and far between, and (b) frequently punctuated by clouds. I have decided to move away from my NB comfort zone and image some open clusters on the basis that I can take lots of 30s exposures and even if half end up in the bin hopefully I'll still have enough to make an image. This is image R:G:B = 18:22:24 x 30s - more than 54 frames were binned due to clouds, haze and contrails. The Collinder catalogue is a catalogue of 471 open clusters compiled by Swedish astronomer Per Collinder; published in 1931 some of the entries are now disputed, nevertheless it is an interesting group of objects many of which are worthy of imaging. Collinder 464 is a 4th magnitude Open Cluster appearing in the constellation Camelopardalis. It contains some pretty interesting stars. (This diagram is courtesy of SkySafari - aligned with the image above using PI DynamicAlignment) Centre stage is BN Camelopardalis (HD32650), a 5th magnitude Variable Star. It is 378 light years from our solar system. It is a blue-white star of spectral type B9pSi and its energy output is 76 times the Sun's luminosity. We also have HD 31312 (HR 1572), a 6th magnitude Variable Star. It is 681 light years from our solar system. It is a red giant of spectral type K5III. Its surface temperature is 4050 Kelvins - 30% cooler than the Sun's - and it is 37.2 times the Sun's diameter in size. This star's total energy output is 337 times the Sun's, and it has a mass of 1.2 Solar masses. In the same region is HD 31565 (HR 1587), a 6th magnitude Variable Star. It is 1546 light years from our solar system. It is a red star of spectral type K0 and its energy output is 624 times the Sun's luminosity. Positioned between the two is HD 31590 (HR 1589), a 6th magnitude Double Star. It is 558 light years from our solar system. It is a white main-sequence star of spectral type A1V. Its surface temperature is 9395 Kelvins - 1.6 times hotter than the Sun's - and it is 3.9 times the Sun's diameter in size. This star's total energy output is 107 times the Sun's, and it has a mass of 2.7 Solar masses. Finally, sneaking in near the left hand side of the image is HD 34450 another 6th magnitude Variable Star. It is 1607 light years from our solar system. It is a red giant of spectral type M0.5IIIbBa0.5. Its surface temperature is 3690 Kelvins - 36% cooler than the Sun's - and it is 96.1 times the Sun's diameter in size. This star's total energy output is 1545 times the Sun's, and it has a mass of 1.2 Solar masses. I've looked on Astrobin and cannot find any other images of Collinder 464 - maybe I am searching for the wrong thing. So despite the incessant clouds preventing my first choice of NB imaging at least I got something from a night with the telescope under the stars - or should I say clouds! Just got 470 left to do Thanks for looking. Adrian
  8. We were lucky enough to get a really good one in October last year. Two pots of gold!
  9. I upgraded my Baader NB filters to Astronomik 6nm and I am very pleased with them. I have since purchased Antlia 3nm NB filters for my second rig and they are amazing - to me. I still use the Baader RGB filters and the Blue is the weak one. I am deliberating like you as to where to go from here so I shall be interested to see what advice you get. Adrian P.S. The reason I moved to Antlia is they are 2 mm thick - like the Baader - so were a good match in the same filter wheel (8EFW) which is really helpful when using the 8EFW with my Samyang 135 lens.
  10. Picking up on @tomato's comment - I have an iOptron encoder mount and the advice I received from iOptron was to use the Delay feature in PHD rather than extending the exposure time; encoder mounts can exhibit a sort of 'hunting' behaviour where PHD is effectively fighting with the encoders. Sadly my iOptron mount failed before I got the chance to use this feature; previously I had never managed to get guiding working with my CEM25-EC. I am aware you have had this working in the past so this may be a complete red herring but @tomato's prompted me to share what I had been told. Adrian
  11. Depth, structure, just the right amount of colour and loads of detail. What's not to like? Nice delicate touch with the processing Lee; I much prefer images that are not oversaturated, but that is very much a personal thing. I have yet to try HDRComposition in PI, but then I keep shying away from M42 - there's always next year! Looks like you've got the Epsilon tuned to perfection too. Adrian
  12. Thank you Robin. To stand any chance of getting a 'finished' image this year (if there such a thing as a finished image) I really need to put the ASI1600 on the Samyang and prey for a couple of clear nights to get some OIII and SII. I could also do with some Ha to reinforce what I already have. The next seven days look terrible but you never know! Adrian
  13. Thank you. I, we all, need a kind February - five or six clear nights should do it 🤣 Adrian
  14. So many of us are in the same boat - projects started and struggling to get them finished. I am determined to try to complete the whole thing in SHO as I believe the SII has so much to offer in terms of revealing structure. I might yet have to face up to putting the 1600 on the Samyang. Thank you Lee. Adrian
  15. I started this enterprise back in January 2020 with an ASI1600 attached to a Canon 200 mm f2.8 lens. It was not the greatest image - https://www.astrobin.com/oxjf3s/B/?nc=&nce=. Despite the so called pedigree of Canon the stars were not up to the much cheaper Samyang and so I vowed to start again. Moving house twice and rubbish weather continue to make this a frustrating project. This is eight panes of Ha taken with the Samyang 135 mm with ASI183MM. The image is significantly cropped across the bottom. The whole thing could be done far more easily if I were to pair the SY135 with my ASI1600 but that is currently attached to the SM90ED and I am reluctant to disturb it or to undertake the task or getting the 1600 set up on the Samyang. We are now fast approaching the end of nebula season and the window of opportunity on Monoceros is drawing to close. One day, hopefully, I might manage to get (a) a lot more Ha, and (b) some OIII and SII to go with it - hopefully it won't take another four years. Thank you for looking. Adrian
  16. SH2-284 seems pretty popular - about 140 images on AB alone Several have popped up on SGL of late too - including my own modest (integration time) offering: Adrian
  17. You can do the same thing with PixelMath but iSCNR is much easier - handy for removing magenta halos in SHO images.
  18. Right or wrong I always feel you should try to keep the rgb histograms aligned - difficult at times. To my eyes there is a hint of magenta about the image so I inverted the image and applied SCNR. I then re-iverted the image and applied SCNR again and the resulting histograms are almost aligned. It would be easy to align the Red now using HT but if I try with a .jpg image it all goes bonkers - it needs to be done on the .xsif file in PI. Now I accept a lot of folk like magenta and green in their images so this is all down to personal taste so feel free to completely ignore all of the above! 😆 Sometimes individuality is more important than conforming to some expected norm - it makes life, and images, more interesting. HTH. Adrian
  19. Very nice. Really like the subtle colours in the cluster. Adrian
  20. Sharpless 2-284 is a Bright Nebula appearing in the constellation Monoceros near the more familiar Rosette nebula. Also within the frame is Dolidze 25, a 7th magnitude Open Cluster approximately 22 thousand light years from our solar system. Captured over two nights with a StellaMira 90ED + ASI1600MM + 3nm Antlia filters; 4hr 45min of SHO data with slightly more Ha than SII or OIII. Pre-processed in APP and post-processed in PI. Thank you for looking. Adrian
  21. With a very successful outcome! Impressive.
  22. @ollypenrice I managed a few hours last night - much more required - but a jewel in the making .... ... and definitely worth including with the Rosette at the top of the image - IMHO 🤣 Adrian
  23. After six years of PA'ing I bought a pier and permanently installed my azeq6-pro along with mains and network connections (at the pier). Stress levels and work load drop immediately. An observatory is not an option for me but my Telegizmo covered azeq6 has survived two winters with no ill-effects that I can see.
  24. Fingers crossed it is a perfectly clear day for you to enjoy the spectacle - well deserved I would say.
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