RolandKol

Hi guys,

LED Streetlights were installed on the road next to my garden and.... Of course, they are not shaded, so my garden and even further neighbors gardens are strongly lit.

Without any serious expectations I dropped a short email to the local council, however, they even called me today (only 3 days later) asking to clarify more details.

Lady, Environmental Protection Technician, who spoke to me, was kind and was sure LED lights bring only benefits, she agreed to some of my statements about Light Pollution and asked me to describe the negative impacts in the email, so she would be able to forward the issue to the higher entities/authorities.

I am not a native English speaker and struggle to express myself properly in official manner and hope you guys will help me out to draft one.

Further more, - we could create a standard letter/email which would help others in this field.

You can see the email text I received after our telephone conversation (as I understand she copied and pasted most of it from the council's website).

I will start drafting my answer in the post below and hope some ideas and help from you guys.

*********************

It was lovely to speak to you earlier and to clarify the concerns which you raised due to the scattering of light from these LED which disturb the environment of nocturnal wildlife.

We both agree on the benefits of LED lighting. I have included excerpts from the Medway Council Website below:-

Benefits of LED lanterns

The benefits to residents include:

• reducing the amount of money spent on electricity per year
• less glare and intrusion into homes
• saving roughly 50% in energy
• less maintenance work
• improved visibility with a white light
• easier to see colours making it safer for residents driving, walking or cycling
• improved safety to residents

The new lanterns are better for the environment as they:

• use less electricity than other lamps or bulbs
• have less light spillage with lights directed towards the pavement to create better environment for wildlife 
• produce less carbon emissions
• reduce light pollution and sky glow
• work well in hot and cold environments
• have longer lives compared to traditional lights
• light up immediately

I would be grateful if you could send photographs of the light scattering from the LED lights on your street which affect your home.

Yours Sincerely,

Environmental Protection Technician

23 minutes ago, Dazzyt66 said:

On my flats. And how do I get rid of them? I think they may be on my sensor as they appear on all images regardless of what lens I'm using...

 

Hi Mate,

yes, as @alacant it is a dust.

And no, it is most likely not on your sensor and most likely not even close to it...

Usually (but not always), the dust on the sensor is very dark and usually very small (unless extremely dirty), yours looks like the dust on the filter if you use any.

You can calculate the distance of the dust from the sensor using the formula as per description in the link below.

Hi guys,
I need a small advise... Planning to upgrade from my Skywatcher 130PDS to iOptron Photron 8" Ritchey-Chrétien...
Will sit on NEQ6, guided via OAG. Shooting will done via ASI1600M-pro...
Strange, but I could not find almost any info online in relation....
Questions:

1) Could not find any reducer for this scope, - are there any?

2) Does this particular Photron needs any type of corrector?

3) Colimation - any special tools? or I can use the same Cheshire from Newtonian?

4) Saw quite a lot "fat" stars online via RC... is it scope specific or just newbie processing mistake?

5) if not iOptron, - what about GSO or TS-Optics or something?

Or simply/painfully cash out for EdgeHD8/9.25....

P.S.
Shooting DSO mainly....

12 hours ago, Iem1 said:

Yeah I find the same with the Z73, the shapes it produces are not the best to work with. And I always rotate it and check again to be sure.

 With the mask on, I use x10 Zoom and then focus.

might look for another just to compare results 

It sounds like you checking LCD on the Canon while focusing...

If I am correct, 

try NINA or APT software, so you will have Live View on the Laptop with Bigger screen and proper Zoom, - software also has Bahtinov aids (focusing aids), which will give you some values of sharpness to support your viewing.

not sure,

maybe I missed the advise I am willing to give as you had quite a lot already, but here are extra 2p from me

simply cut/3d print/or buy the Bahtinov mask.

I noticed your images got sharper and sharper, - so you are already getting towards correct focus,

but Bahtinov mask or just a simple Y mask will help a lot!

During post processing, learn to shrink stars a bit, - and do not over sharpen.

P.S.

really nice data for a start!

personal note:

Full ZWO setup mentioned above with 1.5mm delring (not 1mm, - mistake above) from CC to Camera body = 51mm overall back focus was 57.5mm

Hi guys,

any advise will do!

P.S.

Focuser circumcised (-1cm)... cannot try GPU CC.

Hi guys,

was away from astro imaging for a while. Once back, - decided to combat my Coma illness... 
Need advise as simply do not know if I can try something else.

Images attached, are with 1mm spacer.

Imaging train: 130PDS, SW coma corrector (0.9 reducer), T2 extender 11mm , 16.5mm  M42-M48 extender, 1mm Baader Delrin spacer, 20mm ZWO FilterWheel, ZWO ASI 1600MM-pro CCD distance 6.5 = total 57mm and 56mm without 1mm Spacer.

SW Coma Corrector states it needs 55mm, filters in the EFW add up around 1mm into the focal path, - ideal spot should be around 56mm.

56mm and 57mm clearly do not work... (will try 58 tonight...)
how to get to the lower end ? I mean to 55mm, so I could test 55.5-56mm with Delrin spacers.

Are there any 9mm T2 extenders?

Further more...

I am not sure if I have collimated it close enough... I flocked the scope, so had to remove focuser and both mirrors...

Maybe focuser is tilted... Secondary may be slightly off.... kinda.... lots of done... 

raw, 120sec H sub

frame_and_focus_85.fit

My Sincere apologies for the target chosen...
But I am really happy  I was never able to hunt this one down since I started 3 years ago  
Cannot hold myself not to share.
Not the best pic for sure, - but still happy

(only 11.5mins per channel + Moon) * Borlte9= noisy
hope to catch it one day without the Moon and for longer than 30min.

P.S.

My initial image, just once I started... (my astrohookup image)

nice guiding! and data 

even jealous!

1 hour ago, MakeItSo said:

Bumping this thread. 

I am interested to hear some more experiences with Antlia NB filters. I had saved for a set of Chromas (which are eye-wateringly expensive) but these have been suggested to me by someone knowledgeable as a viable alternative (they may be setting the price lower right now as they establish custom). 

If their documentation is anything to go by on the website, they look compelling. 

Nothing like actual hands on experience though - 

Any more feedback?

Thanks!

Simon

Sadly... 

But l think only side by side comparison can offer more than we have at the moment.

8 hours ago, sagramore said:

Hello 130PDSers!

Having just learned about plate solving (and how to do it properly in APT, which I use for capture) I have revitalised my interest in imaging. I was having real trouble locating targets and centring them but since getting plate solving working I feel WAY more ready to move up in the world.

I've been having some problems with my Canon 550D disconnecting from my laptop during imaging and it's really starting to bug me. I've tried troubleshooting in lots of different ways and this has included a complete update of the laptop software, drivers, etc and re-install of all the guiding and capture software. Sadly the problem (while improved tonight, compared to normal) is still present and I am wondering if it's likely to just be the fact that my camera's USB connection is dodgy. 

Alas, on top of this I have always wondered how well my NEQ6 is functioning. PHD2 guiding is usually OK and in the 0.5-1" total RMS range, but it sometimes goes higher, and there's a fair whack of backlash in certain directions.

So, two-part question:

• Has anyone here belt-modded their NEQ6, did it go well and was it worth it? I've been considering it for a while but been put off by the worry that some of the hex bolts are REALLY REALLY tight and I might buy the kit and find myself unable to actually install the mod. I'm also just a little worried about screwing up my expensive mount....
• Considering I live in the middle of a medium-sized town and LP is reasonably strong near me, do you think I'd see significant upgrades moving to something like a ZWO ASI1600MM-pro with narrowband filters? I *love* the look of hubble pallet images but so far have never really dabbled in nebulae imaging because of my light pollution and camera. I'm assuming LRGB will be affected by LP as badly as OSC, but narrowband would help a lot?

I'm just looking for excuses to spend some inheritance but I don't want to waste my cash

PS. Sorry for anyone in here who's already seen another post I made with similar questions but I wanted to hone in specifically on the 130PDS community as that's the scope I have and have so far really enjoyed using.

Welcome back
Platesolving, - is probably the option I cannot imagine myself imaging without

as per NEQ6 upgrade, - I would postpone it... 0.7/0.8 is good enough for our image scale, - not perfect but really good.

Especially, if you will go after CMOS astrocam, - 3min exposures will be enough, so no need to push NEQ6 further (at least in my opinion)... I would better save money for the modern/better mount instead.

As per NB imaging, - it is completely different Level of imaging... HUGE step UP. Literally HUGE!
And it does not matter which location you are in... The darker your place is, - the larger step up it will be

I am based in London, - imaging from back garden bortle 8/9... you can check my images on the Flickr... It has a clear trace from Canon, to ASi1600 LRGB and NB.
Images are not professional, - "advancedbeginner" level, so will be closer to your possible results.

I also received them recently (36mm ones).

Some Stacks examples/tests below. No Flats, just used half a year old master bias and darks, autostretched in PI without any other manipuliations.

Test done on 05/08/2020, London, Bortle 8-9, via ASI1600m-Pro + Skywatcher 130PDS (flocked), Gain200 + 120Sec, 30min per channel.

Targeted Sadr on purpose, - wanted to check if filters produce any reflections (OIII especially).

(Almost full Moon was hiding behind the house and quite far away from the target)

I am quite happy with them, just packing is not perfect... Filter envelope is sealed with a halo sticker, - which managed to end up on my SII.... 
If someone will decide to go for them, - remove the stickers completely

H

SII

OIII

End result:

On 28/07/2020 at 17:21, Victor Boesen said:

I managed to add some data to my previous Veil nebula image and I really feel like it made a huge improvement to the detail and amount of nebulosity. The final image is still only 39min, because of some cloud dodging, consisting of 90sec exposures, ISO800 and F/2.8 with my Nikon D3300. I also managed to add 10 darks.

I think I need to start using photoshop to process the stars since I always feel like they are either overexposed or extremely ugly looking.

Victor

ISO800 / 90Sec!!!
Jealous!!!!

My ISO100/30sec usually are almost overexposed! (Light Pollution issue....)

Nice pic!

25 minutes ago, alacant said:

The focus position (the same distance as without a cc) with a dslr protrudes into the light path.

Cheers 

I used my Canon without any SW CC first and have not noticed any drawtube  protrusion issues...

SW CC actually caused problems...
However, it can be written off, - as I had completely no experience at that time and did not know what to look for.

16 hours ago, BrendanC said:

Hi all,

I have a problem with my 130PDS (I think - or it could be the mount, the software, or any number of things, but it's probably the optics).

I've posted elsewhere about this (see https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/358322-what-on-earth-has-happened-here/) but was advised that the resident 130PDS experts (that's you!) might be able to help. So, apologies if this counts as a double post, I'm just doing what I was told...!

So, the problem is, I'm getting subs that look like this (zooming in to show the details at the corners and middle - these are all from one, unprocessed sub, at actual size):

There are several things going on, as you can see. The directions of the blurring changes. Some stars are out of focus. And none of them look at all right to me.

A previous similar problem seemed to be fixed by making the mount east-heavy, but as you can see, it's far from fixed the problem.

The latest thinking is that it could be the focuser impinging on the image?  This is what someone has found when zooming in:

For comparison, here's a sub I took a couple of months ago, exact same setup except that I've disassembled the kit a couple of times during bad weather, I'm now using EQMOD directly connected to my mount, and I'm also trying to improve my polar alignment by using Sharpcap (click image to see larger version then save that to see original, albeit jpg). The problem doesn't seem to be here?

You can see my kit list in my signature.

I'm tearing my hair out (or at least what's left of it) to figure this one out. If anyone has any ideas, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks, Brendan

Hi Brendan,

Very sad story...

I see 2 problems:
1) Guiding issue 100%, - after SharpCap polar alignment, Calibrate PHD properly and run drift alignment to check your PA. You should be quite close or actually even Spot On after Sharpcap PA procedure. If guiding is still in trouble even with good PA, check your balancing again (RA and DEC) and check cabling, - maybe some cables are able to catch mount bolts or something.

2) Spacing -  which causes coma.
I do not use Canon for last 2 years, - but as I recall it has 2 different types of adapters.... I hope someone will correct me if I am wrong... But one of them, actually had incorrect spacing which produced coma (or in other words, - does not eliminate coma completely even if CC is used).

Can you please drop us the link of Canon Adapter you use?

However, in your case, stars distorted quite heavily... I suspect the Primary mirror holder bolts can be over-tightened a bit, but I am not sure... have you bought your PDS from the shop or it was used?

14 minutes ago, si717 said:

Thankyou for your in depth guide this is very helpfull

im unsure as to shorten the draw tube would that be shorten the inner end or the outer end and by how much

so i take it i wont reach focus ? i was advised the baddar cc was a good one to have by the retailer ?

thing being its a new tube so to start cutting straight away i wasnt wanting to do but if its going to require it

then i suppose it has too be done are there any guides on this job available or here on the site 

will it involve removing all the focuser housing ?

i can try and get this matter sorted while i get my order in on my mount

many thanks for your help

Don't Cut if you use Baader CC, -  try all out first.

If you will notice any problems (most likely not), - think of chopping 10mm off first, simply with hacksaw, - aluminum gives up easy, 5min job...

Test test Test... If problem remains, 5mm more (not more, otherwise drawtube will not stay on the internal rollers). The inner side which protrudes into the scope is chopped, as other side has threads which are used for camera holders

As I mentioned, usually that problem happens with Coma Correct for Skywatcher Brand.

12 hours ago, si717 said:

hi all and another newcomer to the 130 club,i have spent some time reading this thread ,or alot of it and made the purchase of a 130pds

my thoughts or questions would be will it perform out of the box

or collimate straight away ive ordered a collimator

ive ordered the baddar coma corrector to go with it

and a dslr adaptor anything else i will need a mount ofcourse im looking into buying the skywatcher eq5 pro ?

i dont want to start modding the tube straight away 😂

anyway my main question was how are you guys going about taking your Dark Bios and flat files ?

i intend using a dslr i have a canon 650d unmodified and a 450d modified for imaging

so i was wondering do you take these frames on the same night or on cloudy nights when nothing else to do ?

is that possible and how about flat files how would one acheive that any advice really helpfull and im looking forward to getting going with the new scope thanks and a really nice thread and read on this scope some amazing pictures too  👍

Welcome to the dark side!
Once you get all, - check youtube, - it has nice vids about collimation, just one mistake (on all videos), they offer to adjust secondary (the small mirror), - I strongly suggest do not touch any bolts of the secondary at the start as it is quite sensitive and difficult to adjust...

To collimate the primary (large mirror) is very easy and you can be confident, - you will not ruin anything.

as per Baader CC, - most likely you will not need to shorten the Focuser's drawtube as it has no Focal Length reduction as Skywatcher's cc has (which is 0.9 reducer).

Bias,  - you can take any time, as these are the shortest exposures of Darks (Canon probably has 1/4000sec exposure in the fasted mode). Bias are done at the same ISO as Lights, you can build library and re-use Master Bias (stacked version) in the future.

Darks, - currently is quite a big tendency to use Dither strongly instead of Dark (Dither every sub or every second sub). Dither is slight shift of the target between subs, - it is usually done via Astro imaging software like APT, SGP and etc while Guiding (some even able to it manually...... O_o )

Of course,  try the procedure with Darks also, - in ideal they should be taken even at the same temperature as Lights, - it will not be possible with Canon, so just simply try to get the temperature close (and of course, the rest of the settings like ISO and Exposure - have to be the same as Lights). Thats why darks on Canons are hated... Especially if you do Long exposure lights, - you will waste a lot of time on Darks also... 

Flats, - depends on the software you will use, APT has ant option for Canon Flats, - easy as 123. If no software is used, - it is quite a poem to write about it.....

Keep in mind, - Flats is not only for vignette reduction , but Mainly to remove dust shadows from images (you cannot avoid them completely... dust will pop out from time to time in different places), so if you moved any toy one your optical train (for example camera... or reducer or Light Pollution filter and etc), - you will not be able to produce Flats which will match your Lighs, as optics will shift and dust shadows on Flats will not match their location on the Light images.

1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said:

That made me curious, here are my counts since January 2014. I only really started regularly in 2015, and many of my early attempts went undated.

2014  - 3 (actually quite a few more)

2015 - 40

2016 - 43

2017 - 42

2018 - 66 (12 nights in June alone!)

2019 - 41

2020 - 18 to date

There's  tendency for me to push my luck if things have been thin (so I might  a short hour or two's window for some planetary or lunar) , and to run out of steam if there are long periods of good conditions. My only blank month is February 2017.

But on the whole, a consistent 40 days a year of actual imaging (not opportunities).

I am only 3 years in a hobby,

never ever managed to get more than 20  

I added 5 just in case  as I am not keeping any diary, - just dated folder names 

Location Location Location....

My Bortle 8-9, probably shine much brighter even if a slight thin cloud line is in the way.

You actually made me a bit more optimistic... 

17 minutes ago, DBushell1 said:

Yeah was thinking about getting it from FLO.  Will my old 1.25" eye pieces work with it's 2" focuser? I guess there's adapters for that?! 

The images in this thread are simply awesome, I've got lots to learn, but at least I'll start with a little experience with DSS and my DSLR having imaged Neowise recently, Pleides and the Orion Nebula most winters, along with Andromeda 😀 - it's amazing what you can do with just a DSLR and tripod.

I do realise though, that astronomy is also a money pit! 🤣 

as per EP, - yep, will fit as PDS has an adapter for them.

And you are very right, - It is a BlackHole for your earnings!

Just keep in mind, for the flat field (stars without coma in the corners) you will also need coma corrector for PDS (actually, for all newtonians) and it will cost around £140 and there are few options to go for... Like Baader MPCC Mk3 or GPU and etc, 

Skywatcher has the standard one for PDS, which is also 0.9 Focal reducer, - works... but... you may end up shortening focusers tube as 0.9 F reduction forces to move the focuser almost full IN to get focus for imaging, and the drawtube casts shadow on the mirror... it makes some brighter stars in shape of letter D or similar.

if drawtube is shortened by 10mm, - images are perfect, but... you will not be able to use EP for visual, as focus position is much further for EP and drawtube may/will fall off from the internal rollers.

4 minutes ago, DBushell1 said:

Thanks for the advice, will look into the HEQ5, I see new it's getting on for £800, not many about on Ebay, but part of me thinks new might be best since I know whats happened to it previously!

If you target for the new one, - buy it from astro shops...

At least you will have a proper support and warranty. 

Prices will be more or less the same.

Ebay, - for cheaper toys only 

11 minutes ago, DBushell1 said:

Have been thinking about switching from my old Astromaster 130 to the SW 130PDS.  Have done a fair amount of planetary imaging in the past with a webcam, but would like to try my hand at Deep Sky imaging using my unmodded Canon 1100D DSLR.

I understand that in order to get the most out of it, you need a good mount, one that is future proof in terms of adding larger aperture scopes to it, however, I see that FLO are selling the 130PDS with a Goto EQ3 mount - is this a sufficient mount for adding the 1100D and potentially one day a guide scope?   Does that mount have connections to plug into a laptop for use with Stellarium?

I saw some users managed to get nice pictures with EQ3 Goto, - but it involves balancing on the tiny line of capabilities of the mount...
The most usual advise would be to go for the secondhand HEQ5 as a minimum or even step further to NEQ6.

As later you will add:

Guidescope + GuideCam

Mono camera instead of Canon, - it will need Electronic FilterWheel.

Once you get bored to focus on each filter, - Autocofuser will come along.

Also, - All the cabling in relation....

And Voilà, - you are few kg above the mount limits.... And long exposures are not reliable due to bad guiding... Around 50% subs to the bin...

So it mostly depends on the area you are in,

if you have lots of clear and free nights, - you can try tinkering the cheaper mount and get most of it and you will most likely succeed.

On another hand, - if you are UK based, - you probably noticed, we usually have around 20 - 25 clear nights per year. 

30 minutes ago, Jack Jack said:

Hi as mentioned earlier i seem to be having collimation issues. Here is an image i took last night with a MPCC and i believe the spacing is correct. i also check for tilt and couldn't identify any and i also went through the collimation process. looking at thisi mage each corner looks different regarding the stars. is there anything else that could be causing this or is this as good as can be expected on a full frame sensor ?

IG: https://www.instagram.com/astro_jack6/?hl=en 

 

I do not think spacing is correct...
The top left corner clearly shows it...
the slight tilt reduces coma in other corners.

add or reduce with 0.5mm derling spacer... slight coma will remain (as in my case), but I simply gave up

P.S.

not sure about the direction... yours is a bit strange..... it should be excentric.. but yours is more vertical...

Have you played with focuser's tilt adjustment?

7 minutes ago, MylesGibson said:

Thank you @RayD for the advice! When you did 30 second subs, were you able to get any of the dust at all? And if so, how many subs? 

I haven't got the hang of blending yet, but I may look through some tutorials and give that a go. I did think 2 mins was quite long, but I do want to get the nebulosity too. It just seems a bit of a conundrum in my head! 

I managed to image Whirlpool Galaxy using short subs from London....
7sis should be more than OK, but there are other challenges...

22 hours ago, TheCounter said:

I didn't have any grub screws, so I had to use normal screws, but I'll switch them out later.

Those are for holding the focuser on the base plate. If you loosen them, you can take off the focuser without loosening the base plate itself.

I ordered a 3D printer aswell, this will save me a s*itload of money as I constantly need something new. First thing to print is a rotation gauge that fits between the GPU comacorrector and the focuser tube. With that it will be a hell of a lot easier to set the right rotation for the camera

Thanks for explaining

As per 3D printed rotator...

Not sure if it's a good idea... Unless your rig is placed in the spot with quite a stable temperature... Plastic is quite sensitive to temperature changes...

And dont even think to print it from PLA, - it will deform during summer.
(PETG or ABS as a minimum)

But it's another story, - anyway, my 3D printer brought me a lot of joy  these two hobbies do match nicely