Icesheet

I picked one up that was being offered on a deal, still expensive but not the price it’s currently retailing at. I got it primarily to automate widefield milkyway panoramas but haven’t had the chance to use it for that yet, although a brief test showed promise.
 

I actually used it recently with an Askar FMA180 to capture the comet and I’m currently trying to process that. I took 60 30s subs and virtually all were keepers and also took 10 60s sub and 7 or 8 of them look good. Having said that I really don’t think this is suited to much beyond 100mm focal length based on what I’ve seen and the general user experience I’ve found online. It’s very well built though and if the software is improved it has the potential to be great for widefield work and particularly automating panoramas or timelapses, which I think the manufacturer is pitching it for. Not sure it’s worth the price though. If deep sky it’s your aim there definitely better offerings at a lower price point. 

Here’s my addition to the M45 entries. Really struggled with processing this. From gradients to dust, I never expected how challenging it would be, but I’ve learned a lot from it. Nothing beats integration time and this really needs more but happy with what I have for 3hrs here. Shot with a Tak FS60 (0.72x reducer) and ASI2600 MC.

60x180s

Processed in PixInsight and Photoshop. 
 

I managed to get rid of mine with carefully selected DBE points. The dust in the area around M45 complicated it for me. Not sure if that would be the case here 🤔 

Ok, got some more data tonight and have got this. Not sure I can get better than this. 
 

Thanks. I think I have managed to get something more realistic. I hope you don't mind that I downloaded and manipulated your image in PI to help with DBE @ollypenrice. I cropped the fov similar to mine, removed the stars and based on your image, selectively placed my DBE points. You can see the comparison below. Leaving aside the huge quality difference in the images I can now start to see similar structures in the dust now. Btw fantastic image Olly. Removing the stars realy emphasises the amount of dust around here!  I'll need significantly more integration to get close to this, if I ever can!

1 hour ago, Leti Theobald said:

Hi, not sure you will know this, I really want to just keep the 4000d but I've tried everything I cannot do longer than 30 seconds exposures unless i keep pressing the button in bulb mode. The canon app won't allow me to go over 30 seconds either or do more than 10 frames at a time. Am I completely missing something? 

All you need is a cheap intervalometer. You should be able to find one on Amazon for £20-30. That will allow you do multiple and longer exposures. 

51 minutes ago, ONIKKINEN said:

Try Siril?

The background extraction tool in Siril can work with difficult gradients. Yours doesnt look too difficult, just have to mind the sampler placements so that the tool doesnt sample actual signal like the faint dusty parts.

I would have hoped DBE on PixInsight could have handled it. Probably user error as sample placement is important there too. Is Siril free? Looking forward to hear what @alacant done as that looks more like what I was expecting. 

7 hours ago, Magnum said:

You have plenty of real dust but also the radial gradient ( reverse vignetting ) overlayed with it.

What Bortle location are you, Ive just shot this are myself and although I have the IFN / dust mine doesnt have the golden colour I was aiming for, maybe my light polluted Bortle 5.5 location.

Lee

I’m Bortle 4 where I’m located but mainly shooting towards Bortle 3/2 which helps. The IFN is nice but a pain to process!

57 minutes ago, alacant said:

Hi

Nice shot. You've some nice detail emerging.

Why not just remove the halo? The extraction takes most of the bg magenta with it too. This is with the .jpg. On a linear file, this would be far better.

Cheers

If you tell me how I will! That looks great 😊 

Thanks for the reply. I should have mentioned that. I used darks and flats but they weren’t shot on the night. I just used ‘master’ ones. That could very well be the problem . I’ll shoot new ones tomorrow but it may already be a lost cause. At least it wasn’t a full night of data wasted!

I recently imaged M45 for the first time in years and in all honesty my first proper try. Even at that I only managed just over an hour due to clouds. When I came to process it I had real challenges with gradients. I knew there is a lot of dust in the ara but I seemed to have a strange radial gradient that I was not fully able to remove. I found an Adam Block video that had something similar and I tried his process but I'm not sure I have been successful. I can see I have some of the dust I expected there and more exposure would help obviously but there is also something else. Still looks like a radial gradient? Please comment if you have seen this too.

Tak FS60 with X.72 reducer

Zwo ASI2600MC

23x300sec

Processed in PixInsight

A small group of amateur astronomers have discovered an emission arc in OIII close to M31. Seems to be a bit of speculation regarding it’s origin but given how much that area is imaged it’s amazing this hasn’t been noticed before. Having said that most people aren’t gathering over 100 hours of data, including 45h of OIII there!

Good to know there’s still so much out there even in an area of sky where telescopes are regularly aimed.

Image credit Marcel Drechsler, Xavier Strottner and Yann Sainty. Congrats to the team  

https://www.astrobin.com/1d8ivk/

1 hour ago, The Lazy Astronomer said:

That'll be the culprit l reckon. A good way I've found is use an unscreening and rescreening technique:

1. Do all your normal processes up to star removal, then duplicate the image and run starnet (or starX, whatever you use) on one, but don't ask for it to make a stars only image.

2. In pixelmath, do:

~((~original)/(~starless))

This will give you your unscreened stars image

3. Process your starless and the unscreened stars images however you desire, then rescreen the stars back in with pixelmath:

~((~starless)*(~stars))

Thanks! I'm not sure I have followed this as you intended as the stars were coming from the RGB image and the starless from the l-extreme image but I have given it a go. I was also a little less aggressive in the starless processing and left more stars in but overall this is probably a more balanced version. Now I wasn't so lazy though 😆

Let me know if you think I have followed this correctly. Appreciate your input!

Yeah it's there, faint as you say. A little clearer in the starless version. Actually I had issues with my stars in both the l-extreme and RGB data. L-extreme had halos and I think I blew out the stars in my RGB with 180s exposures. Perhaps that's why they are clipped? In any case I removed the stars using star net and just used the simple 'starless + stars' in pixel math. I'll take a look at the RGB stars again. See if I can get more natural colours.

Thanks, if I can get away with it the lazy way will be the future for me!

I haven’t had the motivation for imaging (or processing) recently but collected some wide field data around Sadr and the Crescent nebula with my ZWO ASI 2600MC and Takahashi FS-60 with reducer for the first time. There is issues with tilt and/ or spacing that need addressing at some point. 
 

This was a very lazy capture and process. No calibration frames, automatic background extractor on PixInsight. Used the STF function for the stretch and used Bill Blanshan NB normalisation process to create a Hubble palette from the L-extreme data. Stretched the RGB stars separately and added back with PixelMath. Think I might just take the lazy route from now on! Not sure the time I normally spend would improve this much. 
 

30x300s with L-extreme

20x180s RGB

Wondering if anyone has had their EOS R modded and if they can recommend anyone for the service? Preferably in the UK but will consider abroad. 
 

Thanks!

1 hour ago, Alan White said:

Nice crisis Mr Icesheet, lets hope its an early midlife crisis as 40 is a bit low for the midpoint, but at 56 I would say that!
I managed to not have a midlife crisis, was too busy with life throwing things at me, but always time for a belated one.....

Thanks Alan! It’s all a little tongue in cheek, nothing but an excuse to treat myself! Which, by the sounds of it you deserve to do too. I can wholeheartedly recommend Takahashi to help in a crisis, manufactured or not 😉

2 hours ago, F15Rules said:

Lovely scope👍

You could perhaps add an extra felt lining to your rings?

That should enable you to get a snug fit on the scope without risk of pressure damage to the OTA, and without you feeling you need to overtighten the ring clamps..

Dave

2 hours ago, Highburymark said:

Beautiful scope! Just in time for planet season too.   
I was also unhappy with just two tube rings. Although mine fitted tightly around the telescope, there was a degree of sag when I fitted the scope onto my Skytee mount. I eventually moved to a three ring set up, which might seem like overkill, but is much more robust. 

I’m going to take another look at the rings. Maybe I’m being a bit too cautious but some extra felt wouldn’t go a miss. I do like the look of a three ring set up too. Looks very robust.  

This should keep me happy until 50 at least 😉😊

Cant wait to get it out under the night sky! Not much chance of that in Norway just now but there might be a small window for the planets.

This was actually ordered from Japan along with the flattener for the TSA and a reducer for my FS-60. I was pleasantly surprised to find it includes the finder scope and bracket too so I saved even more money than I thought. Even after the high shipping cost and import taxes etc I still ended up with a >20% saving. Fingers crossed everything is ok optically.

My only concern is the rings I bought. You can see that they don’t fit flush and I didn’t dare tighten them any further. The scope seems secure but there are some vibrations when I touch it while locked in the saddle. Not sure if the rings could be the source of that?

I feel the crisis may have been averted 😆

More pictures to follow… 🔭 

1 hour ago, knobby said:

Thanks Icesheet !

Very promising looking guided performance ...

Shame that's the EC version though 😞

I'm waiting for some more stats on the base model.

I would hope the performance of the base model is not too far off this at the focal length they’re showing anyway. I think the encoders are more for unguided or guiding at long FL.

Never sure how much to trust these marketing graphs but even if it’s 0.6-0.8" range I’d be happy

iOptron have posted an FAQ on the HEM27. Really curious to see how the hybrid v fully harmonic works out in practice. Was close to pre-ordering but think I’ll wait to see some results first. No darkness here just now anyway. 
 

https://www.ioptron.com/Articles.asp?ID=346

2 hours ago, F15Rules said:

I have to agree..when I saw Icesheet has just turned 40 and is having a mid life crisis, I laughed out loud, as mine didn't happen til I was well over 50..

..but if having it at 40 can wangle you a TSA 120, I'd go for it!👍😂

And maybe at 50 you can get a TOA150!!

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/takahashi-toa-150-series-refractor-telescopes.html

A belated "Happy 40th Birthday, Mr Icesheet😊

Dave

Thank you 😊 

Haha, you need to book in your midlife crisis with the lead time on new astro products these days!

10 minutes ago, Highburymark said:

Zero colour in or out of focus visually. Takes very high powers without breaking sweat. Perfectly figured optics so SA not a concern. Front heavy like most triplets, but acclimatises well. Pretty light for a near 5” triplet so easy to mount. Just a brilliant all rounder. Here’s mine in white light mode

Lovely set up! Is that the more blue ring set?0

3 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

I don't know the TSA120 from experience but, in principle, a good 5 to 6 inch (ish) refractor is a very versatile choice, lovey visually and, with the right sized pixels, capable of getting much closer than many would think to the limit of resolution imposed by the seeing. We no longer need 2 metres of FL in amateur DS imaging. If it can cover a full frame chip it need not be all that limited in imaging field of view, either. My own incarnation of this formula is a TEC140 but the same principles apply.

Olly

With the set up I would have, ASI2600MC (3.7µm) it would give me 0.86”/pixel at native 900mm FL then 1.2"/ pixel with reducer at 650mm FL. I also have an EOS R with 5.4µm I could use so I think that should cover my bases? Image circle is 40mm with flattener and 44mm with reducer according to Takahashi.