jjosefsen

Here is my M33 from last night. 27x4 min for a total integration time of 108 minutes. My processing is still very raw - im definitely comming back to this data for a pass where i reduce star size before i start noise reduction. One thing im quite please with is how I managed to heavily reduce the chromatic background noise my DSLR creates, even when dithering quite aggressively. I did experiment a lot with the initial color calibration/correction. In this image i used BackGroundNeutralization -> DynamicBackgroundExtraction -> LinearFit -> ChannelCombination -> SCNR:Green -> ColorCalibration Other examples i did without LinearFit, with DBE first, DBE last, etc. But this seemed to give the best result to my eyes.

Actually it was fairly easy to get going, but I'm an IT guy, so im used to all that tech stuff, on the other hand if something goes wrong I might be in trouble, as there are a lot of things you can change in PHD2. But man is it cable hell! Already had one episode where I managed to the ST-4 cable clenched between the RA clutch handle and the RA axis, that didn't work too well. I also keep forgetting to set the correct guide rate on the handset after framing, not to mention an episode last night where I accidentally switched to lunar tracking on the handset! The number of things one needs to remember to do during a session is certainly starting to add up, but it's all worth it! Stacking M33 from last night, already it seems I have a problem with the flats from the night :/

Oh my bad, didn't see it was the syn scan model, thinking of my own.. The rest still applies I suppose. ?

Keep in mind it runs on 6v and not 12v, so some kind of converter is necessary. My experience with the EQ3 is that it is not a quality mount. Sturdy and capable - yes, but it needs to be tamed! At 520mm focal length i had about 40-60% retention rate unguided with 45sec subs. Maybe a startracker is the better choice for dslr and lens work..?

Did a some processing on my little stack of the double cluster, 6x3mins at ISO 200. This was my first go with guiding, and after spending most of the night getting everything working I had a little time to try and grab some light on this beatiful pair of globulars. All in all it was a great night where I conquered a lot of the gear troubles I have been having lately. Polar Align with SharpCap - What a breeze it is to get good PA now! Guiding with PHD2 - Fairly easy to get working if im honest, but im sure it can be improved massively yet. Dithering with Backyard Nikon and PHD2 - Not 100% sure my settings are correct, but I think I'm aiming for a 15px dither. Before I had about a 60% retention rate on 45sec subs (and they weren't great!), now I have 100% retention rate on the 4min subs I am taking of M33 as I type this. Guiding certainly solves a lot of problems! I love it!

Been first lighting my guiding setup tonight, and in general testing things. I can now use sharp cap for PA, what a change that was, so easy! Managed to get byn and phd2 working with dither and guiding. Getting any real data was secondary, but also hard because patches of clouds kept rolling in and wrecking the guiding. I did manage to grab about 30 minutes worth of 3 minute subs on the double cluster. At first glance they looked better than my usual unguided 45 second subs. ? will check tomorrow and post a stack.

Here is my Evostar 80ED ds-Pro and my semi DIY powerbox. Might not be terribly fancy, but I love it!

That's good to hear, the mounting of the guider was my biggest concern. Wasn't sure if those clamps were the correct ones. I decided to go with the other camera because I couldn't find a single mention of the qhy5r as a guide scope, and the FOV was really small compared to the one I went with.

Well I pulled the trigger on this setup, but upgraded the camera to a QHY5-II Mono instead, bigger and more sensitive sensor. Lets hope it works.

Yes 210mm

I was looking at that too, but I'm worried about scope balance being to far rear.

Hi good folks, Im in need of some guidance before i purchase my autoguiding setup, comments are welcome on camera choice, but mainly it is about how to mount the guidescope on my SW 80ED. The plan: To use my existing Skywatcher 9x50 RACI finderscope with an adapter from modernastronomy ( https://www.modernastronomy.com/shop/accessories/adapters/sky-watcher-clones-to-c-mount-adapter-for-right-angled-finders/ ). The camera will probably be the QHY5R-II color autoguider ( https://www.modernastronomy.com/shop/cameras/guide-cameras/qhy-guide-cameras/qhy5r-ii-colour/ ) For mounting I am worried about using the existing finderscope bracket and shoe for two reasons: Unstable mounting/flexure and shifting the balance too far back towards the focuser, it's almost a problem now with the reducer/flattener and DSLR. I was thinking of purchasing a pair of 90mm guide rings with vixen style clamps ( https://www.astromarket.org/astrofotografie-5/guiding-scopes--rings-5/rings-5/cnc-guiding-rings-130mm-pair631847645925-5) and mounting them on an inverted dovetailplate attached to the scope rings, see attached images. One extra boon of this is the camera plastic screw thingies work like thumbscrews, so whole bar is easily removeable - and I had them laying around.. Do you think think this would work?? Alternatives?? Please keep in mind I have a limited budget, so side-by-side mounting and expensive adjustable finder mounts are probably out of scope. Total price for the above would come in at arund £260 (minus finder scope as I already have it) Pleased to hear from you, thank you!

Good image and nice framing. Did you do anything in processeing to preserve the core of M42? It does not look so blown out as a lot of other images I have seen. Do you think you could tease a little more out of the running man with more subs @60 seconds or would longer subs be needed?

I know it is expensive, but Pixinsight really is exceptionally good, both at stacking and processing.

Wow that's neat. What program do you use for processing?

Keep it up Peco4321 it's looking good.II especially liked the picture with the Owl and the fuzzy too. I'm still struggling with gear and getting good stars. Keep em coming!

Man you really do it on hard mode.. ? I fibd this hobby difficult enough with "better" gear.

Im pretty sure I have one actually. The thing is this: After a rough polar alignment I was checking my alignment with the drift alignment function in Backyard Nikon, and by all accounts (and luck) I had a spot on alignment. After recording for 2 minutes had minimal drift, so I thought I was good for atleast 90 seconds subs. But after slewing and balancing again to be a little east heavy, my 90 seconds subs came back with lots of trailing on both axis. Ended up going down to 60 seconds, the problem persisted but some frames came back quite good and were keepers. I was ASCOM dithering every 3 frames, and I have been speculating if slack in the gears could be the source after a dither.. Thoughts? I might just end up taking the whole thing apart and servicing it, found a good tutorial on youtube.

Yeah I figured it was with guiding, mine is just acting up and drifting in seemingly random directions. And that's without guiding.

Very nice! I'm struggling so much with my gear right now I'm about to go nuclear.. So seeing that you can get 5 min subs with your eq3-2 gives me a little hope.

Beautiful man.. just beautiful..

I Googled that scope of yours, gotta say I really want one for taking on trips. How do you like it?

Wow beautiful picture, thanks for sharing I'll go back to pouting over the insanely bad weather here. 3 nights all summer... 3!!

Hi, I like it, turned out pretty good. Your editing it more subtle than mine, it looks more natural I think. What ISO were you shooting at?

Thank you! Have you used PixInsight before? If so, how do you like Star Tools compared to PixInsight?