Vroobel

IMO your masterFlat doesn't represent your flat frame(s) . The flat frame shows dust moth while the masterFlat doesn't. 

I recently borrowed one of my EAFs from a Sigma lens and tried it with a 102ED F/11 Planet Killer. From our point of view, planets are exactly where stars are, so focusing (on stars!) using the ASIair is easy. Next time I'll try NINA, as I'm recording planets using SharpCap, so switching between NINA and SharpCap on the same laptop is easier than between the PC/SharpCap and ASIair. It was simply inconvenient but durable.

No Barlow, no ADC, just the 102ED F/11 and ASI678MC with its 2um pixel. Nothing else than AutoStakkert! As you can see, it's sharp enough. 

Edit.
Guiding is highly recommended. I used it for the first time (in the planetary imaging) and was shocked about how stable Jupiter was in its place in the frame.

Both versions look great, with excellent detail. In terms of colours, I like the blueish one.  

It's easy to understand that. Any options? BT? WiFi? Or simply OnStep controller <-> mount communication without extra features?

I don't want to be taken as rude, but please, should I be more interested in giving us as much detail as possible than you?

Does it have 130mm aperture?

Perhaps it can help: https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=175985 

You didn't write what is your goal. 

The same recently refreshed 102ED F/11 Planet Killer, the guider replaced with a solar finder and the ZWO ADC replaced with a Hercules WL wedge. Also, I'm better protected then last time (still have marks of sunburn). 

That's a shame, I forgot how to run the CGX under control of the ASIair, it works with NINA all the time. 🙂

Usually, it's not a problem to place the rotator (CAA) between the camera and the OTA, but the problem appears if a photographic lens plays a role of the OTA. Thankfully, I am a Canon 6D user, so all my lenses have the EF bayonet and they are short in opposition to lenses for mirrorless cameras with a short flange distance. Recently I bought a ZWO filter drawer including a female EF bayonet to experiment under my Bortle 9+ sky with filters. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the CAA equipped with the same bayonet as easily. There is a 26.5mm space between the lens and the camera. A few months ago I bought a used custom-made 24.5mm long EF/T2 adapter which is 2mm less than typical. It was still too much to consider the ultra-thin 5.5mm CAA placed in the optical train. As a DIY/ATM enthusiast, I have proper tools, a 3D printer and some skills to perform a bigger amendment of both the EF/T2 adapter and the CAA and reach the desired 26.5mm together with durability and safety.

Original thumb screws blocking the rotating part seem small if we take a diameter of the 2600MC camera into account. I didn't take a picture, but it's very difficult to operate with them when the CAA is screwed to the camera. I used 20mm long pieces of 8mm aluminium pipes which have 5mm internal diameter - perfect as an extension of the original screws. I press them into the pipes using a vice. 

I already had a spare 16.5mm T2 extension so I decided to use it inside a part of the EF adaptor. The 16.5mm extension was too long, so I shortened it to obtain a 10mm length. I could buy the 10mm long extension, but it's another cost and extra time spent on waiting for delivery.

Using a FreeCAD and 3D printer I obtained a ring which I pressed (with a significant force) between the 10mm T2 extension and the part of the EF adaptor.  I considered an epoxy resin in the beginning but it turned out that it wasn't necessary.

The 5.5mm CAA contains a rotating part which has a conic profile. Together with an also conic shape of the thumb screw tips it makes that the rotating part is pulled into the stationary part as it is screwed which makes both flanges of the camera and lens parallel. 

For easier screwing and unscrewing it, I designed a kind of knob. I pressed the knobs on the aluminium extensions of the screws also using the vice. No glue again.

Usually, I work with two orientations/compositions: horizontal and vertical, so using the following tools I marked positions representing the orientations. I took a text printed on the camera body as a point of reference which is good enough, but it's not obvious in the case of some other cameras.

The ultra-thin CAA can hold up to 1.5kg which is over twice the weight of the 2600MC. 👍

I think I can use feedback offered by an ASIair informing me about the current angle after each plate solve. Hopefully, I can reach the desired angles after a few attempts.

Happy users of RedCat or similar scopes who have the CAA with a scale can omit this step. In fact, it's nothing too difficult, so I'm glad that I have a chance to make a better mosaic when the time comes. In the meantime, I'll wait for a ZWO rotator (EAR ?)...  

I'm very excited because I got this ultra-thin (5.5mm) CAA (camera angle adjuster), or, simply, rotator. Finally, I can combine a female Canon EF/T2 adaptor with this CAA. Apart from filters and some thin spacers, it's one of the thinnest astro-gear I've ever purchased.

https://www.altairastro.com/ts-optics-t2-thread-360-rotation-and-quick-changer---55mm-short-9235-p.asp

I'm impressed by its quality. After some DIY/ATM work (which I'll describe elsewhere), it easily holds my 2600MC camera attached to a Sigma 40mm lens. ☺️

2 hours ago, Stuart1971 said:

A nice 8” SCT scope is great to start out with on objects like the ones you pictured, in fact it was my very first scope 26 years ago (and I still own it) a Meade LX90, f10 2000mm fl, also M27 was my very first imaged DSO with an unmodified cannon DSLR, and here is it, it was cropped in about 30%, it’s not great but was from 26 years ago and was my first, so I was and am pretty pleased with it…👍🏻

 

I would say it's excellent! A quarter of century means a huge progress in every aspect of astrophotography. You didn't have PixInsight and BlurX nor NINA, ASIair etc., I'm not sure about guiding. So, guys, appreciate what you have now, a lot of that is free, including the knowledge available on YouTube! 😉😊

It's always good to have 2" filters if you can buy them, especially if you consider the bigger sensor. 

A new approach to my 'old' 102ED F/11 Planet Killer equipped now with EAF and guider, sitting on top of EQ5 OnStep mod controlled by ASIair Plus. An ASI678MC works as the planetary camera. 

Waiting for a bit of clear sky for PA, focusing and other adjustments. 🤞

I'm very curious if planetary imaging supported by guiding is possible and how it works. 🙂

Edit. Clouds and rain. 😞

Well done! 🙂

I prefer the Amelican's (America and Pelican) colours, but you know, we shouldn't talk about colours... 😁

I use the PixInsight for 1.5 year. After a year I finally started using the PI only, without an Affinity Photo. Sometimes I use it to correct hard to remove artefacts, but it's really rare. You will reach this point as well. Trying to learn too much at the time causes frustration because you cannot do everything well in the beginning. Good luck. 😊

🙂

Actually, those panels are not rotated, they represent exactly the piece of the sky where the camera is aimed at. The rotator (automatic one, if possible) is needed to counteract distortion of the final image. 

BTW, ZWO declared that they release their electronic automatic rotator (EAR? 🤔) by the end of this year. The wide-field mosaics are the only reason that I think about the EAR. 

On 03/01/2024 at 19:25, vlaiv said:

I don't know if this qualifies as high quality one - but it is just 5.5mm thick:

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p5547_TS-Optics-T2-Thread-360--Rotation-and-Quick-Changer---5-5mm-short.html

I have it on my wide field setup - Samyang 85mm T1.5 lens + suitable adapter and ASI178mcc

Hi Vlaiv,

I'm pleased to inform you that I ordered the CAA which you linked earlier. The good news is that Altair Astro has it in their offer, so we don't need to pay a fortune for a delivery from Germany.   

https://www.altairastro.com/ts-optics-t2-thread-360-rotation-and-quick-changer---55mm-short-9235-p.asp

I will use it in another project: a Sigma 40mm F/1.4 Art and ASI2600MC Pro with this CAA and a slightly modified female Canon EF/M42 adaptor which I bought from @steppenwolf.   I need the rotation in this setup for mosaic reasons: without the rotation, the mosaic would look like the one below.

Well, I would suggest at least 15h if you are imaging under Bortle 7. Usually it means several nights, you cannot expect miracles from 2h... 

Here is my 19h+ under Bortle 9, details included. 

https://www.astrobin.com/45alwp/

Hi, 

That's a great project, so I have full respect for the effort put into this. As a DIY/ATM enthusiast I know what that means. 👍

I have one question: if you use MC cameras, why three setups instead of two? From my experience with MC, Optolong L-eXtreme and IDAS LPS-P2 were used. In case of mono cameras you could use separately Ha, SII and OIII filters or R, G and B which makes more sense for me. 

Presently, one of my setups is a Sigma 40mm F/1.4 Art @ F/2.0 with an ASI2600MC Pro equipped with a ZWO filter drawer and EAF and controlled by an ASIair Plus, guiding by ASI120MM mini @ Svbony 30mm. A lot of Arca-Swiss clamps, rails and brackets is used for a flexibility and convenience. I spent so much time on details around the setup that I would get insane if try to triple the work plus the alignment. That's why I understand and appreciate your work. 👍

Wow, this might be funny if it wasn't a problem. 🤔 Did you try stars removal and any form of clone on the final image?

Great detail! 🤩
The first version looks better. Is the second one also sharpened? 

Wow, surprisingly clear night, so the main setup continues the M31 mosaic while the small one looks at... 😊

I didn't expect that two my setups may work tonight. The sky is so surprisingly clear that I easily saw M31, M57 and M13 through an Olympus 10x50 binoculars. I'll try to find something else. 😊

P.S. Liverpool, Bortle 9+ 😉

23 minutes ago, Astronomist said:

BTW my 10" has the same huge flares from the primary clips (see below), I assume Bresser's clips overlap the mirror more than other manufacturers?

Every budget Newtonian struggles with the same: shadows caused by the primary mirror clips and (!) too-long focuser drawtube going deep inside of the OTA's tube. I solved it which is described here:

All my images made using 2600MC and L-eXtreme were based on 300s subs, but recently I moved to 180s. The LP leaking through 'wider' dual-band filters will affect your subs less this way.  Also, the shorter the subs the smaller the loss if you have to remove bad ones. 

It would be best if you do flat frames every time you are imaging and for every filter you use unless you have a 'sealed' filter wheel. But even with that, your optics may catch dust affecting the subs.

Just from my experience.

Thank you 😊

The details come from the 10" OTA of the Moana Project, mine is only working on the data. 🙂

Hi.  

Here's what my Markarian's Chain might look like if I spend 9+ hours on it instead of... 2.5 hours like last time. Astrophotography boredom has made me reach out again for the shared data from the Moana project, this time it's a piece of the Virgo galaxy cluster.

This small patch of sky contains two large elliptical galaxies M86 and M84, as well as a lot of smaller (more distant?) ones and an equally large number of spiral galaxies, the three largest of which are NGC 4388, NGC 4402 and NGC 4413. The entire cluster contains about 1300 identified galaxies, but there could be up to 2000. StarXterminator treated most of this smallest galactic 'plankton' as stars, which can be seen by analyzing the 'combined' and 'starless' versions.