Vroobel

Yeah, this is the new setup based on old stuff. Not bad, if we take into account that it's OAG @ 1284mm fl and over 18kg OTA with accessories.

I really like the CGX together with ASIair Plus.  

9 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

I will title this image seconds from disaster...

Very light up here the now and couldn't get sufficient stars to polar align until about 23:30, however the mount had a dodgy zero position lodged in it from the last time I used it so when I asked it to slew to Vega, it slewed to try and look at the core of the earth, fortunately I was sat beside the mount before anything collided.  Managed to figure out the issue, but by then the clouds had arrived.

Still, not a complete waste.  Setup was very quick as I've adopted @Elp technique of having everything ready to go, just move the mount, pop the imaging rig on and connect a couple cables.  defo a winner that.

The imaging rig is a good thing, I also have one based on my Altair 102EDT and Evoguide. But another setup based on already owned gear is just tested...

Hi,

It's a 4th night of the M101 (nearly in a row) and my first approaching the multiple-nights imaging.  

Hi, 

Everyone captures the AR3310 sunspot and its neighbours, so I do it as well. 

SW EQ5, Starwave 102ED F/11, (Barlow RevelationAstro 2" x2 ED), Hercules Herschel wedge 1.25", Baader Yellow, Baader IR/UV Cut, ASI 678MC.

OpusMagnum ATM EQ fork mount, Bresser Messier 10" F/5, full aperture Baader ND5.0 foil, Baader Yellow, Baader IR/UV Cut, ASI 678MC. 

Videos are still processed.

Hi,

I also hope to take a few pics of the M101 with its supernova. 

Tonight it's a test if a new child in the family: new ZWO OAG with a helical focuser, new ZWO filter drawer and already owned ASI 120MM mini and IDAS LPS-P2. Of course, ASI 2600MC-Pro is there as well. 

Recently discovered excellent cooperation of my OnStep controller (based on the FYSETC S6 v.2.1 board) with the ASIair Plus constantly impresses me - it's 1280mm focal length put on top of the home-made mount. 😳 Or is the mount so good? 🤔

P.S.. The Evoguide and ASI 224MC is there just in case of poor guiding by the OAG, warm and ready.

Hi,

Now I'm ready to present much better picture of the M51, which was my main goal till now.

The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51), 15-16/5/2023

Bresser Messier 10" F/5, Baader MPCC III, IDAS LPS-P2, ASI 2600MC-Pro @ OpusMagnum ATM EQ fork mount, ASIair Plus
177 x 60s, Gain 101, default offset, -10°C
ASTAP (stacking), PixInsight (BlurX), Affinity Photo (GradientX, StarX, NoiseX, stretching)

This is a higher level of my primary setup: the 90kg ATM EQ fork mount with 17kg 10" F/5 Newtonian with accessories.

I wrote it's a higher level, because this setup never fully satisfied me till now. I used the Astroberry with its Ekos and PHD2. Guiding offered by the PHD2 very rarely was below 1" total RMS, usually it was nearly 2". Recently I bought the ASIair Plus and after obtaining decent guiding with Celestron CGX (around 0.8") I decided to give my ATM fork mount another chance. The result is outstanding, if we take into account that it's a fully home-made mount built from scratch: nearly all the session the total RMS was below 0.8", very often it was around 0.65" and sometimes reached really low value like 0.56". I think that the harmonic gearing used for the RA axis just showed its class. The question is why does the PHD2 run on the same Raspberry Pi 4 (my Astroberry has 8GB RAM) cannot do the same as the ASIair Plus?

Hi, 

Two hours before the run: coming back to origins and another level of the setup? 

After some significant amends described in the following post... 

... recently I found that the ASIair Plus supports the OnStep, so I cannot resist and must try it all together. 

ATM EQ fork mount, Bresser Messier 10" F/5 Newtonian, ZWO EAF, ASI 2600MC-Pro, Baader MPCC III, SW Evoguide 50ED, ASI 224MC, a home-made dew heaters controller, ASIair Plus  and... my smartphone instead of laptop with VNC. 

I love the external antenna of the ASIair Plus for it's awesome WiFi range! 😳 It's much better than the simple Raspberry Pi (Astroberry). 

Hi, 

Cooling down before hunting the M51. Hopefully tonight it will be first light for my new ASIAir Plus with the CGX. I'm very curious of their cooperation in terms of PA and guiding. It will be also test of how flat is my field after making the light path more rigid. Busy night, busy me...

1 hour ago, Dave scutt said:

Reminds me of bad robot. 

 

 

 

IMHO rather WALL-E... 

Hi,

The Markarian's Chain, 19-20/4/2023

Altair 102EDT + Planostar M92 x0.8 (F/5.6), IDAS LPS-P2, ASI 2600MC-Pro @ Celestron CGX
152 x 60s, Gain 0, Offset 50, -10°C
Astrobery+KStars+Ekos, ASTAP, PixInsight, Affinity Photo

Full size picture: https://www.astrobin.com/full/v6wchq/D/?mod=&real=

Another approaching the Markarian's Chain (learning of the ASI 2600MC-Pro and the CGX mount).

Hi,

Right after the rain, hoping for clear skies: preparing for the Markarian's Chain.

On Thursday last week I bought a Celestron CGX mount and an ASI 2600MC-Pro camera from our fellow  @Hogarth. I've already made one picture ( https://www.astrobin.com/fqnvf5/B/ ), so it's not the first light in my garden. I love my ATM EQ fork mount, but my children grow and I can expect some nights elsewhere more or less soon. Unfortunately, my fork mount isn't portable with its 90kg. So, I have the CGX and want to learn it. The camera as well. 

I like compact structures, so everything is piggyback. Only two cables go down from the setup: power cable and USB one to the NexStar+ controller. My old friend Raspberry Pi with Astroberry system got a new housing with power distribution. I didn't need any USB hub, as the camera has 2-ports hub for guider and EAF. The efficient Xbox power supply provides 12V 16.5A power for all devices. 

2 hours ago, Ratlet said:

They're fantastic.  It makes it so much more comfortable.  Not thrilled by the strap arrangement, but it works.

I'd say that an observing chair is so good that I wish I bought one before I went off the deepend with eyepieces.

It's one of the "must have", I realised it playing with my F/11. When I observe something near the horizon, I seat on the top level (Baader prism and binoviewer) , when it's near the Zenit, I seat on the bottom level or on the 2nd one. All the time it's very comfy, even it it's a cheap (?) one. 

1 minute ago, Paz said:

I drove out to a spot to observe venus this evening. The clouds roll over and I had a Hamlet moment thinking to get back in the car and go home. In the end I set up anyway and had a look through thin cloud.

My friends said that sometimes thin clouds or light fog make the air more stable and details are unexpectedly great. I never experienced it as I have planetary setup from last summer. This year I'm going to spend a liitle bit more time with my Planet Killer, possibly while imaging.  

Hi,

The Owl Nebula (M 97), 3-4/4/2023

Newton 10" F/5 (1270mm fl), Optolong L-eXtreme, MPCC III, modified EOS 6D @ Opus Magnum ATM fork mount (https://www.astrobin.com/4sm2ql/)
57 x 300s, ISO1600, Bortle 8

Astrobery+KStars+Ekos, Affinity Photo, PixInsight

Full size picture: https://www.astrobin.com/full/bbh9dj/0/?mod=&real=

In 2017 I bought a Bresser Messier 10" Newtonian OTA with a Dobsonian mount. I built my ATM Opus Magnum EQ fork mount with hope that it will hold the Newtonian. When I finish building the fork mount I realised that a weight of the OTA causes big problem for guiding (inertia). Earlier I found that three clips holding its main mirror and a part of focuser tube staing inside the OTA make annoying shadows on bright star images ( https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/572839-how-to-remove-clips-shadows-in-a-newtonian ). Another problem was that a spider holding a secondary mirror wasn't a perfect cross, so the spikes became blurry. Also, the secondary mirror wasn't in a middle. And finally, a quite heavy Canon 6D and Baader MPCC were causing that the focuser didn't keep the optical axis. It caused that the position of the camera was changing within the night and flats were unable to counteract the vignetting properly. Everything together made that I stopped using it. I found that replacing a steel tube with a carbon one should eliminate problems of the load and stiffness of the focuser. But what about the rest? As it cost nothing, I made some alterations using my love to the 3D creations, but not only about that. It was to check, whether spending money makes sens.
 

1. A 10 mm thick arched supporting plate providing a bigger stiffness for the focuser thanks to its area. As it's 10mm thick, the focuser tube goes outside 10mm less.
   
   
   
    
2. A collar reducing slightly an aperture of the main mirror, but hiding the clips causing shadows.
   
   
   
   
   
    
3.  The focuser tube is shorter now that eliminated another shadow, bigger than the ones caused by the clips.
   
   
   
    
4.  The secondary mirror is equipped with a home-made horse-shoe-style dew heater and PTC sensor that allows connecting it to my Smart Dew Heaters Controller based on the Arduino.
   
   
   
   
   
    
5.  And as last the ZWO EAF is attached to the focuser.
   
   
   
   

This way the old budget Newtonian became a quite nice OTA, especially that it's F/5. It's still hard to guide with 17kg + accesories, but the results are satisfactory for me (please take into account that it's 1270mm FL driven by fully ATM EQ fork mount). I can consider the carbon tube now, if I found any cheap. The guiding will be easier, if I reduce the weight around twice.

Coming back to the proper size? 

Hi,

Comming back to session from 17/10/22: a third version of the Eastern Veil Nebula. 

Newton 10" F/5, Optolong L-eXtreme, MPCC III, modified EOS 6D.
45 x 300s ISO1250 + 3 x 20 calibration frames.

It's stacked in the Affinity Photo, partly processed in the PixInsight (PCC, all X plugins separately on the nebula leyer and the stars leyer, modified HOO PixelMath by Bill Blanshan), stretching and some cosmetics in the Affinity Photo.

Edit.
2nd rev. of the Eastern Veil HOO with the PI & Bill Blanshan.

It's much better! 👍

I work on laptop, but it never display the colors like my 27" Dell QHD. Every display is different, even if they work at sRGB...

Beautiful picture, very detailed, even if taken with the 51mm only. 

Could you try to reduce the bluish cast from the background? 

And again, the same M81 and M82 captured on 4/11/22 using my ATM mount and 10" F/5 Bresser Messier Newtionian OTA.

Newton 10" F/5, IDAS LPS-P2, MPCC III, modified EOS 6D.
108 x 60s ISO1250 + 3 x 50 calibration frames.
Stacked in the Affinity Photo, processed in the PI and final cosmetics again in the AP.

HI,

Coming back to already presented work and reprocessing them with PI and all X plugins has become fashionable, so I'm not going to stay behind.

Earlier I based on a rule I developed within the Affinity Photo: the Ha and OIII colours came from separating the R as Ha and G+B as OIII (0.85*G+B). Now, thanks to encouragement from @Catanonia and @Radec I started using the PI which I have for several months. The Bill Blanshan's PixelMath HOO formula works incomparably better, so I think this is a milestone in my post processing of nebulas.

Rosette Nebula (Caldwell 49, Caldwell 50/NGC 2244) - 2023.02.13
Altair 102/715 EDT, Optolong L-eXtreme, Planostar x1.0 FF, modified EOS 6D.
14 x 600s  (2h 20m) + 25 x dark, 25 x bias, 30 x flat.

Unbelievable! 😳

You must be tired after each session, there is no chance for a short sleep... 

Hi, 

When did you do all the acquisitions?

The progress is visible, but I think two things are to improve. This picture and the Jelly Fish look like out of focus, so medium stars look like donuts. It's visible also in the starless pic. The second, what software/plugin do you use to remove stars?