Ken Mitchell

Video of the individual frames captured that night comet tracking.mp4

Hi all, My first capture of a comet and pretty exited about it! Definitely makes you think! Love to get back to this rock in couple months to get a composition with the H&S nebula and hopefully with a bit more brightness. Curious at how it will look then! This was just over two hours of imaging using the stock Nikon d610 and TS72 apo. Mounted and guided with the Star adventurer. The image is a blend of two stacks, one aligned for the stars and one for the comet. Stacking was done in DSS. Ken

Hi all, For a long time I wanted to shoot this frame, probably from the early days of my astrophotography adventure. Finally after all these years I managed to get a decent result of the 'stuff' between these two beautiful nebulae. Fairly happy with the image but always looking for improvement. I hope one day to redo this all with a mono camera and filters. Apart from NGC1499 , M45 and the Baby Eagle Nebula no idea what else is in the picture. If you happen to have an idea feel free to educate me. Some info on image and capturing: Widefield Pleiades to California. Taken over 2 nights with a total of 11hrs 25min integration. With a stock Nikon d610 and Nikkor 85mm 1.8 objective. Tracking was done with the Skywatcher Star Adventurer. Lights and all calibrations frames were stacked in DSS. Processing was done in Adobe Photoshop CC using Adobe Raw, GradientXterminator plugin, HLVG plugin, Nik software plugins and Photokemi action set. Ken

That's interesting, thatks. So the best one would be a 2.5x or should a regular 2x be ok? I found the Baader Hyperion 2.25x or the ES focal extender 2x(What Craig recommends) The 2.5x Powermate is just a bit high in price. Any thought on those? Ken

Is there any advantage choosing the 2" before the 1.25"? Ken

Do you refer to this one? https://www.astroshop.eu/barlow-lenses/explore-scientific-barlow-lens-focal-extender-2x-1-25-/p,54035 Does a focal extender like that introduce vignette or softness in the corners? Ken

Hi all, I'm looking for recommendations on barlows for imaging. I'm using a 72mm refractor with asi120mcs and would like to take close ups of the Moon's surface without changing the scope. Is this possible with barlows or are they only for observing? If so, is there anything worth buying for around $100-$150? This is my latest image, 2 mosaic form 2x 4000frames. As you can see there is some detail in it but not as much as I like. Thanks Ken

One of my latest image, M78 with some Barnard's Loop, Sh 2-276 TS72 APO + TS72flat on a Nikon d90(mod) 432mm /f6/ iso800 2hrs.50min Tracked with the Star Adventurer TS 50mm f3.6 guidescope connected on a zwo asi120mc-s Stacked in DSS and processed in Photoshop

Hi all, I've decided to take another small step up on the astro ladder. Going from dslr to dedicated mono astrocam. My primary goals for the future are taking very wide angle shots containing different dso's but with the addition of the 'stuff' in between them. Molecular dust, dark nebula, integrated flux nebula,... Which filters would I need to do that. Already have a 7nm Ha and might get an 8nm Olll, primarily for the dso's. I know narrowband won't capture the dust , ifn,... so was wondering what would I need in order to get this detail added? Can I just shoot with the mono camera or lum filter to get this data or will I need a full rgb filter set? As an example of my goals I add a recent image I captured with a dslr. I was hoping a mono camera would give me better results and also shorten the total exposure time comparing to a dslr. I'm open for suggestions Thank you Ken

One of my latest images with the Star Adventurer, the Blue Horsehead Nebula. Nikon d610 camera TS-Optics Photoline 72mm FPL53 APO with TS-flat72 Tracked with the Skywatcher Star Adventurer TS 50mm f3.6 guidescope connected on a zwo asi120mc-s Total exposure time: 7hrs 56min, iso800 f6 Stacked in DSS Processed in Photoshop

Thanks Dave! Bortle 4, close to bortle 3. Ken

Image from October. Iris Nebula and Ghost Nebula somewhere in Cepheus. Nikon d610 432mm /f6/ iso1600 Total 3hrs 33min 212frames Stacked in DSS and processed in Photoshop

Short follow up and thanks. Sorry for the late reply, had some issues with my guiding laptop. It gave up on me so had to get me a new one for guiding. Also still waiting for the new desktop to arrive in able to do post processing. Neither did I had the opportunity to do more testing with phd2 or the SA. When all is back to order I will definitely continue this to improve my imaging and acquire more knowledge on the topic in general. Ken

Out of curiosity I did a stack from last night's subs without calibration frames and simple edit in photoshop. Total was just over 3hours. At the bottom there is a 100% crop to see the trails caused by the guiding. Should I give this another go? With double the exposure how much more detail should I get on this target. Or is it best to wait and do this with my modded cam and 7nm Ha? Ken

Thanks a lot for the help! Last question(for now), even if the Star Adventurer doesn't guide in dec it is still important to enter the correct dec degrees? Will these values be taken into account when correcting for RA? Would you happen to have some information on how this operates, just to have an idea what phd is doing. Ken

Ok gotcha. I understand now. I assume you can consult the dec degrees with Stellarium or similar SF? So for every target I image it is best to change the dec degrees in phd2? Ken

These are the default values, I only changed the FL. What values should I change here? Do you suggest I try to turn of guiding for that target and see how well it performs? Ken

Thanks for the information. Where do I choose 16bit mode? Can't seem to find it. Would you happen to have any advice on guiding while imaging targets close to the celestial pole? Obviously you can't choose Polaris but even stars in the vicinity don't work. Calibration fails because the star didn't move enough. And when I choose a star somewhat off axis from where the main scope is aiming I get startrails. I don't think it's because "bad" PA but rather because the guide doesn't compensate correctly for the guidestar is off axis. Could that be? My target is ngc 7822 if that helps. Ken

New one from the last 2 nights and second time using guiding with the SA. All went well except for the winds on night 2 which gave some vibration to some of the frames and didn't include 50 minutes into the total integration. Might put a heavier load on the tripod and see if it will changes things. First night got 39 frames of each 5 min and second night 38 frames of each 5 min. A total of around 6hrs and 20min. TS72 APO + TS flat72 with Nikon d610 77 x 5 min guided Tracked with the SA and guided with TS 50mm mini guidescope with asi zwo 120mc-s Stacking was done in DSS and processing in Photoshop. Ken

Managed to get it up and running and had some decent guiding results I believe. Got up to 5 min without startrails. Did a few tests yesterday night to see how well it reacted to a good or bad PA. I've heard people say you can do a rough PA and still get good guiding. Maybe that's true for a mount that guides in both axis? but from what I've tested it seems that it's pretty important you have a good PA with the SA as it doesn't guide in dec. My PA was slightly off and got trails even with 2 minutes. I could see the guidestar drifting, as with a good PA the guidestar stays in the middle. Probably because the SA can't compensate for dec. The things that are most difficult in the guide process is locking onto a guidestar and getting focus right with that particular scope. I now wish I'd payed 50$ more and get the one with the microfocuser. The one I have now is push and pull and find it a bit hard to operate. Any tips on choosing/acquiring a good guidestar? It seems like it's not always the best option to choose the brightest in the sky, or am I wrong? How important is it to choose a star in roughly the same area you're imaging in? Ken

A decent bortle 4 sky in my backyard. 21.20sqm

First night out with guidesetup on the SA was a succes. 41x 5min with TS72 f6 iso 800 with Nikon d610 TS50mm guidescope with zwo asi120mc-s

Thanks Dave, now I know everything is connected correctly. I will try with phd1 to see if it changes things when testing at daytime. Ken

When I set the mount to On Camera, it says mount connected. But no matter what direction I click in the Manual guide screen, it doesn't move. Should it work with the SA as it only guides in RA? What else can I do to make it work? When I try to use calibrate functions in the tools menu it says, no calibration data available. Does this mean something? Ken

Hi, Couple weeks ago I've received my guide setup for the SA. Bad weather here didn't give me the chance yet to test it in the field. Next week there will be a (couple) of clear nights so hope to give it a go soon. I want to be sure that I have everything set up correct though. This is what I did until now, I hooked up everything and launched the software. I can get a capture image on screen through the software so I believe it's recognizing the camera. I'm not sure if it is recognizing the SA mount as I can't find a way to test it. I tried to move the RA by the use of 'manual guiding' in phd2 but nothing happens. Is there a way to test this during the day and see if the SA is connected correct? Do I need to connect the SA with USB to the laptop or just connect the SA-ST4-CAMERA and CAMERA-USB-LAPTOP? I know there are members here that uses the SA with guiding so I'm hoping they could share their setup. Thanks in advance. Ken PS. my gear if it would help. TS72 with nikon ff, TS 50mm guidescope with zwo asi120mcs