teoria_del_big_bang

Really nice clear images 🙂 

Steve

That is pretty amazing.  Your dedication (or madness) is to be commended 👏

Steve  

I think it was well worth it. Sent mine to this place. Had it back in the week and not expensive.

https://www.cheapastrophotography.com/

Steve

Thanks for sharing that with us. Brilliant write up 🙂 

That must be about the most modern looking observatory I have seen.

Steve

Thanks Magnus for sharing your holiday with us  🙂 , great write up.

Just remind me again what that blue stuff behind the clouds is ?

Steve

11 minutes ago, alan potts said:

Absolutely superb, I spoke to him, did a bit of name dropping as my cousin John Anthony produced him when he was in Genesis, in fact he found the band, it is very difficult to believe that they and Queen were not wanted back then by anyone, onl;y John knew that had something. Interest to you in 1968 he was DJ at a London club, Speakeasy I think, when two from a band and two from another band on the bill asked if they could do a 20 minute set as a jam. So John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page with the other two got together for the very first concert of any kind by what later was called Led Zep, John MCéd their first UK tour as a thank-you to him. He found a lot of top bands and actually got sacked by Mercury for trying to sign a friend, David Bowie and King Crimson.

Alan

Very interesting. Probably was the Speakeasy as that was a very popular haunt for these bands. The time is spot on as they would have been then New Yardbirds then and late 1968 they would have had their first tour.

Being sacked for trying to sign Bowie and King Crimson 😱, big mistake on Mercury's behalf eh what.

Steve

On 30/07/2019 at 16:44, alan potts said:

after seeing Steve Hackett in Sofia

Now there's a name I have not heard of for quite a few years 🙂 

Was it a good concert?

Looks a nice camera you plan to get.

Steve

What filters are they (make and bandwidth), are you talking the usual Ha, OIII & SII?

I am not sure all makes are the same but my Baader and some unbranded ones the OIII looks  Green when you look through it at a light source

Ha and SII both are Reddish / Magenta but would say the Ha is more towards the red and the SII more towards Magenta but that is very unscientific and not very helpful.

As they are unmounted are the edges at all different colours that you can match to pictures on FLO or similar as Michael suggests?

Steve

I have taken this week off work originally with the idea of going to lakes for a couple of nights, maybe taking some of my gear, but we did not book anything and so with the weather as it is decided just to stay at home. Plan B was to stay at home do some building work in garden with a bit of stargazing at night with the knowledge I did not have to get up in morning. But it is not going to be plan B either.

Plan C might be the pub 🙂 

So I have sympathy and hope where ever you have gone it does brighten up as some stage.

Steve

I must admit I thought it was when I first looked but then so many in France are of a similar design so was not certain.

Oh I am so jelous now. The photo alone was amazing and now knowing where it is it must have been a wonderful holiday 🙂 

Steve

I decided to go for the Baader Ultra NB filters and managed to get Ha and OIII from Ian King but cant seem to get a SII for love nor money at present so will have to wait for that one.

I have gone for the 36 mm and ordered the LRGB set from FLO.

So hopefully may have a full set before the longer clearer nights come (if they come). 🙂

Thanks to all for the advice and help.

Steve

18 hours ago, david_taurus83 said:

I've got the 36mm Baaders and it allows me a bit of headroom to offset the camera further back from the filterwheel (I've fitted a camera rotator adapter) I've I was to buy filters again, I'd look at the new ultra narrowband ser from baader. Especially the Oiii as the 8.5 is Halo City!

I think I am settled on getting 36 mm filters. For the same reasons as you have mentioned. Also the mention of the Baader Ultra NB filters mad me think again. They are a fair bit more expensive than the original Baaders, still cheaper than the astrodons but may be a good compromise, especially as you are not the first to mention the halo issue.

So my issues are solved eh, not quite. Next issue is getting hold of some. They seem to be pretty short on supply at the moment, especially in anythng other than 1.25". FLO had an estimate of 40 to 60 days delivery but an email to them has revealed they really cannot give an eta at all (or rather Baader cannot).

God if somebody had told me a few years ago before I got into this that I would be willing to pay well in exsess of £200 for a bit of coloured glass not much bigger than a coin I think I would have choked.  But these bits of glass can make all the difference.

Steve

8 hours ago, geordie85 said:

Yes, mine was a 2nd hand unit aswell which I disclosed in my first email to him. Yet I still received a service as if I'd bought it new from them. 

Amazing service and I cannot praise him enough. 

I too told him I had bought 2nd hand as well and asked for a quote to give it a service so I may still get a bill which I am more than happy to pay of course. 

But yes absolutely brilliant service, which is not seen that often these days 🙂 

Steve

On 06/07/2019 at 14:00, geordie85 said:

You could always give Terry at starlight Xpress an email for advice. 

When I crushed my filter wheel against my mount they fixed it free of charge

Thanks for the advice. I eventually got round to doing it and Terry got right back to me and believes it could be due to my wheel beng a very early version that does not like 64 bit windows and has offered to reprogram it if I send the unit back.

Such great service, this is a second hand unit, well old.

Steve

5 minutes ago, upahill said:

Not something I have read, hopefully it wont be a problem, or will be easily solveable.

will see if I can find it again and let you know. It was easily solved by sealing the edges with either tape or carefully applying paint (only to edges mind obviously). This may be unfounded or I may have misread something as I was not really considering unmounted at the time so did not look too closely.

Steve

@upahill Thanks for the reply, I just had to laugh when I saw caffeine in your equipment but agree how important this is on a night. I assume as it is listed after the Baader items it must be filter coffee you are using 🤣

Steve

1 minute ago, Adam J said:

I have performed the calculation myself, there really is no vignetting on 1.25 inch filters. Certainly not on any of the scopes you are listing in your signature block.

I use Astrodon for my narrow band in addition to the Baader LRGB filters. No chance of affording those in 36mm or 2 inch.   

Adam

I agree 1.25" or 31mm would be fine for my current setup it. The cost difference does not worry me too much as it is not massive (about £475 for 1.25", £615 for 36 mm unmounted, £700 for 2") so to future proof them I would pay the extra.

But yes you do make a good point about whether I will ever get a bigger sensor and as I am shortly to retire to splash out probably £2000+ in the future does seem unlikely.

I guess especially for NB the Astrodons must be worth it as they are so much more expensive people would only do so if that were true. I guess for now I would have to either forget NB for a year or so or use my current astronomik ones and save or just decide my pockets are not that deep and to get the Baader ones.

I have read also that the unmounted ones can cause issues with reflections if not sealed around the edges - any thoughts on this.

Steve

1 minute ago, Adam J said:

I use Baader with mine and love the colour balance that I get from them, I tend to think this idea that they are matched to the sensor is a bit of cleaver marketing. Baader are well known in the hobby as a producer of fine quality filters, on the other hand ZWO have had quality issues with some of their filter products although they have made improvements. 

Thanks for that, I had sort of come to the decision to go with Baader. My next issue is whether to go the 36 mm unmounted or 2" mounted. I know with this ccd I should be okay with 1 1/4" but to ensure vignetting is definitely kept to a minimum wanted to go a bit bigger.

36 mm would be fine and more over lets me use a 7 position wheel so that I can have all filters permanently mounted.

2" maybe overkill but means I have some decent filters that would last me and would cater for any future needs(I doubt I will ever justify the cost of Astrodons), but that means using a 5 position wheel and changing between LRGB and NB but this is a minor thing and not really an issue just need to decide if I would be better off with 2" or whether 36mm would suffice.

Steve

Okay so another novice question.

If I have a LP filter permanently in the imaging train, specifically the IDAS P2, when taking luminance does it matter if I use a proper luminance filter or just the clear filter.

A clear filter would then just rely on the LP filter to block IR but keep everything more in focus and retain the back focus from the flattener.

Would using the L filter as well as the LP filter block more light or not?

Steve

13 minutes ago, david_taurus83 said:

What flattener do you have? Some allow threading of 2 inch filters on the front end.

Its the WO Flat73 (not the newer 73A with adjustable spacing). I have actually just found this thread started by @fwm891 which shows the filter on the front end of my flattener. So that answers one of my questions. However, do I leave this filter in if using NB fiters. I am guessing although not required it will not have a massive effect either way.

Hi John,

I too am very new to the ASI1600. My LRGB filters are as close to sensor as possible, but they are not ZWO filters and the couple of times I have had chance to use them this summer I have had some vignetting using 1.25" filters (Astronomik I think they are) so wondered if the ZWO ones would be better, or maybe go to 36 mm or 2" filters but this could get expensive with NB as well.

But I have read that some people also add a LP filter in addition to the LRGB which obviously then has to go elsewhere than the filter wheel. So my thoughts are at present is to fit it in front of the flattener to avoid affecting the back focus of the flattener.

Steve

Dick,

Have you installed Stellarium scope as well as stellarium?

stellariumscope

If not then download and follow the instructions on the website.

Steve

A couple of questions regarding ideal filters for DSO's when using a ZWO 1600M Pro camera.

LRGB

According to ZWO you are better off using their filters designed for this camera a opposed to other well know and trusted brands such as Baader. Does anybody have any evidence of this? 

Most LRGB filters have some form of IR block but if using in areas where there is some form of light pollution is it good practice to also have a good LP filter in line somewhere such as the IDAS P2 ?  If so where is best to place it, just after the flattener,  After writing this I realised this is probably not the best place as it will affect the back focus of the flattener and without changing my spacers, taking into account for the way the diffraction withing the filter affects the light path, I will not have correct back focus. SO I suspect it is best to put the filter in front of the flattener.

There is a Baader LRGBC filter set. When would you use the clear filter? 

Steve

6 hours ago, barkis said:

Small recompense for the bullying that young man  had to bear. I know times were different in those days, but he did not deserve the torment that drove him to suicide 2 years after serving a prison sentence.  He apparently ate an Apple containing Cyanide, but there's still doubts about it being suicide.   That brilliant young man deserved a Knighthood for the tremendous work he did.  

Ron.

Couldn't agree more.

Yes thankfully times have changed and I think now most people will know his name and remember him for what a tremendous thing he did for our country.

And in recognition I will now try to collect as meany of those notes as I can get my hands on 🙂 

Steve

Definitely an improvement on what was already a great image.

Funnily enough I am over working in Sweden at present for a week or two. 

I bet it is almost impossible to get good data this time of year, daylight nearly all the time and where I am at least the weather not much better than UK.  🙂 

Steve