WicklowSkies76

14 minutes ago, MarcusH said:

Good to hear that you got that sorted out. As many have pointed out SharpCap is an excellent tool to tweak your polar alignment with. I'm using it too, but I always start out with a polar alignment using the polar scope. That will get me within 5 arc minutes really fast and it's easy too. The fine tuning is with SharpCap and if I really want to go all out I do a drift alignment also.

I have the same setup as you (AZ-EQ6 + C11 XLT) and I can attest to that you will want to look into guiding sooner rather than later. Preferably an OAG as you have a big lump of glass flopping around in your tube. 😉 

That's cool Marcus. I will look into the SharpCap method. Does the SharpCap method need an imaging CCD or Autoguide Camera or OAG?

Nice to meet another person with the same setup. I've been told countless times to forget imaging with a C11 on this mount I never do what I am told  - but the more I try I have to say the more amazed I am at what results I can get.

Have you been able to get good deep sky images with the C11 XLT? I would love to see some of your results if you have any you can share?

Here's a single exposure at 56 seconds... some star trailing but with an 11" unguided I guess that's to be expected!!

Hi everyone - first of all I want to thank you all so much for the great help and advice. It's hard to really pinpoint which piece of advice helped me out as they all did, every single response... but definitely getting the focus right during the day was a big help. I managed to get Polaris nicely in view and I figured out a couple of things on the Polar Scope also. Looks like I got my alignment pretty spot on. I was able to get long unguided shots of Orion without much star trailing.

Now to work on my editing skills!!!!

Thanks again. Below was 23 sec exposures of M42 on a Celestron C11 XLT and Canon EOS450d (unmodded) and unguided on the AZEQ-6GT. Very happy! I also took a couple of 56sec exposures and they worked out great!

22 minutes ago, Science562h said:

Sort it out? I have the Neximage 5 & it's a basic widefield camera, not narrowfield.

Option 1
I found your problem, you are starting, at too low "Resolution." You can leave auto on, for gain. Go ahead & max out your resolution, at 2592x1944. You just have to get Saturn displayed on screen somewhere first. Center it, with hand controller, move it 'till centered & focus it. Now, lower resolution to 1920x1080; center it. Now, lower it, to 640x480 and center it. The planet should be centered, if you are tracking. Record.

 
Option2
Start, at 2592x1944, use binning & decrease view to 20%. Saturn should be there, with the Neximage 5. Center Saturn, with your 'scopes tracker. Repeat, at lower resolutions, 'till you reach 640x480. Record.

The Neximage 5 has a basic FPS Max of 52 FPS, at 640x480, not 30 FPS. Max it out. This is the N5's resolution chart:
640x480  50-52     
1024x768    27       
1280x720    25    
1280x960    19
1920x1080  13
1600x1200  13    
2048x1536   9
2560x1920  6    
2592x1944  6

You can increase the Neximage 5's FPS, by choosing "Region of Interest (ROI)." With ROI selected, Jupiter records, like this:
N5: 328x264
1 min @ 115 FPS.............6,900 Frames
1:30 min @ 115 FPS.......10,350 Frames
2 min @ 115 FPS.............13,800 Frames 

   
With ROI selected, Saturn records, 136x108, at 316 FPS. This is the quick chart:
1 min @ 316 FPS..........18,960 Frames
1:30 min @ 316 FPS.....28,350 Frames
2 min @ 316 FPS...........37,800 Frames

That's a-lot of frames for a USB 2.0 camera. N5 users are not limited to 640x480, at 50-52 FPS. You can get 100-315 FPS or so, if you ROI planets. If you still need more, get the Neximage 10 (N10), which is twice as good & faster. Basically, double the N5's FPS, per above chart. That's 37,000 frames for Saturn, not 750, 1,000 or a few thousand! You must master your Neximage 5 & iCap to its potential.

Thank you!! That's great info. I managed to fumble my way through thanks to all the advice I received on here. It was basically down to focus initally and settings. Then also I realized that you need to have the planet in the top left quadrant of the view in order to make sure you don't lose it when you step down the resolution, that way is stays in the FOV. I will look at your details more closely when I get going on planetary again... my seeing here at 53 degrees north is pants so there's a limit to what results I can get here I fear.

Hi folks, I'm struggling with the Polar Alignment process and am still learning the ropes. I have a Skywatcher AZEQ6-GT mount with the built in illuminated polar scope. I've been totally unable to get Polaris in view in the Polarscope at night time and am looking for some tips.

I live in Bortle 4 skies so it's not like I can't see Polaris or find it with the naked eye (I can easily) but for the life of me, I've been unable to see anything through the Polarscope. I have tried various levels of illumination of the reticle from max to none and tried adjusting the focus. 

Is it supposed to be easy enough to see Polaris through the Polarscope? If I look at a dot on a page pinned to the wall through the Polarscope at home I can see it OK.

I've tried rough polar alignment before with mixed results. I think anytime I got it right was more down to luck than skill. I am considering exploring Drift Alignment now at this stage... would I be better off doing Drift alignment?

Here's what I do.

1. Set up tripod with the N let facing North (using a compass to help).
2. Use spirit level to ensure the tripod is level across all axes.
3. Pop on the Mount.
4. Ensure the mout is in the home position (as per the manual).
5. Set latitude adjustment to approximately 53 degrees North on Mount.
6. Adjust the RA bar to ensure there's a view through the Polarscope.
7. Roughly get the RA pointed towards Polaris.

On 19/12/2019 at 15:31, Captain Magenta said:

It must be something about Ireland. I did exactly the same to mine (in Baltimore) when fairly new, I put it onto the tripod head, and promptly forgot to clamp it from underneath. I half caught it (very stupid thing for me to attempt, luckily no injury) and the azimuth locking-bolt and dovetail-clamp bolts absorbed all the energy, thanks be. They were standard M-something bolts, easily found. Works perfectly, hopefully so does yours...

Magnus

Just ordered from there. M10 is the one! Thanks.

Hi folks, my AZEQ6 GT mount fell off my tripod while it was at full height, onto concrete. 😣

Luckily it still appears to function fine, but the Azimuth Adjustment knobs took the brunt of the impact and the plastic came off and the knobs bent under the force. 

I need replacement Knobs. Does anyone know if these can be purchased online and if so, where?

If they can't, where is my best bet to get replacements?

3 minutes ago, Star101 said:

Bad collimation is where the stars look like the old silk fan to keep cool. Slight bad collimation is where a out of focus star looks cone shaped.

The video you posted looks like the dew shield is in the way, not a collimation issue.

If you do need to collimate the C11, and all other possibilities to remove the mirror have failed, Including pulling at an angle while twisting the ring, then you will have to remove the glass aperture plate. Easy to do but you need to make markings ( tape or chalk type ) on the glass and SCT before removing the glass to then get access to the back to release the mirror.

 

Thank you so much for the help. I will try the pulling at an angle first (albeit gently). I did take it off once, sounds like I didn't screw it back in properly or did so too tight!

1 minute ago, Star101 said:

I see. So the whole inner part, mirror,  rotates within the 11" glass!!

Precisely! The glass remains fixed but the whoe inner and outer part either side of the glass rotate. So I can't get any purchase on the outer ring with the grip, to twist it off.

If My collimation is OK this won't be too much of an issue. I thought the flat part in the vid was a sign of poor collimation? Seems not. Could be the dewshield possibly.

1 hour ago, dweller25 said:

The fastar unit can only be tightened up by taking the corrector off but you need to be VERY careful.

Hopefully you have a serial number on the fastar which needs to be parallel with the dovetail. 

If you do that make sure you mark the correctors orientation as it must go back in exactly the same position and make sure any shims holding the correctors edge go back in exactly the same way too.

I’m assuming something like a tree was in the way when you took that video as the flat edge should not be there ?

It was the flat edge that worried me... perhaps that's not a sign of bad collimation?

Right - but what I mean is when I try to screw off the outer ring, the entire secondary holder twists. Make sense?

16 minutes ago, Star101 said:

When replacing the removable mirror, be careful to align that notch with the recess. If you miss align them, you may manage to slip the mirror back into location and jam it. So you cannot adjust anything.( Voice of experience here   - Had to wait until the air temperature changed to allow me to pull the misaligned mirror back out and place it back correctly.)

When I try to loosen the outer ring, the whole secondary holder rotates. So I can't get enough purchase on the outer ring to twist it off. I think it might be jammed! Do I need to let it cool down or heat up to free it up ?

Please have a look at the video link below.

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AuFbGvbjMa5pnIUoKJDLW_Mnc6sYWQ?e=W2dfJp

I bought the scope used and it has never been collimated so I am guessing it needs collimating by the video attached? It's a C11 XLT and the defocussed star was captured using a Neximage 5 camera.

One thing I noticed when trying to expose the collimation screws (there's a 'Fastar Compatible' twister on the front) is that the whole front section (not the glass outside case) rotates when twisted. So it looks like the entire housing (either side of the glass) is rotating when twisted so I can't really unscrew anything.

This is what the seeing is forecasted for for my location tonight. I am bringing my setup to try some planetary imaging. I have better views of the low planets at this location and it has been cloudy for weeks. Based on the forecasted chart, should I bother? It looks good but I am a novice at reading the finer details of the seeing forecast. I will be looking to image Jupiter & Saturn with a C11 and a Neximage 5 camera on an AZ-EQ6 GT mount.

Does this seeing look v. poor, poor or fair? I know enough to know it's certainly not 'good' or better.

10 hours ago, mackiedlm said:

Hi and thanks. I'm planning to try some planetary imaging myself. Jade the scope ot last weekend to show daughters boyfriend Jupiter and Saturn. Remarkably good views considering the moon and the time of year.

 

Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome.

 

David

That's one of the benefits of planetary imaging - Moon phase has very little impact on that compared to DSO's.

Welcome David. Also in Ireland and starting the planetary imaging journey!

On 13/07/2019 at 21:37, Cosmic Geoff said:

I downloaded your .avi file and tried to process it in Registax6.  I could not sharpen it up.  I wonder if the image was properly focused.

It appears that you used the full frame from the camera and the image scale is quite large. Did you use a Barlow lens?

I use only 320x240 pixels on planets (though with a smaller SCT) and I don't use a Barlow lens - the poor seeing here renders it pointless.  On the couple of occasions I tried a Barlow lens the level of detail achieved was the same as without it or worse. For Jupiter, my image files are typically 375Mb .ser files containing 5000 frames.

Yours was 650mb containing 500 frames - I'm not being critical, just pointing out the difference in technique.

Thanks yes you're spot on. My focus is definitely out. To be honest getting a good level of focus when using the Neximage 5 camera is challenging due to the seeing. It could be collimation related. For the pic above I bumped down to 640x480 or thereabouts and no Barlow is needed then at 2800mm

On 13/07/2019 at 22:49, Stub Mandrel said:

Some things I have learned:

Use a Barlow. x3 is not too much with a 1200mm scope.

It's definitely worth getting an ADC, set it using an eyepiece, also useful to get the planet well centred.

Use a proper planetary cam, even the cheapest will outperform a webcam because it will save RAW video.

Spend lots of time focusing. When you think you have it right, spend as much time again getting it even better.

Mono doesn't offer gains over one shot colour - you have to use Winjupos to derotate the RGB and it is hard to get decent results, especially if you have a moon or moon shadow moving faster than the rotation of the planet.

The 5000 frame 'quick capture' in Sharpcap is pretty much optimal for Jupiter.

Accept that with the planets so low down seeing, transparency and dispersion will all limit what you can achieve.

This is from my only session on Jupiter this year, with a 6" Newtonian, a 150PL.

 

Nice result! Yes you're spot on I need to "sharpen" my focussing skills for sure. I will keep trying and check collimation.

On 14/07/2019 at 10:32, Jarvo said:

See if you can tweak the gain and brightness settings in the capture software as the images look a bit dark. 

Im at nearly the same latitude 52 degrees and given up on Jupiter and Saturn for a couple of year but that’s mainly due to the observatory doors hampering the view. 

Jarvo 

Yep I tried that and did have some more success. So much to learn but really enjoying the process!

Here's the fruits of my laboured progress so far. I think you can make out Cassini Division!

HI all - thanks for the very helpful replies. By implementing some of the great feedback I was able to produce something a little better on Saturn but it still does lack a bit of focus. I am very encouraged at the progress still without an ADC and as suggested, all the practice definitely does pay off.

Here's a processed image from a few nights ago with a low Saturn. The main differences here were that I used a much lower % sample of the frames for stacking (08%) and I spent more time with wavelet editing in Registax. It's far from perfect and still lacks focus, but it's a bit better and I am a lot more encouraged! I will keep practicing.

2 minutes ago, PeterCPC said:

You can't go by the Moon results - for Jupiter you must ensure very accurate collimation. Also, I suggest that you get focus using a star near the target using a Bahtinov mask.

Peter

Silly question. Do you get the focus with the Bahtinov with the Neximage and check the focus on screen? I assume so. I will definitely give that a try, thanks!

Hi Peter yes I go AS3, pick a suitable 'force bayer' option and then that produces a PNG. Then I go into Registax. Then I go into Lightroom to see if I can make more detail pop. I'm new to it so I am in 'tinkering' mode. When the Moon video is uploaded (still uploading) I will let you know. That ought to give a better indication. Doesn't look too out of focus on the Moon video.

Attached is an example of the AS3 output.

I haven't checked collimation. I will need to look into that. To be honest once I was able to get sharp focus on the moon with various eyepieces I assumed it was OK. Whatever about Jupiter and Saturn given their low elevation, it's the seeing/wobble on the Moon that has me worried. I mean that was more or less straight up compared to Jupiter and still shimmering like crazy. I am posting a link to two raw files. They are BIIIG so might take a minute to cache if you're viewing. The moon one should give an indication into the seeing. 

I think I will need to invest in ADC if I want to get good results.

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AuFbGvbjMa5pnIRzgNiicdVL2CY1Sg?e=B1AfPL 

All I can do is get back out there again and again and get a sense for the conditions. Hopefully that is as bad as it gets.

Hi - whinge incoming. I recently made a huge leap up from an Astromaster 70 refractor to a C11 SCT on an AZEQ6-GT mount as I wanted to focus on planetary imaging but any time I have gotten to use the C11 the seeing has been so dreadful I am wondering if it's a mistake at my latitude. I am more or less 53 degrees North and on the East Coast of Ireland, about 500m from the Irish Sea. The seeing even on the Moon when at high elevation is woeful. Was this just a bad night? I have a dewshield, I let the scope acclimatise to the outside temperature, the sky was clear and I am only looking over vegetation, no houses. I am Bortle 4, rural suburban transDo I just need to accept that at my location the seeing limits the usefulness of any equipment? I have been using a Neximage 5 and have only been able to produce images like those attached. I should be getting much better than that I would have thought. I'm sure I can get better processing skills and I could upgrade the camera from Neximage to an ASI 290 but will the seeing make that pointless?

I am here to make you feel better. I have a C11 and a Neximage 5 and this is all I can produce even after stacking and post processing. The seeing last night was awful and I am at 53 degrees North.

Thanks all. Only thing in the imaging train is the camera (and a backfocus spacer which is hollow) so that must be it. Phew!

What's best to clean that sensor with? A lint free cloth like you'd clean glasses with? Don't want to scratch it.

Looking at some AVI's I captured on the Moon using a C11 XLT SCT with a Neximage 5 camera I noticed some imperfections on the video and am wondering if anyone has any thoughts as to what might cause these?

If I look at the very front glass part of the C11 there appear to be a few, maybe 3 or 4 very small bits of crumb of something on the inside of the glass.

Would tiny things like that manifest themselves as what's to be seen highlighted in the picture below?

If so I will need to look to clean it but as I am a total beginner I am loathe to do that unless it's completely necessary...