Space Oddities

Hello  

Nebula season is almost there! Since the Moon was up and Cygnus is starting to be higher in the sky, I thought I'd photograph the Sadr area and do a mosaic to include the Crescent nebula, which I have never imaged before. This will be an SHO image.

I started this project a couple nights ago and did a first panel of Ha. Last night, I did the second panel. I quickly processed both panels at the same time and stitched them in PixInsight. I'm still blown away by the result of the stitching, I have no idea how it works but it's just so powerful, you can't even see the "stitches"!

Anyway, thought I'd share a preview of what it will look like  That's 4+6 hours of data so far, taken with my William Optics WhiteCat 51, ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro, Astrodon 3nm Ha and mounted on a RainbowAstro RST-135.

Can't wait to produce an SHO image! Although the OIII and SII will certainly be less glorious than the Ha, but I guess I'm used to it now   

Clear skies!

23 hours ago, TossJay said:

Hello everyone! I generally hang out on cloudynights but this thread is far more active than anything I've found over there so I thought I'd hop across the pond for a bit of advice. I recently got a Samyang 135 and I'm attempting to pair it with a Poseidon C.  My first tests have not gone very well. I'm using an EF version of the lens with a ZWO Canon bayonet/filter drawer.  I've shimmed the bayonet adapter to a very tight fit with no obvious play when applying pressure.  I started with a backspacing of 44.6mm since I'm using a 2mm thick optolong UV/IR filter. With the lens pointed to zenith to rule out tilt from droop I was getting very poor stars in all corners. I tried f/2.8 to no avail.  I'm curious if people also account the for optical length added by the protective windows on their cameras?  The Poseidon has a 2mm thick window so my plan on the next clear night was to start with ~45.3mm of backspacing (44 + 2/3 +2/3) to account for the 2mm thick UV/IR and the 2mm protective window then start adding/subtracting 0.1mm spacers.  I've removed the hard stop for ease of use with my autofocuser.

The attached photo is not a test at zenith but is a few hours on the Iris.  As you can see I've got some fairly severe blue bloat as well. I'm hoping the spacing will help this also

Thanks!

Mike

I don't think it's a back spacing issue, it actually seems pretty good. What you have is coma, and that's a defect in the lens itself. I haven't seen that much coma in my own lens, so I wonder if you haven't got a bad copy. Samyang/Rokinon lens have a bad rep when it comes to quality control, and some people have noticeably better lenses than others

Here's an old shot with my Samyang and an APS-C camera, there's much less coma, if any!

Hello!

Yesterday was supposed to be clear, so I took advantage of this moonless night to photograph M51 for the first time. I never had the opportunity to photograph this gorgeous galaxy, so I was really excited  

Since my focal length was limited to 600mm, I decided to test again my ASI585MC camera to get a bit closer. I wasn't expecting much, especially because of the average seeing, but I'm really happy with how it turned out and how easy it was processing the files in PixInsight.  

I didn't bother doing any sort of calibration, and it actually seems to be working great like this. The small sensor eliminates the need for flats, and NoiseXTerminator did a fine job at eliminating the noise. I also used BlurXTerminator to improve the details in the galaxy's arms and reduce the stars. Finally, a bit of color calibration and curves adjustments, and voilà  

I think this combo will work great for small nebulae and galaxies. I don't have a high power telescope, so that will be a usable alternative I believe!

ZWO ASI585MC (gain 252, 80x180s - 4 hours)
Astronomik L-2 UV/IR filter
Askar 80PHQ (600mm f/7.5)
RainbowAstro RST-135

Thanks David, that's a very good point!

Hello  

I received recently my brand new Askar 80PHQ. What a beautiful scope! I love the fact it can be used at 600mm and 450mm focal length with the reducer (I'll get it at some point), and 1200mm with a Barlow lens, which is perfect for lunar or solar photography.

Yesterday the clouds where nowhere to be seen, and so was the Moon, so I thought it was the perfect timing to photograph M13. It's perfectly placed at this time of the year, high in the sky.

It was also the first time I was using ZWO's OAG. I did a rough focusing by day with both cameras, and so it was really easy to focus by night, after an autofocus routine on the main camera.

As always, guiding was flawless with the RST-135! I've actually never had such numbers, I guess having a focal length of 600mm really helps there.

I quickly checked some subs taken with the ASI2600MC camera, and the image quality seems excellent. The field is indeed very flat and the stars look great!

Here is a stack of about 5 hours, quickly processed in PI. Super happy with how it turned out  

15 minutes ago, Doversole said:

The HEM15 is now on sale in the UK.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/harmonic-drive-mounts/ioptron-hem15-mount-without-ipolar.html

at £1159 without the iPolar, it makes it an attractive protable solution, far cheaper than the AM3. Is there something I am missing?

I think one key difference is the fact the AM5/AM3 have strainwave gears on both RA and DEC, while the HEM series from iOptron is a hybrid, with both strainwave (RA) and more traditional worm gears (DEC). Strainwave gears being more expensive, that's probably one of the reasons behind the lower price

Yes it is. I read somewhere that ZWO admitted it's manufactured by Sharpstar (behind the Askar brand). There might be tiny differences in price, accessories and whatnot, but it seems identical overall to the PHQ series from Askar/Sharpstar.

It's not the first time though, Sharpstar products are rebranded and sold by many companies. For instance, the German Omegon sells the same "FRA" and "FMA" telescopes as Askar/Sharpstar: https://www.omegon.eu/telescopes/omegon-apochromatic-refractor-pro-apo-ap-108-600-quintuplet-ota/p,70017

I've been eyeing this scope since it came out 👀 It was in stock in a local shop, with a 200€ price difference vs other shops, so I bit the bullet.

What a beauty! Very well made and well thought out. Everything feels right.

The lazy astronomer I am is happy: it's a flat field design, no more fiddling with back focus or collimation, and I'll put it on a mount that doesn't need balancing 😇

I wonder how well it would work with a 2x barlow. That would make a nice 1200mm f/15 scope, perfect for lunar or perhaps some planetary as well. I might get the 0.7x reducer at some point, to get a wider FOV. At 600mm and 450mm, it pairs nicely with my ASI1600 & ASI2600 for a lot of DSOs.

I like the fact I can have 3 scopes in 1, when paired with a reducer and a barlow. It will be a replacement for my 400mm doublet, 130mm refractor and 4" Maksutov, since the 80PHQ covers all their respective focal lengths. I'll lose of course the bigger aperture of the SW 130P-DS, but on the other hand the image quality and ease of use/transportation will improve.

I just came across this spare part. I have no idea if that would work with the 130P-DS, but if it does, it means that the default focuser can be upgraded to the one sold by Artesky and the Newton adapter.

This focuser from Artesky is sadly only compatible with the 150P-DS and bigger, but not the 130P-DS due to the lack of a notch on the 130P-DS (just above the stickers, on the picture above). Which is a shame, because this focuser is the same as the one found on many refractors (GSO, TS, Altair...), and so much better than the Sky-Watcher one.

I contacted the vendor and asked if they know whether it would work on a 130P-DS. If they don't know, I might go for it anyway and test myself, because I can't stand SW's focuser anymore   That would cost around 300€ in total, which is more than what I paid for the scope, but there's no alternative sadly...

Mise au point, Focus: Platine de fixation pour porte-oculaires avec encoche pour Newton - Sky-Watcher - Astronomie Pierro-Astro'

This video shows the focuser, it is indeed single speed (from 1:48):

I think I went to far... 😅

I had another tinkering session with the FMA180. I found a small dovetail bar lying around, and I thought it would be a perfect match for the scope's rings. Since they have 2 screws each, it's not easy to find a suitable Vixen dovetail bar... So I used the existing Arca-Swiss one to drill holes, and it works great!

Since I was drilling holes, I thought I could add a couple on top, to mount the autoguider. I drilled a 2.5mm hole in each ring, then used an M3 tap to add some threads. I reused a small Arca Swiss plate that came with ZWO's camera ring (which never fit my camera for some reason...), because it has holes that match perfectly Sky-Watcher's finder base (which I took off my Maksutov...).

With the ASI585MC, guide scope and filter slider, it now weighs 1.2 Kg ! Perfect for travelling light  

Superb! Love the IFN!

Hello !

I finally had the time to process the few hours worth of OIII data and blend them with the Ha data I already had. I wasn't expecting anything fancy, the OIII was very noisy (there was an almost full Moon at that time).

It took me a few hours of work in Pixinsight, to get everything out of the data. I'm still learning how to use PixInsight, but I managed to find a good working base for the HOO image:

Quote

// R:
ha

// G:
(ha*.35+o3*.65)

// B:
(ha*.15+o3*.85)*1.15

With this base, I used the curves adjustments to balance the colors and make the blue pop. I then tweaked the saturation, the noise and the details. For the stars, I recreated an RGB image with the stars I extracted using PixelMath. I found a formula that recreates blue and yellow stars, by mixing the channels. HOO stars are usually colorless, which is a pity.

As soon as I added the stars back into the image, it really started to look like something! I didn't expect this result at all, but I'm overall impressed by these Astrodon 3nm filters. They're really something!

Cheers!

HOO:

Ha starless:

OIII starless:

HOO starless:

Quote

ASI1600MM, WhiteCat 51, Astrodon Ha 3nm, Astrodon OIII 3nm 

Ha : 31x600s (5h10), Gain 139, Bin 1, -10°C

OIII : 30x600s (5h00), Gain 139, Bin 1, -10°C

DeekSkyStacker, Pixinsight, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminato

8 hours ago, Elp said:

Think I've taken this too far...

This is only the beginning, I'm afraid...

Thanks! The contrast is very nice indeed, I just hope my OIII will be good enough... The full Moon isn't helping  

Since I missed Christmas due to COVID, I thought I'd photograph the Christmas Tree nebula, as a revenge. Also because it's the full Moon, and most interesting nebulae are slowly disappearing below the horizon...

Here's 5 hours worth of Ha!

ASI1600MM, WhiteCat 51, Astrodon Ha 3nm 
31x600s (5h10), Gain 139, Bin 1, -10°C
DeekSkyStacker, Pixinsight, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator

After months of bad weather, I finally got clear skies last night, and coincidentally, no Moon. So I thought it was a good opportunity to photograph comet C/2022 E3 ZTF, but it doesn't rise until late in the night.

So in the meantime, I thought I'd photograph the Pleiades, a target I imaged a long time ago when I was still discovering AP  

Here is about 4 hours (50 x 300s) with my WhiteCat 51 and ASI2600MC (gain 100, -10°C, no filter) from my Bortle 7 terrace. Stacked with DSS and processed with Pixinsight and GraXpert which did a great job at removing the gradients!

Superb capture Olly! I haven't seen a lot of pictures of Orion's head, but that gives me ideas!

Finally some clear skies! I've been waiting for months for a chance to image. Weather here in Nantes has been terrible since November. Covid and work didn't help too...

But yesterday the sky was crystal clear since the morning, and the Moon was out of sight, so it was now or never  

I started imaging the Pleiades, and once it was high enough in the sky, gave C/2022 E3 ZTF a try. Everything worked flawlessly, I guess the time spent preparing and organizing the gear is bearing fruits! Now it's time for some flats  

I really love this mount, it's tiny but mighty, so well made and very reliable. I also love the fact I can carry everything in and out, and not bother about balancing when it's freezing outside. 

1 hour ago, Ratlet said:

Hope it works.  If you get a chance could you post some images showing the star shapes once the skies clear in March?

March 2025 you mean?

Will do! I'll post my findings in the 130PDS thread  

A new spider came in by the post this morning! It's a very nicely made aluminium spider, with a black matte coating, for my Sky-Watcher 130P-DS. It is said to improve shape of the spikes (no more misalignment leading to double spikes), and helps the scope hold its collimation. It isn't cheap, I believe it's made in Germany (here is the manufacturer if anyone's interested: https://www.backyard-universe.de), but since this scope cost me almost nothing, I thought why not!

I have used the Telescopius method as well, it worked really well with my newtonian. The built-in tool in the ASIAIR makes it even easier, but at 135mm I'm not sure what to expect. Let's see!  

Yes that's a great portable system, although now that I have my own terrace, portability isn't much of a concern anymore... Plus, I don't have to freeze my butt in public parks too!

Great setup and very nice wide field view!

Have you tried the mosaic tool in the ASIAIR? I'd love to try a mosaic of Orion this winter, if weather allows... I've setup a secondary rig with my AZ-GTi, I thought the Samyang would be perfect for this task.

On 24/11/2022 at 15:23, AstroMuni said:

I have acquired a 130PDS recently and need some advice. I use an ASI533 pro and 30mm guidescope+ASI120mini attached to it. As I setup and takedown the scope every night, I need a space-saving way to store the OTA with cameras attached. On my 130 Astromaster it stands up on its base but with the 130pds I find it impossible and that means I have to store it along its side making sure that it doesnt roll and cause the main camera to hit the floor.

How do others store their scope?

I bought a chest a few months ago, in which I placed a couple V-shaped wooden planks (below is the 1st prototype with cardboard). I improved the design by adding felt on one side of the V, and anti-slip rubber on the other side, so the OTA doesn't rotates due to the weight of the focuser. I also added a sheet of plastic wrapping that came with my Ikea trash bin (which looks like a Newtonian now that I think of it), so that dust doesn't get in.

It works really well to securely store the OTA and its accessories. When I need it, I just pick it up. Sadly the camera and filter wheel don't fit, so I have to take them apart, but that's not a big concern since I sometimes use the camera and EFW on another scope anyway.

I can leave it in my living room without anyone knowing there's a treasure inside