eshy76

39 minutes ago, assouptro said:

It has been pretty miserable so far this winter. 
I don’t have an observatory but my kit is outside under a telegizmos 365 cover so I can set up in minutes and take advantage of a clear spell I have a neighbour who caught the bug from me, he has to set up from scratch each session and won’t do so unless it’s going to stay clear all night! 

nice composition BTW, thanks for sharing! 

cheers 

Bryan

Thank you! Exactly like you - my kit has been under a Telegizmo cover for the last week...looks clear tonight for a few hours, just hope I don't find that spiders have made a home in my ASI1600 when I take the covers off later! 

57 minutes ago, rubecula said:

Mmmmm ....nice.  I like the detail and the overall composition.  Amazing detail from 5 different filters at 1 hour per filter.

Thank you! My imaging time is being severely limited by the cloudy winter...but the show must go on!

Hi everyone,

The Cone Nebula lies about 2700 light years from Earth and, along with the Christmas Tree Cluster, forms NGC 2264. This object lies within the Monoceros constellation and is about 7 light years long. Also visible in my image close to the Cone is the Fox Fur Nebula.

A notable image for me in that I tried a new processing technique for merging my Ha data with RGB and L. I used the excellent Light Vortex tutorial on this and this method makes it much easier to bring in the Ha, without unbalancing the star colour too much I hope, compared to some of my recent images.

Used my usual setup - WO Z73 + iOptron CEM25P + ZWO ASI 1600 MM Pro + Astrodon filters. Total integration time 5.2 hours.

Full details here

Thanks for looking!


 

Just now, celestron8g8 said:

Very nice capture ! Thanks for sharing .

Thank you!

Hi everyone,

Another Rosette I'm afraid...this one has been in the offing for some time now. I originally shot the Ha in February and failed to get RGB data before the nebula vanished behind my trees for the year! Finally got some RGB between the clouds at end November!

My second HaRGB image...have a feeling the Ha data is overwhelming the image to an extent but I'm still happy with the result. I pixelmathed Ha 70% into the red channel and 10% into blue before processing as an RGB image.

4.5 hours integration time. WO Z73 + CEM25P + ASI1600MM Pro + Astrodon filters. RGB data captured using NINA which I'm increasingly impressed with.

Full details here

Thanks for looking! 

Well done! I remember taking my first steps into guiding with the Lacerta MGen standalone guider...which was much easier than subsequently getting into PHD2!

It's worth the investment though - I'm sure your first guided images will show the jump in quality straight away!

And, yes - dither! APT makes it easy - you'll find a little checkbox somewhere in the Guide dialog and you can also choose to dither every x subs - dithering every frame is time consuming (guiding has to settle down each time), I tend to dither every 3 subs if I'm taking a stack of above 40 subs. Below that, I dither every 2 subs. That's just me though, I'm sure everyone has their own approach.

Hi all,

It appears I managed to somehow find some clear hours for some imaging during the otherwise total cloud-out round my way for the last 2 months!

Some firsts here:

First attempt at the California nebula.
First HaRGB image....googled a lot and ended up blending my Ha data 70% into the red channel and 10% into the blue channel before processing as an RGB image (well, I extracted a synthetic lum after the combination).
First time using NINA exclusively for the capture and being able to autofocus on each filter change made a lot of difference - possibly my most consistent set of FHWMs since starting this hobby. NINA is very impressive for a free piece of software. 

Usual hardware setup - WO73, CEM25P, Astrodon 36mm filters, ASI1600MM Pro. 4.5 hours of integration time over two nights (see what I mean by having to find a few hours in between the clouds!).

Higher res version here.

Thanks for looking and fingers crossed for some clear skies for all!


 

Another reprocess during the current cloud-out...here I was going for a less overprocessed approach - less saturation, less sharpening...also added a nights' worth of new moon data using NINA for the first time, while culling some high FHWM subs. Lost some of the Ha detailing, but hopefully a more natural looking M31? High res version at same link as in the original post.

Having been clouded out for the last 2 months, I've taken the opportunity to reprocess some of my images - for this image of the Trunk, I've gone for the classic Hubble palette instead of the green original. The higher res version can be found at the link in the original post. Thanks for looking!


 

4 hours ago, MartinB said:

That is a fantastic image considering you location.  Beautifully processed.  You've managed to show the dust without blitzing the background.  I had a look at this a couple of years ago and gave up and my sky is Bortle 5.  Kudos!

Thank you! This was a clear night during galaxy season where there was nothing else worth shooting with my widefield rig...so I went for it....processing was tough as I had seen the beautiful dust-laden shots of the Iris from better skies, so I knew what I wanted to see, but it was clear that I couldn't push the background too far...

...I love all the nice comments...slightly odd that I posted this in June but it looks like the thread was unearthed by someone in November! I'll take it of course!

Thanks to everyone for the kind words...I think this is the type of target that I would need an obsy for in my light polluted skies...just letting the rig pick up the photons night after night to build up integration time.

Alternatively a few hours at a dark site...

Hi everyone...roll up...roll up....it's a "spend my money" thread!

I am embarking on an attic observatory build, which I won't go into details on here - there's a thread on that in the DIY Observatories section. Anyway - a key part of this is that there will be a 1.1m2 sliding roof window in a loft, through which will unfurl my imaging gear. I currently have a iOptron CEM25P and William Optics Z73 which would fit through this gap perfectly well but....

...I am thinking ahead to the inevitable mount and scope upgrades....the largest scope I would likely ever want for imaging is an Edge 9.25 HD, which is 55cms long and, I think, 26cms wide. And 9.5kgs in weight.

I would need a sturdier mount for this in future, so my question is - which mid-range to premium mount(s) would be enough to wield an Edge 9.25 HD + imaging gear, while being compact enough to fit through (and potentially rotate in) a hatch in a loft? Including counterweight bar...

So far, the mount I have found which seems to fit the bill is the Avalon M-Uno...the RA-axis being close to the OTA and a lack of counterweight bar makes it an early contender...

I am seriously considering using a Linak DL2 type rising column to lift the whole thing through the hatch as a possibility. However, if the mount in question has a "turning circle" that would fit in that hatch, then I wouldn't need to go down that route.

My Avalon thinking was inspired by the link below on critical rotating dimensions, kindly provided by @old_eyes in the obsy thread.

Thanks in advance! All suggestions welcome! (Please no comments on hot air currents and vibrations - those warnings have been heeded!)

https://www.blackwaterskies.co.uk/2013/12/observatory-planning-and-german-equatorial-mounts/#lightbox/2/

On 28/10/2019 at 09:29, Laurin Dave said:

That’s nice, I particulary like the bowl structure level with Sadr and above the Crescent.. 

Dave

Sorry, it took me a day or so to register exactly which part of the image you were referring to!

Yes that structure was the most surprising part of the image for me - I hadn't noticed it before. It is very clearly apparent in Ha and that top right pane was the best in terms of FHWMs, which helps!

10 hours ago, apophisOAS said:

Very , Very nice,

Roger

Thank you!

1 minute ago, Tommohawk said:

Hi and thanks for the response. No OAG, so that at least is one less variable. Re the flat panel, yes I agree I'm just using my monitor which may have flaw/extraneous light etc....

BUT note that I get the same apparent overcorrection in the flat done with the flat wall method if the gain is set at 139. So it seems to be more a problem of the gain, rather than the method used to produce the flat.

It may be that its more to do with the exposure time rather than the gain setting itself. Obviously when using higher gain the exposure time reduces, so it could be that. This camera is the ASI 1600mm cool, not pro,  and I know there were some issues with download times which were apparently remedied by the use of a buffer. But I'm not sure if that's relevant.

Yes that's fair regarding the wall flat point, so definitely investigate the gain/download angle more before plumping for an expensive flat panel!

On the pro, there is a usb speed setting in the ascom driver, if there is something like that for the cool, maybe you can try lowering that setting?

Thank you very much Wes!

I'm very pleased how it turned out, especially given some of the issues that cropped up during the capture!

1 minute ago, carastro said:

That's a really great image, love the FOV too.

Carole 

Thank you Carole! Mosaics are hard work...but very satisfying ultimately.

20 minutes ago, Laurin Dave said:

That’s nice, I particulary like the bowl structure level with Sadr and above the Crescent.. 

Dave

Thank you! Yes it is a dramatic part of the sky!

Hi Tom,

Could I ask if you are using an OAG to guide? The intruding element in the top centre of a couple of the flats look suspiciously like a misaligned OAG prism...I had this issue with my ASI1600 imaging train and fixed it using some shims to line up the prism with the long edge of the camera sensor to avoid darkening the corners/edges.

Sorry I have no insight on the gain questions...however I was suffering from inconsistent flats issues a while back - then I noticed my LED panel flickering more than usual when the flats were being taken. I ended up getting a posher Artesky one where you can control the brightness, which did away with having to dim my panel with sheets of paper, etc...that also fixed issues I was having with artifacts appearing in my flats...

...I hope that helped narrow things down a little?

Hi everyone!

I shot this over the 4 night clear patch in mid-September round my way. This ended up being a challenging series of captures - two nights were disrupted by a windows update on my mini PC, seeing was variable, I messed up focusing on one night...and the moon was not great for OIII capture, like everyone keeps saying!

Anyway, I was committed to a 4-pane Ha/OIII/SII mosaic - the Sadr region always looked so dramatic to me and I wanted to capture it, but I thought it would be a shame not to capture the Crescent nebula nearby, so I went for the mosaic!

Processing was also challenging given the different quality of the 4 panes, which is why I'm posting this over a month after shooting.

The colour mix I went with was my usual natural blend mix:

R = 0.76*Ha + 0.24*SII
G = OIII
B = 0.85*OIII + 0.15*Ha

Captured in APT, pre-processed and mosaic merger in APP, post-processing in Pixinsight. WO Z73 + CEM25P + Astrodon filters. 18.8 hours of integration.

Full details and higher res version here

Thank you for looking!

8 minutes ago, old_eyes said:

There is a model that allows you to work out the swept volume of a scope on a German equatorial mount https://www.blackwaterskies.co.uk/2013/12/observatory-planning-and-german-equatorial-mounts/

I used this to work out the minimum spacing around the scope for my ongoing observatory build. I found it easy and very useful.

 

Boom! I ask and the SGL community delivers....that is pretty much spot on what I was looking for - time to dust off the old A-Level maths and crunch some numbers...if the sphere of rotation works out, I won't need to spend on the rising column...although that looks like a solution could increase what I put up there.

Thank you very much!

I will keep updating the thread as progress is made.

2 hours ago, WanderingEye said:

Nice idea, am watching this thread with interest.... 😀👍

I will keep updating it as progress is, or isn't, made!

After more hasty research (I have to move quite quickly on this), I am leaning towards a Linak DL2 motorised column approach....if I can get the whole kaboodle through the gap, then maybe the whole turning circle thing is irrelevant....? Park scope diagonally across hatch (1.1m squared is 1.56m diagonally)...open hatch...raise column...and we're away...?

Hi everyone,

I've been searching furiously for this and have not really found an answer, so forgive me if this has been asked already.

Background: I'm having my house renovated and the possibility has come up for an attic observatory of sorts (I currently image from the garden and set up and tear down each time). My builder can see the passion I have for astro-imaging and really wants to come up with a solution for me! 👍 A fixed garden observatory is not feasible from a family and trees perspective. I've read at length about potential issues such as vibrations and thermals rising from the house and I'm working with the builder to minimize these, so this post is not really talking about those things. I have also seen the other attic observatory threads on this site, which are inspiring!

Questions: It is looking like I will end up having a sliding rooflight of about 1.1m squared....probably powered....so what turning circle for the mount and scope do I need to be worried about to not "hit the edges" of the frame when opened? Does that rooflight size sound ample for say an 8-9.25" Edge HD + appropriate mount? Has anyone making their obsies had to worry about the opening above mount and scope?

The idea is to have the scope and mount "parked" at an angle just under the rooflight (it is almost a flat roof) and then "unfold" it all when the rooflight is opened to maximise the height of the OTA above the house once in the open air. I could consider a motorised rising pier if that would work better.

Am I right in saying the key dimension is along the counterweight bar, through the mount and across the width of the OTA...for e.g. when imaging near zenith? 

I currently have a CEM25P, William Optics Z73 and a scope mounted PC, and measuring along the counterweight bar line, gives me about 71cms, so the 1.1m rooflight seems to be ample for that, but I am anxious that the size of the rooflight might seriously hamper upgrade options for mount/scope...at a minimum I would look to upgrade the mount. And it's not always a dimension mount manufacturers disclose....

Any guidance/shared experience would be helpful - I can still cancel the whole thing and keep imaging from the garden if it is not going to be worthwhile, although a permanent setup and uninterrupted skies are extremely tempting!

Many thanks!

 

To chime in here, I switched to APP for all my preprocessing (ie stacking) about 6 months ago and have not looked back! I still use PI for post-processing though.

I had forced myself to learn PI's integration workflow and got quite good at it - DSS and PI's own batch preprocessing tool were too limited for me, I don't think I could rank subs by quality and so on. The full PI workflow was time consuming however as I had to sit at the computer for much of the process. And that's before image editing!

APP is a joy - it's pretty intelligent in terms of loading the subs and can read the fits headers to put subs of the same filter together automatically. The individual preprocessing tabs are flexible - I can choose rejection algorithms, drizzle and crucially to me, how to rank the subs for stacking. Best of all I can just press "integrate" and go to bed! And wake up to all the integrations done by filter - the results look pretty good to me!

APP is like an up-to-date Deep Sky Stacker which gives you some of the power of PI in your stacking.

It's also pretty amazing at mosaics too!

1 hour ago, astro mick said:

Well done,what a nice image,and the claw definitely stands out.You have given a lot of hours to this,and it shows.

Mick.

Thank you very much! In the processing I could have maybe done some more star reduction to help the claw stand out more, but I kept ending up with posterized stars, so I didn't try and force it. I like the result!