daemon

My first image in a loooong time. The Elephant's Trunk imaged from southern Spain (Bortle 5 ish) with Skywatcher Evostar ED72 and ZWO ASI1600MM.

Only about 2 1/2 hours data in total. Mainly Ha with some OIII and SII. Lost control of the stars a bit during processing. Also seem to have introduced a lot of noise that I had gotten rid of earlier in the process.

May try again.

Processed in PixInsight. Thanks for taking a look.

Okay, it's not going to win any prizes, but just thought I'd share this single sub of the Horsehead taken 5th January 2022 from the New Forest here in the UK. I had been imaging M33 that night and just thought I would slew to Orion for one last shot of the night.

So, this is a SINGLE 300 second Ha sub taken with an ASI1600MM and William Optics GT-102. It was first light for the scope that night.

The strange diffraction spikes are due to me imaging through a neighbours tall bush peeking over the fence! I was amazed I captured anything.

Due to this I only took the one frame and just stretched it in PI and applied a bit of noise reduction.

2 hours ago, Adam1234 said:

Nice image there, good bit of nebulosity captured in the arms

Cheers Adam!

1 hour ago, Servalan said:

Congratulations on your return to the lounge with this great first light image! Hoping you get to spend lots more time capturing data and enjoying your hobby. Wishing you good health and clear skies!

Thanks Servalan!! It's good to be back!  🙂

Congratulations Adam!! That is stunning!

10 hours ago, dannybgoode said:

Having suffered from ulcerative colitis I know just how debilitating a chronic illness can be and how much it can detract from just enjoying life.  Good to hear you're getting on top of things and managing to carry on :).

Nice image - M33 is a tricky little so and so.  I have plans to revisit it this year... 

Thanks!! You have my sympathies. My rare meningitis is also an autoimmune condition, so something I need to learn to manage, as perhaps you have had to do.

Good luck on your next visit to M33! 😀

8 minutes ago, andy fearn said:

Hi steve, sorry to hear of you'r health problem's ,hopefully you can get back on track and enjoy the hobby again. Nice image.

Thanks Andy! 👍

Hello All,

This is my first image after a long time, thanks to a difficult chronic illness that I have recently been diagnosed with, which caused me to think that I might have to give up this hobby for good! Hopefully I am slowly learning how to manage the condition.

It was also first light for my new William Optics GT-102 scope that I acquired in the late summer last year.

I managed just a few hours on the nice clear evening of 5th January here on the UK South Coast.  So while the image is not so great it was very satisfying to capture and process after a very scary time with my health.

Below are the capture details. Clearly I'd benefit from more data, but for what I could manage with my condition I am reasonably satisfied considering that this was also the first image with a new rig. Bortle 4-5 skies probably helps:-

• Target: M33 Triangulum Galaxy
• Scope: William Optics GT-102 with flattener.
• Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM
• Data: L - 13 x 120s; R - 8 x 120s; G - 8 x 120s; B - 8 x 120s (Total = 1 hour 14 mins)
• Calibration: 20 Darks; 20 Flats (per filter); 20 Darks for Flats (per filter)
• Processing: Stacked in APP, Processed in PixInsight

Thanks for looking!

Steve

Hey Richard. Yes, sorry, it seems I grabbed the last one from FLO. I am a bit nervous as the scope does seem to be discontinued and I can find very little information on it. Even from William Optics!

I was looking to upgrade from a SW ED80 (which was stolen) and after moving awaý from the Esprit, I settled on the GT102 after a lot of research. Like you I have found that the FLT91 seems to be the closest match that FLO currently have. I really like the specs and look of it. I'm pretty sure it would be my next choice in these days of short supply. I'd go for it if I were you! 🙂

Good luck!

Steve

I see this is a pretty old thread, but I'd love to know if you went ahead with the GT102?

I was planning on the Esprit100, but due to unavailability I've ordered a WO GT102. It seems a pretty rare scope (they don't even appear on the WO website!). Fingers crossed I haven't made the wrong decision. 

Cheers,

Daemon

40 minutes ago, nephilim said:

Cheers for the link mate but i'm useless at making things 😂 I think i'll go with @Space Oddities one.

I've been using one I bought from FLO for an ED80. I tthink it cost about £16. 

I know that masks should be optically matched in terms of focal length but I have found I can get perfect focus with the ED80 mask on the Samyang 135. 

Might save you a few pounds.

Cheers,

Steve

Cropped & over processed probably, but here's an attempt at NGC7000 with the SY135mm and ASI1600 in Narrowband SHO. About 40 mins each channel.

Rushed the processing on this one, but only about 30 mins each of Ha, OIII, SII, so probably not worth spending a lot of time on. Subs were 2 mins.

Samyang 135mm and ASI1600MM.

Cheers,

Steve

Nice shots! I think the answer to your question is to keep experimenting. You will probably find that you need different settings depending on the target. The Samyang can tend to blow out stars when wide open at F2, so it is usual to step it down to F4. You may get away with a wider aperture if the starfield has relatively dim stars. As for ISO, I'm not sure, as I tend to image with an astro cam with this lens. Again, experimentation will help, but maybe other DSLR users can comment.

9 hours ago, Servalan said:

Nice shot! Were you guiding?

Thanks! Yes, this was guided, but I have a bit of flexure between the guide scope and camera and with wind it proved a bit challenging. 🙂

A cropped widefield image of the North American and Pelican nebulas shot with the ubiquitous Samyang 135mm F2 lens on an ASI1600MM. 

Could only get an hour of data as I had to pack up early. Battled wind and a few other issues but was glad to get something. 

20 x 120s Ha
10 x 120s OIII
Stacked in DSS and processed in Pixinsight. 

No calibration frames as I had no time. Tried to use some darks from my library but these did not help. 

I have not used this lens as much as I would have liked (purchased earlier this year) but I have to say I'm impressed so far. It's so easy to use.

Thanks for looking.
Daemon

6 minutes ago, Lee_P said:

Sorry to hear about the thefts!

I used to image with an 80ED too, and am now using an Askar FRA400 (https://www.firstlightoptics.com/askar-telescopes/askar-fra400-f5-6-72mm-quintuplet-apo-astrograph.html) It's a good upgrade to the 80ED, and reasonably priced for the quality. I wrote a review for it in the members' equipment reviews section. Looks like there's a long lead-time for it on FLO though.

Thanks Lee! That certainly looks like a nice upgrade and I'll look at your review in due course.

Thinking on it, I suppose the mount is my first priority as I have my ZWO cam and EFW currently attached to a Samyang 135mm lens, so I do have widefield imaging capability. Just need a base!! 🙂

Hi All,

I recently had a break in at my home in southern Spain. I had naively thought that my astro-gear would be of little interest to thieves, as they would be more likely to go after items that are easier to off load for cash. It seems I was wrong. Not only did they help themselves to a 42" TV, 3 flat screen monitors and a mountain bike, they also helped themselves to:-

• Skywatcher HEQ-5 Mount Head (which I had recently carefully belt modded)
  • They decided that the tripod and counterweights were of no interest to them so kindly left these for me. Ha!
• Skywatcher Evostar ED80 Scope
  • My imaging refractor that has served me well. They left behind the focal reducer if anyone wants one at a knock down price?
• Vixen 90M Achromat
  • I used this for casual visual fun. Sadly this was the most sentimental loss as it was my first telescope and had become more of a family friend. Again my thoughtful friends left the dew-shield behind so my wife is planning to turn that into a candle holder as a sentimental reminder of our faithful old Vixen.

Enough of my woes - I am seeking some suggestions as to suitable replacements for my imaging rig. It is not a great time to be buying astro gear, and the lead times for many items from FLO and other web-sites are depressingly long. I hope to be able to eventually re-coup some insurance money (not holding my breath) but I really need to think about replacements and possible upgrades.

• Mount - my preferred upgrade option for the HEQ-5 was the EQ6R-Pro (which I have in the UK) but this is not available for some time. There seem to be a lot of AZ-EQ6 GT's available and I am seriously considering this. I would be interested in hearing peoples thoughts as to the pros and cons of this versus the EQ6R-Pro.
• Scope - I enjoyed my ED80 but have always drooled over the ESPRIT models. There was an Esprit 100 on the FLO site which I was hovering over the "Order Now" button for, but it is now gone. Probably a good thing as far as my budget is concerned! Does anyone have alternate suggestions?

I image mainly, with an ASI1600 Mono Camera with EFW and other gizmos, so I need to watch my payload. My UK rig has a SW150PDS reflector on it (which I am reasonably happy with). For the replacement in Spain I probably want another frac for deep sky imaging with a lowish focal ratio.

If anyone wants to chip in with suggestions I'd be happy to hear them. Thanks for listening!

Daemon

😆 Great story!! Well done and a fab image considering all that you went through!

10 out of 10 for being so determined!! I think that shows why this hobby can be so rewarding despite the frustrations. Always worth hanging in there!

And I often find, when you have a "bad night" you always end up learning something new - so I'm glad you solved your plate solving issue!!

I hope you still have those friends! 😆 And thumbs up to the Park Rangers for leaving you alone!

Will look forward to the next tale! 👍😉

3 minutes ago, alacant said:

I think context is important.

Absolutely! The image gives a great sense of scale! 👍

Nice capture! I love these planetary nebulae.

Subtle processing and nice that you resisted any temptation to crop (if you were tempted) 😆

Well done!! 👍

4 minutes ago, wimvb said:

It's doable, but with your camera you have the risk of enhancing microlens diffractions. I think that they're just about visible around the brightest star in your image.

Btw, this galaxy benefits from Ha:

Yeah, I'm aware of the microlensing issue. It seems that it is a "cross we have to bear" with the ASI1600. 😞 Many of my images have even worse evidence of it! Oh well.

Maybe I'll try some Ha next time on this nice target. I just didn't have time on Wednesday. Had to work on Thursday. 🙂

I love your version on Astrobin though!! Excellent!!! 👍

3 minutes ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

Not great when a lot of the subs go in the bin, but I guess we've all been there.
Nonetheless, that is still a great image 🙂 

Steve

Thanks Steve! 

From another Steve! 🙂

Cheers!

Thanks Wim!

Skywatcher 150PDS on EQ6R-Pro with ASI1600MM (L,R,G,B filters). 

I was lazy and did not calibrate the guiding, so I lost about 1 in 4 subs.

I'm in Bortle 5/4 so maybe I got away with a shorter session.

I've read that it is hard to control this galaxy with the bright stars "close by" but I was reasonably happy with the result for such a short session.

Cheers!

Steve

A very short session on this target - but it was nicely positioned on Wednesday. Only managed about an hour of Luminance and 20 mins each of RGB.

Had to throw away quite a few subs due to poor guiding. This is the best I could do with what was left.

Stacked in DSS. Processed in PixInsight.

Thanks for looking.