Magnum

I can't even find any information on the spring one , google brings up nothing,. I read here on SGL that kelling now manages it but I cant find any info on their site either and considering its in a couple of weeks this seems crazy. So is it happening or not? Lee

This isnt finished as I need more data to bring out the tidal tail that extends off to the left, and to smooth out the background as im not happy that its a but blotchy. NGC3628 The Hamburger Galaxy in Leo. 35 x 4 mins with my ZWO ASI533MC OSC cmos camera and the Meade 127 f7.5 Apo triplet refractor. Rather sloppy processing compared to my normal process, I got so far then couldnt be bothered to start over until I get more data.

Even if cmos is as good or better ( thats debatable ), I think the statement CCD is dead to be ridiculous, our existing CCD cameras don't just stop working lol, and I would happily buy a another 2nd hand CCD, I already have 2 mono CCD's and 1 OSC CMOS and really don't see a big difference at this point they are both good and im happy using both. "CCD is dead" really aggravates me and something I see quoted by the retailers that only sell cmos. I really can't see why any end user would want to be saying that when its not true at all. Cheers Lee

very dramatic Dave

Also captured the ChristmasTree/Cone with my other rig a bit closer in . 6 x 900sec subs with the Atik460CCD + Antlia 3nm Ha filter & Sharpstar 61EDPHii f4.5 triplet refractor. rotated it so the Pig is obvious.

Managed to grab some Photons last night on the Christmas Tree/Cone nebula, but ended up waisting most of the night as my dew heaters had come un plugged, didnt realise until 1 am then had to dry the lenses with hairdryer that turned into disaster as there was so much water it made it streak across then lens so then had to clean it properly with frozen fingers . Then had to start from the beggining, got 32 x 120sec subs with my ZWO ASI533MC OSC cmos camera & Triband filter on the Samyang 135mm lens @ f2.4. some noise remnants have proven stuborn but still Quite happy with what ive pulled out of the short amount of data. Lee

Here is mine, I have been trying to get something like this for about a couple of years. I 2 versions starless or with stars and couldn't really decide which one to enter. Captured on Dec 10th from my backyard observatory in Kent, England. 18 x 15 min subs with my Atik383L+ CCD camera + 7nm Ha filter and the Samyang 135mm lens set @ f2.8 Guided, Captured, stacked, stretched & flatten background in MaximDL. Processed in Photoshop then removed stars with starnet++ some more processing and noise reduction then put the stars back with linear dodge add and levels on that layer until they were small enough to not detract from the nebulocity. Reduced size from 3354 to 2048 pixels for posting . Lee

Reprocessed my Gamma Cygni wide field image with my new workflow. This was 27 x 300 sec subs with my Sharpstar 61 EDPH II and Atik 383L mono CCD. MaximDL & Photoshop. Lee

Reprocessed my M16 image from June with my new workflow. This was 15 x 300sec subs with my Meade 127 f7.5 triplet refractor and Atik460 mono CCD. MaximDL & Photoshop. Lee

Thanks Olly, i already have some shorter subs i can blend in but to do it properly i need to go back to the beginning really, another day. I want to adda lot more data if we ever get a clear night again. Lol

I came up with a new workflow over the last 2 days and reprocessed some data from couple of weeks ago, still a work in progress until I get some more data, I have some short subs for the core but wont composite those in until its finished. Have really reduced the stars and enhanced the faint stuff while at same time smoothing out the noise. 18 x 15 min subs with my Atik383L+ CCD camera + 7nm Ha filter and the Samyang 135mm lens set @ f2.8.

This is a collaboration of data between Stardust ( Dave ) and myself with our newly acquired Antlia 3nm HA filters. I added our subs together so we both had the same tif file to work with. Then we went our own way with our processing and this is my result. It's 47 x 10 min subs on my Atik 460 and Daves Atik 1-6 which both have the same sensor, running on our Samyang 135mm lenses at f2.8. Almost 8 hrs on the one clear night by combining our efforts. Lee

Dave and i both have the same setups and we both just got the 3nm, ive found that f2.8 works fine with the Antlia 3nm, i tried going down to f2.4 but then had a slight amount of off band vignetting, so then went the other way and tried f4 but that was same as 2.8 just slower. So 2.8 seems the sweet spot. we also both have the 533MC + Altair tri band filters, weve found the tri band will work fine down to f2 but the stars are much better at 2.4 and perfect by 2.8, its negligible difference between 2.4 and 2.8 regarding stars. regarding halos make sure you but the filter right up against the optical window of the 533, they include a t-1.25” adapter ring in the box which allows for this. This prevents halos on bright stars however ive found any and all of the dual narrowband filters in combination with the samyang and 533 can get small ring halos on very red stars, its quite random and will usually be on a dimmer star so not too noticable except i though i discovered a planetary nebula once 😜 this also happened on an L extreme and L enhance, ive not worked out the science of it. It doesnt do it with those filters when used on my scopes and it doesnt happen when using the mono cam and normal narrowband filters with the lens, only the combination of both. let me know if you have any other questions lee

whoops I dont know how I did that sorry,

Playing with a new processing workflow on some old data to try and get noise free images that are also very sharp. Not sure if I will be able to repeat it as good on other images but very pleased with how this looks. Haven't added the stars back yet as I seem to have lost them along the way 😛 Lee

Very nice Dave, Lee

Thanks Adrian, though I actually like the 18 point spike effect, was one of the reasons I went for this lens, I do stop down my other lenses with rings as they have the ugly fatter 5 point spikes. I normally use it at f2.4 and that gives perfect star shapes into the corner with my Atik 383 22mm sensor, think I must have a really good copy of the lens. Only using f2.8 at the moment so they match up with last years data. will go back to 2.4 for new targets. cheers

Finally had some clear sky from 9pm last night, managed a short run on M45 The Pleiades until it reached the Meridian then moved onto Orion so this is only 55 mins of data, hoping to get another 4 hours or so to get a lot deeper into the background dust, if we ever get another clear night this year LOL. 37 x 90 secs with my ZWO ASI553mc @ Gain 100 + Idas LP2 filter on the Samyang 135mm lens @f2.8. Guided, captured, stacked, stretched and DBE in MaximDL, final processing in Photoshop. Lee

well done Olly

have you managed to get any photons through them yet? Cheers

I would still try them at 2.8, antlia state that theirs work from f10 down to f3 but there are also loads of images with them using f2 rasas albeit with some vignetting . I think you just might get away with using them at f2.8. Wont hurt to try.

P.S does anyone know what Baader mean by CMOS optimised, as I cant for the life of me see how a line filter would perform different on cmos vs ccd, sounds like marketing to me. I could see that LRGB could be optimised as some cmos have greater UV/IR sensitivity and require stronger UV?IR blocking but that's at either end of spectrum not in the middle.

Are you gonna try them on the Epsilon at f2.8 on the squid again, I know you say you've exchange to the slower ones to use on your slower scope but you might find these ones work well on both. Im really interested so see your results as I image at a range of f ratios from 7.5 to 4.5 and also have the sayang f2 lens which I generally use at f2.4 but don't mind stopping down to 2.8 if that stopped them going off band. really can't afford to get 2 sets so planning towards the slower ones as I can alter the speed lens but not the scopes LOL. I currently use badder 7nm which seems to work down to 2.4, never tried f2 as the lens needs to but stopped down 1 click anyway for best star shapes. So torn between these or the Antlias Lee

Hi again Pete, interestingly although I said I wouldn't recommend the 294 due to not liking the starburst amp glow and the seemingly common issue with blotchy flats on the OSC version, I have been looking back at a conversation I had with Wissam Ayoub about his image of m16 taken with his 294mm and his RC10 which he uses with a 0.67x reducer. now he has some amazingly detailed images with this combo https://www.astrobin.com/mwcohq/ if go to the full size version the detail on the eagle is one of the best ive ever seen. Not sure if you are aware but the 294 quoted pixel size of 4.6um is actually in 2x2 bin mode as default, but more recently they have implemented something called Unlocked bin x1 mode which unlocks the native resolution and pixel size of 2.3um. if you look through Wissams images some of the later ones are in the bin 1x1 using his explorer scientific ED127 refractor, and its quite impressive how he's getting similar detail using both scopes in 2x2 or 1x1. I own a Meade 127 so im quite attracted by the 2.3um mode but not sure my uk seeing would allow for that much oversampling as he can get in UAE desert. Wissam did send me some raw subs back in June which I seem to have lost now, but I was put off by the starburst amp glow as previously stated, but I can't deny he's getting some awesome images with that camera. I believe he owns both the 294mm and the 294mc plus an older 1600mm.

Binning and ROI are not special tricks, imagers use both features with cmos anyway( just simple toggles in all the capture programs). Ok faster is always nice, but id say its at the bottom of the list for most imagers over more important factors except for planetary imaging, even then I still use ROI when capturing planets as it still increases speed for cmos just as it does with CCD. thats just my option after 25 years, but yes maybe for beginner it would be more important. Now you have me thinking back to when I started using slide film in the 90s and had to develop the film myself, find only 1 frame was good at best, then take slide projector the society meetings to display the pics 😛 . not sure how I bothered with all that now. P.S. didnt mean to argue every point, I had my Covid Booster yesterday and feel so ill all I can manage to do is sit staring at this page 😛