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DKNicholson

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Posts posted by DKNicholson

  1. 56 minutes ago, Thalestris24 said:

    Hi

    Well, starting from having your eq mount pointed north, etc etc . . .

    Hope that helps. If I've missed anything, I'm sure someone will chime in :) E&O.E.

    Louise 

    Louise - Thank you kindly for that. I have an EQ6-R Pro which comes belt driven, so it would seem that should have removed most of the issues. My concern is with guiding and I find the graph does jump around more than I expected. Whilst I know there can be various reasons for this, I have never applied any bias to balancing - except perhaps slightly camera heavy (refractor) and I had wondered therefore if balancing might be part of the problem.

    David

  2. 20 hours ago, Thalestris24 said:

    Make sure you're well-balanced and fairly close to being polar aligned  before calibrating with PHD2. - . . .  it's recommended to arrange your balance to be slightly East heavy.

    Louise

    Louise Hi - With the telescope etc in the home position pointing very near to Polaris, I should be most grateful if you could explain to me what is meant by East Heavy.

    Don't worry - I have just found an explanation elsewhere in the forum! 🤩

  3. Having read through most of the posts there were two things that I noticed that seem like very good ideas. There are two very distinct parts to Astrophotography - the image capture and then the post processing. It is fair to say that both are an amazing challenge. Someone mentioned the book 'Make Every Photon Count' and that is certainly an excellent book for both aspects and is highly recommended. Another item mentioned was the SkyWatcher Star Adventurer. If you can pick up one of these 2nd-hand it suits a DSLR and lens very well indeed and the tracking is excellent. As it is very portable you can keep it and use it even when you have upgraded your telescope and mount. I am lucky enough to have a lot of different equipment, but I still have a Star Adventurer and it's an impressive device. The attached image was taken using a DSLR and lens mounted on to it, then post processed to accentuate the asterism - Kemble's Cascade. BEWARE, this is an addictive hobby and for once the adage is perfectly true - when it comes to expense 'the sky really is the limit'!

    It has just occurred to me that Stellarium is free planetarium software for a computer that would certainly help you find your way around the night sky and find objects to view and image. As has been suggested, I should be inclined to use your current telescope and mount for observing.

    101 Kembles Cascade.jpg

  4. Just found another astro-video that I had failed to process from April 2016!! This one is of quite a decent Sunspot - how did I forget about it?!

    Telescope: Meade LX90-8"
    Camera: ZWO ASI120MC
    Barlow: Meade x2
    Filter: Baader Solar Film
    Software: Sharpcap, AS!3, Photoshop CS3
    Video: 20% of 2,000 frames

    2016-04-13-1638_6_lapl4_ap36_conv cs3 colour.jpg

    • Like 4
  5. 17 hours ago, CraigT82 said:

    Very nice! Tons of detail visible. Could do with the colour balance tweaking slightly perhaps? Looks a bit green to me.

     

    Yes - I'm inclined to agree - I think I became a bit colour confused! 😖 Is the attached a bit better?

    Jupiter + 3 moons & GRS 25-03-2016.jpg

    • Like 3
  6. 35 minutes ago, wuthton said:

    Are you manually imputing coordinates?

    I always manually input the coordinates from Stellarium so that I can position the DSO in the frame just where I want it. In Stellarium I have set-up the various hardware options I might use when imaging and that gives the appropriate image size and frame for me to select the relevant hardware configuration to use for any particular DSO. Then I usually select a star in the centre of the frame so the position of the DSO is accurate and Stellarium provides the precise coordinates of that star. I have now created a list of objects to image and it takes just moments to enter their coordinates. Having said that, I recently imaged the Cave Nebula and put the coordinates in very slightly incorrectly so it was a bit out!

    C9 - Cave Nebula.jpg

    • Like 2
  7. This is what happens when going through 'old' astronomy files. I found a video file of Jupiter that I hadn't processed from way back in March 2016. It turns out to be the best image of Jupiter that I have managed and I'd forgotten I'd even taken the video!!
    Telescope: Meade LX90-8"
    Camera : ZWO ASI120MC
    Barlow: Antares 2" x1.6
    Capture: Sharpcap
    Frames: 20% of 2,000
    Processing: AS!3 - Registax6 - Photoshop CS3
    The frame was cropped but the image is full size.

    Jupiter + 3 moons & GRS 25-03-2016.jpg

    • Like 21
  8. I use Sequence Generator Pro for image capture, guiding, platesolving etc, etc. With Platesolve 2 (free) installed for SGPro the telescope is accurately pointed at the DSO you're after and it does automatic meridian flips if necessary. The co-ordinates for the DSO I get from Stellarium (free) which is worth downloading in any event. SGPro does take a little setting up but it is worth it. Obviously accurate polar alignment is necessary as is a fairly consistent home position.

  9. On 22/10/2019 at 21:44, cjdawson said:

    That is a beautiful image.  I have a challenge for you.  Try and take images of that quality of Saturn, then you can use them to make a picture story of how the rings shift's in orbit.

    Bit too late for that now I feel (a) the weather is cr*p (b) it's getting a bit low in the sky. Besides I've just received my new DSO imaging camera - Starlight Xpress Trius Pro-694 🤩🤩 - so my efforts will now be going into using that with my 115 in the observatory!

    Telescope whole setup.jpg

  10. To me Saturn is one of the most remarkable objects in the night sky. It's not just an imaging challenge but it is fascinating to observe. This was my latest image taken early August and may well be my last of this beautiful planet as I doubt that I'll be able to do better any time soon. Taken through a Meade LX90-8" with a ZWO ASI120MC camera. For those interested in the process, the capture software was Sharpcap taking 2,000 frames at 24fps. The image comprises 20% of those frames selected by AutoStakkert-3 and then processed first in Registax6 then in Photoshop CS3 including use of the plugin Astra Image.

    SS Saturn 24-07-2018.jpg

    • Like 21
  11. On 18/10/2019 at 22:21, DaveS said:

    I use a Trius 694 but didn't come to it via the Atik 314L. etc etc

    Many thanks for that DaveS. The 314L+ is very 'tolerant' and so I've not been using dark frames. SX maintain that the 694 doesn't need them either so that's something. Most of my NB exposures have been around 600" and LRGB about half that depending on the filter. As that's what you seem to have been doing for NB I guess it's probably best to continue with those settings and see how it goes.

  12. jjosefsen - many thanks for your response. I'm about to get a new camera so that may well be the time to try NINA. I'm getting the SX Trius-SX694, don't suppose you would know if that is supported? I also have an SX Filterwheel, and Lodestar x2 which should be OK.  My focuser is the RIGEL Stepper Motor, USB nStep Focus Control which is quite old now, so that's a consideration.

    Do hope you don't mind me putting all this to you.

    Yours aye - DKNicholson

  13. I've been using SGPro for over a year now and it work well for me, BUT I'm always willing to try something else if there are some benefits. In your opinion are there any benefits of NINA over SGPro (apart from price obviously!)?  For me the main bug bear is that SGPro is not exactly intuitive, but once you've worked out what needs to be done it certainly works.  I don't really want to try it just for the sake of trying it because there is always quite a learning curve, but if NINA is genuinely 'better' it would be worth it.

  14. 20 hours ago, Rusted said:

    I think we must share the same batch of Catch22. :wink2: - It seems I must try [very] much harder.  :blush:  Just a thought. If the exposure time is too long, a small section of the rings may have appeared in the edge of the FOV for a moment while you're scanning for the planet, but you miss them because the camera is taking a frame. I'm sure you may have tried this but if not: increase the gain to maximium, if possible, and ensure you still have at least 10fps.  Also scan quite slowly and investigate any change in brightness by carefully adjusting the focus/exposure. I've had it where the planet is actually in the FOV but the focus and exposure have reduced it to just a very faint change to the brightness of the frames. Good luck! 🤩

    What a splendid image of Saturn despite your trials and tribulations! :thumbsup:Thank you kindly

    Thanks for the useful advice. :thumbsup:Hope it helps

     

    • Like 1
  15. I have experienced a very similar problem and have gone through pretty much the same process as yourself. My camera is also the ZWO ASI120MC but my telescope is a Meade LX90-8" SCT. Eventually I found that there were two issues (1) initially the planet was always outside the FOV no matter how sure I was that it shouldn't have been. (2) Focusing was very critical and the exposure had to be long enough to ensure the planet would be bright enough to see.

    The problem arises when the planet is out of the FOV and the focus and exposure are not quite right. It becomes necessary to perform a crude circular scan until the planet suddenly appears on the edge of the screen, BUT if the focus and exposure isn't right you won't see the planet even when it does appear on the edge of the screen. Catch 22 - you can only really set the exposure and focus when the planet is in the FOV!

    I would have the problems when I had been imaging Jupiter and it would go behind a neighbour's tree. So I thought that Saturn would be easy - focus and exposure both right and Saturn clear as the nose on your face, but could I get Saturn?! Eventually I have done a few times, but I have also abandoned a few times out of complete frustration!

    Not really sure if that helps, but it's sometimes useful to know that you're not alone! Attached is an eventual Saturn!

    Yours aye DKNicholson

    SS Saturn 20-05-2015.jpg

    • Like 2
  16. OK - so I've decided to fly in the face of the latest trend for CMOS cameras. I'm in the process of buying the Starlight Xpress Trius-SX694 CCD camera to replace my very trusty Atik 314L+ that I've had for 8 years or so. I have an Altair Wave Series 115 telescope, SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro mount, and Starlight Xpress filter wheel and Lodestar V2 guide camera. This is all controlled by Sequence Generator Pro.

    Here's the question. Is there anything that I should know that I should find substantially different going to the SX694 from the 314L+? Obviously I have to put the SX694 data into SGPro and the FOV will be different. But will the exposure times be greatly different? Is the camera particularly sensitive to Red, Green or Blue, or Ha, SII or OIII and is it necessary to compensate for this by having different exposure times for each filter? Anything I might find useful would be greatly appreciated.

    Yours aye - DKNicholson

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