CCD-Freak

I am starting to process the 10 Gigs of image data I took last week while out in western New Mexico. The seeing was poor (2=below average) and I was imaging at 2000mm with an AT10RC and an ASI-533MCp with a UV-IR filter at .39"/pixel which is over-sampled for poor seeing. NGC4565 Flying Saucer or Needle galaxy about 65 x 3 minute subs after I purged the worst ones. Captured and processed with Astro Art 7. The image was soft and the fine details were fuzzed out until a buddy ran it through Topaz DeNoise and wow....what an improvement.

Here is my AT10RC Galaxy Canon on my AP900 doing it's thing out under the DARK skies of western New Mexico last week.

Yes the almost Bortle 1 sky (SQM 21.99) is why we make the 900 mile trip (each way) out there a couple times a year if we can. Being that dark certainly helps my images. I just bought 5 acres only 200 miles from home which is just as dark but not quite as dry so I am looking forward to much more quality dark sky time.

I have started to process the 10Gigs of image data I captured out in western New Mexico last week. Wind, dust, transparency and BAD seeing were working against us but I think there are some images in there somewhere. NGC3718 galaxy group is my first image I am working on. It is still a work in progress but I am getting close to "sticking a fork in it and calling it done". (^8 About 70 x 3 minute subs after I purged the bad ones. ASI-533MCp with UV-IR filter, AT10RC / AP900. Captured and processed with Astro Art 7.

I decided on the ASI-533MCp over several other cameras. I personally like the square sensor because most objects fit the square field without a lot of wasted field. I have used the 533 with my AT10RC at 2000mm down to my SharpStar 150mm F2.8 Hyper Newt at 420mm FL with great results. I have not regretted getting the 533 and I am drooling over the ASI-2600MCp. If ZWO would come out with a mono version of the ASI-533 I would be very happy to get one of those to pair with the OSC version.

I have been enjoying being a pensioner and as we say "every day is Saturday". Being able to go out to the observatory site for extended stays is great. My wife is happy I found the place and she doesn't mind when I am gone for a few days. She may even go out with me on occasion when I get a cabin (cottage) built out there. We have some nice sunsets out there too.

I was not trying to make anyone jealous and I feel so lucky to be able to have this. 🙂 I am working on improvements and I will be using my SkyBox portable observatory until I get my permanent observatory built. At some point I may get it set up for remote operation but since I enjoy being onsite that probably won't happen very soon.

I was at my new Star Ranch Observatory site. It is indeed the middle of nowhere and 200 miles from home. Being a pensioner i can go out in my caravan and stay for as long as the sky is clear. I just got water and electric installed so I can now begin construction of piers and observatory structures and eventually a cabin. According to the 2015 data my site is Bortle-1-2 at SQM 21.99. I figured that if I had to drive a long way to be free of the Dallas / Ft Worth light pollution bubble I might as well go for as dark as I could get. It took over three years of searching to find it. My friend Robert has Paducah Skies Observatory next door. https://www.cleardarksky.com/c/PSSRObsTXkey.html As a bonus there is a West Texas Mesonet research weather station on the property that we can access. It is the PADU station on the map. http://rain.ttu.edu/mesonet/obsframe.html I feel extremely lucky to have this land under such dark sky. 🙂 here are some images from my first two trips to the site.

Waiting for sunset at the new dark site.... AT10RC, AP900GTO, ASI-533MCP set up to image galaxies.

Another good thing about the site is low RF noise so it is great for amateur radio operation. I will be putting up some antennas out there when I get the cabin done. That will give me something to do during the day and cloudy nights. For now I am operating from my mobile. Hope we can work each other at some point.

Thanks Tony I am indeed lucky to have dark skies and I searched for three years to find it. My new observatory site is almost Bortle 1 (SQM 21.99 in the 2015 data). I am looking forward to getting and observatory and cabin built. It is 200 miles to the SRO site but since I am a pensioner I can take my caravan out and stay for as long as the skies are clear We make the trek to New Mexico once or twice a year to enjoy the dark sky and very low humidity and high probability of clear sky. Now that I have a nice dark site with typically low humidity I will probably make the 850 mile drive (each way) to NM less often.

I sure hope so.....I am extremely happy with the OSC version and it would be great to have a mono to go along with it.

Not sure how I got a second image and I can't delete it. 8^P

That is a great image of an interesting object. I am planning to image this again when I go to western New Mexico next month. This image was a test of my imaging rig before the trip. Mother Nature threw just about everything at me so I only managed to keep 28 x 180 second subs for only a total of 1.4 hours. My image is much more noisy due to the limited total exposure. ASI-533MCP with an AT10RC on an AP900 mount. Captured and processed with Astro Art 7.

I spent the better part of last week out at SRO (my new dark site) and Mother Nature tried her best to spoil my fun but I manages to collect some ancient photons anyway. Due to wind gusts, passing clouds, bad seeing, dust and the like I had to toss about 30% of my subs but I managed to get some reasonable images of NGC3718 and NGC5033 with an ASI-533MC-Pro with a UV-IR filter through an AT10RC "Galaxy Canon" riding on my AP900GTO. Captured and processed with Astro Art7 I will be shooting more subs of both these galaxies when we go out to Rodeo, NM next month.

Great image !!! 😀 I am heading out to my dark site tomorrow to shoot some galaxies with my ASI-533MC-Pro and AT10RC. I hope I can turn out an image as nice as yours.

Duh.....I should have figured that one out. 🤪 Thanks

I am not in the UK so I don't know the "well known river" 🤪

I use the AT2FF with my ES-127EDT and it needs 55mm spacing. Works great.

I had another thought......when the Ha mod was done to the camera were all the filters removed? Some cameras require a UV-IR filter after the mod to keep the color balance closer to normal. My 100D still has the UV-IR filter after the Ha mod so the color balance is not affected too much.

Does NINA DeBayer the CR2 raw image from the camera? The color seems to be off since you are not using a filter. Have you tried different settings for the DeBayer process? I would expect the colors to be more like this image which I took with a non modded Canon 100D with no filters.

We drove all the way from Texas to Huntington, OR for the 2017 eclipse. It was my first total solar eclipse since we got clouded out less than 30 minutes before totality at the "Big One" in 1991. The experience of seeing a total with my own eyes was an experience I would not want to miss. I decided to shoot HD video so I could enjoy the experience instead of "putzing" with the camera. When the church bells starting ringing I thought to myself......"Nice Touch" 😀 I will be watching the 2024 eclipse at a friend's ranch in the Texas Hill Country. WO 80ED on a CI-700 with a Canon 100D My $1 solar finder

Can you tell us more about the image... What camera and software.....Did you use any filters? What DeBayer settings etc.

I agree that it is a 90mm f/11 scope. They are reported to have a nice objectives. I briefly had one I sold before ever looking through it. The person I sold it to keeps telling me how great it is. I think I sold it too cheap. 🤪 I think I have a Meade catalog that shows it.

I was looking for a supplier for the TS Concenter tool in the US since the shipping from Europe was prohibitively expensive. I was not having any luck so I was talking to a buddy of mine and he made me one to try out. His uses a laser etched skylight filter and T-threaded extensions along with a nice compression holder for the "peep hole" which make it very flexible. I have just started to experiment with it but it looks like it will work great for all my Newts and RCs. He calls it the "SMAT" (Secondary Mirror Alignment Tool) 🤪 He made a few extra so if there is anyone on the US side of the "Pond" that wants one drop me a private message and I will get you hooked up with him.