Crackabarrel

3 hours ago, MartinB said:

Excellent job with the data available to you.  Well worth coming back to so that you have enough data to pull out the outer areas.

Thanks, looking forward to coming back to it next time Orion is better placed.

Hi All,

My recent efforts on M42 Orion Nebula, due to it being pretty low on the horizon and an unfortunately placed lamp post I was only able to get 38min of subs.

WO73, IDAS LPS D2, Nikon D5300, HEQ5Pro

19 x 2min subs dithered, flats, darks, bias, seems the flats didn't apply due to moving the scope and camera between imaging and flats sessions.

Processed in DSS & PS2020

Recently picked up Astroflat Pro and Topaz Denoise, pretty satisfied with both, this being the first image I've used them.

Thanks for looking.

6 minutes ago, Adam J said:

Astigmatism that shows in focus is not going to be diffraction limited so if it's in Warranty you should return it. But I would perform a star test first to confirm. You are looking for a oval star test that rotates orientation by 90degrees just either side of focus.  

Cheers Adam, 

I'll have a go at testing next clear night and if necessary look into sending it back, the amount of clear nights we're getting here I don't think I'll be missing much imaging time anyway.

6 minutes ago, Adam J said:

Actually that looks more like astigmatism. I.e Maltese cross pattern. 

Ah pity, cheers for the clarification 

I have noticed a similar effect on my own zs73, so following this with interest, screenshot of a recent image for comparison.

On 04/03/2021 at 15:57, ultranova said:

That's come out nice,

I take it your Nikon has been modified,

You should have a little more data in there for just over 4 hours of subs, 

I would have thought.

What  iso did you take the subs at.

well done 

Paul

Cheers,

Its a stock D5300 no mods, just shot through an IDAS LPS D2.

I might have to revisit it so, didnt want to stretch it too hard.

Shooting at ISO400 at the moment

I would generally stack all the data from however many nights of acquisition, just making sure that camera rotation etc are all the same or as close to as possible on each night.

That is just my way of working though, other SGL members may have other ways of doing it.

Really nice for 3hrs worth of exposure time, what was it processed in?

Few shots from a recent trip to the Wicklow Mountains in Ireland.

Nikon D5300 + Sigma 18-35 f1.8 ISO 800

Widefield are single frames, close-ups are stacks (Orion 29 x 6sec & Taurus 19 x 6sec)

Thanks for looking.

Looks great for 90min, imaging time has been precious over Ireland recently

2 hours ago, CraigT82 said:

Very nice 👌  have been targeting the same object over the last week due to it being pretty far from the moon. Plate solving is definitely a real game changer... add automated focusing too and it's time to go inside and go to sleep and leave the rig running!

Cheers, don't think I'm brave enough to be leaving it completely unattended though even with auto focusing hah

20 hours ago, JemC said:

Nice capture, I've just done 3 hours on his target but not tried to process them yet,  

Thanks, would be interested to see how it would come out with a modded DSLR, looking forward to seeing it.

Beautiful image, really putting that Samyang to work

Hi All,

Haven't been able to get out much recently due to consistent cloud cover, however managed to get a few hours on the Heart Nebula the other weekend.

Guiding been giving me some issues recently leading to the odd star shapes, got greedy with subs I think.

Recently implemented Plate Solving and Dithering, quite the game changers, well worth the effort.

Gear: Nikon D5300 + WO ZS73 on HEQ5Pro, WO 50mm Guidescope + ASI 120MM

Software: APT, PHD2, Stellarium, Photoshop 2020, Starnet++

Exposures: 

83 x 180sec (4.15hrs total)

25 x Flat

30 x Bias

Any thoughts or criticism welcome, thanks for looking.
 

Very nice, a strong return to the photography side of things

Great result, Ha really makes it pop, nice one.

19 minutes ago, Ouroboros said:

 I feel there’s a lot more available in that data to bring out. 

I'll have to have a go at that then, see if i cant get the disk and dust lanes to stand out a bit better.

Thanks all for the encouraging words

10 hours ago, tomato said:

Great result for only a third DSO image!👍

More integration will improve the colour and detail as well as smoothing the background. The image looks very slightly blue to me, but that maybe my device or my tired eyes.

Cheers,

I'd thought the same on the blue, I'll have a go at trying to remove some of it and see where I get.

Still fumbling about learning photoshop

Very nice, great detail in there.

First attempt at M31, and third DSO, any criticism appreciated.

Capture details:

WO73 w/flattener + IDAS LPS D2 on HEQ5PRO

ASI120mm + 50mm Guidescope through PHD2

Nikon D5300 through APT 

Processed in DSS, Photoshop and Starnet++

Stack:

Lights: 87 x 120sec (2hr 54min)

Darks: 30, Flats: 50, Bias: 50

Was going for 4hours of integration but on/off blustery conditions were taking their toll on guiding.

With a 6mm eyepiece that combination of focal length and aperture will produce good results for lunar and planetary (seeing conditions dependent)

I have been using the Skywatcher 130P (A:130mm/FL:650mm) to good effect for just that, however if you intend to move to do DSLR imaging you will need to look into the 130/150PDS, as many reflectors have issues focusing with a DSLR(not enough inward travel), the PDS versions are configured for imaging so have lower profile, more robust focusers.

If you are going down the reflector route you may want to look into a mount with a larger payload capacity.

Great work, looks amazing

56 minutes ago, Phillyo said:

If you're using a DSLR, unless it's cooled, I wouldn't bother with dark frames either. Temperature variances can often mean that using darks as part of the calibration and integration frames can cause more problems than not.

Its just a stock D5300.

I'll see if stacking without the darks makes a difference so, thanks.

10 minutes ago, City9Town0 said:

Sharpcap uses 'about 90 degrees' but manages with less....

Cheers that clears up any potential issues

12 minutes ago, Phillyo said:

Nice image. No feedback regarding that because I don't use photoshop to edit. Maybe more data (you don't say how much you have?) will help clean things up a bit.

Regarding the guiding, my understanding is that the amount of error that is permissible is based on the resolution of your system. For example if you're using something like an ASI533 with a 135mm lens then your resolution is going to be somewhere around 5.7"/pixel. So as long as your guiding is less than that, your stars will be round.

If, however you're using the 533 with a Celestron 8SE with a focal length of over 2meters, then your resolution is going to be closer to 0.4"/pixel and your guiding needs to be bang on or you'll see eggy stars. To be honest, at that resolution you're likely to be more limited by the sky conditions like seeing and clarity than anything else.

That's my understanding anyway! Someone may come along and correct me

Phil

Ah thank you, that makes sense regarding why I was seeing round stars with the error values I was seeing.

Capture data was as follows:

55 x 120sec exposure @ IS0400
25 x Dark

40 x Flat

40 x Bias