Budgie1

I like looking back at what I managed to achieve with a target when I re-shoot it again. It confirms I've made progress, both with imaging & processing and pushes me to continue to better my images. For this thread it's NGC6888 Crescent Nebula. I last imaged this target on 23rd December 2020 with an astro-modded Canon EOS 1300D attached to the Evostar 100ED DS Pro with 0.85 FF/FR and mounted on a EQ5 mount. The capture software was APT with PHD2. I can't remember which software I use to process it, I think it was likely Photoshop CS3 and stacking was DSS. This is 2h34m of 240s exposures at ISO800: Now to the comparison image. This was shot on the 4th September 2022 (last night) with high cloud and poor seeing. The scope is the same Evostar 100ED DS Pro & FF/FR but the mount is the HEQ5 with Rowan Belt mod, the camera is ZWO ASI294MC Pro with the L-eNhance filter. I still use APT and PHD2 but all stacking & processing was done in PI. Given the seeing conditions and the short integration time, I think it's done quite well. The Oiii shell is just starting to show and the detail is there, I fully intend to take another 4-5 hours worth of data on this target while it's in a good location for me. This is 1h24m of 180s exposures at gain 200 & offset 30. Anyone else done something similar, feel free to post your own progression images.

I use the MutecPower 15m USB3 active extension lead and it's been fine. No issues at all. I've used it with both a powered USB3 hub & the Pegasus Pocket Powerbox Advance at the mount end and plugged into a USB3 port on my laptop at the other. This way it gets power from both ends and just works. If you don't have a hub of some kind at the mount end then the Mutec comes with a PSU which you can use instead. This plugs into the female end of the cable or the mid-point booster.

Thanks Alan, It used to take me about half an hour to carry the mount, tripod, scope, laptop, power & USB cables through the house and setup in the garden. Even for the first time the other night, I connected the mount, scope & cameras during the daytime and all I had to do was run the power across the garden and connect the USB3 cable to the laptop. Setup time, about 5 minutes.

You could try reducing the exposure time and just do more subs, something like 180s or 240s per sub. You can use a second pass of DBE if there's still some gradient left and add more points to where the gradient is. Another option is to start off by using GraXpert after stacking, but before PI processing, so most/all gradients are dealt with before you start. I'm also with the others regarding the filter, defiantly go broadband on this target. The L-eXtreme and L-eNhance kill this type of target.

It's finally dark enough to start capturing again! Those following my Obsy build thread will have seen this image already but I thought I'd post it in here as well. This is the first image of the season for me and the first taken in the new Obsy in the garden, also the first using the L-eNhance filter. This was taken on Thursday evening (1st Sept) as a test session to check the new pier, get the mount Polar Aligned and test out the new focuser & EAF I fitted over the Summer. The kit used was: HEQ5 with Rowan Belt mod, Evostar 100ED DS Pro with 0.85 FF/FR, ZWO ASI294MC Pro set to -10°C, 200 gain & 30 offset, L-eNhance filter using APT & PHD2. The image was stacked and processed in PI and consists of 22 x 240s exposures = 1h 28m total integration. It could have done with more time but I lost some subs to high cloud before lower cloud covered the sky just after 11pm. I hope you like the results and C&C's welcome, as always.

I thought it would be rude not to try it out, Dafydd. It's a shame I couldn't have used more of the subs but it was obvious the high cloud had reduced the details, so it wasn't worth trying them. I'm please with the L-eNhance though, not quite as aggressive as the Askar or L-eXtreme and I'll try to get more on this target if I can.

Not much has happened with the actual build this week but my wife has completed a blind for the inside of the windows and the support posts have grown leaves! I did get a couple of evenings with clear skies this week and put the HEQ5 and Evostar 100ED DS Pro onto the pier for the first time. This was mainly to make sure the roof cleared the scope and it does, just! I did have to rotate the focuser so the EAF cleared roof and didn't hit the pier when imaging. The metal plates I got for the discs are now in place and work well. The one which holds the mount securing bolt isn't fixed to the underside of the disc, so I can remove it if needs be. The mount is solid on there now and I'm really pleased with the pier. I still need to make something permanent for the laptop, but I've got a fold-up table in there at the moment and a small seat, which work fine as a temporary measure. Power is supplied using an extension lead run from the house and the 12v 10amp PSU sits under the mount, again, this will be fitted more permanently later. Tuesday night was looking good for a clear night so that's when I setup the mount & scope, as it turned out, it wasn't that successful because it clouded over quite quickly and I only managed to get the mount polar aligned with SharpCap and saved the Park position for the mount in EQMod. Last night (Thursday) is was looking good, so I got out there just after 9pm and connected the laptop & power. I then used APT's new Polar Alignment tool to find turn the AP using the main camera, after getting the focus right. I then setup on NGC6914 in Cygnus as the first light target, also as a test for the L-eNhance filter I acquired from a fellow SGL member recently. I managed 38x 240s images before the cloud rolled in but only used 22 of them due to high cloud on some of them. This also included an meridian flip, which I let APT do on it's own and it went without any issues, although I was poised over the STOP button! So here's my first light from the Obsy and for this season, 1h 28m of NGC6914 stacked & processed in PI.

Another busy week at work but I managed to grab a day off to get a long bank holiday weekend. It was dry today so I got on with fitting some items which arrived in the post during the week. First off was another set of wheels for the roof. Looking at the fully assembled roof and feeling the weight that's in it now, I decided to air on the side of caution and add some more wheels. As the wheels I originally got were only £13.99 for four, I just got another set and fitted four to each side. It does run much easier now and I'm more happy with it. The second job was fitting some handles to assist with opening & closing the roof. These are sprung and fold flat when not being used. Then I took the feather board off the front of the obsy so I could give it another coat of paint and also fit the draft-excluder/runner brushes. These seem to work quite well and as I've got 1.5m of the stuff, it should last a while. Lastly today, I fitted the flooring. This is 3mm thick interlocking workshop flooring I got from Homebase and I used 2 packs of 6 tiles to cover the shed floor. It covers the gaps in the floorboards, insulates and will hopefully save any astro kit I may drop. So, all that's really left to do is finish painting & fit the battens for the corners and the wall joints, make the feather board hinged flap for the rear of the roof and fit the security. Then build a small desk for the laptop in one corner and put a dew cover over it, build the decking, line the inside of the shed.......................... So, not much left, but at least I can start using it now.

There is usable data in there, but not as it's currently stacked. I put it in PI and did a quick ABE, which did show some of the nebula. First off, I would try restacking without using the flats and see what that does to the image. The ASI294MC seems to work better with longer exposure flats, try something closer to 1-1.5s with 26,000 ADU. You're also using flat-darks and BIAS, when you only really need to use one or the other. With my own ASI294MC I found using BIAS frames caused issue with a residual of amp glow still being visible, not an issue when I stopped using them and just used flat-darks.

Hi Joseph and welcome to SGL. You'll need to know the screw thread size you need but do a search for "Star Grip Knob" and see if that's what you're looking for.

I haven't made much progress this week, mainly due to work & rain, but I did get some jobs completed today. First off was to correct something I noticed I got wrong when I put the wheels on the roof frame. For some reason, on three of the wheels the axle bolt had the nut facing the upright part of aluminium runners and this was catching occasionally. So I decided to lift the roof and put the axle bolt in from the other side, so the hex head was closest to the aluminium and wouldn't catch. That roof is heavy now the roof panels and felt are on it, but job done and something I won't have to worry about. Once that was done, I cut the door to size and got it mounted, I've not decided on security for the obsy yet, so the padlock clasp is on there at the moment to keep the door shut. I then cut the feather board to size for the shed sides, these were painted a couple of days ago, so I just painted the cut edge & fitted them in place. Hopefully theses will keep the weather out. I also cut the front feather boards and did the cut-outs for the top of the door and the runners. I then painted the back & edges before fitting them in place and giving them one coat of paint. These will get another couple of coats of paint this coming week and I have 50mm long garage door brush strip coming to put behind the boards to clean the runners and act as a draught excluder. Spot the freshly painted boards! 👇😀 Finally today, I cut the beads which cover the centre of the wall panels to length and started painting those. Then it'll be the corner beading to cut, paint & fit and that'll be then main part of the shed just about completed. Oh yah, I've still go the rear feather board flap to make as well, once I decide on the hinges I'm going to use. Then I can move on to the decking. Oh, didn't I mention the decking? A small request from my wife to put decking in front of the obsy as somewhere to sit, as it's in full Sun in the Summer. Well, she did agree to have the Obsy on the garden and she painted it for me, so it's the least I can do.

No chance of see it from my latitude then, Sunset wasn't until 20:55 this evening. 🤣

Look strongish, but not far enough South yet. Note: Live image, so it will update with the latest data and may not show aurora on the date of this post.

Update: As you may have see in my earlier posts, I worked into the late evening yesterday to get the roof boards in place and the felt fitted. Today I went around and tidied up what I missed in the dark & working by headtorch last night. Then I painted and fitted the battens to the gable ends of the roof, painted & fitted the door surrounds (still need to cut the door and fit it) then fitted the four roof clamps. On my way home yesterday I managed to get 10 x 1.8m lengths of feather board, which will nicely cover & weather proof the gap between the roof & walls, also allowing me to hinge the rear one so it will lift when rolling the roof. These are in the middle of painting at the moment. I was going to work on this evening but the midges are horrendous again this evening, it fine if there's a bit of wind but it's calm here and I could feel them bouncing off my face when I was trying to paint the feather boards and they were getting stuck in the paint. So I gave up, finished the painting in my other shed and called it a night.

I did have a look at EPDM, David, but the shed came with a roll of felt so I decided to use that first and then go with EPDM when it gives out. The felt is now on the roof, I finished at about 10:15 last night so it's at least watertight before any more showers come through.

For the uninitiated, midges are different from mosquitoes, you may get a few mosquitoes around you but you'll get thousands of midgies, see video below! I use "Smidge". I was out until late last night putting the roof panels & felt on the Obsy and the midgies were really bad towards 10pm. Even though I'd Smidged up, they were still landing on me but weren't biting, at one point I looked at my hand and it was covered in them, bit like in the video. Smidge works better than anything else I've tried, it's not cheap, but it works. 👍

I had a wee play with PixInsight and came up with the image below. Sometimes I fine the first attempt is the best, then I go back a few months later, when I've learned more processing skills and try again. Sometimes I think it's better, other times I scrap the attempt half way through.

I got home from work this afternoon to find the aluminium angle for the track had arrived! It was raining a bit, but I got the track cut to length, drilled & countersunk the fixing holes and jacked the roof section up. After stopping for food, it was raining a bit harder and very midgy, so I Smidged up and got on with installing the tracks. I then found I had a slight miscalculation and the roof section was still catching at the back and on the angle at the front. So, rather than fiddling with cut-outs and slots, I decided just to unscrew the roof frame and lift the roof section by another 15mm, then reattach the roof frame. This worked a treat and all I had to do was a couple of slots in the rear face for the angle uprights. It needs a little tuning but I now have a Roll-off Roof! Roof boards and felt is next, when the rain stops!

It's been a while since I've used my Celestron StarSence but I believe it will only list targets which are visible at the time. The slew limits are there to stop the scope colliding with the mount at some angles, so careful if you go adjusting them manually. Before I go out I tend to plan what I want to target that night and use some free software called Stellarium. This allows you to input your exact location and will show you what's visible to you now, but also allow you to fast forward to see what's rising above the horizon later in the night. Well worth a look if you don't have it already.

The Bias won't have anything to do with the debayering but worth a try to see what difference it makes. Looking at you WBPP screenshot; The CFA settings seem fine but you can check whether they will be applied to the Lights by scrolling right with the Lights highlighted. I don't know if the screenshot is of the actual run you made or just to show the CFA settings but, I also notice your master Flat and Master Flat-Dark exposure times don't match and there doesn't seem to be a Master-Dark at 60s for the Lights, although you would get warnings about these before the run started.

What settings are you using in WBPP on the Calibration tab under CFA Settings to debayer the image? I found that using Bias frames with my ASI294MC Pro caused a residual of amp-glow to be left on the stacked image, so I stopped using Bias frames with this camera. I also only take 30 Darks (in a Darks Library), 20 Flats + 20 Flat-Darks for each imaging session. Do you see much of a noticeable improvement by taking more calibration frames?

Well, the aluminium angle didn't turn up, so today I got the casters fitted to the roof frame and raised the roof about 10mm all round so I could secure the roof frame to it. Once the aluminium angle is in place, that will add another 3.2mm in height and will allow the roof to clear the walls so it will roll.

Yep, I heard it's "Taps Aff" for tomorrow, David, better get the Factor 80 out! 🤣 I've got a name for the Obsy; Seeing as I spend most of my imaging sessions sharing the garden with them, while they eat the peanuts out the squirrel feeders, I thought I'd go for:

Yes, I'd planned for that as we have 12 "wetter" months up here, check out blanket of cloud over the mountains in the background that this heatwave has given us today! 😂 This is a rough fitting at the moment. I still need to make the vertical slot for the runner and the whole roof will be lifted a few mm to clear the walls. I also need to get some feather board to go around the gap between the roof section and the walls, to act as some weather proofing and I'm planning on hinging the rear feather board so can be lifted and locked in place to clear the rear wall as I roll the roof forwards.

I've been doing a few little bits in the evenings this week; The galvanised caps arrived for the support posts, so they have been sprayed & fitted. Also the casters & toggle clamps have arrived but the aluminium seems to have spent the day at the Parcel Force Perth Depot, so it may get here this week. I put my EQ5 mount on the pier for the first time yesterday evening, just to make sure it fitted and that I'd got the orientation correct for Polar Alignment. I had to do a bit of filing on the bolt head for the North Peg as it protruded into centre hole of top plate, but once that was sorted the mount slotted into place and Polaris was in the Polar Scope without having to move the mount at all. I only used the EQ5 for this test fitting as it was lighter than my HEQ5, which will be living on the pier when the obsy is complete. I assembled the roof sections this afternoon, which will have to get lifted off so I can install the aluminium angle, but it gets me further on and I had to do the cut-out on the front section for the runners. I don't want to fit the roof boards as this will just add more weight to the roof when it comes to lifting it off. Tomorrow the plan is to install the casters on the roof frame and secure the frame to the roof section, unless the aluminium arrives, in which case I'll get that on the runners first.