Only two subs of NGC7000 - The North American Nebula...

[MikeWilson]

...were usable out of the stack of a possible sixteen!

As it happens, the first two were ok but as Cygnus moved overhead the mount wasn't balanced correctly so got those nasty .--.--. backlashed stars on the remaining subs. It was such a shame, but I really like the results from just two seven minute subs.

This is the first image in two months that wasn't plagued with incorrect flats - I'm finally using the Gerd Neuman EL panel the way it was intended (15ms subs) and I've smothered electrical tape all over my Brightstar filter wheel so that light isn't intruding and a 2" dew heater solves the problem of the QHY8L's glass dewing up when it's cooled.

So, 2 x 7 minutes on NGC7000.

NGC7000 - North American Nebula by MikeWPhotos, on Flickr

I'm very, very pleased and feel like finally things are fitting into place in the new scary world of CCD imaging! Who would have thought that the jump from a straightforward DSLR setup to a CCD one would involve essentially two months of troubleshooting to get back on track?

Clear skies,

Mike

[AndyUK]

Who would have thought that the jump from a straightforward DSLR setup to a CCD one would involve essentially two months of troubleshooting to get back on track?]

I would... , and I still haven't got a handle on flats as my EL panel's on back order , so I have that still to come...

However, this is very nice Mike - For just 2 subs, this is showing great promise. Are you going to try and get some more on it...?

[MikeWilson]

Hi Andy,

Honestly I didn't think it would be such an issue. With a DSLR it was a simple case of flicking the mode dial around to Av and clicking a dozen times to get a dozen perfectly exposed flat frames. As it happens, it could have been easier if I didn't change so many pieces of equipment at the same time (camera, filters, wheel, el panel). I had all kinds of problems including dew, poor (t-thread) spacing to focuser alignment, el panel brightness, different filters, gaps in the filter wheel... but finally it's getting there. Coming from DSLR land, I'm particularly enjoying the extra (noticeable) sensitivity and vastly reduced noise that a cooled CCD offers.

I'm not a big fan of the EZCAP capture software either - I'm thinking I might move to Nebulosity 2 in order to get the frame and focus and fine focus (which works with Bahtinov masks) feature up and running.

I took sixteen frames, so I was hoping for more data on it but it didn't work out. I will be back on this target at the next opportunity though, hopefully with the CLS (i.e. RGB) filter or if the moon is up, Ha.

The EL panel itself is very nice, Andy. You'll really like it. It's a real joy to get the flats over with at any time. I slew the scope up to whatever object is near zenith and then switch the EL panel on and take 0.15ms subs (using the CLS filter).

What have you been imaging lately?

Mike

[AndyUK]

Yes... Those DSLR days so long ago (is it really 2 months?!) were SO simple...!

I can't comment on EZCAP, but I have had a quick look at Neb2... The Atik cameras come with Artemis Capture which is actually VERY simple to use (despite me making a right pigs ear of it sometimes!) and the Neb2 GUI looks to be similarly "uncomplicated" (which is certainly just what I need). If you do decide to move over, it would be interesting to hear of your experiences...

I think you've caught up with both of my recent attempts - That's all I've done over the last 4 weeks or so, but I can't wait to get the EL panel - Apparently it'll be a week or two, but it will be worth the wait. The only flats I tried taking (using the laptop screen) were okay to a point... but the screen wasn't big enough to cover the whole OTA so my master flat had a gradient that shouldn't really have been there!