Bubble nebula Iris Nebula and M52

[Quatermass]

What a joy it was to get out under the stars again last night after weeks of cloud. Put my evostar ed80 with focal reducer on and had a crack at the Iris Nebula again to compare it with the last one I took with the 200p.

As it was such a nice night also went in search of the bubble nebula which was on the opposite side of Cepheus from the Iris Nebula. I did not realize that it was not that big indeed was not sure if I had actually got it at all but it looked like it was there so kept on shooting it.

Both are short subs of 80 seconds iso1600 about 50 subs and stacked with 40 darks flats and bias.

Tonight looks clear again so will take the evostar off and try the bubble again with my 200p.

Here is the Iris Nebula with the Evostar ED80 and focal reducer

And this was the one with the 200p

And this was the Bubble nebula and M52 with the Evostar

Close up of the bubble.. excited about doing this with the 200p tonight.

hooray for clear nights

[Anweniel]

Excellent, how good does the Iris look in the 200p! Must admit I've not been tempted by the bubble yet, think Ill wait until I have the option of a GEM and more aperture as this appears way too small and faint and therefore abitious for me at the moment! Love it though and the M52 is just a nice Brucey bonus

[Quatermass]

I love those Brucey bonuses

[Gina]

Excellent Mark You certainly got a much better image of the Iris Nebula with the 200P. But OTOH your image with ED80 and FR is much better than mine with only a little more data. Of course, you're much more experienced than me

[Quatermass]

Thank you Gina, It was so nice to get out there again wasnt it. I left my mount out there in the rain to start off with so had to dry all the electrics off with my hair dryer doh.

[Gina]

[Chris]

Thats a lovely crisp m52 and bubble QM, I too look forward to seeing the 200p version! I picked up a 150p and hotech the other day second hand, so I have 750mm focal length now to complement my zs66's 388mm:D

[Cozzy]

Nice work Mark

I'd love a pop at the booooble, weather permitting .

It would be good to compare the SW 200mm refl with the 120mm frac!

or as this been done and it's old ground????

[Quatermass]

Well I am so gutted got all set up tonight perfect conditions and thought I was in for a really good night, however when I switched on my controller for my dual axis motors nothing happened!

I thought it might be my 6volt adapter so took a 20 mile ride to Beccles to get some batterys from tescos before they shut and when I got back hoped the battery pack would sort it out but alas no.

The normal green light was a pale red colour and I took the controller inside to have a look. It looks like the water got in there from yesterdays soaking and has fryed the circuit board, I dont know I am no electrician but its got a pathetic little red glow to the central led that normally is bright green and it wont do diddly. So fed up I was really looking forward to having a go the bubble nebula just what you dont need after weeks of cloud.

So that means chocking out another 90 quid for dual axis kit as sky-watcher wont sell the controllers individually.

So so fed up cant use my mount to image with unless the controller is working so I am stuffed. Brought my gear in and feel like a deflated balloon.

[Chris]

oh no way mate that proper sucks! you could throw youself into an obsy build so you never have to have wet kit again, maybe nows also the time to upgrade your mount, I see from the FLO site that they are bringing back the Syntrek, and the black HEQ5 like mine, this might mean a bit less saving, or theres always Astrobuy? Maybe we can do a joint car boot sale so we can buy some astro gear:)

hope you feel better soon and get things sorted:)

[Quatermass]

Well mybe this is a sign that I need to stop faffing around and upgrade my mount I have been trying to save up for one but every time I put a bit aside something like this happens and I am back to the beginning again. Sigh.. oh well I am not the only one malc had his HEQ5 board burn out on him the other day can imagine how much its going to cost to replace that. I had just put my fishing brolly over it while I went back in it would have been ok but such is life.

Well at least I got a shot of the bubble last night before it burned out on me.

[Chris]

Malcs board looks like its going to be ok, he's had is kit up and running today, but there is some kind of niggle with a connector he's trying to get to the bottom of, it might be worth sleeping on it and seeing if your controller resurrects itself like malcs?

[Quatermass]

No chance of that Im afraid the tiny wires at the top of the circuit board have come away in 3 places that might be what is causing the trouble but I doubt it more likely to have happened when I took the circuit board out to have a look at it. The clouds have moved in tonight any way so looks like both ways I was doomed. Going to sleep on it and might try re soldering the points tomorrow and see if I get any joy no point fretting over it, making a hot chocolate and going to bed. Glad malcs is not as bad as he thought curse these telescope grimlins

[Gina]

Oh dear Mark I feel for you. Things didn't go perfectly for me either but no astronomical catastrophes. Hope you can get sorted out soon. Good luck

I had set my heart on getting more subs on the Iris Nebula but try as I might I couldn't find it. I started by lining up on Venus - which I could do before dark and checked with Mars and Saturn. Slewed to where Iris was supposed to be - lots of nice stars but no Iris. Did a hunt but nothing. So I tried slewing to old faithful, M51. Came up very near the middle of the frame, no problem. Set up PHD guiding with that and took a few subs but I've just about done that one to death! So as M101 was nearby I slewed to that. Took a test frame and there it was near the middle So I ended up capturing M101 - quite a nice galaxy, face on with the usual spiral arms, quite big too. Later on PHD started playing up - losing the guide star. I've got about 30 subs altogether but I know a fair number of those are scrap. Will see tomorrow when I look through them. The system is now taking a set of darks left to itself.

That though is minor... Any thoughts I had of getting any more gear has gone out the window for the present. Put the pickup in for exhaust to be fixed plus service and MOT. They found it wanted a lot of repairs (welding mostly) and the estimate was frightening - about the cost of an NEQ6 mount! That soaks up our total funds, so it's lean times for a few weeks until our finances recover No new scopes, cameras, NB filters etc. for me for some time.

[Quatermass]

Well we must not give up Gina its all part of it I guess, consoled myself with the fact that its now clouded over so it would have been a failed night any way.

The Iris is a tricky little blighter it took me while to find it the other night as well but I found the bubble nebula straight away just aimed the telescope and took a shot and it was right in the frame, very lucky that. M101 is a nice target its a bit faint but its still a nice galaxy to capture.

I am thinking its not worth bothering to get another dual axis kit if this one has had it instead go all out sell my fishing gear and get a new Heq5 as I love astroimaging and dont go fishing much anymore but will have a think about it all first.

Looks like were all having a bit of bad luck what with your roof blowing off malcs mount kaking up on him and several others on the forum having troubles. Well we will just have to take it in our stride,sorry to hear your pickup is going to cost so much to fix cars are costly to run these days. Oh well the stars will all be there tomorrow so just have to grin and bear it for now. Ho hum

[badgers]

It's a sign QM.

The HEQ5 is calling you.

My wife still thinks it cost £300, you just need to convince yourself the same thing.

(And cracking images by the way)

[pixueto]

I'm very sorry to hear about your trouble with the controller QM. It's very frustrating and I've been there before as you know. When that happened to me, nothing worked; not even a LED light so I would'nt give up on your controller; you might be able to fix it. If you need any parts, I still have the old one, should you need it.

Hope you get it sorted soon. There are some websites that show you how to do your own controller. I looked into that when I had my troubles but gave up as I'm really clumsy but I'm sure you could make your own in no time and for little money.

[pixueto]

I'm sending you the link QM. It should cost £20/£30 this way and you can add some features -such us protection if case you plug it to a 12V source as I did!

http://microchips-pic.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/pic-16f627-based-eq-5-cg-5-dual-axis_6466.html

[todd8137]

They all rl nice images congrats

Pat

[Andrewsean1985]

Gorgeous images mate!

[Uhwaz]

Quatermass as it happends i have spare kit of those PM if interested

[Quatermass]

Quatermass as it happends i have spare kit of those PM if interested

Thats fantastic just pmd you :)

[Quatermass]

It's a sign QM.

The HEQ5 is calling you.

My wife still thinks it cost £300, you just need to convince yourself the same thing.

(And cracking images by the way)

You may be right badger, a sign that I should not leave my mount out in the rain as well

You have a very trusting wife

[Quatermass]

I'm sending you the link QM. It should cost £20/£30 this way and you can add some features -such us protection if case you plug it to a 12V source as I did!

http://microchips-pic.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/pic-16f627-based-eq-5-cg-5-dual-axis_6466.html

Thank you Pix, I know now how just how you felt mate very frustrating but the board is really damaged behind the back it must have got really wet that day. I will keep it for spare parts and next time make sure it never gets wet. I reckon alot of that was dew formation as well so it might be wise to rig up some sort of water proof measures for yours if your outside.

[Quatermass]

They all rl nice images congrats

Pat

Thank you Pat lets hope the clear spell continues so we can all do some more