Finally! Images. NGC2403, M81/82 with my new GM1000HPS

[perfrej]

Good Morning!

Now, all of a sudden, after months on end with clouds and clouds, the weather has cleared! I've had several nights in a row with temperature down to -18°C - which is very unusual for mid March. During the day it creeps up to -4°C or so.

My new 190MN has a chip in the primary and and chip off the edge of the secondary, but I managed to get it together properly. Also new, my 10Micron GM1000HPS "little brother" is on the pier and subject to tests. After fiddling with guiding just to test I gave up on Maxim. It works great with PHD but PHD is not usable under CCD Autopilot. I decided to test CCDSoft. The image below is captured with CCDSoft under Autopilot. It is interesting to note that there are tests available on the internet where CCDSoft is proven to give better images than Maxim (with SBIG cameras).

So:

10 x 7 minutes each of R, G and B 2x2

19 x 10 minutes of L 1x1

Skywatcher 190MN

QSI 683 wsg8 with Astrodon filters

10Micron GM1000HPS (unguided)

Capture with CCD Autopilot, CCDSoft, Focusmax

Pre-processed (flats and BIAS) in Nebulosity 3

Registered, integrated, pre-stretched and assembled in PI

Minor tweaks in PS

Larger here: http://filer.frejval...2403_2_LRGB.jpg

It needs some more data and more individual exposure time but it is AN IMAGE! Yeah! Finally!

Similar to my NGC2403, this was a test from the 10th.

18 x 5 minutes each of R, G and B 1x1

18 x 3 minutes of L 1x1

Skywatcher 190MN

QSI 683 wsg8 with Astrodon filters

10Micron GM1000HPS (unguided)

Capture with CCD Autopilot, MaximDL, Focusmax

Pre-processed (flats and BIAS) in Nebulosity 3

Registered, integrated, pre-stretched and RGB-assembled in PI

Luminance mix and tweaks in PS

This was a truly quick process as the data was decent and I realize that with some more and a little deeper stuff it could probably turn out quite well. And yes, there is a slight purple gradient that I forgot to remove (don't have the time right now )

Larger here: http://filer.frejval...8182_2_LRGB.jpg

/per

[Mark72]

Congrats! -18C - it's a dedication.

Nice images.

Mark

[perfrej]

Thanks Mark. On a side note, I do not go outside to image as the stuff is on my balcony and fully automated. I just decide, earlier in the day, what I want to image, set it to start at a certain time and it does dusk flats, lights and dawn flats automatically with focusing at every filter change and every half hour. I sleep during the night and wake up with a server full of raw data...

/per

[steppenwolf]

Well done on your first images with the new system.

I've noticed before that you have had issues before with MaxIm - could you give a little more detail about those issues? I use V4.58 and have not had any issues that I can put down to the software so would be interested to know on case I am missing something that CAN be attributed to MaxIm!

Thanks

Sent from my iPhone from somewhere dark .....

[Coco]

Thanks Mark. On a side note, I do not go outside to image as the stuff is on my balcony and fully automated. I just decide, earlier in the day, what I want to image, set it to start at a certain time and it does dusk flats, lights and dawn flats automatically with focusing at every filter change and every half hour. I sleep during the night and wake up with a server full of raw data...

/per

10Micron GM1000HPS (unguided) Lucky you..

[Astroblagger]

really nice!

[Mr Bergman]

Imponerande! Nice one!

[Gina]

Nice Your automatic setup sounds great I love automation and getting there slowly

[ollypenrice]

Very good, Per. What's the first galaxy?

Hit the gradient in the second and you'll be laughing. These are good results, especially from a Balcony. We should have a balcony section with you and Jessun as the leading lights!

The 190, working well, really does take on the posh refractors. I remember the pain of seeing Steve Loughran's M13 out resolving my image in the TEC. Time to fall on my sword like a gentleman...

Olly

[vdb]

Nice to see you are testing the new gear with success!

Oh Olly don't tell me you are going to like the MN 190 :-)

/Yves

[Coco]

Where's the TAk Per.. ???

The reason why I don't have another MN190 is because it wont fit my obs and its to big to lump in and out the house... they are excellent telescopes both image and visual, it really is a jack of all trades ...

Mine kept collimation for weeks and weeks.. needing only a minor adjustment on rare occasions..

[perfrej]

Yes all, the 190MN is a bargain. It does, as does every scope, need a proper and steady mount. It doesn't have to be a 10Micron, though, but it sure needs to be steady. Yves, the 190 does give superb resolution if kept at a total standstill, easily rivaling some 20 times more expensive OTAs out there. What it does need is:

- A better focuser (moonlite is OK but not amazingly good)

- Some black paint at a few places on the inside

- A catseye collimation kit - you'll never get it straight without it

- A robber hose around the primary (!). It prevents it from rattling back and forth in the tube...

- Re-adjustment of the primary clamps

Piece of cake. Mine was disassembled at least twenty times before it saw first light and I even managed to drop the secondary down onto the primary. Doh! The small irregular spikes will go away when I have a second go at painting the primary edges black and swap the secondary to one that doesn't have a chipped edge. I think... Then it will be really refractor-like.

/per

[perfrej]

Very good, Per. What's the first galaxy?

Hit the gradient in the second and you'll be laughing. These are good results, especially from a Balcony. We should have a balcony section with you and Jessun as the leading lights!

The 190, working well, really does take on the posh refractors. I remember the pain of seeing Steve Loughran's M13 out resolving my image in the TEC. Time to fall on my sword like a gentleman...

Olly

Thank you!

I understand that your Google is broken (or perhaps just French)...

"NGC 2403 (also Caldwell 7) is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Camelopardalis. NGC 2403 is an outlying member of the M81 Group, and is approximately 8 million light-years distant. It bears a striking similarity to M33, being about 50,000 light years in diameter and containing numerous star-forming H II regions. The northern spiral arm connects it to nearby galaxy NGC 2404."

I actually forgot to zap the gradient with ABE before I moved to Photoshop for final touches... Besides, it is just at test. Right as we speak I am sucking more photons for 2403 - tonight... And tomorrow night... I don't know what has happened to the weather.

[Gina]

That's interesting I was looking at the MN190 as a possible purchase later on to give me access to the smaller DSOs.

[perfrej]

Gina,

It is perfect for the not so small galaxies and some of the planetary nebulae. Besides, it's a real cheapo if you consider what kind of imaging quality you're getting. Olly, the sword, the sword!

With an 8300-based camera you're looking at 1.11"/px, a little on the over-sampled side but not enough to worry about. Get yourself an FLI 16803 and you have 2"/px, still excellent scale but I don't think it will fill the sensor... Great scope, I'd say!

/per

[vdb]

The only downside this scope seems to have like my Carbon MN 150 is that brighter stars have a diffuse hallow which I really don't like,

I guess this can be resolved by putting in a ring that covers the mirror holder.

This is done on the ODK for example, it had the same issue ...

/Yves

[perfrej]

Yes, Yves, a small aperture limiter does it. 95% of it goes away by blackening the mirror edge and the rest by getting rid of the clamps. The Maksutv-Newton design principle designates the primary to be slightly over-size leaving the corrector plate (being slightly smaller) as an aperture limiter, so the basic idea is already in the design. I have a few ideas on how to make it more refractor-like, most of it found on the internet.

I find it challanging and interesting to get a €1000 scope and just tweak a little to make it image like a €10000 scope and at slightly above f/5 it is a reasonably good performer. We'll see how good it turns out.

Having taken the plunge into a total of two 10Micron mounts and a new QSI 683 I have decided to put a slight hold on investments. The 190MN fits well into the "holding back" principle

/per

[perfrej]

Gina,

I just remembered that I have seen somewhere that US Orion has discontinued ther MN or will discontinue it. The reason is, most likely, that the Schott-manufactured corrector plate is a bit on the expensive side. Just look at what slightly larger MN designs cost (Intes, for one)... May be a good idea to get one reasonably soon.

/per

[vdb]

I totally agree on what you say and I know exactly what you mean on putting a limit on spending. (this hobby is really getting out of hand for me, I don't dare making a total on what I did spend in the last year or so)

I'm sure ones you do these enhancements, people will not able to tell the difference between this scope and a 10 000 one! I had the same idea when I bought that Bresser MN comet hunter ...

unfortunately I'm not into mod's myself ...

/Yves

[Gina]

Gina,

I just remembered that I have seen somewhere that US Orion has discontinued ther MN or will discontinue it. The reason is, most likely, that the Schott-manufactured corrector plate is a bit on the expensive side. Just look at what slightly larger MN designs cost (Intes, for one)... May be a good idea to get one reasonably soon.

/per

Well, I haven't got the funds ATM plus haven't had much chance to use what I've already got OK, I know I could generate funds by selling off some of my surplus gear

[Chris]

great work Per, I would love to produce detail as shown in your M81/82.

[perfrej]

Thanks Starfox!

Yves, I have the same problem you do, apparantly, a slight tendency to over-spending in astro gear

When I managed to crack the primary in the 190 I actually considered ordering a new, better spherical primary for it. Most mirrors on the market are parabolic and the MN design requires a spherical one. It comes in at around €450 to get a very good Orion UK mirror, which is not that bad. Rough calculation yields €1000 for the original scope, $350 for a decent focuser, €450 for a new primary. That still comes out at less than €2000 which is good!

I think the 190MN will be my pet project for a year and hopefully evolve into a very usable friend with excellent erformance. Then I want a light bucket... Veloce?

Gina, selleing surplus gear is a royal pain in the behind. I have an excellent set of stuff, all matched, advertised at about 60% of the resale price and it is totally dead Perhaps people who can afford the stuff want to buy new, I don't know. I bet some people do buy EdgeHD with reducers and, on top of that, motor focuser, Hyperstar and a decent CCD, but I guess they are in hiding or something.

/per

[Gina]

I haven't tried selling much as yet but it would be a good idea to declutter as well as helping to finance furture purchases. Hope you surplus gear sells soon Per