The Wizard; Atik 428ex first light

[Shibby]

After imaging with a DSLR for several years, I finally took the plunge and rinsed my savings on a shiny new Atik 428ex, thereby almost tripling my total ever expenditure on the hobby!

I'm still having [http://stargazerslou...pacing/]trouble with spacing, so if anyone out there has ever connected a CCD to a coma corrector, I'd appreciate any help! Currently I have managed to reach focus using a shorter T2 extension, but the spacing isn't right.

Anyway, very pleased with the camera itself. Very nicely made and it is a joy to use with the supplied capture software. Also, a single 10m sub was less noisy than my entire 28x10m stack of the same target with my DSLR!

Even though only 10 subs, I stacked in sigma mode to remove the hot pixels. Is this a bad idea? How do I go about creating a hot pixel map instead?

My processing leaves a little to be desired, I think, particularly with regards to the stars... And I will return for more data, this being one of my all-time favourite targets!

10x10m Ha, Atik 428ex at -5C

SW 150PDS

Vixen GP

And here it is bodged together with my existing colour (55x2m) taken with my 450D

For comparison, here is the Ha taken with my DSLR last year... quite a difference!

[VigdisVZ]

Smashing quality! I wish I had a CCD based setup. Getting there soon! What coma corrector are you using on your 150PDS?

[Shibby]

Thanks Carl, it is the Skywatcher CC that I use.

[Dave Smith]

That is a fantastic first light. These Atik cameras are good !

Dave

[fwm891]

Great first light - 428's look really good kit.

[JamesF]

Looks wonderfully three-dimensional. Very nice.

James

[Marvaz]

Absolutely stunning images.

That exactly what I planning to do. Get rid of my dslr and replace with Atik.

Great job.

[Uranium235]

Good work Lewis! Keep at it, and your results will improve as you gain more experience with CCD cameras.

Its worth investing in a set of digital calipers to you can nail the distance, though looking at the corners - you seem to have it good enough already. Its also worth making up some T2 spacers to add 0.5mm increments (I cut mine out of an ice cream carton lid), they will also protect against cold-welding of adapters (especially the male/male adapter on the FW). I had to hacksaw one of those off once, not a fun job!

[Fay]

Well done Lewis!! No stopping you now!!

Fay

[Shibby]

Thank you all! Looking at the image again, it does look a little noisy but I think this is due to my hap-hazard processing. The individual subs do look super smooth compared to DSLR!

Its worth investing in a set of digital calipers to you can nail the distance, though looking at the corners - you seem to have it good enough already. Its also worth making up some T2 spacers to add 0.5mm increments (I cut mine out of an ice cream carton lid), they will also protect against cold-welding of adapters (especially the male/male adapter on the FW). I had to hacksaw one of those off once, not a fun job!

I've been wondering: what is the effect of getting the spacing wrong? Is it just that the coma isn't as well corrected as it could? If so, then I'm not too worried as I'm only imaging the centre of the field and the coma seems ok. If it affects the image in other ways (e.g. soft focus) then I'd be more concerned. I might even get the spacing shorter than recommended, just to bring the focuser tube out of the OTA a bit...

[Shibby]

Here we go, a single, 10m exposure (levels stretched):

[Mark72]

nice work Lewis,

like Ha version.

Mark

[stang]

Lovely image and great target- not one I had really considered before but it's going on the list!!

[Gina]

Great stuff - lovely

[WaveSoarer]

Very nice indeed.

[Aceace321]

Awesome pictures