Imaging with the 130pds

[JohnSadlerAstro]

7 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

M31  -the galaxy that just keeps giving.

Wouldn't it be funny if budget astrophotographers from M31 are saying the same about the Milky Way right now.....  

John

[Uranium235]

On 29/08/2019 at 10:57, Adam J said:

FOV looks too big for it to be the ASI178mm cool but I may be proved wrong when Rob replies. 

Sorry, I've been a bit ill the past few days.

The veil shot was with the qsi 683 ☺ overall I was pleased with the field flatness on that shot. It did quite well over a 22mm diagonal sensor. 

I'll be firing up the 178 when I get my hands on the long overdue 135mm f2 lens. Been waiting over 2 weeks for it now... it's starting to take the Michael.

[alacant]

42 minutes ago, JohnSadlerAstro said:

budget astrophotographers from M31 are saying the same about the Milky Way right now.....

And frustratingly sad that we'll never know;(

[Uranium235]

On 02/09/2019 at 21:07, JamesAstro2002 said:

3 Hours of data on Andromeda with the 600D from last night.

I noticed that I seem to have them oddly shaped stars again. Last time, I fixed this by undoing the primary mirror retention clips a bit as they were tight up against the mirror. Now that i've been able to get back out for a night of imaging, they're back again! Any ideas as to why this could be ? I double checked the clips again and they're still loose, although they are still touching the mirror, are they supposed to touch it or not? I also made sure that the primary collimation locking screws aren't overly tightened. Also, through my cheshire, collimation looks to be spot on.

As for the mirror clips, there should be just enough room to slip a fag paper between the clip and the mirror... so get down the corner shop and grab a pack of rizla..lol 

[JamesAstro2002]

3 minutes ago, Uranium235 said:

As for the mirror clips, there should be just enough room to slip a fag paper between the clip and the mirror... so get down the corner shop and grab a pack of rizla..lol 

Okay, cheers 😂. Though, I'd have to wait another year until I'm old enough to legally buy them, lol. 

[vernmid]

Hi all,

First image of the season for me. Happy that my kit survived the summer holidays!

M52 and the bubble nebula

20 * 300s at ISO1600 on a modified 1100d

Have to say that this is the trickiest target to process that  I have ever encountered!

All comments welcome

Cheers 

[Adam J]

On 03/09/2019 at 20:02, JohnSadlerAstro said:

Wouldn't it be funny if budget astrophotographers from M31 are saying the same about the Milky Way right now.....  

John

As M33 is much close to M31 than us I am sure they are saying it about M33 not us. 

[Stu Wilson]

On 24/08/2019 at 12:41, dyfiastro said:

Hi everyone

First image from the new observatory and replacement telescope setup.

Still a little work needed in regards to equipment spacing etc... but was really good to get everything up and working.
looking at the image I think I need to reduce the spacing between the mpcc and ccd if anyone can help confirming this that would be great

M33 - Triangulum Galaxy

Total imaging time = 48 minutes

Skywatcher HEQ5, Skywatcher 130PDS, QHY8L, OVL OAG+QHY5II-M.

I've got QHY8L too. What length exposures are you using?

Nice image 🙂

[dyfiastro]

On 10/09/2019 at 08:10, Stu Wilson said:

I've got QHY8L too. What length exposures are you using?

Nice image 🙂

This was the first time I had used the camera.
I was using 180s exposures for this shot

[dyfiastro]

Hi everyone

Managed to get out again last night and try out a few changes. I still need to pull the scope off at some point and do a strip down, flock and re-collimate but I am hoping I work out most of the major issues.
I do not normally image when the moon is up but it was a good chance to get out and test things out.

[Stub Mandrel]

10 hours ago, dyfiastro said:

Managed to get out again last night and try out a few changes. I still need to pull the scope off at some point and do a strip down, flock and re-collimate but I am hoping I work out most of the major issues.
I do not normally image when the moon is up but it was a good chance to get out and test things out.

Borth! Must be great for astro, I used to live in Talybont, a lifetime ago...

[RolandKol]

My prey from this week starhunt
The goal was to get through the dark clouds
Failed, - but I like it anyway  so I decided to share
Gain 200 - 120s each, around 11.5H in total: 
ASI1600MM-Pro and Baader NB - London.

 

Edited September 20, 2019 by RolandKol

[Stub Mandrel]

My 130P-DS inages from last night are here:

 

[dyfiastro]

On 19/09/2019 at 09:46, Stub Mandrel said:

Borth! Must be great for astro, I used to live in Talybont, a lifetime ago...

Its not bad at all, 90% of the street lights now go out after about 11PM in borth as well. I live just north in Ynyslas, the only downside is the "Dyfi Microclimate" and the blooming wind.
 

[Stub Mandrel]

12 hours ago, dyfiastro said:

I live just north in Ynyslas,

You luck b***r.

My first job was hacking down rhododendrons at Ynys-Hir. I bet tehy are still there...

[Adam J]

The latest modification to my 130pds. The addition on a Pegausus Astro focus cube V2 and a new clamping system I designed to eliminate tilt cause by the eye piece holder (although not focus tube droop).

The clamp works to pull the coma corrector tight up against the flat of the eye piece holder by placing two rings, one scope side and one camera side of the eye piece holder and then using three thumb screws to draw the coma corrector tighly against the flat. This method of longitudinally clamping the gear to the focuser is much better than any lateral clamping via thumb screws or a compression ring as it does not rely on the coma corrector being fully flush during tightening.

Note: you need to mount the focus motor upside down and add a spacer or it will not clear the thumb screw that tightens the spider vein in place.

Adam

Edited November 2, 2019 by Adam J

[matt_baker]

Reprocessed my old M42 data from last year. Learned a lot since then and it's safe to say it wasn't the best in the world to work with noise wise, especially the walking noise

If I get a chance this winter, I'll be sure to get a much nicer image in terms of noise this time around

Edited November 6, 2019 by matt_baker

[Fieldsy]

On 02/11/2019 at 21:42, Adam J said:

The latest modification to my 130pds. The addition on a Pegausus Astro focus cube V2 and a new clamping system I designed to eliminate tilt cause by the eye piece holder (although not focus tube droop).

The clamp works to pull the coma corrector tight up against the flat of the eye piece holder by placing two rings, one scope side and one camera side of the eye piece holder and then using three thumb screws to draw the coma corrector tighly against the flat. This method of longitudinally clamping the gear to the focuser is much better than any lateral clamping via thumb screws or a compression ring as it does not rely on the coma corrector being fully flush during tightening.

Note: you need to mount the focus motor upside down and add a spacer or it will not clear the thumb screw that tightens the spider vein in place.

Adam

Hi Adam what would the result of image train tilt actually do to the shot?.

 

[Adam J]

4 hours ago, Fieldsy said:

Hi Adam what would the result of image train tilt actually do to the shot?.

 

In effect it means that the sensor is not at 90 degrees to the optical axis and so you get poor star shape and focus at the edge of the sensor. The bigger the sensor the more prominent the effect because the change in distance is greater across the sensor surface. It can also cause poor correction of coma / spherical aberration as the optics of the correct can also be tilted to the optical axis. Its not something that is ever really going to effect you with your smaller sensor or even something the size of a 460EX or ASI183mm pro, its more an issue with 4/3rd sensors and larger. Hence you don't need to worry about it right now. 

I am going to take a look at your data BTW I just have not had the chance yet its all go here. 

Adam 

[alacant]

Hi everyone

Not had the little 130 out for some time but this session gave me the chance to try out a cheepo non-branded cc. It plate solves to 585mm so gives a bit wider field than out of the box.

The stars are not very good, not as well defined as with the -rather nice- gpu cc,, and the colour aberrations surrounding them are noticeable. So, wider field, worse colour, fat stars. You win some you lose some! 

ngc457, eos700d

Edited November 7, 2019 by alacant

[martin070]

Need help on ghosting. 

Hi, I am new on 130PDS and I found that when I use this scope with SW coma corrector to do high contrast DSO imaging such as M42, I will get some ghosting. (I use APS-C DSLR)

Here is an example with β Orionis. Is it possible to fix it through flocking or some other things without changing my corrector? If not, is Baader MPCC III a good choice? Because I heard that this one cannot correct the coma as good as the SW one 

PS. I modified the mirror clip to make cleaner diffraction spike and I use L-pro filter. But the ghosting has been there before I modified or imaging without filter

Edited November 10, 2019 by martin070

[Whistlin Bob]

Been playing with Starnet++ on a Western Veil I took with the 130pds a few weeks ago. Starless and less starry versions below. Kit- 130pds, HEQ5, Cooled 550d, Quadband Filter, 26x 6mins with Flats, Darks and Bias. Uploading it here I can see I need to spend more time on the background of the star-less one- still quite pleased though  

 

 

[Stub Mandrel]

18 hours ago, Whistlin Bob said:

Been playing with Starnet++ on a Western Veil I took with the 130pds a few weeks ago. Starless and less starry versions below. Kit- 130pds, HEQ5, Cooled 550d, Quadband Filter, 26x 6mins with Flats, Darks and Bias. Uploading it here I can see I need to spend more time on the background of the star-less one- still quite pleased though  

 

 

There's a sort of repeated 'fish scale' pattern at the top of the Starless one, was that the clone stamp? Still, I want a play with this 🙂

[Whistlin Bob]

50 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

There's a sort of repeated 'fish scale' pattern at the top of the Starless one, was that the clone stamp?

Yeah- it didn't show up so much in the editor at full resolution but stuck out in the jpeg like a sore thumb. It does leave quite a few artefacts behind, but they're easily dealt with if you take a bit more care than I did!

[Stub Mandrel]

4 minutes ago, Whistlin Bob said:

Yeah- it didn't show up so much in the editor at full resolution but stuck out in the jpeg like a sore thumb. It does leave quite a few artefacts behind, but they're easily dealt with if you take a bit more care than I did!

In Photoshop there's a 'healing Brush' which sometimes does a smoother job.