Imaging with the 130pds

[RolandKol]

8 hours ago, sagramore said:

Hello 130PDSers!

Having just learned about plate solving (and how to do it properly in APT, which I use for capture) I have revitalised my interest in imaging. I was having real trouble locating targets and centring them but since getting plate solving working I feel WAY more ready to move up in the world.

I've been having some problems with my Canon 550D disconnecting from my laptop during imaging and it's really starting to bug me. I've tried troubleshooting in lots of different ways and this has included a complete update of the laptop software, drivers, etc and re-install of all the guiding and capture software. Sadly the problem (while improved tonight, compared to normal) is still present and I am wondering if it's likely to just be the fact that my camera's USB connection is dodgy. 

Alas, on top of this I have always wondered how well my NEQ6 is functioning. PHD2 guiding is usually OK and in the 0.5-1" total RMS range, but it sometimes goes higher, and there's a fair whack of backlash in certain directions.

So, two-part question:

• Has anyone here belt-modded their NEQ6, did it go well and was it worth it? I've been considering it for a while but been put off by the worry that some of the hex bolts are REALLY REALLY tight and I might buy the kit and find myself unable to actually install the mod. I'm also just a little worried about screwing up my expensive mount....
• Considering I live in the middle of a medium-sized town and LP is reasonably strong near me, do you think I'd see significant upgrades moving to something like a ZWO ASI1600MM-pro with narrowband filters? I *love* the look of hubble pallet images but so far have never really dabbled in nebulae imaging because of my light pollution and camera. I'm assuming LRGB will be affected by LP as badly as OSC, but narrowband would help a lot?

I'm just looking for excuses to spend some inheritance but I don't want to waste my cash

PS. Sorry for anyone in here who's already seen another post I made with similar questions but I wanted to hone in specifically on the 130PDS community as that's the scope I have and have so far really enjoyed using.

Welcome back
Platesolving, - is probably the option I cannot imagine myself imaging without

as per NEQ6 upgrade, - I would postpone it... 0.7/0.8 is good enough for our image scale, - not perfect but really good.

Especially, if you will go after CMOS astrocam, - 3min exposures will be enough, so no need to push NEQ6 further (at least in my opinion)... I would better save money for the modern/better mount instead.

As per NB imaging, - it is completely different Level of imaging... HUGE step UP. Literally HUGE!
And it does not matter which location you are in... The darker your place is, - the larger step up it will be

I am based in London, - imaging from back garden bortle 8/9... you can check my images on the Flickr... It has a clear trace from Canon, to ASi1600 LRGB and NB.
Images are not professional, - "advancedbeginner" level, so will be closer to your possible results.

Edited August 12, 2020 by RolandKol

[sagramore]

1 hour ago, RolandKol said:

Welcome back
Platesolving, - is probably the option I cannot imagine myself imaging without

as per NEQ6 upgrade, - I would postpone it... 0.7/0.8 is good enough for our image scale, - not perfect but really good.

Especially, if you will go after CMOS astrocam, - 3min exposures will be enough, so no need to push NEQ6 further (at least in my opinion)... I would better save money for the modern/better mount instead.

As per NB imaging, - it is completely different Level of imaging... HUGE step UP. Literally HUGE!
And it does not matter which location you are in... The darker your place is, - the larger step up it will be

I am based in London, - imaging from back garden bortle 8/9... you can check my images on the Flickr... It has a clear trace from Canon, to ASi1600 LRGB and NB.
Images are not professional, - "advancedbeginner" level, so will be closer to your possible results.

Thanks, Roland! That's all really useful information. I'll keep an eye on my guiding stats. Last night they ended up averaging over 1" for most of the session but the seeing was poor and the temperature was so high my Canon sensor was at ~40 C the whole time, it was noise galore!

As for the NB imaging, I feel like I'm getting closer and closer to giving it a try! 

[spillage]

@sagramore

I have belt modded my neq6 and found it worth doing, picked it up cheap from ABS (still in packets) but would happily pay full price for a new one. I have seen it guiding as low as .5 so tracking will be improved. I also  used the time the mount was stripped to replace my bearings. The hardest thing is getting the worm gear set up correctly which can take a few attempts. Once done you will see a massive reduction in backlash. For about £100 pounds it get my vote.

You will find a dedicated camera with set point cooling much easier to use and it means gathering calibration is much, much easier. Processing is a learning curve but not horrendous.

Remember that even in Ha imagining under a full moon cannot be 100% full proof and O111 and S11 really benefit from a darker sky, just not as much as broadband.

 

[si717]

hi all could anyone help me out with my badder MPCC Mark 111 i have a modified canon 450d with only one main lens removed

and iam to thinking i may need filters ,and iam wondering will the coma corrector accept 2" filters before i purchase any

just looking at the mpcc it looks a funny fitment many thanks

clear skys

[alacant]

sh2-132

Hi everyone

Not many images recently, so in an attempt to get the ball rolling again...

Nice to have the 130 out again after being in heavy f3.9 astrograph territory for too long so far this summer. We needed more FOV for this but not so much that we couldn't use the GPU cc. Someone's idea to use the sw0.9 instead which is second best by comparison but anyway, still got something. This is supposed to be a lion. i suppose we got the head and a -very- faint body and tail. Use your imagination!

Thanks for looking and any comments or comparison shots most welcome.

Cheers.

eos-700d @ ISO800

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, alacant said:

This is supposed to be a lion

Lovely star colour.

There's a narrowband version on the cover of Charles Bracken's Astrophotography Sky Atlas.

After careful study of yours and his images, I'm sure his is mirrored left/right!

[Jamgood]

Not as good as the pictures on here but this is my first real attempt at gathering data and getting my first real shot. (I've spent some time playing around taking a few shots here and there, testing everything out.)

This crop is the result of about 1hr 34m of data shot at ISO 1600, 40s exposures from a Bortle 8 UK garden. I've got a lot to learn about about post processing as it's all very new to me. There's a lot of red in the background that I'm struggling to get rid of. More reading of tutorials and learning to be done.

I'm pretty happy with this for a first shot though.

Edit* Had another go at processing the image and try and remove some of the horrible red.

 

 

Edited August 19, 2020 by Jamgood

[alacant]

20 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

mirrored left/right!

Hi

I wonder is this is a refractor-mirror-image-reflector thing? This is the orientation as shown in kstars:

[alacant]

Hi everyone

Focuser tilt.

Still with the 0.9cc but with the usual pain of the tilt. As soon as the camera is attached, droop city abounds. I may get around to drilling a third thumb screw but I doubt it's the attachment which is the culpit. With the gpu cc, which doubles the weight of the dslr. worse. I've also noticed some rubber ring washers between the focuser body and the adjustment screws. Surely, that amount of rubber 'give' can't be right (?). Anyone?

Thanks for looking. In fact the tilt is hard to identify, but still...

 

eos700d @ ISO800

Edited August 21, 2020 by alacant

[Jamgood]

Not had much of a chance to do anything throughout August here. Constant clouds.

Last night was a little clearer that of late but the Moon was high and washing everything out so I went with that and figured I can use it for practice and editing, etc. I only took and stacked 20 shots. Next time I'll try without my CLS filter. It was a struggle to remove all the green.

A little over processed I think but I still quite like it.

 

Edited September 2, 2020 by Jamgood

[Erling G-P]

Finally have an image to post here. Tend to go for my 200PDS, if I can fit the target within its field of view, but tonight's subject, the Pelican Nebula seemed perfect for the 130PDS.

Framing should probably have been different, as I got a fair bit of the North American Nebula too, but was difficult to judge on a single sub, and this being my first attempt with this nebula.

Driving clouds & rising moon interfering, and session terminated when the OTA collided with the tripod legs.  Quite windy too, but with the 130PDS it wasn't the problem it would have been with the 200PDS - haven't discarded a single sub due to tracking errors.

46 x 3 minutes = 138 minutes total.

HEQ5 Pro/Rowan belt mod, Canon 700Da cooled, Staraid Revolution autoguider, darks, flats & bias.

Stacked with DSS. Processed with Astroart 6 & Topaz DeNoise AI.

[bottletopburly]

On 12/08/2020 at 16:36, si717 said:

hi all could anyone help me out with my badder MPCC Mark 111 i have a modified canon 450d with only one main lens removed

and iam to thinking i may need filters ,and iam wondering will the coma corrector accept 2" filters before i purchase any

just looking at the mpcc it looks a funny fitment many thanks

clear skys

Yes they do 

[bottletopburly]

On 21/08/2020 at 11:51, alacant said:

Hi everyone

Focuser tilt.

Still with the 0.9cc but with the usual pain of the tilt. As soon as the camera is attached, droop city abounds. I may get around to drilling a third thumb screw but I doubt it's the attachment which is the culpit. With the gpu cc, which doubles the weight of the dslr. worse. I've also noticed some rubber ring washers between the focuser body and the adjustment screws. Surely, that amount of rubber 'give' can't be right (?). Anyone?

Thanks for looking. In fact the tilt is hard to identify, but still...

 

eos700d @ ISO800

Is it worth fitting a curved plate to the underside of the focuser inside ota to make a more rigid foundation to support focuser .

[StamosP]

Hello all

Is it possible for someone to measure accurately the outside diameter (or perimeter) of the white ring in front of the tube (where a dew shield is going to seat ) and the inside diameter of the tube?

After 3 years i purchased again this magnificent scope, its vfm is simply unbeatable, and i want to have the parts for the modification i'm planning (aperture mask, dew shield etc) ready before the scope arrives...

Thanks in advance!

[Astrid]

Hi! Is the 130PDS good for visual observations too? And is it worth spending a bit more for the 150PDS? Thank you 😄 

[Adam J]

On 21/08/2020 at 11:51, alacant said:

Hi everyone

Focuser tilt.

Still with the 0.9cc but with the usual pain of the tilt. As soon as the camera is attached, droop city abounds. I may get around to drilling a third thumb screw but I doubt it's the attachment which is the culpit. With the gpu cc, which doubles the weight of the dslr. worse. I've also noticed some rubber ring washers between the focuser body and the adjustment screws. Surely, that amount of rubber 'give' can't be right (?). Anyone?

Thanks for looking. In fact the tilt is hard to identify, but still...

 

eos700d @ ISO800

 

What program are you using to calculate tilt?

[Erling G-P]

13 hours ago, StamosP said:

Hello all

Is it possible for someone to measure accurately the outside diameter (or perimeter) of the white ring in front of the tube (where a dew shield is going to seat ) and the inside diameter of the tube?

After 3 years i purchased again this magnificent scope, its vfm is simply unbeatable, and i want to have the parts for the modification i'm planning (aperture mask, dew shield etc) ready before the scope arrives...

Thanks in advance!

As accurately as I can measure it, the outside diameter is 16.0 cm, and the inside is 15.1 cm.

[lnlarxg]

3 hours ago, Astrid said:

Hi! Is the 130PDS good for visual observations too? And is it worth spending a bit more for the 150PDS? Thank you 😄 

I think it’s pretty good. Not a planet killer due to short focal length, but still offers great planetary viewing, you can make out Jupiter’s bands and the division on Saturn’s ring. Moon looks very very good 

for shy of 200£ you get quite good aperture, you can see brighter Nebula but they will be fuzzy, bearing in mind even through a 12” dob the deep sky objects are still dim and fuzzy

but for astrophotography, wow it is brilliant, good aperture and quite wide
 

so I think it is a good visual scope for beginner to keen hobbyists, but pretty intermediate to advance for astrophotographers

Edited September 9, 2020 by lnlarxg

[si717]

On 09/09/2020 at 02:54, Erling G-P said:

Finally have an image to post here. Tend to go for my 200PDS, if I can fit the target within its field of view, but tonight's subject, the Pelican Nebula seemed perfect for the 130PDS.

Framing should probably have been different, as I got a fair bit of the North American Nebula too, but was difficult to judge on a single sub, and this being my first attempt with this nebula.

Driving clouds & rising moon interfering, and session terminated when the OTA collided with the tripod legs.  Quite windy too, but with the 130PDS it wasn't the problem it would have been with the 200PDS - haven't discarded a single sub due to tracking errors.

46 x 3 minutes = 138 minutes total.

HEQ5 Pro/Rowan belt mod, Canon 700Da cooled, Staraid Revolution autoguider, darks, flats & bias.

Stacked with DSS. Processed with Astroart 6 & Topaz DeNoise AI.

hi thats a really nice image and something im hopefully looking to have a go at in the future,iam pretty new to it and starting out wuth objects i can see through the eye peice first ,can i ask do you plate solve ? to frame the targets ,and how do you deal with camera noise is that eliminated with the cooled camera ,i have a full spectrum 650d and 450d but seem to be getting lots of noise

anyway great pic something for me to aim for thanks for sharing

[si717]

second attempt at imaging with the 130 pds ,i seem to be getting alot of noise in my images ,i used a modified 450d ,30 3min subs dithered every 3rd shot any advice on making my images better would be great i know i need to work on processing its all new and im learning when its clear very rare in the uk i must say 😂 but iam enjoying it and like the scope

[Erling G-P]

26 minutes ago, si717 said:

hi thats a really nice image and something im hopefully looking to have a go at in the future,iam pretty new to it and starting out wuth objects i can see through the eye peice first ,can i ask do you plate solve ? to frame the targets ,and how do you deal with camera noise is that eliminated with the cooled camera ,i have a full spectrum 650d and 450d but seem to be getting lots of noise

anyway great pic something for me to aim for thanks for sharing

Thanks for the kind words

I don't plate solve; I use Synscan in the mount to locate targets, and then manually adjust the framing with a number of test shots.  Often difficult with nebulae, as they tend to be very faint in single shots.  The cooled camera helps with noise, but as a help, I can't recommend Topaz DeNoise AI enough.  Very good at removing noise and at the same time making the image sharper.  Took the liberty of quickly running your own M31 image through it and have attached it here.  You can download a free trial and play with it for a month before deciding to buy or not:

https://topazlabs.com/denoise-ai-2/

[si717]

2 minutes ago, Erling G-P said:

Thanks for the kind words

I don't plate solve; I use Synscan in the mount to locate targets, and then manually adjust the framing with a number of test shots.  Often difficult with nebulae, as they tend to be very faint in single shots.  The cooled camera helps with noise, but as a help, I can't recommend Topaz DeNoise AI enough.  Very good at removing noise and at the same time making the image sharper.  Took the liberty of quickly running your own M31 image through it and have attached it here.  You can download a free trial and play with it for a month before deciding to buy or not:

https://topazlabs.com/denoise-ai-2/

thanks for the information ,iam using the synscan so hopefully i can locate some targets in the future

and thanks for that on Topaz Denoise i will give it a try many thanks

[bottletopburly]

On 09/09/2020 at 19:59, Adam J said:

What program are you using to calculate tilt?

Looks like Astap to me the blindsolving software it’s free i saw that feature in it .

[StamosP]

On 10/09/2020 at 01:08, Erling G-P said:

As accurately as I can measure it, the outside diameter is 16.0 cm, and the inside is 15.1 cm.

Thank you very, very much!

[Spaced Out]

Hi all

I was really excited to get my first dedicated astro camera (ZWO ASI 1600 Pro). That turned to frustration as I spent months battling gravitational tilt from the heavy camera hanging off the stock SW focuser. I never had this problem with a DSLR.

I’ve now fitted a TS-Optics V-Power focuser. The V-power is designed for heavy imaging gear so I thought it should fit the bill.

The stars still aren’t perfect but they are a lot better than they were. I used an evaluation copy of CCD inspector to check things out and it seems to reflect what I am seeing in the test images. Looks like I might need to work a little more on CC spacing, but I’m actually looking forward to using the new camera now !

Big thanks to Kevin (TheCounter) for supplying a template for the custom base and Steve (teoria_del_big_bang) for doing the 3D printing. 👍