Imaging with the 130pds

[Bibabutzemann]

First attempts on the Moon with my EOS 1200D

First tried to capture with the video mode, but the result was a lot worse (Only Full HD)

Then i tried making 100 pics and stacked the best 25 with Autostakkert. Happy with the result.  If i find out how to lock the mirror on my cam, i would try 1000 frames

[alacant]

Hi everyone

Here is a HOO of ngc1499 from a UHC filter with the moon very close by. The filter does a great job on excluding the glare.

Thanks for looking and do post if you've had a go. We'd be particularly interested in dslr + UHC/L-eNhance/L-exTreme combinations.

eos700d on 130pds + GPUcc ~10h 30  @ ISO800

 

***EDIT. An in-your-face version. Not sure...

Edited October 27, 2021 by alacant

[alacant]

Hi everyone

Our target-at-a-sensible-distance-from-the-moon on Saturday was ngc7293. Still using the UHC and with the Mediterranean haze  developing at low altitude to the south, this one took on a blue cast. To correct, I used StarTools' Compose, Colour and NBAccent modules: HOO with blue in the latter.

Thanks for looking and do post if you've had a go at this with a dslr and a 130.

eos700d + GPU cc. ~3 1/2h @ ISO800

 

Edited October 27, 2021 by alacant
translation

[Bibabutzemann]

On 23/10/2021 at 14:38, BrendanC said:

Hi all,

Thought I'd add this - an unusual target - 30 Cyg and 31 Cyg A & B.

30 Cyg, to the right of the image, is a white giant star with a blue tint.

31 Cyg A is a bright orange giant, with a smaller blue companion called 31 Cyg B (alternatively HD 192579). They are a binary system which orbits at a distance of a mere 11 astronomical units. As they are viewed side-on, every 10.32 years they are are in eclipse for 63 days.

Image details:
* 1:10 hours of integration at ISO800 from 70x60s subs
* Bortle 4, Moon 100% phase, 47° height
* 25 flats, 25 dark flats, 50 darks
* Sky-Watcher 130PDS with primary baffle, NEQ6 with Rowan belt, EOS1000D minus IR filter, 0.9x coma corrector, APT, PHD2, DSS, StarTools, Topaz DeNoise AI

 

Cheers, Brendan

 

 

I think you mixed something up here. 

The small blue star that is actually visible on this picture is the star HD 192579.

The measurable orbital companion of cygni 31 got no seperate name as far as i looked up. 

[Bibabutzemann]

On 26/10/2021 at 17:26, alacant said:

Hi everyone

Here is a HOO of ngc1499 from a UHC filter with the moon very close by. The filter does a great job on excluding the glare.

Thanks for looking and do post if you've had a go. We'd be particularly interested in dslr + UHC/L-eNhance/L-exTreme combinations.

eos700d on 130pds + GPUcc ~10h 30  @ ISO800

 

***EDIT. An in-your-face version. Not sure...

Nice shot!

I only have a HaRGB version (3+1 hours, so i'd rather call it Ha Version with RGB stars, since no nebulosity was added with the short rgb integration)

Achieved with Eos 1200D and Astronomik Ha 12nm and L2 Clip Filter.

I should devinitely invest in a duo band filter, to add more colors. 

Edited October 29, 2021 by Bibabutzemann

[alacant]

2 hours ago, Bibabutzemann said:

HaRGB version

That's lovely. 

TBH I don't think you're missing much in the way of colour in the nebula. It's all red! I like your coloured stars and how you've got more detail in the red. 

Compared with the UHC, the duo band filters are €silly and son't seem to do as good a job, but of course YMMV.

Thanks for posting.

[Stuf1978]

The cloud cover in the north east just isn't letting up at the minute but I did manage to grab an hour to test out some changes to the spacing and focuser mod. After my initial efforts in my last post I'm much happier with the star shapes after adding another 1mm spacer and adding the third thumb screw to the focuser. There is some very slight elongation in one of the corners which moves to the opposite corner on rotating the camera 180 degrees but it's minimal. Here's a single 15 second exposure of Deneb which shows much better star shapes than my first efforts with the 130PDS.

Just need the weather to play ball and then I might actually be able to use this scope for a proper session

Stu

[Jim Smith]

Here is my first-light shot with my new 130pds. Nothing looked badly out of place through my Cheshire collimator. The primary screws needed a small adjustment.

Nikon Z50 (aps-c), Baader MPCC. I think it's quite promising.

I think I see some elongation of corner stars... more so at the top. Also there are some strange asymmetric fans of light radiating from the central star.  From what I read, I think I need to...

1) Increase corrector to sensor spacing by a mm or two.

2) Find a way of eliminating some sensor tilt. Third locking screw?

3) Saw a lump off the end of the draw tube. (There is about 20-25mm of it inside the scope tube when in focus.)

But before I do, I thought I would post this to see if other, more experienced owners might suggest an alternative strategy.

Thanks, Jim

[Stuf1978]

7 minutes ago, Jim Smith said:

Also there are some strange asymmetric fans of light radiating from the central star.

 

This is what I'd also like to eliminate if possible. So I'd be interested to see what others have to say about this. 

[Pitch Black Skies]

10 minutes ago, Stuf1978 said:

This is what I'd also like to eliminate if possible. So I'd be interested to see what others have to say about this. 

See this thread.

[Pitch Black Skies]

Hi all,

Another proud owner of a 130P-DS!

Yes that is a swimming hat on the end of it 🤣, and yes we are getting torrential rain but you already know that isn't why it's there.

I am delighted to be a part of this thread. I have read every single post from page 1-142 and learned am absolute ton and have seen some beautiful and talented astrophotography.

A huge well done to Russe on starting a mammoth thread and an almost cult following. I'll be hoping to leave my mark too, contributing and learning from you guys.

Clear Skies 👍

Edited November 1, 2021 by Pitch Black Skies
Typo

[Stuf1978]

44 minutes ago, Pitch Black Skies said:

See this thread.

Brilliant thanks, looks like it's easily sorted 👍

[f300v10]

I recently obtained a 130P-DS from FLO as SW doesn't sell these state side.  I paired it with the new Starizona Nexus 0.75 reducing coma corrector and shot this first light last night.  Camera was a ASI2600MM with 2" filters.  Two hours total LRGB:

 

 

[Bibabutzemann]

2 hours ago, f300v10 said:

I recently obtained a 130P-DS from FLO as SW doesn't sell these state side.  I paired it with the new Starizona Nexus 0.75 reducing coma corrector and shot this first light last night.  Camera was a ASI2600MM with 2" filters.  Two hours total LRGB:

 

 

 

Awesome, that reducer sounds like a good investment. How strong is the vignetting? 

[f300v10]

1 minute ago, Bibabutzemann said:

Awesome, that reducer sounds like a good investment. How strong is the vignetting? 

Not as bad as I had feared it might be, and easily corrected with flats.

[Pitch Black Skies]

First light on M31 with my 130P-DS!

It took about 2 hours to get polar aligned, star alignment, etc. Nothing was going right for me. Fumbling in the dark makes it all the more difficult.

Finally, I managed to get it going. I set it to take 2 hours worth of 120s exposures and then scurried for a warm cup of tea for my numb hands.

I later returned only to find I had left the ISO setting on 25, 600! I carried out an ISO experiment earlier in the evening and completely forgotten to change it back.. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Anyway, I managed to get this after a bit of editing ⬇️

In the corners it looks like a bit of radial distortion in the stars, more noticeably in the top left. After reading an article I think it might be because my coma corrector is positioned too far from the camera sensor or maybe the focuser thumbscrew lock is tilting the focuser tube?

Edited November 3, 2021 by Pitch Black Skies

[barbulo]

1 hour ago, Pitch Black Skies said:

After reading an article I think it might be because my coma corrector is positioned too far from the camera sensor or maybe the focuser thumbscrew is tilting the focuser tube?

If the coma effect is not even, I would say is the latter. Try the third thumbscrew solution (drilling the ring) or the compression ring/ClickLock one. That should get rid of the tilt (gravity is a tough adversary ⬇️ too).

[Pitch Black Skies]

6 hours ago, barbulo said:

If the coma effect is not even, I would say is the latter. Try the third thumbscrew solution (drilling the ring) or the compression ring/ClickLock one. That should get rid of the tilt (gravity is a tough adversary ⬇️ too).

I'm using it. I think I'm suffering from both. I'll try again tonight and won't go as heavy with the focuser lock this time.

Edited November 3, 2021 by Pitch Black Skies

[Bibabutzemann]

7 hours ago, Pitch Black Skies said:

In the corners it looks like a bit of radial distortion in the stars, more noticeably in the top left. After reading an article I think it might be because my coma corrector is positioned too far from the camera sensor or maybe the focuser thumbscrew is tilting the focuser tube?

If you made sure that the focusing is perfect, i would definitely recheck collimation. I dont know if its due to overexposure, but it doesnt look sharp.

Spacing could also be an issue ofc. What CC and spacing did you use here?

Do you have short exposures for comparison?

[Pitch Black Skies]

15 hours ago, Bibabutzemann said:

If you made sure that the focusing is perfect, i would definitely recheck collimation. I dont know if its due to overexposure, but it doesnt look sharp.

Spacing could also be an issue ofc. What CC and spacing did you use here?

Do you have short exposures for comparison?

Hi there,

It seems to have sorted itself out after I relieved some pressure on the focus position lock thumbscrew.

The sharpness is likely down to the ISO 25600 and my post processing skills and software. It's one of my first astrophotography images.

[geeks]

Getting to grips with my new Astrocam  

The Horse Head and Flame in Orion.

Dates: 5th November
Integration: 4hrs 45mins
Lights: 95x180s @100 gain -10.00c
Darks: 60
Flats: 30
Dark Flats: 30
Bortle: 7-8
Equipment:
Altair Hypercam 533C, IDAS LPS D2 2" Filter, Skywatcher 130PDS, Skywatcher EQ5 Pro, Astro Essentials 50mm Guide Scope, T7C Guide Cam, Raspberry Pi4 and Astroberry
Processed with SiriL and Photoshop

[Andyy]

Hi! I've been collimating my 130PDS for hours now... I've used cheshire, collimating eyepiece, laser, camera you name it.... Problem is the secondary mirror is not centered under the focuser. When I mean not centered I mean I can clearly see the secondary mirror stalk is positioned to "high" in the draw tube. I've done nothing to adress the problem other than trying to compensate for it with collimation. It doesent seem to work and I'm about to give up....

What should I do? Adjust the focuser or adjust the spider. I did try to measure the spiders and it seems like they are positioned equally all four.

Edited November 5, 2021 by Andyy

[alacant]

3 minutes ago, Andyy said:

What should I do?

We can't say because we don't know what 'high' means relative to your description viewpoint. Please post a shot both through the Cheshire and looking along the drawtube toward the secondary.

A guess would be that you need to turn the centre screw of the secondary anticlockwise after first loosening one of the three adjusters, then collimate again. But it's just that. A guess.

Cheers

[Andyy]

9 minutes ago, alacant said:

We can't say because we don't know what 'high' means relative to your description viewpoint. Please post a shot both through the Cheshire and looking along the drawtube toward the secondary.

A guess would be that you need to turn the centre screw of the secondary anticlockwise after first loosening one of the three adjusters, then collimate again. But it's just that. A guess.

Cheers

Green line is shorther than the yellow line. This image is taking when collimation screws removed and the secondary is screw all the way in to the stalk

[alacant]

52 minutes ago, Andyy said:

What should I do?

Using the orientation you posted...

Loosen the centre screw around 1/2 turn and refit the three adjusters an equal number of turns until the slack is just taken up.

Loosen the bottom most screw of the secondary spider. Rotate the mirror so the top edge moves closer to the focuser. Take up the slack using the top most screw.

Repeat until either you're satisfied or your patience runs out.

On the 130, the secondary adjustment isn't that critical. Get it somewhere close and leave it, but be sure to get the primary bang on the Cheshire cross hairs.

What does a star field look like?

HTH

Edited November 5, 2021 by alacant