Imaging with the 130pds

[Atreta]

Depends on the coma corrector. You'll have to try it and see!

Enjoy your vacation!

Louise

Louise, 

just tested yesterday the cc and it helped with the missing chunk problem.

i have another doubt, since my finderscope is in the mail limbo. can i use the asi120mc with the 130pds and use phd to help improve my PA and then do unguided shots?

thank you

[Thalestris24]

Hi

I guess you could in theory! But I think the small pixel scale and small fov might make it difficult - try it and see!

Louise

[Atreta]

ah, i meant to removed the asi and use the dslr after the PA adjustment with phd, i'll give it a try tonight.

thanks, Louise.

[Thalestris24]

ah, i meant to removed the asi and use the dslr after the PA adjustment with phd, i'll give it a try tonight.

thanks, Louise.

Yeah,, I meant difficult to do the PA with but it might be ok.

Good luck!

Louise

[Starfisher]

hiya ,

im new over here i left a post about who i am,... in the welcome section.

i'm quite new to AP . but i purchased yesterday a 130PDS   . to keep your army growing over here. next month the unmodded canon 1200D follows with CLS filter. i got an 9X50finderscopeguider with asi 120mc from a previous rig. from than i hope i can start making some nice pics as well.

greetz

[Starfisher]

oh btw if people have balancing problems, lots of manufactures may hve solution if you modify a bit

like this for example you can hang this weight at the very end of your dovetail , easy

https://www.astromarket.org/monteringen-en-toebehoren/balanssystemen/balance-weight-1kg-with-vixen-level-clamb

sorry for being a belgian site but you can google it for your scope-vendor as well i guess.

[sidelight]

several people including myself use ankle weights attached to the OTA to counter balance the camera etc. 

Cheers

Ross

[Starfisher]

i'd getted a call and mail to confirm my scope arrives friday at the shop. hopefully my second order as well : optolong cls clip-filter and some other fun stuff

[Starfisher]

i did get some first light pictures with the 130PDS and canon 1200D

the result is on:

http://www.astrobin.com/223406/B/

still lots of room for improvement.  need to learn making flats , to buy a coma corrector and maybe some better collimation,...  but i'm just starting with AP since end april 2015.

[Uranium235]

Yep definitely a corrector required, and taking flats isnt so bad - all you need to do it point it at a PC monitor that is displaying notepad. However, one tip is to diffuse the light coming from it with a sheet of A4 or A3 copier paper - which also dims the light so you can use a longer exposure time (flats with too quick a shutter time dont come out very well).

[JimFR]

Yep definitely a corrector required, and taking flats isnt so bad - all you need to do it point it at a PC monitor that is displaying notepad. However, one tip is to diffuse the light coming from it with a sheet of A4 or A3 copier paper - which also dims the light so you can use a longer exposure time (flats with too quick a shutter time dont come out very well).

Nice tip! Paint in full screen mode eliminates scrollbars and borders too.

[Starfisher]

hmm , i can maybe try it out this weekend.

anyway i got Pixinsight now. and reworked the ngc 6960 of 02 nov. you can find it on astrobin. ill post it as well in the iamging section i think

http://www.astrobin.com/224563/

[nigelbeaumont]

First light with my nice new 130PDS (and first image after almost 2 months of rain and wind and clouds.....). Keeping it simple for its first outing, so 25 x 120 seconds with Canon 450D, aligned and stacked with Nebulosity and then levels, stretching and curve tweaking in Photoshop CS2. Pleased with the result, although looking at the other images I have a lot to learn...

[JimFR]

First light with my nice new 130PDS (and first image after almost 2 months of rain and wind and clouds.....). Keeping it simple for its first outing, so 25 x 120 seconds with Canon 450D, aligned and stacked with Nebulosity and then levels, stretching and curve tweaking in Photoshop CS2. Pleased with the result, although looking at the other images I have a lot to learn...

I know that feeling...

Excellent work, by the way!

[gooselk]

Nice image, Nigel.

I have found that the pleiades need a series of long exposures (say 5 minutes or so) to get all the faint nebulosity around the bright stars. I found it to be (a bit like M42) not the easiest to get it right due to its high dynamic range.

Clear skies ... Lars

[Atreta]

this is my first try with guiding.

7x130s iso 800, i forgot to take darks. edited in photoshop and did some noise reduction too. i'm still not using the comma corrector, will try soon to see if the spacers are needed.

quite  happy with it, thanks.

[halli]

Hi all

Thought id post the below from the first clear night for quite a while !  

IC405 the Flaming star nebula.  

Canon1100D modded with UHC filter and 130pds

6 x 1000s subs with flats , darks and bias

Please excuse the coma.

I have recently acquired an Atik 383l+ mono and hope to be up and running with that soon - although its a steep learning curve !

[SvartSork]

Some more DSOs. This time NGC891 and the Abell 347 galaxy cluster.

Image stacked in DSS from 107x3 min subs at ISO 1600 with Canon 500D. Post processing in StarTools and GIMP.

[SvartSork]

And another closer one: M45

Image stacked in DSS from 33x3 min subs at ISO 1600 with Canon 500D. Post processing in StarTools and GIMP.

[Pompey Monkey]

And another closer one: M45

Image stacked in DSS from 33x3 min subs at ISO 1600 with Canon 500D. Post processing in StarTools and GIMP.

M45BProc.jpg

Very nice, but I think there could be a lot more detail in there if you relaxed the black point a little.

[SvartSork]

Very nice, but I think there could be a lot more detail in there if you relaxed the black point a little.

Hmm, yes you're right!

Is this one better?

[MartinFransson]

A lot better! Wow, can't wait to get my 150PDS up and running.

Sent from my phone using Tapatalk

[StamosP]

Hello to everyone!

This thread is the reason i bought my 130pds, so i have to post my first two photos taken with it (and my first ap photos in general). 

A couple of words first... 

I wanted a telescope for years (and stop observing through my grandfathers "Jack Sparrow style" old 2" refractor!) so last June i decided to buy one as a present to myself for my birthday. My choice was a SW 200pds on a HEQ5Pro mount (following the advice of a friend of mine). I spent most of my free time in summer observing (and learning how to use an eq mount) and i soon realised i wanted to start capturing the things i saw... I started surfing the net to learn what else i would need and i saw this thread. I was astonished by the results from a relatively cheap telescope! The fov was so wide i could capture the entire Andromeda galaxy!

So after i purchased an asi120mc for guiding-planetary imaging, a Canon 600d (which i Baader modded following Gary Honis' excellent instructions) ,a SW coma corrector (all used) my next target was the small SW newtonian. I also bought an Optolong 2" UHC filter a month ago.

So these are my first photos from a place outside Athens as the light pollution in the city lets you see a dozen of stars max. The processing (i have to learn this too...) was done by a friend of mine in the Greek astrovox.gr forum.

Before these photos i have spent hours and hours online learning the best settings for my setup and how to use the equipment.

I used Byeos, phd2, DSS and my friend processed them in Pixinsight.

M31 

72x150s (3h) iso1600, 20 flats, 30 darks, 30bias

IC 1805

11x600s+2x480s (2h 6min) iso 1600, 20 flats, 2 darks, 30bias   /   Optolong 2"UHC filter

[MartinFransson]

Wow! How the heck did you get IC1805 that good without the stars over powering the image? I have tried with 600s exposures too but the stars are so many and bright!

Sent from my phone using Tapatalk

[StamosP]

Martin, i have no idea! I simply watched the histogram in BYEOS and it was pretty good at 600s, maybe i could try even more (700-800s) but i wanted at least 10-12 light frames and my time was limited.

I suppose the filter has done a very good job in boosting the nebula's contrast...