Imaging with the 130pds

[iapa]

On 19/05/2017 at 22:46, alacant said:

Hi. The latter yes. The cc, not sure. It's an unbranded Chinese affair. It plate solves to less than the quoted focal length, but exactly how much... Anyway, thanks for the framing hint, and yes, I can get the whole of the curve of the chain with room to spare. On snap 10 as I write....

I believe that most coma correctors are also focal reducers.

e.g. the Skywatch comma corrector is actual a 0.9 focal reducer, so your f5 OTA becomes f4.5

[alacant]

12 minutes ago, iapa said:

so your f5 OTA becomes f4.5

Hi. Yes, thanks. That looks about right. According to APT's PointCraft:

Without cc = 648mm

Wth cc = 588mm

Some magnify, some reduce. Others like the one for my f3.9, leave the fl intact. I've never seen the point in having a wide field telescope and using a cc which narrowed the fov. Whatever ccs are, they're way overpriced by the time the middlemen have taken their cut(s)!

[alacant]

I think I've got the coma under control and the stars less like refractor blobs. This is with 53mm spacing to the sensor. Still a bit of tilt, but the adjusters around the focuser give me hope. Getting there. Thanks for looking...

 

Edited June 1, 2017 by alacant

[al-alami]

Hi,

Its not much, I was only able to capture  an hour and 17 minutes worth of data.

No filters since my Ha decided to commit suicide.

  Not too bad (I think  )

Edited June 1, 2017 by al-alami

[alacant]

13 minutes ago, al-alami said:

Its not much

Nice shot. It makes my Markarian's Chain look decidedly both star- and colour- less.

*I think there ought to be an official end to galaxy season. I propose 1st. June...

**What does Baader modified mean?

[Adam J]

26 minutes ago, al-alami said:

Hi,

Its not much, I was only able to capture  an hour and 17 minutes worth of data.

No filters since my Ha decided to commit suicide.

  Not too bad (I think  )

I take it this is with the DSLR what is the state of play with the QHY163m ???? Its a nice image though. 

[al-alami]

4 minutes ago, alacant said:

Nice shot. It makes my Markarian's Chain look decidedly both star- and colour- less.

*I think there ought to be an official end to galaxy season. I propose 1st. June...

**What does Baader modified mean?

I actually like yours, I haven't had the heart to try for it yet though.

Baader modified means that I have removed the IR filter in the camera, and replaced it with a Baader filter that makes it more sensitive to Ha.

As much as I love this scope, having to travel on a dirt road to get to a dark site is not fun. Especially with all the shaking! 

[al-alami]

Just now, Adam J said:

I take it this is with the DSLR what is the state of play with the QHY163m ???? Its a nice image though. 

The DSLR.

Still having spacing issues with the QHY163M. Everything measures out, but I still get the really weird donuts.  I should probably get some pictures of them.  Even with the image more or less in focus, nice sharp pinpoint stars I still get the donuts, they only change in focus.

Also the LRGB filters haven't arrived yet.  Not to mention still trying go get a replacement for my Ha filter!

[Adam J]

3 minutes ago, al-alami said:

The DSLR.

Still having spacing issues with the QHY163M. Everything measures out, but I still get the really weird donuts.  I should probably get some pictures of them.  Even with the image more or less in focus, nice sharp pinpoint stars I still get the donuts, they only change in focus.

Also the LRGB filters haven't arrived yet.  Not to mention still trying go get a replacement for my Ha filter!

Doughnuts on a Newtonian are normally poor focus. I do note that you have some tilt in your image so you may find that while some stars are in focus in some areas of the image the are not in other areas. The tilt is basically that the top of the image you posted is in focus but the bottom of the image is not in focus. You may want to check your focuser is orthogonal to the optical axis by racking the focus tube in and out and seeing if your collimation remains consistent. 

[al-alami]

Just now, Adam J said:

Doughnuts on a Newtonian are normally poor focus. I do note that you have some tilt in your image so you may find that while some stars are in focus in some areas of the image the are not in other areas. The tilt is basically that the top of the image you posted is in focus but the bottom of the image is not in focus. You may want to check your focuser is orthogonal to the optical axis by racking the focus tube in and out and seeing if your collimation remains consistent. 

Will have to add that to the checklist.  But these donuts appear even when the stars are in focus, that's the thing. (not with the DSLR, but with the 163M)

[Adam J]

3 minutes ago, al-alami said:

Will have to add that to the checklist.  But these donuts appear even when the stars are in focus, that's the thing. (not with the DSLR, but with the 163M)

You will have to post a shot. 

[al-alami]

Just now, Adam J said:

You will have to post a shot. 

Will try to get one tonight (unless by some miricle, everything works out tonight, I just made a change to the spacing).

[al-alami]

I really like the result I got from last night's moon.

This is 50 images done in RegiStax 6 with my QHY 163M.

Seeing conditions were not that great.

Edited June 2, 2017 by al-alami

[Adam J]

1 hour ago, al-alami said:

I really like the result I got from last night's moon.

This is 50 images done in RegiStax 6 with my QHY 163M.

Seeing conditions were not that great.

'

Thats a nice image i

[al-alami]

Taken last November, but got lost while I was learning how to process.

This is a single 10 sec image @ISO 3200.

[Dave In Vermont]

Your Moon is excellent! Thank you for sharing this. And your processing is certainly paying off nicely.

Keep on going!

Dave

[al-alami]

12 hours ago, Dave In Vermont said:

Your Moon is excellent! Thank you for sharing this. And your processing is certainly paying off nicely.

Keep on going!

Dave

Thanks Dave.  It truly is a learning curve! Frustrating at times, but worth it. (well so far at least)

Fakhri

[Susaron]

Moon picture taken yesterday from my balcony with the SW130PDS and my new QHY168C (Gain 3, Offset 0)

 

[alexbb]

For a total of 12 hours, 6 hours for each channel, it might be the final the last data that I acquire from home this year on the Veil. Maybe some RGB data for the stars and maybe more somewhere dark, later in August.

I'm not very happy with something in this image. I don't know if it's my processing or just the data doesn't help me. Anyway, enough processing for today.

Thanks for looking and clear skies,

Alex

[al-alami]

Last night's moon with my QHY 163M and 130 PDS

[alexbb]

4 hours ago, al-alami said:

Last night's moon with my QHY 163M and 130 PDS

Is it last night's? Your image says it's last year's 

[al-alami]

8 hours ago, moise212 said:

Is it last night's? Your image says it's last year's 

half way through the year and still getting it wrong

[Susaron]

From last night with full Moon, mosquitoes and high clouds. First time using Polemaster with the AZEQ5 (bad point for QHY as to use the AZEQ bracket it is necessary to remove the bubble level). Guiding did not work so I only was able to shoot 120 secs exposures, from Sadr region with the QHY168C at Gain 10 Offset 4 Temp 0ºC. Processed with Fitwork and Gimp

 

[alexbb]

Clear last night. I had a go at bubble nebula, the tracking/guiding went better than ever in the balcony.

Minimal processing of 23mins of 60s exposures + 1h39min of 180s exposures. Cooled to -12C and gain 300 used. The gradient was awful, I couldn't remove it properly and StarTools crashed when I tried to do the noise reduction so no noise control either.

Fingers crossed for another clear night.

Clear skies too,

Alex

Edited June 14, 2017 by moise212

[spillage]

Sorry it is a bit late but though I would post photos showing the focus tube improvement/upgrade to increase photon collection. I hope it helps.

Cheers

Spill