dslr to ccd bit of a disaster using artemis help needed please

[iwols]

hi all been using my nikon d750 on my ed80 and was producing good images,so decided to go down the ccd route so purchased the atik 414ex camera which i tried for the first time last night ,using artemis for capturing,but after 4 hours finished up with just two images ,the first should have been m101,but no sign of it ,so decided to go for andromeda ,which is nearly visible,i know i have to take more images as per my dslr and stack,but was expecting a bit more,any advice very welcome as usual guys,or any recommended settings andromeda had very slight adjustments made,dont even want to think about my filter wheel yet just to say first exp m101 was 38 sec and andromeda was 98 secs 

[D4N]

You seem to have missed M101, remember that the 414ex will have a much smaller field of view than your DSLR so you may want to use Astro tortilla to get the target on chip.

Here is your M101 plate solved.

 

You can't see andromeda for a similar reason, you are looking right through it.

 

Andromeda is 189' x 62'.

Your image is 51' x 38' so the majority of the Galaxy it outside of the field of view.

 

Try some smaller targets and use plate solving to make sure you get them on the sensor.

If you can't plate solve use binning to help you line it up.

[iwols]

thanks d4n for that explanation could you explain roughly what plate solving is  and where do you get these figures from

Andromeda is 189' x 62'.

Your image is 51' x 38' so the majority of the Galaxy it outside of the field of view.

still a newbie to this sorry for the daft questions 

[iwols]

what do you use for plate solving

[D4N]

I used the astrometry.org website to play solve your image, that also gave me the image scale in arc minutes.  I got the size of M31 from SkySafari.

For imaging I use Astro tortilla to plate solve as this will then move the mount to the right place and sync it.

The only daft questions are the ones you don't ask

[daz]

Plate-solving is taking an image and working out the exact centre, taking into account image scale and angle of rotation.

You can set up a free account on the astrometry.org website and upload your images there. Installing plat-solving on your local computer takes some effort (and a LOT of downloading) but is worth the time.

Check out http://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/ and plumb in your scope/camera and you can see what the target field of view will look like. You can then choose a target accordingly.

[iwols]

could only find .net and not .org is that the same

[Davey-T]

What mount do you have ? if it's a GOTO you can sync on a bright star near your target then GOTO it, so for M101 you could use Asselus Primus and for M31 you could use Mirach.

Dave

[iwols]

just a thought looking at the size could this be m110?

[iwols]

1 hour ago, Davey-T said:

What mount do you have ? if it's a GOTO you can sync on a bright star near your target then GOTO it, so for M101 you could use Asselus Primus and for M31 you could use Mirach.

Dave

hi dave its a heq5 pro goto mount

[D4N]

Sorry yeh it should be .net, dunno where I got .org from.

 

Nope that is the galactic core of M31, M32 is just out of frame bottom right and M110 is out of frame above.

With more exposure time you would start to see detail but unless you plan to do a mosaic there isn't much point imaging M31 at that image scale.

[Davey-T]

57 minutes ago, iwols said:

hi dave its a heq5 pro goto mount

Shouldn't be a problem finding stuff then, I generally don't bother doing 2 or 3 star aligning if I'm imaging as you generally stay on the same target all night so GOTO accuracy is not a priority.

Once you've identified a bright star near your target you can centre it using your finder then your camera then sync on it, if you then GOTO  your target it should be in the camera FOV, it may need a bit of tweaking to get it centred, use 2X2 binning when centring but don't forget to switch it back if needed before imaging and then take  at least 90secs subs longer if you can, are you guiding ?

Are you using any filters at all ?

Dave

[tomato]

If you are on a relatively bright DSO like M101 then stretching a single sub 1 min exposure on a CCD camera (which you can do with Artemis Capture) will allow you to see the core and get it centered on your chip.

[iwols]

2 hours ago, Davey-T said:

Shouldn't be a problem finding stuff then, I generally don't bother doing 2 or 3 star aligning if I'm imaging as you generally stay on the same target all night so GOTO accuracy is not a priority.

Once you've identified a bright star near your target you can centre it using your finder then your camera then sync on it, if you then GOTO  your target it should be in the camera FOV, it may need a bit of tweaking to get it centred, use 2X2 binning when centring but don't forget to switch it back if needed before imaging and then take  at least 90secs subs longer if you can, are you guiding ?

Are you using any filters at all ?

Dave

hi dave not guiding yet as found sidereal seems to be ok ,as filters have purchased a filter wheel and the better baader lrgb filters but not used them yet cheers

[Marky1973]

You can also loop shorter exposures in Artemis to check your targets "live" and I find that quite useful.

Tend to:

Polar align

2 star align and use finder scope to adjust scope so target star visible on Artemis 

Jump to close star, centre then sync the Goto, then slew to target. Looping Artemis to check you have the target in frame

Never had trouble finding target that way.

Just keep at it! :-)

[iwols]

hi mark what software you using to find the closeby star and how do you sink it cheers

[Marky1973]

Hi Iwols! 

I set up my mount using the Synscan handset and a 2 star alignment while the Atik is looping. If the target star is visible in Artemis, great, I can adjust with the handset and then move to the next one.

If not visible then I use the finder to get it centered and then tweak in Artemis so it is centered. You can overlay a crosshairs in the software to help with this.

Once the alignment is done, I use the same method to slew to a star close to the target and center it. On the synscan handset you can then press and hold ESC (IIRC) to confirm that you are centred on that named star. The mount will then make all movements from that reference. If you are close to your target then it works really well, as the mount doesn't need to move far, so the margin for error is much less.

Doesn't take long and I have found it works really well to get me on target. Without doing that it is a bit hit and miss....well, more miss for me!

There other ways to do this with software and plate solving, but this is my simplified way to avoid faffing with too much software while I am still figuring it all out....

Hope that helps!