The EQ3 DSO Challenge

[Lokifish]

Thanks. I purchased the H-C for $20 (the fungus and finger prints on every optical surface came free) as a project. It's original purpose was to make a cheap table top telescope for my 4yo. The AP I did with it was more to prove a point. Heck, I didn't even shoot flats or darks for that image and lost a lot of data to compensate. Shooting under SQM 16.4 skies didn't help matters. But as a response to the often read "thousands of dollars", it performed well.

Here's the wedge. It's definitely DIY and pretty basic. Heck, even the guider is a modded webcam hot glued to an old CCTV lens I had laying round. I think as a last hurrah I may do a proper imaging session and use the results as a lid insert in the carry case I plan to make for my daughter's telescope.

[happy-kat]

I'm intrigued did you set your latitude as 0 (or is it 90) to tell the mount to track only in azimuth?

I love breaking the expected which this is, well done.

[Lokifish]

The SLT has N/S EQ modes like the rest of the Nexstar+ series. So it's just a matter of putting it into EQ mode and doing goto alignment. By default, it's tracking is pretty bad so even a webcam guider w/ 40mm FL lens makes a significant difference.

[Peco4321]

Well after weeks of rubbish weather I was able to grab a few hours last night and I took my lead from the latest edition of Astronomy Now, I went for M109 and The Twin Quasar, both in Ursa Major.  Now I know I have not got enough data, and no flats means not the best image, the seeing was not great, it was very damp and cold, my breath was steaming up all over the place, but I think (correct me please if I am wrong), I may have got this quasar at 8.7 billion light years away, if not, I certainly was in the right area.  I love hunting down new targets that I cannot see through the EP, that for me is the key thing about astrophotography, even at my very basic level.  Anyway, only about 45 x 45 sec exposures, ISO 1600 for M109, 3200 for the possible Quasar.

It was just great to be out!

[jjosefsen]

Well a long time since I posted anything here, but not because I haven't been dabbling, I just haven't been satisfied with the results I was getting.

The last 6 months I have used a dark corner at the back of my house for my imaging spot, but it has a very limited view of the sky.

This has been problematic for me, in getting lots of time on an object, and in finding objects to image as a whole.

 

I have now moved to a new spot in front of my house, I have built some screens to take the worst of the direct light from my neighbouring building (a small cinema).

Coupled with a "new" 2nd hand astro modified EOS 600D, a CLS-CCD clip in filter I feel like I can now enjoy AP a little more, while I save up for en HEQ5.

The new camera does not like the BPP script in PixInsight at all, but if I follow a manual workflow the results are decent.

 

Here is last weekends efforts on The Rosette Nebula:

It's not perfect, but I feel like it is my best work yet. I would love to add more data to it, but it is getting low in the sky now.

 

 

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, jjosefsen said:

while I save up for en HEQ5

I'm 'badly conflicted' on the saving up front  (1) I could do with a new set of wheels and (2) I just don't seem to be getting enough sky-time to justify the expense

[jjosefsen]

41 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I'm 'badly conflicted' on the saving up front  (1) I could do with a new set of wheels and (2) I just don't seem to be getting enough sky-time to justify the expense

I'm saving up for something else non-astro related as well, so it will be a bit of a project tbh.

But with a non-goto mount a lot of my time is spent finding stuff, particularly when doing multi night projects, and not imaging.

So I see it as an investment in not only image quality, but also quantity.

 

I'm also a massive gear/tech head so I enjoy playing with new gear.

[Nigel G]

17 hours ago, jjosefsen said:

Well a long time since I posted anything here, but not because I haven't been dabbling, I just haven't been satisfied with the results I was getting.

The last 6 months I have used a dark corner at the back of my house for my imaging spot, but it has a very limited view of the sky.

This has been problematic for me, in getting lots of time on an object, and in finding objects to image as a whole.

 

I have now moved to a new spot in front of my house, I have built some screens to take the worst of the direct light from my neighbouring building (a small cinema).

Coupled with a "new" 2nd hand astro modified EOS 600D, a CLS-CCD clip in filter I feel like I can now enjoy AP a little more, while I save up for en HEQ5.

The new camera does not like the BPP script in PixInsight at all, but if I follow a manual workflow the results are decent.

 

Here is last weekends efforts on The Rosette Nebula:

It's not perfect, but I feel like it is my best work yet. I would love to add more data to it, but it is getting low in the sky now.

 

 

Stunning image, great detail and depth, well done. 

I haven't posted here for a while due to clouds, its over 6 weeks since my last imaging session, in that time there has been 1 night where it was clear but I was unable to setup and image.

I'm saving for a HEQ5 and Astro CMOS camera, but thinking if I spend £2000 for a hand full of nights that are clear in a year ???

If I get a mono, will I ever get a full set of data ???

 

[jjosefsen]

8 hours ago, Nigel G said:

If I get a mono, will I ever get a full set of data ???

 

And this right here is why im still torn about mono vs OSC camera.

I understand all the technical details about why a mono camera is better. I even get that due to better sensitivity, in theory you would need less frames to get the same kind of data.

An OSC camera just seems simpler and "faster" to me, the part where I still think maybe a mono cam is better, is because of narrowband imaging.

When doing NB imaging you can image in really bad light polution, and even during a full moon. So potentially you can get more imaging nights because you can image all month and not just around the new moon.

 

So many decisions! I just try to forget it and save up for a better mount first.

[Nigel G]

How about that for a bit of EQ3 work. 

All about space mag.

Shame they didn't mention that bit, but I'm chuffed to bits  

3 images published.

Nige.

[happy-kat]

Well done Nigel, that's super.

[jjosefsen]

That is pretty awesome! ?

[Stub Mandrel]

6 hours ago, Nigel G said:

3 images published.

Wahey! Well done Nige!

We'll all bask in the reflected glory!

[Nigel G]

Probably my last post of an image here although I will always be a follower. I have moved to the darker side of EQ mounts. NEQ6. Its a smooth beast.

M13 80ED 30x360s ISO 800, darks flats and bias. 1300D. Stacked in DSS64bit processed in Startools. 

Had problems with the new DSS, would not stack a good result. Turns out a windows update was needed.

[jjosefsen]

10 hours ago, Nigel G said:

Probably my last post of an image here although I will always be a follower. I have moved to the darker side of EQ mounts. NEQ6. Its a smooth beast.

M13 80ED 30x360s ISO 800, darks flats and bias. 1300D. Stacked in DSS64bit processed in Startools. 

Had problems with the new DSS, would not stack a good result. Turns out a windows update was needed.

 

Wow im pretty impressed with how many actual stars you have resolved!

Im also looking hard at other mounts at the moment, but still saving up.

[Filroden]

11 hours ago, Nigel G said:

Probably my last post of an image here although I will always be a follower. I have moved to the darker side of EQ mounts. NEQ6. Its a smooth beast.

Nice cluster! Did you take any shorter exposures for the core? If not, amazing amount of detail resolved for 6 min exposures.

Will be interested to hear how the move to the bigger mount goes and what extra it gives you (other than a bad back!).

[emyliano2000]

Hello everybody.

This is my first post on this thread. I got myself a little eq3 pro to be used as a fully portable setup. ☺

It will be used with my ts65quad and my dslr lenses.

I will be powering it from a 22Ah tracer battery, I will be giuding with a lacerta mgen standalone autoguider. I will be using a laptop only for platesolving and polar alignment with my polemaster. I can run it for 5 and a half hours from the tracer battery.

My dslr will be powered from an external ex-pro 16000mAh battery.

So far all I have done with it is testing to see what can it do. I had a few problems that I managed to sort out. 

A few nights ago I used phd2 to guide it and I was very happy to see how the guiding went.

Looking forward for some proper dso imaging.

Emil

[Nigel G]

3 hours ago, Filroden said:

Nice cluster! Did you take any shorter exposures for the core? If not, amazing amount of detail resolved for 6 min exposures.

Will be interested to hear how the move to the bigger mount goes and what extra it gives you (other than a bad back!).

Thanks Ken, All lights were 6 minutes. Star tools HDR works wonders on globular clusters, although if you zoom in close you see its not that sharp to be honest.

I have had 1 try with the new mount, not good seeing but just wanted to get it guiding to see how it performed. PHD2 has an easy job now  I'm also doing the Rowan belt modification to it. It is heavy but I only need to move it 10ft to set up & after our house move this year, it will have a permanent position. I am amazed how quiet it is when slewing too.

4 hours ago, jjosefsen said:

Wow im pretty impressed with how many actual stars you have resolved!

Im also looking hard at other mounts at the moment, but still saving up.

Cheers  keep saving.

Nige.

[Peco4321]

My take on M13, almost exactly the same composition as yours @Nigel G  

90 x 50 seconds ISO 1600 plus 20 darks and 20 bias, no flats. I love clusters, they seem to give so much, especially without flats. Couple of bonus galaxies as well. 

[emyliano2000]

 

4 hours ago, emyliano2000 said:

A few nights ago I used phd2 to guide it and I was very happy to see how the guiding went

This is the result I got from that night of testing the mount with PHD2

Unfortunately my dslr was runing at 28C as the whole setup has been sitting all day in the sun, under a telescope cover. Big mistake.

This is all I could process out of it.

 

[Nigel G]

2 hours ago, emyliano2000 said:

 

This is the result I got from that night of testing the mount with PHD2

Unfortunately my dslr was runing at 28C as the whole setup has been sitting all day in the sun, under a telescope cover. Big mistake.

This is all I could process out of it.

 

 

Its a lovely looking image, nice and clean. 

A very good guiding graph too  

Nige.

[Nigel G]

3 hours ago, Peco4321 said:

My take on M13, almost exactly the same composition as yours @Nigel G  

90 x 50 seconds ISO 1600 plus 20 darks and 20 bias, no flats. I love clusters, they seem to give so much, especially without flats. Couple of bonus galaxies as well.

 

Nice Peter, you have caught more stars in the cluster. Good job

Nige.

[mikey2000]

I was snapping away at M13 as well, last night.   With a half moon high in the sky, it seems silly to to go for faint stuff.  That said, I couldn't resist a quick 45mins on the leo triplet and M51, as sort of exploratory mini-sessions to see how the half moon affects my new(ish) camera. 

 

Sadly, I'm not on EQ3 any more either but I will also stay tuned to this thread evermore.

Emil - that's a vrey nice PHD graph!  I'm looking forward to seeing some results.   I saw in your profile that you are in Bushey - Max LP Factor!!!  Do you go further away for imaging sessions?

[emyliano2000]

11 hours ago, mikey2000 said:

Do you go further away for imaging sessions

I only went away once in Devember but with my eq6. Want to do it but I can only do it during the weekend and I haven't been lucky to have the weather on my side. Was planing on it last weekend but the weather changed ☹

I wanna take it with my if I'm going abroad to some places with clearer skies.

Edited April 24, 2018 by emyliano2000

[jjosefsen]

Finally finished a decent edit of some of the data I have gathered lately, this time it was M53 and NGC5053.

21x30s and 31x200s processed in pixinsight and captured with APT.

It looks like I have more severe star halos around bright(ish) stars when I don't have a filter in front of my modified 600D (not a fullspectrum mod).

I have read that the remaining anti aliasing filter should be an adequate IR/UV filter, does anyone know if this could be causing the halos? I don't have it as bad when i use the CLS-CCD clip i filter..

 

/Clear skies..