The hunt for Integrated Flux - Part 1

[Uranium235]

Last night was a slightly unplanned session, but the first one at the newly found dark site. The weather seemed good enough for at least a few hours so I though I would give it a go.

Once it darkened, it was indeed very dark - the only blots being distant light domes from Tenbury Wells (SW), Clee Hill (N) and Stourport (East), but they were not of much concern being as I was going to be pointing straight up. While imaging it was definitely worth breaking out the binos for a good sky tour, the amount of stars in Orion was breathtaking, so much colour on show   I tried for the HH visually, but that was probably beyond my 9x50's.

The owner of the land popped over a couple of times too for a chat, so I was able to give him a quick tour and show some of the data that was already coming in. He seems to know a bit about lenses too, and we agreed that f2 is a hard job to focus correctly! Actually, in luminance the lens is a lot easier to get right becuase I can just zoom into the corners in artemis and very gently adjust the focus until the stars are round (a b-mask only gets you 95% close).

One thing I hadnt banked on was just how cold it would get... after 2 hours my feet were blocks of ice, I was hungry and could have used a little company to pass the time. So next time Im taking proper clothing, a flask of coffee and a big bag of nibbly

Unfortunately, high cloud spoilt about an hours worth of subs so I had chuck those and was left with just 90 min worth of data (had to pack up at moonrise - 10.30pm). But wow... there it was -  the IFN in super quick time. It will probably take about 4 or 5 hours to really get something solid, but its a great start.

As for the journey home.... probably not best discussed as what was supposed to take 35 min, took 1hour and 20! (I wasnt a happy bunny!)

To be continued........

 

M81 / 82 Integrated flux

9x600 (L)

NEQ6, Atik 383L+, Samyang 135mm @ f2

Thanks for looking

 

(thats Tenbury LP in the distance illuminating some of the thin cloud and murk)

[Barry-Wilson]

Great start - love the FOV.

[Uranium235]

Thanks Barry, it certainly is an encouraging start and confirms that I picked a good spot. To get even a whiff of IFN is very diffcult from my home location.

[ultranova]

very nice indeed, the lens appears to be a cracker to, stars look

great even zoomed in and at f2 that's quite a feat.

As Barry said great field of view and a grate start to your project.

Paul

[Uranium235]

10 hours ago, ultranova said:

very nice indeed, the lens appears to be a cracker to, stars look

great even zoomed in and at f2 that's quite a feat.

As Barry said great field of view and a grate start to your project.

Paul

Thanks Paul, it is a great lens - as Patrick Gilliand regularly demonstrates

One change I made to the EOS - M48 adaptor was to insert shims under the locking springs to remove nearly all of the play in the adaptor so its quite snug fit when it attaches now - I think that has helped a lot. I've done an inverse version of it and applied some more levels to show just how much more IFN there should be once I have enough data to process it properly:

[toxic]

great image Rob i will have to take a trip out to a darker place than home 1 day this is inspiring 

[PatrickGilliland]

Super start, keep plugging away at it, there is a lot of IFN in that area you could mosaic out to the Angel Neb (MW2) as well.  Showing through nicely but more data will make it a killer shot.

Paddy

[Uranium235]

10 hours ago, PatrickGilliland said:

Super start, keep plugging away at it, there is a lot of IFN in that area you could mosaic out to the Angel Neb (MW2) as well.  Showing through nicely but more data will make it a killer shot.

Paddy

Thanks Paddy  next week is looking promising in regard to clear sky, so I will more than likely go there again. 

I've looked up where the angel would be, and I'm pretty sure it would be another panel to the left. I'd like to go bigger than that,  but it's probably best to see how this one turns out first.

[Rodd]

Greta start.  I think that's part of the volcano to the left.  I like the inverted view--more data will do wonders.

[alexbb]

Hello Rob,

I like more and more that lens and your results play a big part for this. Do you focus by hand? Very nice result as usual!

Regards,

Alex

[Uranium235]

18 minutes ago, moise212 said:

Hello Rob,

I like more and more that lens and your results play a big part for this. Do you focus by hand? Very nice result as usual!

Regards,

Alex

Hi Alex, it's a manual lens so yes it has to be done by hand. That makes it tricky for daytime photography use, but under the stars you would be doing it by hand anyway  (unless you rigged up an autofocuser for it).

[alexbb]

1 minute ago, Uranium235 said:

 (unless you rigged up an autofocuser for it).

Yep, that's why I asked. Or if you were using a microfocusing helping tool like this one: http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p3285_Microfocuser-and-focus-lock-fuer-camera-lenses-up-to-D-75mm.html

I should have been more specific.

I'm thinking for a DIY solution to help me focus my lenses. I think 300/4 is about the same in terms of focusing difficulty. Anyway, it seems that it's also manageable with your lens.

Thanks and clear skies,

Alex

[Uranium235]

1 hour ago, Rodd said:

Greta start.  I think that's part of the volcano to the left.  I like the inverted view--more data will do wonders.

Yes, more data would help a lot as people normally tend to do 10hours + on this. Im going to be using this overview image of the area to help me plan where to go next:

Polaris seems to have an awful lot of dust around it, might be worth trying as a stand-alone image.

[Rodd]

3 minutes ago, Uranium235 said:

Yes, more data would help a lot as people normally tend to do 10hours + on this. Im going to be using this overview image of the area to help me plan where to go next:

Polaris seems to have an awful lot of dust around it, might be worth trying as a stand-alone image.

Well one good thing about shooting the IFN around polaris--You don't have to worry about trees or buildings or mountains!  Its always up!  I hadn't thought of that before.  Also--constant sky conditions (short of a rising Moon or passing clouds).  Should make for a nice set of data to process.

[Uranium235]

33 minutes ago, moise212 said:

Yep, that's why I asked. Or if you were using a microfocusing helping tool like this one: http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p3285_Microfocuser-and-focus-lock-fuer-camera-lenses-up-to-D-75mm.html

 

Yea, Ive already checked one of those out but I thought it was a tad expensive for what it is. I might have a look around to see if there is anything i can cannibalise in order to make my own, but for now im happy to use my hand... its free!

[PatrickGilliland]

6 hours ago, Uranium235 said:

Thanks Paddy  next week is looking promising in regard to clear sky, so I will more than likely go there again. 

I've looked up where the angel would be, and I'm pretty sure it would be another panel to the left. I'd like to go bigger than that,  but it's probably best to see how this one turns out first.

 

This may help you approximate and plan

[laser_jock99]

On 16/03/2017 at 19:55, Uranium235 said:

As for the journey home.... probably not best discussed as what was supposed to take 35 min, took 1hour and 20! (I wasnt a happy bunny!)

To be continued........

(thats Tenbury LP in the distance illuminating some of the thin cloud and murk)

Nice image- glad to see you've found a dark sky site to image from.

Is the Cleobury Mortimer road still closed? I was forced to make a very long detour there last weekend.

[Uranium235]

15 minutes ago, laser_jock99 said:

Nice image- glad to see you've found a dark sky site to image from.

Is the Cleobury Mortimer road still closed? I was forced to make a very long detour there last weekend.

Got it in one mate! Yea, those roadworks were supposed to have finished two weeks ago but I got caught out, it gets closed at 8pm and the diversion they set up was utterly useless - its as if they wanted me to go all the way to Ludlow just to double back on myself.... lets just say there were a few choice words said in the car! I got as far as Clee Hill, pulled up and fired up the sat nav to find a way back from there.

Im going over there again next week (maybe Mon, Fri and Sat), but im going to call the council first to see if the works are still on. If they are I'll take a different route back, going down to Tenbury, then hop on the A456. Its a faster road than the Cleobury one so it should take roughly the same time to get home.

The work they have done is great... nice to have a smooth road, but its taking ages to finish.

[laser_jock99]

3 minutes ago, Uranium235 said:

Got it in one mate! Yea, those roadworks were supposed to have finished two weeks ago but I got caught out, it gets closed at 8pm and the diversion they set up was utterly useless - its as if they wanted me to go all the way to Ludlow just to double back on myself.... lets just say there were a few choice words said in the car! I got as far as Clee Hill, pulled up and fired up the sat nav to find a way back from there.

Im going over there again next week (maybe Mon, Fri and Sat), but im going to call the council first to see if the works are still on. If they are I'll take a different route back, going down to Tenbury, then hop on the A456. Its a faster road than the Cleobury one so it should take roughly the same time to get home.

The work they have done is great... nice to have a smooth road, but its taking ages to finish.

Yeah- I think they are trying to do most of the work at night. I'll find out this coming Friday when I go to the darkness of Mid Wales once again....

[Uranium235]

Just now, laser_jock99 said:

Yeah- I think they are trying to do most of the work at night. I'll find out this coming Friday when I go to the darkness of Mid Wales once again....

Youre better off taking the A456 then mate, rather than the Far Forest/Cleobury route.