New Setup Working Well :)

[JohnSadlerAstro]

Hi,

So I've found some time here and there (right now I have a lot of time free ) amongst studying for A-Levels, for testing out my now complete Deep-Sky imaging setup.

• Skywatcher 130P-DS
• Canon EOS 1000d
• Skywatcher LP Filter
• Baader MPCC Mk. 3
• Programmable Shutter Release
• Skywatcher 50mm Finder/Guider
• ZWO ASI Webcam
• Motorized (Dual-Axis) EQ5
• Various Pieces of Metal Holding Stuff Together
• 6V Mains Power Adapter for Mount
• All controlled by PHD2 and DigiCamControl

My "standard" exposure length is around 3 minutes at ISO 800. I could go longer, but the camera is the main bottleneck as its old and a bit grainy/noisy, leaving a characteristic canvas streak pattern across the images. The power adapter has been very useful--apart from saving a fortune in D-Cells, the motor performance seems much better now that there is a constant and non-varying current. I cut up the old telescope's cover and fitted a Bahtinov mask which I made into it, which I can use for very quick focusing.

 

1. Pleiades (M45)

 

2. Orion (Great) Nebula (M42)

 

Thanks for looking,

John

[Starwiz]

Nice images.  Pleiades looks better than my last effort.

I think there are stacking artifacts at the images edges that could be cropped out prior to processing.  Just a thought.

John

[AKB]

Looks good to me!  Seems like it's all come together very well. 

Hoping you get time to do some more soon (ditto for all of us!)

Tony

[sloz1664]

Great images John. Yes crop the edges to take out the artefacts as previously discussed by John. Gets confusing  After stacking, cropping is the first procedure you should implement as it helps with any image post processing you will undertake.

Steve

[spillage]

Good images. Try dithering and make sure to include flats and bias frames.

[alacant]

24 minutes ago, JohnSadlerAstro said:

canvas streak pattern

Well done. Great shots.

Wondering whether a dither between the frames with a median or sigma stack would shift the camera streak noise?

Good luck with the A levels and clear skies.

[JohnSadlerAstro]

can you get PHD to dither for you?

[Whistlin Bob]

Lovely shots. They don't come prettier than the Pleiades....

[alacant]

1 minute ago, JohnSadlerAstro said:

can you get PHD to dither for you?

Yes. You can either send the dither request from an imaging app like APT or -not certain- you can use PHD2's stand alone dither app. HTH.

[JohnSadlerAstro]

Just now, alacant said:

Yes. You can either send the dither request from an imaging app like APT or -not certain- you can use PHD2's stand alone dither app. HTH.

Great, thanks. I use the progarammable shuttler release to actually take the images, the free DSLR control apps I found couldn't use BULB more on the camera coz its old and for some reason the drivers don't work or something. But I can put a delay between shots so that it all works ok..

[spillage]

If you are using a laptop or desktop for phd2 then give APT a shot.