Bubble in the TEC140.

[alan4908]

This is very impressive, I particularly like the bubble NB detail and the RGB star colours.

Alan 

[Singlin]

One of the best Bubble images I have ever seen.

 

[DaveS]

That's brilliant Olly.

Do you think the current versions of the Astronomik filters would be usable? Not sure I could justify a set of 2" Astrodons, desirable though they be.

Off to do some arithmetic to see if I can justify a TEC160 .

[gorann]

48 minutes ago, DaveS said:

That's brilliant Olly.

Do you think the current versions of the Astronomik filters would be usable? Not sure I could justify a set of 2" Astrodons, desirable though they be.

Off to do some arithmetic to see if I can justify a TEC160 .

I see that Baader now make 3.5 nm Ha filters (much cheaper than Astrodon). Has anyone tested them?

[wimvb]

3 hours ago, gorann said:

I see that Baader now make 3.5 nm Ha filters (much cheaper than Astrodon). Has anyone tested them?

I believe Astrodon has. At least they refer to 3.5 nm filters on their website. No names. ?

https://astrodon.com/products/astrodon-narrowband-filters/

 

[Barry-Wilson]

Well done Olly, all comments richly deserved - sumptuous and colourful Bubble with well-resolved detail.  Top notch ?.

[ollypenrice]

8 hours ago, DaveS said:

That's brilliant Olly.

Do you think the current versions of the Astronomik filters would be usable? Not sure I could justify a set of 2" Astrodons, desirable though they be.

Off to do some arithmetic to see if I can justify a TEC160 .

Thanks.

I haven't tried them, Dave, but although this filter is old I did buy one new and then have this sent as a replacement. This, and the trashy monofilament snappable wires on their Aurora panels, have not inclined me to give Astronomik any more of my money so I won't be trying them. For all that, they might be excellent. Erm, I really think that the whole point of the TEC160 is that it cannot be justified: you just have to buy it!

3 hours ago, wimvb said:

I believe Astrodon has. At least they refer to 3.5 nm filters on their website. No names. ?

https://astrodon.com/products/astrodon-narrowband-filters/

 

I always find public infighting between suppliers unwholesome and take no notice of it whatever. My experience of Astrodon filters is 100% positive bar the cost. My experience of Baader is that they make remarkably good stuff affordable - but the OIII filter of theirs which I have is halo-prone and not very good, though better than the old Astronomik. If either of these suppliers wanted to belly-ache at me for saying this about old filters they must feel free to send me my old money back. Enough is sometimes enough. I just bought a new 500cc motorcycle for the price of five two inch filters.

Because I'm adding my OIII to green and blue in ways I understand, I can cut out the dreadful halo artefacts with a bit of Photoshoppery. If I were a narrowband imager making false colour images this would be impossible and I would grit my teeth and buy Astrodons all round. Not a glimmer of a doubt about that.

I suppose it could be worse. What do you suppose this variable NB filter, built in Marseille's astrophysics institute and destined for the VLT, might cost? And would a Feathertouch carry it???

?lly

[DaveS]

I too find the suppliers' comparisons disengenuous to say the least, and you'd need too many pinches of salt to be healthy.

More arithmatic to do, though I can save more money by not buying a 16200 camera, meaning I can stay with my 1 1/4" filters and SX694 camera.

Really want another mount. Damn ASA for discontinuing the DDM60. The DDM85 is nearly £12k .

[ollypenrice]

4 minutes ago, DaveS said:

I too find the suppliers' comparisons disengenuous to say the least, and you'd need too many pinches of salt to be healthy.

More arithmatic to do, though I can save more money by not buying a 16200 camera, meaning I can stay with my 1 1/4" filters and SX694 camera.

Really want another mount. Damn ASA for discontinuing the DDM60. The DDM85 is nearly £12k .

Just buy a Mesu. The thing that sets the Mesu apart is that it works. It took ASA ten years to get anywhere near this claim. (Lots of early adopters live near me.) There are four Mesus here (my pair both bought second hand) and another arrives on Monday, making three robotic ones. Being a cave man I like the old handset ones with ArgoNavis and Stellarcat because all the Windows updates in the world cannot get me. I'm internet free. I have no commercial connections with Lucas Mesu of any kind but if ever that changed I would declare it immediately.

Olly

[steppenwolf]

On 10/07/2018 at 14:06, ollypenrice said:

For comparison, here's the RGB-only. I don't process this layer very far because it's only a vehicle for the NB really.

That's an interesting comparison, albeit not with a fully processed RGB image in its own right. The contribution of the narrowband filtration is crystal clear to see.

[ollypenrice]

2 hours ago, Barry-Wilson said:

Well done Olly, all comments richly deserved - sumptuous and colourful Bubble with well-resolved detail.  Top notch ?.

Thanks Barry. I'm not really a 'high res and small detail' specialist. This target has your name on it, methinks.

Olly

[DaveS]

A Mesu was on my very short list, and I'm very well aware of its proven track record. I just love the lack of guide cam problems with encoder guiding. Making sky models is a doddle with autopoint in Sequence.

[ollypenrice]

2 minutes ago, steppenwolf said:

That's an interesting comparison, albeit not with a fully processed RGB image in its own right. The contribution of the narrowband filtration is crystal clear to see.

That's the RGB layer as I used it, Steve. I wanted to keep the stars as small as possible and the colour noise down. 

A curious thing about this camera is that the RGB layer suffers less from random overly dark background sky pixels than the Luminance layer which gets more signal per unit time. I can't understand this.

Olly

[ollypenrice]

1 minute ago, DaveS said:

A Mesu was on my very short list, and I'm very well aware of its proven track record. I just love the lack of guide cam problems with encoder guiding. Making sky models is a doddle with autopoint in Sequence.

I have spent some time observing this 'doddle' amongst my robotic guests. I used guide cameras... Like most doddles, it doddles when it doddles! You know how kids will spend longer getting out of doing their homework than doing their homework would take? Well now....

?lly

 

[DaveS]

Yes, I take your point, though I only do a new model if I make a major alteration to the optics. The local model that ASA mounts do takes less time than for PHD to calibrate. I regularly see RMS errors in the 0.1-0.2" over a 2 hour run.

The only finniky bit is the balance which needs to be spot on for all axes.

[wimvb]

3 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

I suppose it could be worse. What do you suppose this variable NB filter, built in Marseille's astrophysics institute and destined for the VLT, might cost? And would a Feathertouch carry it???

More than a few 500cc bikes, that's for sure. Or a good supply of Astrodons. It's no idea trying to fix it to a Feather Touch though, they only make focusers up to 3.5 inch, afaIk. The VLT instruments are a bit larger than that:

https://www.eso.org/public/sweden/images/eso_hawk-i_ccd-mosaic-5773/

[vdb]

10 hours ago, DaveS said:

A Mesu was on my very short list, and I'm very well aware of its proven track record. I just love the lack of guide cam problems with encoder guiding. Making sky models is a doddle with autopoint in Sequence.

You can order the Mesu with high res encoders, no guiding needed.

There is also a new kid on the friction drive block by :

https://www.jtwastronomy.com/products/mounts/ogem

 

But really just guide the mesu, it's cheap and works 100% reliable ... done it with now Olly's mount and now with the remote, guiding never failed in the last 5 years ...

 

So little data and such a great image!

 

/Yves

 

[Petergoodhew]

I beautiful Bubble Olly. Amazing detail and clarity. As you know I like combining the crispness of NB with the natural colour of RGB.  What did you do for luminance? Or did you just add the NB to the RGB channels?

[ollypenrice]

On 30/07/2018 at 12:30, Petergoodhew said:

I beautiful Bubble Olly. Amazing detail and clarity. As you know I like combining the crispness of NB with the natural colour of RGB.  What did you do for luminance? Or did you just add the NB to the RGB channels?

Bit slow to see this. Sorry Peter. Essentially I built this up without luminance because, after all, every channel contains NB data. However, in this case there is hardly any fine detail carried by the OIII. I usually try the Ha as luminance at very low opacity so I think I'll have done so here, too. I rarely exceed 15% opacity and pay particular attention to any signs of reds turning pink. I also look out for blue haloes appearing round hot stars.

Olly