IC 1848 The Soul Nebula

[AndyThilo]

First image with new darks and colour filter on my flat panel. Nerve wracking as I was running it all through WBPP but it worked out great. New calibration files have zero gradient, amp glow and reduced noise. Certainly a target I'd like to get more time on.

31 x 240s Lights @ 120 gain -20C

40 x Darks

40 x Flats 3s @ ADU 25000

40 x Dark Flats

L-Enhance 2" Duo Band Filter

Processed in Pinsight with final tweaks in Photoshop and framing/export in Lightroom

IC 1848 The Soul Nebula by Andy Thilo, on Flickr

 

[AndyThilo]

Unfortunately I STILL have an issue with my Esprit 80. Going to speak to Skywatcher and see what their opinion is. This is my 3rd, and the best of the 3, but bright stars still have collimation issues.

[geeklee]

4 hours ago, AndyThilo said:

First image with new darks and colour filter on my flat panel. Nerve wracking as I was running it all through WBPP but it worked out great. New calibration files have zero gradient, amp glow and reduced noise. Certainly a target I'd like to get more time on.

Lovely Andy, some great detail in there for the integration time.

Edited January 30, 2020 by geeklee

[Adam J]

4 hours ago, AndyThilo said:

Unfortunately I STILL have an issue with my Esprit 80. Going to speak to Skywatcher and see what their opinion is. This is my 3rd, and the best of the 3, but bright stars still have collimation issues.

Cant access flicker from work but if that is true it is very hard to believe, it would imply that they have issues with production at the moment. Mind you it only takes one new worker not putting lens cells together correctly....I had to send a Esprit 100 back recently due to what looked like pinched optics. If you can post a jpg here then I will take a look. Might be interesting to see a comparison side by side between the three to see if there are any common features that might indicate an issue with the rest of your imaging train. 

Adam

[Adam1234]

Lovely image

[AndyThilo]

5 hours ago, geeklee said:

Lovely Andy, some great detail in there for the integration time.

Thanks Lee

[AndyThilo]

3 hours ago, Adam J said:

Cant access flicker from work but if that is true it is very hard to believe, it would imply that they have issues with production at the moment. Mind you it only takes one new worker not putting lens cells together correctly....I had to send a Esprit 100 back recently due to what looked like pinched optics. If you can post a jpg here then I will take a look. Might be interesting to see a comparison side by side between the three to see if there are any common features that might indicate an issue with the rest of your imaging train. 

Adam

I know, crazy isn't it. This is the best of the 3 I've had lol. Spoken to Es and he's going to stick it in his fridge and start tweaking the collimation screws. He had me do some tests to eliminate the rest of my imaging train but this 3rd one had a new flattener as well. I'm sure he'll fix it for me. 

Here's the 1st scope:

2

 

2nd scope (directly replaced by OVL)

 

3rd Scope from FLO with the £75 optics test

 

Personally and he agrees, there's a manufacturing issue. Either that or their setup in the factory when it's roasting hot, and as soon as it comes to a colder country, issues start. I even spent out on a double length dew heater (and it gets quite warm wrapped round twice, and still an issue). That 3rd image is from my Soul Nebula photo and it's not even a super bright star.

 

[Adam J]

40 minutes ago, AndyThilo said:

I know, crazy isn't it. This is the best of the 3 I've had lol. Spoken to Es and he's going to stick it in his fridge and start tweaking the collimation screws. He had me do some tests to eliminate the rest of my imaging train but this 3rd one had a new flattener as well. I'm sure he'll fix it for me. 

Here's the 1st scope:

2

 

2nd scope (directly replaced by OVL)

 

3rd Scope from FLO with the £75 optics test

 

Personally and he agrees, there's a manufacturing issue. Either that or their setup in the factory when it's roasting hot, and as soon as it comes to a colder country, issues start. I even spent out on a double length dew heater (and it gets quite warm wrapped round twice, and still an issue). That 3rd image is from my Soul Nebula photo and it's not even a super bright star.

 

Have you done a test to rotate the camera and ensure that those gaps in the halo do not rotate with the camera? Just very odd that its been so similar in three scopes. 

Odd thing is that its winter in china right now so would have thought that the factory cant be that hot.

You really should not have to use a dew heater to prevent pinched optics.

I suppose the worse case is that its a component out of tolerance in the lens cell as opposed to the adjustment screws, that would be very difficult to rectify. 

I would say that this may be a batch issue SW may not realise that there is a potential problem and it needs to be fed back to them via the retailers. I have seen this on a couple of other first light images recently on astrobin. 

Edited January 30, 2020 by Adam J

[AndyThilo]

I did the rotation test and Es agreed it was an optics issue. They are similar but not the same. The 1st one was awful with massive halos. This 3rd one is the best but still not right. He had a Esprit 100 in his fridge when I collected the 3rd one, said he had to loosen all the screws to stop the issues. Guess I'll see what happens when he puts mine in his fridge and tests it. 

[Adam J]

13 minutes ago, AndyThilo said:

I did the rotation test and Es agreed it was an optics issue. They are similar but not the same. The 1st one was awful with massive halos. This 3rd one is the best but still not right. He had a Esprit 100 in his fridge when I collected the 3rd one, said he had to loosen all the screws to stop the issues. Guess I'll see what happens when he puts mine in his fridge and tests it. 

I am willing to bet that was my old Esprit 100 that I exchanged with FLO, if so in some way its good to know that I was not just imagining it. 

[AndyThilo]

Could have been, I picked mine up on the 18th. 

[AndyThilo]

Well it's now in the capable hands of Es. Had a nice chat with him and cup of tea this morning :). Fingers crossed he can work his magic on it, otherwise it'll be going back and i'll have to decide what non-SW scope replaces it.

[Adam J]

2 hours ago, AndyThilo said:

Well it's now in the capable hands of Es. Had a nice chat with him and cup of tea this morning :). Fingers crossed he can work his magic on it, otherwise it'll be going back and i'll have to decide what non-SW scope replaces it.

You could always try the New FLO branded scopes if it does not work out for you, but really I would think it will be ok in the end. 

[AndyThilo]

Yeah it’s an option although more expensive, GT81 is another option. Hopefully Es can fix it, it’s such a good scope apart from this, star field is pin point corner to corner. 
 

[MartinFransson]

That´s a really nice Soul Nebula but man what a pain to have all those issues with the scope... having wrestled with some technical issues myself I can relate.

[AndyThilo]

Thanks. Yeah it’s a real pain and Sod’s law now I don’t have my scope, clear skies 😂. Hopefully it’ll be worth the wait

[MartinB]

Cracking image despite the optical issues.

[AndyThilo]

Thanks Martin 😊