Cave Nebula - ED80 and 180ED

[tooth_dr]

I was planning on shooting this again tonight, I wasnt sure if last nights data was any good because I developed an extra diffraction spike through the session.

This is it here:

ED80 R/G/B: 3300/2700/3000s

180ED LUM: 7560s

Total time: 4.6 hours

SGPro/APP/PS

 

Thank for looking

Adam.

 

 

[Xiga]

I'm loving the stars in this one Adam, really nice. 

One idea - have you thought about putting the Nikon onto the Tak? Seeing as the diffraction spike means you can't shoot it again, why not try out the Nikon and see how it's data compares? 

If it holds up close enough to the 383l+ data, then you could just stick with the Nikon on the Tak, that would be your Lum and Colour sorted without any re-focusing faff, and it could also free up the 80ED to shoot some Ha at the same time. 

[peter shah]

I love your colour balance in this, I found similar pink tones when I did this one

[Allinthehead]

Very nice Adam, I think Ciaran is on to something with his suggestion, fast scopes love a colour cam. 

[astro mick]

Another nice one Adam,nice balance as well.

Mick.

[tooth_dr]

Thanks guys. I plan to put the D800E onto the Tak this afternoon and try it out tonight. I’ve got a Tak to Nikon adapter now so spacing should be correct.

I would not say I’m unhappy but I’m not quite getting the results I had hoped for.  I can’t quite say what it is though. 

Edited September 19, 2020 by tooth_dr

[Allinthehead]

3 hours ago, tooth_dr said:

I would not say I’m unhappy but I’m not quite getting the results I had hoped for.  I can’t quite say what it is though. 

Is your lum from the Tak overpowering the colour from the 80ed I wonder?

As an aside, how have you found the Epsilon to handle? Any issues with collimation?

[tooth_dr]

1 minute ago, Allinthehead said:

Is your lum from the Tak overpowering the colour from the 80ed I wonder?

As an aside, how have you found the Epsilon to handle? Any issues with collimation?

More so the images from the Tak, stars are larger than I like, for example. I believe it’s pretty well collimated but again hard to know as I’ve nothing to go on for reference. I do use the Tak collimating tool which some say is good and others say not adequate enough.

I swapped over cameras an hour ago and have my D800E ready to go for later.  This FF camera will show just how well the scope is collimated  

 

[Allinthehead]

How do your flats look? When mine is collimated perfectly the vignetting is centered on the sensor.

 

[tooth_dr]

24 minutes ago, Allinthehead said:

How do your flats look? When mine is collimated perfectly the vignetting is centered on the sensor.

 

This is a sample flat taken with the current setup and a lum filter:

 

[Allinthehead]

I'm not an expert by any means and my only experience collimating newts is with the Epsilon, but that looks like collimation is off. I would expect symmetry in the flat were as you have darks areas at the bottom and not at the top. Please get another opinion with this i'd hate to lead you down the wrong path. 

[tooth_dr]

7 minutes ago, Allinthehead said:

I'm not an expert by any means and my only experience collimating newts is with the Epsilon, but that looks like collimation is off. I would expect symmetry in the flat were as you have darks areas at the bottom and not at the top. Please get another opinion with this i'd hate to lead you down the wrong path. 

There arent many folks with the Epsilons so it's hard to get a lot of advice!  It does make sense to have it centered.  My experience of other scopes has been that flats arent always centered.  This is my ED80 for example:

[andrew s]

Judging collimation by flats is not that accurate. Unless you are very careful it may be the flat source is not perfectly aligned with the optic axis.

Try CCD Inspector or similar on your images. It has a free trial.

Regards Andrew 

[Allinthehead]

@mftoetand @sharkmelleyboth use an Epsilon, maybe they could share their thoughts.

[tooth_dr]

10 minutes ago, Allinthehead said:

@mftoetand @sharkmelleyboth use an Epsilon, maybe they could share their thoughts.

Thanks Richard.

You can see from this sub a couple of nights ago that the stars look elongated on the right side.

 

[Allinthehead]

Yes, I see a bulge on the right side of the stars too all across the frame and the stars at the edges are quite fuzzy too. I'd be very interested to see how your Nikon performs tonight. 

[tooth_dr]

2 hours ago, Allinthehead said:

Yes, I see a bulge on the right side of the stars too all across the frame and the stars at the edges are quite fuzzy too. I'd be very interested to see how your Nikon performs tonight. 

I am not sure if it's better, but I'll post the results tomorrow.  Certainly I have a large FOV now though

 

[Allinthehead]

How did you go last night? My forecast was for clouds but it cleared around 22:00 and remained clear all night. It usually goes the other way so I reckon I was due. Clear again here tonight hopefully. 

[tooth_dr]

43 minutes ago, Allinthehead said:

How did you go last night? My forecast was for clouds but it cleared around 22:00 and remained clear all night. It usually goes the other way so I reckon I was due. Clear again here tonight hopefully. 

I don’t think I was focused in properly. Im grabbing a few frames now and I think they look better. I Will post tomorrow. Not looking good for tonight though, very hazy but Just wanted to give the camera another run. Good luck yourself. 

[Allinthehead]

4 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

I don’t think I was focused in properly

That's a pity. Amazing clear sky in Cork tonight, maybe too still, I hope I don't get fog. Just gathering subs now on my favorite star forming region. 

https://meteoradar.co.uk/infrared-satellite-UK-Ireland Not looking great for you up North.

[tooth_dr]

40 minutes ago, Allinthehead said:

That's a pity. Amazing clear sky in Cork tonight, maybe too still, I hope I don't get fog. Just gathering subs now on my favorite star forming region. 

https://meteoradar.co.uk/infrared-satellite-UK-Ireland Not looking great for you up North.

I focused on the diffraction spikes last night, but tonight i checked with a bhatinov mask.  The two things dont correspond.  The image below is deneb when in focus with a mask.  What does this indicate?  Collimation?  Good luck for later

 

 

Edited September 20, 2020 by tooth_dr

[Allinthehead]

Where in the frame was Deneb when you focused? I slew to a bright star near my target when focusing, I also center that bright star. You should however have focused stars across the frame so something is up. It could be collimation or tilt. Are you using the stock focuser?

[tooth_dr]

3 minutes ago, Allinthehead said:

Where in the frame was Deneb when you focused? I slew to a bright star near my target when focusing, I also center that bright star. You should however have focused stars across the frame so something is up. It could be collimation or tilt. Are you using the stock focuser?

I've tried focusing in dead centre and at 1/3 across the frame - when the stars are smallest according to APT analysis, and also the cross is aligned on the Bahtinov mask, the diffraction spikes dont align.  I'm using a 2.5" moonlite focuser but also have the stock focuser.  It's certainly in my eyes a collimation issue from reading around the topic.  I might need to buy a Catseye collimator.

Edited September 20, 2020 by tooth_dr

[Allinthehead]

1 minute ago, tooth_dr said:

I've tried focusing in dead centre and at 1/3 across the frame - when the stars are smallest according to APT analysis, and also the cross is aligned on the Bahtinov mask, the diffraction spikes dont align.  I'm using a 2.5" moonlite focuser but also have the stock focuser.  It's certainly in my eyes a collimation issue.  I might need to buy a Catseye collimator.

You mentioned before you have the Tak tools, I find these are essential to collimate properly. Have you tried it with the stock focuser?

[tooth_dr]

5 minutes ago, Allinthehead said:

You mentioned before you have the Tak tools, I find these are essential to collimate properly. Have you tried it with the stock focuser?

I havent tried the stock focuser, but I didnt want to start taking it apart and making it worse tbh.  It may well be that it is better and adequate.  I also have the microfocuser for it too.  I think I'll try collimating it again using the Tak tools and then see how that goes.