The ZWO462mc Surprised for DSO imaging.

[Chris]

I intended to take some wide field shots of the Cygnus region but there were the usual skyline obstacles to deal with. I settled for a quick grab of M57 with the ZWO462mc planetary camera and was glad I did! I was pleasantly surprised by how much detail I managed to get in the short space of time before my laptop died. I think I'll try some more DSO's with this little camera...and perhaps a full laptop battery next time!

 

 

[happy-kat]

I'll watch that, )I've still not used mine in any real purpose yet).

[Chris]

52 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

I'll watch that, )I've still not used mine in any real purpose yet).

 Well it seems to do a fab job on small bright DSO's, I just need to test it on some more challenging targets with proper integration time. I'm looking forward to that   

[happy-kat]

Noise isn't too had at 30 seconds I haven't tried longer. 

I assume you tried that target with an ir block and with your pro planet filter judging by the video title image.

[Chris]

1 hour ago, happy-kat said:

Noise isn't too had at 30 seconds

That's re-assuring I've not tried that long yet.

 

1 hour ago, happy-kat said:

I assume you tried that target with an ir block and with your pro planet filter judging by the video title image.

 Obsolutely no filters, darks etc as I was testing out the camera in it's raw state, kind of like a control. I did want to try with the Pro planet filter, I had it out ready, but my laptop ran out of juice and my bed was calling me so I called it quits for the night. Next time I'll try the Pro planet : )

EDIT: I did spend quite a lot of time processing in GIMP which I think helped a lot. 

Edited June 5, 2021 by Chris

[AstroAndy]

Hi Chris

these ZWO cams. are quite something, aren't they. Even though they're finnicky (they want their own powered hubs), I quite like mine (an ASI294mm pro, and an ASI 120 s). We seem to use them oppositely, lol, you use yours for DSOs, and I use my 294 as an op guidecam (due to the long focal length of my C11, it's hard to focus with small sensors, especially in PHD).

Andy

[Chris]

7 minutes ago, AstroAndy said:

Hi Chris

these ZWO cams. are quite something, aren't they. Even though they're finnicky (they want their own powered hubs), I quite like mine (an ASI294mm pro, and an ASI 120 s). We seem to use them oppositely, lol, you use yours for DSOs, and I use my 294 as an op guidecam (due to the long focal length of my C11, it's hard to focus with small sensors, especially in PHD).

Andy

Hi Andy, you're not wrong, I had the Altair version of the 294 for a little while and ended up using it for planetary and lunar more often and not hehe. I keep winking at the 533mc but I quite like the idea of seeing what I can get out of the 462mc first

Ah that's an interesting point, kind of makes sense you would need a larger sensor when guiding at long focal lengths. That's one serious guide can still, do you mean off axis guide cam? in which case it must be a tight squeeze with the optical train with that big a camera body?        

[AstroAndy]

Yup, an OAG; I have not found that, though, I have a generous amount of space, There's a 146mm backfocus distance, so no tight squeeze.

And all I have to do if I want to use the 294 (a powerful thing, I obviously use it as more than a guide cam), just take it out and use it with another combination (such as a lens for widefield, or on another scope).

 

[Chris]

16 minutes ago, AstroAndy said:

Yup, an OAG; I have not found that, though, I have a generous amount of space, There's a 146mm backfocus distance, so no tight squeeze.

And all I have to do if I want to use the 294 (a powerful thing, I obviously use it as more than a guide cam), just take it out and use it with another combination (such as a lens for widefield, or on another scope).

 

I tested out an 8RC in the obsy and it looked quite comical with all the spacers off the back to reach the required back focus. It was begging for an OAG, filter wheel etc just to fill in the space, so I really should have known this! Especially as I've owned a number of SCT's in the past lol

 The RC was a nice scope with a really flat field, but just a bit too much focal length for someone who often doesn't bother with goto net alone guiding. This will probably all change when I get an ASI Air pro as everything will be really convenient on one device. It just seems like too much of a faff getting the ASI Air to work with the EXOS2 PMC8 compared to other mounts from what I've read. I've got my eye on an ioptron mount.     

[AstroAndy]

Sadly, I'm a travelling astronomer, However, I got my OAG assembly just right, so it rides in a box, everything is  on there, all I need to do is connect it up to the scope, refocus a bit, and I'm off. I hear good things about iOptron mounts, in fact, I considered one for a while (the 100, was it, or 120?).

 

[Chris]

Sounds good. With regards to the iOptron, they do a CEM70, then it jumps to the CEM120, so I bet it was the latter you were considering. iOptron just seem like a company that strives to keep on improving and their build quality now days looks good. I reviewed their Skyguider Pro and it was like a posh Star Adventurer. I was really impressed with it's low periodic error and build quality. The EQ8 you have must be very nice too I should imagine.