The Veil Nebula / Cygnus Loop in HOO - first light for Askar FMA180 lens

[eshy76]

Hi everyone,

I managed to get some imaging time in the last week - a couple of partial nights, but enough to produce an image - hooray! This image also represents first light for my Askar FMA180 lens as well as the DeepSkyDad focusing solution. Both more or less performed well - nice to get the whole nebula in a single frame!

Due to some focuser setup issues, this was captured with NINA instead of the usual Voyager, using the ASI1600MM Pro camera and the Rainbow Astro RST-135 mount. 4 hours total integration time.

Full details here

Thank you for looking!

[nephilim]

Thats a very nice capture. I managed 4hrs on this on Thursday but had to bin around 10 subs (I got 73x180s in total) due to cloud coming in & out. I was also able to capture the full loop (Samyang 135ED f2 & ASI533MC-Pro) but will have to wait until later in the week to process it as theres a couple of nights looking clear (Tomorrow & Tuesday) so hopefully i'll get some more time on it.

 

Edited August 30, 2021 by nephilim

[eshy76]

2 minutes ago, nephilim said:

Thats a very nice capture. I managed 4hrs on this on Thursday but had to bin around 10 subs (I got 73x180s in total) due to cloud coming in & out. I was also able to capture the full loop (Samyang 135ED f2 & ASI533MC-Pro) but will have to wait until later in the week to process it as theres a couple of night looking clear (Tomorrow & Tuesday) so hopefully i'll get some more time on it.

Thank you! Yes - I also was "cloudwatching" during this capture, as well as babysitting the autofocus in case the V-curves failed. I must say I am enjoying the wider field of view compared to my usual 430mm focal length. I look forward to seeing your finished image - it looks like you're getting some solid integration time.

[nephilim]

9 minutes ago, eshy76 said:

Thank you! Yes - I also was "cloudwatching" during this capture, as well as babysitting the autofocus in case the V-curves failed. I must say I am enjoying the wider field of view compared to my usual 430mm focal length. I look forward to seeing your finished image - it looks like you're getting some solid integration time.

I'm hoping there are no more to throw out on closer inspection but I should still get some fairly good detail (Fingers crossed) I've just had a look at yours on Astrobin & it really is a cracking shot.
Friday was looking a little iffy so I had a quick go at the Crescent Nebula. The clouds suddenly parted & I managed 4hrs on that. Last night it was clear yet again & I was at a loss at which one to concentrate on. Due to not been 100% sure about my Cygnus Loop data I went back to the Crescent & got 4hrs 45mins, a nice total of nearly 9hrs. I'll have to make the same choice again tomorrow, i'm not used to having so many clear nights, my brain is starting to hurt 😂

And yes, widefield shots are very nice for capturing those big targets rather than having to do mosaics.

Steve

Edited August 30, 2021 by nephilim

[eshy76]

8 hours ago, nephilim said:

I'm hoping there are no more to throw out on closer inspection but I should still get some fairly good detail (Fingers crossed) I've just had a look at yours on Astrobin & it really is a cracking shot.
Friday was looking a little iffy so I had a quick go at the Crescent Nebula. The clouds suddenly parted & I managed 4hrs on that. Last night it was clear yet again & I was at a loss at which one to concentrate on. Due to not been 100% sure about my Cygnus Loop data I went back to the Crescent & got 4hrs 45mins, a nice total of nearly 9hrs. I'll have to make the same choice again tomorrow, i'm not used to having so many clear nights, my brain is starting to hurt 😂

And yes, widefield shots are very nice for capturing those big targets rather than having to do mosaics.

Steve

For me, the Veil disappeared behind my trees at about 1am, so I managed to get 10 subs in on the Heart and Soul nebulae...only Ha though, maybe I'll stack those and post it anyway...the subs were dramatic! 

I also captured 3 subs of the Sadr region on the second night before the clouds kibboshed the fun...alas the weather's looking glum over here for the next week at least, so I'll settle for the Veil as a finished image. The Askar lens is a keeper!

[Adam J]

22 hours ago, eshy76 said:

Hi everyone,

I managed to get some imaging time in the last week - a couple of partial nights, but enough to produce an image - hooray! This image also represents first light for my Askar FMA180 lens as well as the DeepSkyDad focusing solution. Both more or less performed well - nice to get the whole nebula in a single frame!

Due to some focuser setup issues, this was captured with NINA instead of the usual Voyager, using the ASI1600MM Pro camera and the Rainbow Astro RST-135 mount. 4 hours total integration time.

Full details here

Thank you for looking!

Very nice, great corners, what spacing are you using please?

[eshy76]

1 hour ago, Adam J said:

Very nice, great corners, what spacing are you using please?

Hi there - I used 56mm spacing overall. The lens (with reducer) requires 55mm backfocus and I added 1mm to account for the Astrodon filters.

I think the imaging train was camera 6.5mm + ZWO filter wheel 20mm + M42 male spacer 2mm + 11mm spacer + 16.5mm spacer = 56mm

I hope that helps.

 

[glafnazur]

That's very nice,  lovely colour and detail 👍

[Len1257]

On 30/08/2021 at 00:47, eshy76 said:

Both more or less performed well

Would you care to elaborate on this as this is a combination I am currently eyeing up?

Goes without saying you have captured a brilliant image too!

Edited August 31, 2021 by Len1257
image comment!

[eshy76]

4 hours ago, glafnazur said:

That's very nice,  lovely colour and detail 👍

Thank you!

[eshy76]

3 hours ago, Len1257 said:

Would you care to elaborate on this as this is a combination I am currently eyeing up?

Goes without saying you have captured a brilliant image too!

Thank you! Yes that was a late-night vague comment...to be specific the Askar lens was perfect - I am very happy with this result and the number of adapters included in the box made it a doddle to set up and use. I usually have to fiddle with backspacing with new scopes and lenses, but this one looks good straight away when following the recommended spec.

My issues came with the focuser and my capture software not getting on first time out - the unit itself seems well made and fits well onto the lens. However, my capture program of choice, Voyager, just couldn't get an initial v-curve during the setup. It could obviously be the software, the focuser or both...but more likely user error - I'm thinking I have not configured Voyager correctly for this to work. So I lost a couple of hours trying to get that to work to no avail.

Luckily NINA autofocused straight off the bat and that led to the image you see above. There were still a couple of times where the v-curves failed, but mostly autofocusing on changing filters worked fine. When it went wrong, what would happen is that the autofocus readings would keep going in one direction to the point where the focus star/stars would be so defocused that they would disappear, and then the software would get confused and the autofocus failed - that happened every time in Voyager, but maybe 1 in 20 times with NINA.

The DSD focuser is clearly capable of focusing this lens, so maybe it's just teething troubles. I think I have to tweak something like step size or maximum/minimum limits in the ASCOM setup to eliminate the issues. 

I hope this helps.

[Len1257]

Yep, Many Thanks for that!