First light with Evoguide 50ed (+EvoFF)

[tompato]

As the post title suggests, these are the results from the first clear night I have had with the Evoguide 50ed with the Starizona EvoFF V2 field Flattener. I just did an hour's worth of data on Andromeda and Pleiades.

I forgot to use my new light pollution filter with the Andromeda photos and it meant I had to refocus for the Pleiades which also meant my flats I took the next day could only be used with the Pleiades but I think it came out okay anyway.

Andromeda - ISO 800, 40 x 90secs, 20 darks and bias frames, stacked in DSS, processed in GIMP.

Pleiades - ISO 800, 40 x 90secs, 20 dark, flat and bias frames, Svbony UHC clip in filter, stacked in DSS, processed in GIMP.

I don't think my Skyguider unguided at 242mm focal length can really manage 90 secs with my alignment anyway. I think in future I'll go back to 60 second photos, as I did get some oval shape stars in these.

But I do think it shows how the Evoguide 50ed with the EvoFF field Flattener is a capable little budget setup.

[AstroMuni]

Lovely images. Cant imagine that such a small 'guidescope' can deliver such beautiful images.

[happy-kat]

Andromeda has great stars right to the corners, lovely

Edited January 15, 2022 by happy-kat

[AstroMuni]

@tompato when I do a histogram on your image you can see this ring around it. Perhaps someone with more experience on the causes can explain the fix for this. Hope this helps.

BTW, I used Siril to view this.

Edited April 6, 2022 by AstroMuni

[tompato]

On 06/04/2022 at 12:42, AstroMuni said:

@tompato when I do a histogram on your image you can see this ring around it. Perhaps someone with more experience on the causes can explain the fix for this. Hope this helps.

BTW, I used Siril to view this.

Yeah you can see it visually on the image as well just about - I think it might have something to do with having a gradient on the background and I used some of Siril's tool to flatten the background gradient and then I combined that with a lot of stretching. There was some vignetting on the original non stacked frames when stretched in each corner and the background gradient removal seems to have kinda inverted this.

I'm not really that experienced yet and on more recent imaging sessions I grabbed flat frames so that might help alleviate the issue.

I've attached a couple more images I've taken with this setup, but I don't have the details immediately to hand on what settings etc I used but I'll update the post when I find my notes. I hope this shows what this little guidescope is capable of with even my basic skills.

Each image was taken with the Evoguide 50ed, EvoFF v2, Canon 600d (Unmodified), Skyguider Pro, Innorel LT364C Tripod.

 

Rosetta Nebula (Caldwell 49) - 1 hour - 61 Light (60 secs, ISO 800), 30 Dark, 32 Flat, 32 Dark Flat, 20 Bias.

Flame (NGC 2024) & Horsehead Nebula in Orion - 1 Hour - 61 Light (60 secs, ISO 800), 30 Dark, 20 Bias

Orion Nebula (Messier 42) - 39 mins - 39 Light (60 secs, ISO 800), 30 Dark, 20 Bias

Edit - added the details for each image, there's not too many frames but it shows you what the scope can do even with a small mount of total integration time.

Edited April 12, 2022 by tompato
Added details on image frames etc

[Ratlet]

On 06/04/2022 at 12:42, AstroMuni said:

@tompato when I do a histogram on your image you can see this ring around it. Perhaps someone with more experience on the causes can explain the fix for this. Hope this helps.

BTW, I used Siril to view this.

Funnily enough, I saw a similar thing on Nebula Pohotos recent video on untracked imaging on Orion.

It looked like when he did the background extraction/callibration that he accidentally left some of the calibration squares (green boxes) on the nebulosity.  Siril then output an image with a very similar circular phenomenon.

[LaurenceT]

Fantastic images, I've yet to use my 50ED having had some problems with getting everything on the mount and messing up a 3D printed bracket, replacement should come today. I'd love to see a photo of your setup. What camera do you use?

[AstroMuni]

10 hours ago, tompato said:

I'm not really that experienced yet and on more recent imaging sessions I grabbed flat frames so that might help alleviate the issue.

The images are awesome and I love them. I recall reading on this forum that the rings can be caused by field flattner. But as I said before I am no expert and I dont use a flattner hence defer to the experts 🙏

[vineyard]

Those are gorgeous - esp the Rosette & if that's without a field flattener that must be at least a 2/3 crop?  The SW flattener plays well w the Evo50.  I did used to get weird stacking artefacts when using DSS on my Evo50 images, but APP was better.

EDIT: my bad I got mixed up between the OP's images (which are w the EvoFF) and another poster's comment on not using a flattener.  Lovely images @tompato!

Edited April 8, 2022 by vineyard

[tompato]

I have added the frame details and exact kit I used to the above post if it is of any interest to people. I'm going to hopefully get some time to do some more frames soon once I figure out what my next target will be.

I also had a look at individual frames and stretched them to see if I could see the ring and I couldn't, so I think that might be self inflicted somewhere along the image processing that I carried out.

Edited April 12, 2022 by tompato