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M51... Not inthe big boys leauge...

Psychobilly

By Psychobilly
in Imaging - Deep Sky

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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But my best M51 to Date...

Modified 350D on CPC800XLT @ f6.3 Astronomik CLS-CCD Filter Guided DSI IIC on 500mm f8 lens

43x300s (ISO800) 30 Darks 25 Bias 40 Flats

Fulll Frame

[ATTACH]20232[/ATTACH]

Crop Before Resizing...

[ATTACH]20233[/ATTACH]

Widefield from 1000D Meg72 FFII to come once its been stacked...

45x300s ISO800 30 Darks 29 Bias 40 Flats

[ATTACH]20234[/ATTACH]

Billy....

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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Thanks peeps ...

I need to sort out the collimation with the 8" I think.. I know its out.. I'm tempted to collimate with the DSLR in place wonder if I can collimate using the 1000D and liveview... hmmmm

I Actually got 3 hours kip this morning :)

Billy...

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MartinB

MartinB

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You can collimate like that Billy but I reckon you are better off collimating at very high power - x1000 with barlows and EPs. You could use a camera but by the time you have cranked up the mag sufficiently with barlows I would be getting worried about flexion issues. You obviously need good seeing. I actually use an artificial star and do it during the day. Not then weather dependent and you can have the scope at a comfortable viewing angle. The only problem is that you need a 30+metres between scope and star, I am lucky and can get 50m. I have checked artificial star collimation with real stars in good seeing and the results are very good

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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I've not done a wide-field of that one Peter, and it does look nice in your image.

I guess the Magenta colour cast, is down to the CLS filter ?

You could easily balance that out in P/shop.

Dave

Probably Dave - to tell the truth my eyes are like "p-holes" in the snow so the subtle stuff can wait till the next cloudy rainy spell.... its all about getting new data at the moment...

Thanks for the concern Ron... only a few more days of this by the looks of things... I have stripped cleaned, re-lubed the drives on CPC and cleaned the friction clutches..this morning as well....no peace for the wicked and I am a bad bad boy :)

Billy....

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Tim

Tim

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Peter, great result from the dslr.

The widefield in particular is excellent, great colour and really shows M51 in its glory.

To get that from the skies last night AND a dslr is a real achievement, great stuff, the hard work is really paying off.

TJ

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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Cheers TJ...

Seeing as I have NA Neb fever at the moment the 8" "only" has the modded 350D mounted up on it... I want to get some very early season Ha hovered up by the 1000D and it looks like its going to be a very useful tool... The galaxies and clusters aren't coming out too bad with the 350D though and the 1000D is doing a very good job on the simultaneous widefields...

I serviced the CPC800 today and its running so much more smoothly tonight I also modded the counterbalance rail and have got the overloaded setup better balanced so its all helping I think...

I still think the 8" needs re-collimating with the DSLR's on the rear port though ...

Billy....

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Tim

Tim

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Your collimation has to be excellent to get any decent result from the SCT's. Like Martin, I find it much easier to use an artificial star in daylight. I use a tiny pin ***** through tin foil over a mini maglight about 50m away, it means you aren't affected by seeing and can take your time to use micro adjustments.

The darks on the 350 images dont seem to be quite doing their job on the amp glow. If you cant get them to work, then usually the amp glow has a colour all of its own, and you can select that colour and use the replace tool in PS to lessen its saturation and lightness.

Cheers

TJ

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RichieJarvis

RichieJarvis

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Love that image Peter - especially the widefield - that really shows the 1000D off well :) The second cut seems to have a more natural feel to the colours from my perspective.

As far as collimation goes - I ain't an expert, but I thought the best bet was to collimate with the camera in place?

Great shot though - and stop doing yourself down - you are the big-boy with the DSLR's as far as I am concerned.

Cheers,

Richie

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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Your collimation has to be excellent to get any decent result from the SCT's. Like Martin, I find it much easier to use an artificial star in daylight. I use a tiny pin ***** through tin foil over a mini maglight about 50m away, it means you aren't affected by seeing and can take your time to use micro adjustments.

The darks on the 350 images dont seem to be quite doing their job on the amp glow. If you cant get them to work, then usually the amp glow has a colour all of its own, and you can select that colour and use the replace tool in PS to lessen its saturation and lightness.

Cheers

TJ

TJ I have a fibre optic star so I can use that for the collimation and can get good dark distance in doors in the factory..

I must admit I have been pushing the 350D to get the subs in the 1000D doesn't need much of a rest period between the darks but the 350D needs about half the light frame duration to get rid of the glow completely... It a conscious decision on my part and I will process out the remnant when the clear skies dissapear...

Thanks RJ...

Billy...

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