New Thread: Ideas and Plans for the new Season ?

[powerlord]

I'm sort of starting to plan how I'm going to be imaging, and to a lesser extent, what just now and it struck I'm clearly not going to be the only one.

So how about we post our plans down here ? I'm hoping to get some ideas from you lot, and I dunno maybe my plans are useful to some folk too ?

Basically I've got an observatory with 2 EQ6s, asiairs, etc. And I try to be imaging with both each night that's clear to make use of those few good nights.

I have my 200pds on one mount, and that will probably stay on there through the winter. The other one has my Stellamira 90ED on there just now, but I tend to swap that around for other stuff like redcat, or wider also.

However I want to maximise my imaging time this year, so in addition - since I have 3 other EQ mounts (2 azgtis and a self converted EQ6), and one other asiair I figured I'd spend some time sorting out cabling and process so that I can also setup a 3rd mount each night, perhaps even a 4th.

I've done this occasionally before, but not often because of the hassle - so the planning is about eliminating the hassle -so a harness of power and ethernet ready to go coiled up in obsy, 2 mounts (eq5 with asiair, and azgti without) ready to go and PAed after the first night. I will drill positioning dimples in the circular slabs where they will go to aid getting the position more or less replicated each night.

I plan to use my canon 6d on the eq5 mount, guided with the asiair and a asi224 and scope. And I'll use a bunch of lenses I have and the redcat with it. As I've created a custom FF in camera L-extreme filter for it, I can use this setup for wideband and narrowband.

Once setup, the 2" tripod and EQ5 should just need a quick PA tweek each night, and will fit back into obsy in the morning.

For a 4th mount though, I currently don't have any more asiairs, so I'm stuck with no guiding, AND no plate solving, etc.. my plan was to use this 4th mount with my newly converted canon m100. This can't be controlled by the asiair, but can be set to take pics with the aid of a bit of elastic and a bead I've made up - you put it on, if pushes the button down, and if set to continuous shooting will keep shooting at whatever settings you set - however I'm limited to 30 secs max exposure. Ive also designed in camera L-extreme for this too, so would really like longer exposures but afaik the only way to do that is via wifi to a paid android app, and that is a faff... So though part of me wants to get another asiair and cheap guide camera - which would certainly let me ensure I can take far longer exposures (you flip the camera between main camera for gotos and plate solving, to guide camera for guiding), I think that it's use would be limited to the fact the M100 is the only other camera I have available.. I hate manually having to set it all up with synscan though, so... I dunno - no good options for that 4th mount at the moment.

The basic plan though is to get 3 nights imaging minimum each good night - maybe a 4th if I can work something out with the M100. kinda wish I hadn't sold my D1200 now 🙄

I want to do far more wide views - I've had good results at 70mm with the 6d so I've got 70 all the way through to 300 or so that I've not done much of: the outside setups will focus (sic) on that.

anyhoo that's the basic plan as it is just now.

 

What are your plans ?

[DaveS]

I try not to make plans as they are invariably stuffed by the weather but I have my HCG project on the go with the ODK 12 and Trius 694.

[Franklin]

1 hour ago, powerlord said:

anyhoo that's the basic plan as it is just now.

You call that basic? You're going to be very busy by the sound of it, hope you get some clear sky time this season and lots of use out of the excellent metal shed conversion obsy you made.

I'm a visual only old git but am planning on giving some basic EAA a go this coming season. A Vixen ED70SS, riding on a Vixen AP mount, Altair 183C fan-cooled camera hooked up to the laptop running Sharpcap. Wish me luck........I'm gonna need it!

[Fegato]

Wow, that's a lot of kit going at once - good luck!  I will probably just stick to one rig - I have to wheel out and polar align / calibrate each time, as no observatory (although if there's a spell of clear nights I'll leave it out under cover), and I'm not overly motivated to get another one going. My solution to getting the most out of limited clear sky time is using a RASA11.

I sometimes think about getting a very wide field rig with a 135mm lens and a small tracker mount, but haven't even started window shopping for that. I'm still mastering what I've got, I guess.  The other thing I occasionally mull over is having a remote set up in one of the Spanish sites, maybe FL around 1200mm for smaller FOV at a higher focal ratio - but that is a lot of commitment in time and money. 

 

 

[Adam-R]

My plan is to start! 

I'm still looking to build my kit up so I can get out a few times. I live very close to the peaks so I'm sure I can find a good location. If anyone has some recommendations that aren't so popular then Id appreciate it 🙂 - The idea being to start imaging and then sleep in the car for an hour between check ups. 

[happy-kat]

A bit of sorting first, I was fortunate to pick up a camera from here which is going to free up the 462 to go back to the 50ED. Next check and sort focus. Have a trial of guiding to see what I get. Ideally now address the stiff azumith then guide test again to compare result. Using sharpcap pro try the auto align script which sounds great (it's in the synscan folder once unpacked). That'll keep me busy.

[tooth_dr]

Few plans for me:

1) Keeping running my dual rig of widefield refractors until galaxy season

2) Fit the larger M2 SSD drive I bought six months ago to my mini PC so that my ASC doesnt keep running out of disk space

3) Set up my Epsilon 180 with an Optec FocusLynx/Moonlite focuser and borrow an HEQ5 off a friend in mid-November, and use this with my full frame Nikon D800E for some deep widefield shots around Orion.  If the HEQ5 can handle the Epsilon then buy my own, otherwise look for an EQ6.  If this works out then build a small RoR shed observatory for this set up.

4) Get excited about new scope arriving next week, and set it up on an old LXD75 to make sure it's good (its brand new but still 

5) Swap over dual rig for the new scope in galaxy season.

6) Invite the neighbours over for some observing on a nice cold dry evening in Winter

7) Targets wise - going to build on a few data sets I've started, and aim for 6-8 decent images before Easter.  I want to do M31 again, and get more data on the Witch Head nebula.

 

 

 

[Mognet]

No current hardware plans, just astrophotography. Planning for clusters and galaxies starting with the double cluster (two panels), Caroline's Rose cluster and Pleiades. Then probably the clusters in Auriga.

[tomato]

Just image whenever the conditions allow and oh, use my Dobsonian a bit more this winter now it has a StarSense fitted to it.

Edited October 15, 2023 by tomato