Back in the saddle

Tzetze

Hi folks, it's been quite some time since I posted in here. It must be a couple of years, at least! It's great to see the place still active.

What with work and weather coupled with increasing setup/teardown time (and weight), along with some of life's knockbacks, I could never find the time to get any imaging done. I decided the only option was to build an observatory. It had been on the cards for some time but needs must and all that. So, late 2016 I finished building a small obsy and can now make the most of short windows in the weather.

I've had several imaging sessions already which ended up being sessions of discovering what was the next component that needed fixing/upgrading before any useful data could be gathered. So after upgrading the old netbook to a PC for the obs, dealing with differential flexure, reaplcing guidescope with OAG, etc, etc. I might at last be getting some useful images (he says tentatively).

Last night, after getting some data on M1, the Crab Nebula (not yet processed), I swung around to have a go at M51, the Whirpool Galaxy. With only a short window of opportunity left before the clouds rolled in, not being able to find a guide star was very frustrating. I eventually found one though and will be able to hit the same spot time and time again with platesolving.

I only managed to get 3 subs at 600s on the target before the clouds came in but I was so happy with the subs that I couldn't resist processing them. I think the background noise calibrated out pretty well, but I need more subs to improve the SNR on the target and reduce the noise there. There's also an LP gradient left of M51, I think I'll need to rework the DBE (dynamic background extraction) in Pixinsight. Still, I'm more than pleased with the results so far.

(Click for larger version)


Imaging telescope or lens: Celestron C10N
Imaging camera: Canon 450d
Mount: NEQ6 Pro
Guiding camera: ZWO ASI120MC
Filter: Skywatcher Light Pollution Filter 2"
Accessory: OVL Slim OAG, Baader MPCC Mark III
Software: PixInsight, APT, PHD Guiding

allinthehead

Nicely done. You have great colour and detail for the short integration time. That must have put a smile on your face.

Have you any pictures of the obsy? I just downloaded the trial version of pixinsight. It's gonna be a rough few weeks getting to grips with it. I'm in the middle of calibrating 300 30 second lights on flaming star and tadpoles in ha. Having trouble getting rid of amp glow with the darks in dss so giving PI a go.

Welcome Back. Good to have someone else here posting deep sky images.

Richard

Tzetze

allinthehead wrote: »

Nicely done. You have great colour and detail for the short integration time. That must have put a smile on your face.

Have you any pictures of the obsy? I just downloaded the trial version of pixinsight. It's gonna be a rough few weeks getting to grips with it. I'm in the middle of calibrating 300 30 second lights on flaming star and tadpoles in ha. Having trouble getting rid of amp glow with the darks in dss so giving PI a go.

Welcome Back. Good to have someone else here posting deep sky images.

Richard

Thanks Richard, I have to admit, was grinning ear to ear when the first sub rolled off! I was very surprised at how much detail I'd got. Especially as previously, on M1, the guiding was erratic with the open end of the newt facing into the breeze. Managed a pretty consistent ~1" RMS error on guiding for M51 though and the stars remained nice and tight. I'll be straight back onto the same target as soon as conditions allow, although this one was shot under a moonless sky.

I think you'll be very happy with Pixinsight. It's a very different approach to image editing than anything I'd used before, but it's well worth working through the initial learning curve. Have you got the link for the essential Harry's tutorials? There's also another good series of guides on Light Vortex Astronomy.

I think the DBE tool in pixinsight will help you remove any lasting effects of amp glow after dark subtraction. See how you get on with it.

Here's a few pics of the obsy. Okay, so maybe 'small' wasn't the best descriptor. It was originally planned at 16'x8' but grew a couple of feet in each direction when the foundation went in.

allinthehead

Thanks for the links i'll have a look. That obsy is something else. What a difference in terms of maximising imaging time.

Tzetze

Yeah, it's a game changer for sure. Already getting time in where previously I wouldn't have felt it to be worth the effort of setting up. I've seen the pics you posted of your own pier, that's a very tidy setup you did.

Still a few more bits and pieces to take care of with regards the rig here. Belt mod and hypertune are up next, just waiting on the parts to arrive. Then time to get saving for a new imaging CCD camera.