TerryMcK Posted January 11 Share Posted January 11 Happy new year. I hope you are able to play without any clouds obscuring the view. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted January 16 Author Share Posted January 16 A clear night so shooting Orion nebula with the OSC and the Redcat 51 while it is still above the house over the road. Doing many 30 second subs as I find it works great on bright targets like this without blowing out the brightest bits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted January 16 Author Share Posted January 16 Got around 4 hours on my target so far. Now with about 30% cloud so will see how much longer I can go. Snow is forecast about 5 AM so might pack it in within the next couple of hours. The small mount is in another part of the garden from usual doing the capture. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demon Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 Great out again tonight, got some new thermal boots and socks so feet didn't freeze. I got collimated a little better, focused better and finally started to take some images, although some longer exposures for plate solving to get a decent amount of stars. Shots went pretty well considering its an absolute monster - there should be enough stars to plate solve but frustrated its not working 😞. I need plate solving otherwise I have no chance of getting on targets with such a small field of view, but I can now do some offline testing in the warm with what I got tonight. Desperate to get imaging and think I have a chance with what I saw tonight. Tracking was still average 1 arc sec so really pleased with small breeze, even though its a big sail. Good luck to all. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demon Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 Gutted, just uploaded one of the images to astrometry.net and it solved it immediately - right ballpark of sky and correct field of view - I just needed to type those coordinates in and I could have used my goto - next time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padraic M Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 Good luck with that Nick, it's definitely a beast! I missed out on a completely clear night last night because the forecasts were for 100% cloud, so this evening I set up anyway in spite of them. Got set up and aligned fairly easily for once, and managed just one hour before the clouds arrived. Ha on a two-frame M42 mosaic. Not much, but hopefully I can leave the mount in position for the next few days and add to it. Making use of the cloudy night now to shoot flats and dark flats. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted January 18 Author Share Posted January 18 Clear again so mini rig with the Redcat51/OSC combo capturing more Orion nebula Guiding is really good and seeing is great. Hopefully it lasts for a few hours until it sets behind the trees and neighbours house. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted January 18 Author Share Posted January 18 Still clear and no sign of clouds yet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padraic M Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 I left the mount in situ last night, so have just popped the Esprit 80 on but it's very patchy cloudy so it's more of a practice run. Don't think I'll get anything usable, but tbh just enjoying playing with NINA! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padraic M Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 Up and running since 7pm this evening with a lovely clear sky and no moon! Fingers crossed though for what's going to happen in 35 minutes time: Not showing any signs whatsoever of clouding over just yet. Shooting Ha in the city. Added 1.5 hours to the 2-panel Andromeda mosaic that I started earlier in the week, and am now on the old favourite M42. I have a narrow strip of visible sky due south, so can only get 3 hours on any one target between the trees and the house rooflines. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demon Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 (edited) After I thought there was no chance and the sky dumped a load of snow it cleared. I opened the obsy, focused then finally plate solve over the internet. I sync'd then spotted something close called the fiddlehead galaxy, looked perfect on stellarium. Slew'd then took another exposure to see exactly where it ended up. When I tried the internet astrometry site again I got the message under maintenance of very busy and the wind started getting up. I tried a few times and eventually when it didn't look like the wind was going to let up and got sick of pressing refresh went in. I solved it later and it was off but not sure if wind hadn't already blown it off. So postponed for another night and keep persevering, at least everything else is working well and enjoying it (keep telling myself that)... Good luck all. Edited January 20 by Demon 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted January 26 Author Share Posted January 26 Not imaging as such but generating calibration frames for my ASI94MM. It has been over a year since I did them so it is about time I updated them. The ASI294MM produces files of 22.8MB in BIN2x2 and 92MB in BIN1x1 - good job disks are cheap nowadays. First hard disk I bought years ago was 200MB in size! So doing Darks of 30, 60, 120 and 360 seconds at BIN2x2 and the same at BIN1x1 Also doing some 600 second darks and both BIN1x1 and BIN2x2 to prepare for doing some 10 minutes subs. Not sure my guiding is up to it but you never know. I don't do dark flats BTW just sticking to the more conventional BIAS, DARKS, LIGHTS and FLATS. It works for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted February 5 Author Share Posted February 5 Muscle spasm stops play. Laying flat so no imaging despite it being clear tonight 😞 Happy Valley finale instead with a glass of wine. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted February 6 Author Share Posted February 6 Back getting better and able to get the ZS103 complete with brand new set of 3nm Ha, O3, S2, and associated LRGB Antlia filters in circuit so first light for them. Pleased to say they are absolutely parfocal between all the filters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demon Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 (edited) Glad your back is getting better. I've been off with flu and missed a load of good nights, however I got out early today and got a lot done - just need to remember it all... Started doing a proper collimation job on 16" - to cut a long story short its showing that my ASI178MM must have quite a significantly tilted sensor inside - so more to research on that... - other than that 16" collimates and crayford focuser works beautifully (did a little visual for first time in a long time which was lovely, sharp and bright). Finally backtracked and using the ED80 got some plate solving working again quickly to test out Goto (rather than unsuccessful attempts with LB16 and small FOV) - I'm very pleased to say it is definitely working, however it has shown if I have to traverse too far it looks like something glitches - less concerned as dont need to go that far and it got it where it was supposed to (was slewing around Orion nicely). A few days ago I came up with a very simple workaround idea of how to use my smaller guide scope to plate solve and get the big 16" in position without mechanically aligning them - I put forward the suggestion to APT and they are going to add it to next beta - yippee and cant wait to try... However until then and (I feel slightly guilty) I finally tried out your favourite Nina - main reason is that I found out that it does have integrated plate solving via the online astrometry site (not just local) and after putting the ASI178MM back onto Lightbridge16 OTA it did successfully plate solve all the images perfectly and quickly - so I need to familiarise myself on how that works with everything. I'm used to APT and its show, sync and slew links with Stellarium and PHD2 etc, so I now need to get the equivalent working although it looks pretty good so far (a few crashes)...still cant wait to try APT also... So getting on again which is really nice...and hopefully after some reading up on Nina will finally be able to get on a small galaxy and start seeing what this crazy rig can finally do... Edited February 6 by Demon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted February 8 Author Share Posted February 8 On 2/6/2023 at 10:41 PM, Demon said: ASI178MM must have quite a significantly tilted sensor You can get a tilt plate from ZWO https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/zwo-t2-camera-tilting-unit-mark-ii.html designed to alter the angle of a ZWO camera/sensor relative to the OTA. That might be worth investigating. I use one on my solar telescope with ZWO ASI174MM to minimise Newton rings. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demon Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 (edited) Found a new complement to the collection - just got a second hand cooled kaf-8300c camera coming from ebay - I know its not got the latest bells and whistles but it cost me the same as an entry level guide camera (fingers crossed it works). Can't wait to try a large cooled colour that will reach focus. Will be interesting to see how much tilt it has... Edited February 9 by Demon 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 1st real light with the new 3nm Antlia filters. Just checking that the back focus is ok. Starting S2 while the moon is down and 1st 6 minute sub looks ok. The good news is that the vignetting I used to get with 31mm filters is absent from these 36mm ones with the 294MM and ZS103 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted February 14 Author Share Posted February 14 And out again tonight with the Antlia's. I had a quick blink of the stuff I captured last night with a test session and it looks very good. I was even able to shoot 30 second subs with the Antlia LRGB Pro filters from Bortle 7/8 and got good results albeit with a relatively short integration. I got around 300 RGB (100 each) subs before it came light. Now returning back to continue O3 on my first target that should complete 30x6 minute each subs on S2, Ha and O3. I normally shoot one filter a night but this is just my second session this year, mid February, so rushing a bit. Trust me to buy some new gear and conjure up the cloud god 😞 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted March 5 Author Share Posted March 5 Looking reasonable for at least one night so far this week apart from the moon. I’ll wait until it gets closer to the day though and won’t hold up much hope as snow is also forecast for Scotland and part of Northern England. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaDec Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 There's an occasional clear spell here this week, but that's where an obsey is worth the effort, as my 'set it up and wait for the clouds' rig is too much to do for a measly hour or two. Worst luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted March 7 Author Share Posted March 7 Taking advantage of a very cold snap to shoot some Ha on the Phantom Of The Opera before the snow comes late Wednesday early Thursday. Guiding is great and the transparency is super. Full moon is low and not interfering one bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demon Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 Amazing evening (even with the moon out) - Got new/old QHY9C connected and working with NINA, got it to focus, it images very nicely, plate solves, goto worked a treat from both Stellarium and Nina, all linking nicely Nina with Stellarium and PHD2. Got on flame nebula for starters, then popped over to Procyon then onto the Medusa nebula. Need to add my diy electric focuser to make it easier but finally ready for some proper imaging - been a long time coming... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaDec Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 Well done Demon (?) - great to hear your night was a success. Keep those gremlins at bay! I expect your forum name helps LOL 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demon Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 Thanks and nothing dodgy or religious - just a tag I picked up as a kid playing laserquest with friends, possibly Doom (the computer game) related... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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