The Astro-Imaging Thread

[_Augustus_]

About to go image Jupiter again, this time with a second Barlow stacked on....

[munlander1]

17 minutes ago, _Augustus_ said:

About to go image Jupiter again, this time with a second Barlow stacked on....

Good luck! 

[kurja]

22 hours ago, Green Baron said:

One day soon(tm) ...

In the same forum someone was ranting exactly over that learning curve and expressed his thoughts about vts with less reserve than i did :-) He said that he tried several hours and didn't even get behind a certain process in the workflow. Then he got an answer from someone who claimed to do astroimaging since years and just scrapped the work of 160 (sic!) hours on a single image just to start all over again.

Conclusion: keep smiling , things could be worse .

 

And remember that it's just a hobby - if it starts to get on your nerves, just put it aside for a while One year is not much time. Number of suvcessful imaging sessions I had this winter: 0. And now the evenings are not really dark anymore.. (@>60 deg latitude) Maybe next year

Pixinsight has technical essays on their website, if you want more under the bonnet knowledge about astrophoto processing.

[YNM]

On 3/23/2017 at 7:47 AM, _Augustus_ said:

About to go image Jupiter again, this time with a second Barlow stacked on....

I hope you have a good tracking - chasing Jupiter at >300x magnification is not funny...

Also, I question the final f/D. It may very well be that you can only see part of Jupiter.

scratch that, dem planets are tiny !

Edited March 24, 2017 by YNM

[Green Baron]

12 hours ago, kurja said:

And remember that it's just a hobby - if it starts to get on your nerves, just put it aside for a while One year is not much time. Number of suvcessful imaging sessions I had this winter: 0. And now the evenings are not really dark anymore.. (@>60 deg latitude) Maybe next year

Pixinsight has technical essays on their website, if you want more under the bonnet knowledge about astrophoto processing.

Yeah. Thanks for the words. I had a few days in December and January, adjusting the equipment and one night for orion nebula. Yesterday for example i had a steel blue sky, but the wind was blowing too strong and gusty and it carried a spray over the ridge behind my place.

PixInsight is indeed what i am trying to get into with the help of the book "Inside Pixinsight". Can recommend it.

Btw. I remember the midnight dusk in june when i was on the baltic sea. Am at 28 north now; not that much difference in length of day night :-)

 

[kurja]

31 minutes ago, Green Baron said:

 

Btw. I remember the midnight dusk in june when i was on the baltic sea. Am at 28 north now; not that much difference in length of day night :-)

 

But you see I get spoiled at midwinter, when I can set up and start imaging in the afternoon and go to bed early ;')

[_Augustus_]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

Jupiter last night.

Created a map, too!

 

Edited March 24, 2017 by _Augustus_

[YNM]

1 hour ago, _Augustus_ said:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

Jupiter last night.

THAT IS WHAT I HAD TO CHASE ! Just to align out the finder ! No motors ! For the sake of CCDs ! Good god ! Nice !

How "spoiled" were you when trying to take that ?

EDIT (and sorry for sliight digging) :

On 3/22/2017 at 7:55 PM, Green Baron said:

Image processing is driving me nuts. ... ... As soon as as you cook your own soup i mean use your own data nothing works as it did in the vt. ...

Frustrated after several days i visited a forum ... ... posted my question and get a wavy answer like "did you check the "Lightness mask" box ?". *sigh* "Thanks for the reply, but, yes, i did ... ?"

Vts are just a waste of time and bandwidth. I just read that someone has written a book about astro imaging software. I hope i find the answers that i am looking for there. [/rant]

I suggest you to meet up someone who understands the program (and, in case it's not the same but does the same work, probably the program he/she may be using, as long as it's doable). TBH this is how most people today learn such programs anyway - unless one had experience with a very similar looking / tooling program(es), you'd have a hard time trying to even get through the whole thing.

If you can't, well... maybe waiting for the right time ?

AFAIK the controller that I had installed for some CCD experience back then actually also contains the tooling to process the images. I've moved to a new laptop and I didn't carried it over...

Edited March 24, 2017 by YNM

[Green Baron]

I am already the one-eyed among the blind :-) If i want more i'd have to pay for a course.

The book i mentioned (Inside PixInsight) is actually very good. It is absolutely feasible for a half-educated newcomer like me and explains processes and steps with the software very well. So, if people are willing to invest a little something in astroimage processing software this is the right way and it's, compared to Photoshop, inexpensive. Also, compared to the freeware Fitswork (which has a good reputation !), PixInsight is far more sophisticated.

And (the reason why i will buy it as soon as the trial license has expired) it's available for Linux (also poorly programmed, needs root rights to install, but i have an installation for these unruly cases ;-)) and you can really download and install it and disconnect from the bloody internet while working ! Wow ! /sarcasm

Yay ! Good weather, where are you ?

:-)

[YNM]

1 hour ago, Green Baron said:

I am already the one-eyed among the blind :-) If i want more i'd have to pay for a course.

What I meant was meeting with someone from a local astronomy club (preferentially those into astrophotography) or better someone into astrophotography/astroimaging (academic or professional but non-academic) or even much better someone who works in an observatory and/or academically studies/studied astronomy (esp. in observation). The last ones were where most of my knowledge came from - I had enough exposure to know the lengthy measures it takes, least in the "old" days, how things were done (and some trials myself). It's probably rare to be able to do that though !

I'm quite sure if you go on a star party in an observatory site (or even if not) someone there will just know all of it.

To be clear, I'm not active on the subject in any way

But if books works enough for you, great ! Have a good time now, may patience be with you for the weather !

Edited March 24, 2017 by YNM

[Shpaget]

Here's my attempt to capture the Big J from way back in 2012.

If you squint and follow a line from the planet to the lower left corner you might see two dots. Those are Io (the one closer to the planet) and Ganimede (near the corner).

When I set out for some night photography, all I had with me was two DSLRs, a bag of lenses and a tripod. I took my motorcycle and crossed a local mountain, so that I can at least put the mountain between myself and all the light pollution from the city.

So, there I am, in the middle of nowhere, halfway down the wrong side of a mountain (no big towns anywhere near), in pitch black night, on a road that sees little traffic even during the day, clicking my long exposures when suddenly a pair of xenon lights turn around a corner and mess up my shot. Ah well, memory card space is cheap :). But, the car stops just by my side and a bunch of guys start pouring out. "Whazzup!" "Hey" "What ya doing" "Shooting stars" "Did we mess up your shot?" "No biggie"...

Long story short, these guys start unpacking this huge telescope out of the trunk of the car. Great! More small talk and they seem cool enough so I kind of attach myself to their eyepeice. They have some trouble with polar alignment, but eventually they turn the scope to Jupiter. Of course, they don't have the adapters to mount my camera on the scope, so I take the picture above afocally, handheld, hence the shake. Unfortunately the camera didn't catch Callisto that was just outside of the frame.

 

[munlander1]

Just dusted my telescope today   I don't think I used it was this month  . Hopefully the future will be better 

[Green Baron]

You don't want dust on your telescope *jedihandwave* :-). Dust will spoil everything, visual and especially photographic. You will have a hard time cleaning all the surfaces, corners, screws, focuser, eyepieces from dust. Store it upside down (main mirror facing down), close all openings with lids. Since lids cost money manufacturers save them frequently, maybe you'd have to fabricate your own ones. When it has completely dried after viewing, strip a large plastic bag over it but leave it open at the bottom to avoid mould and open it every few days or so ...

 

Edited March 27, 2017 by Green Baron

[YNM]

1 hour ago, Green Baron said:

Store it upside down (main mirror facing down), close all openings with lids.

That depends on what type of telescope do you have. In the observatory here the portable refractors they have are stored horizontally and the portable reflectors vertically, main mirror on bottom side. (the big things ? mostly the same, really - the schmidt camera they have are stored more or less horizontally but it's been a long time of decease thanks to lack of photographic film produced nor a proper CCD to replace the films.)

@munlander1 I say fine dust is OK - you don't want to risk scratching from cleaning too often, yet also from too thick dust from reduced performance - so I should say, if you want to store your telescope, put all the lid on, and leave it in a state where dusts won't really accumulate on the optics. Place in well ventilated room so dusts don't settle, and humidity and temperature more stable (is it ? not sure). If stored in the boxes, use all the plastic case bags it came with. AFAIK they're fine that way, more or less.

Edited March 27, 2017 by YNM

[_Augustus_]

3 hours ago, YNM said:

That depends on what type of telescope do you have. In the observatory here the portable refractors they have are stored horizontally and the portable reflectors vertically, main mirror on bottom side. (the big things ? mostly the same, really - the schmidt camera they have are stored more or less horizontally but it's been a long time of decease thanks to lack of photographic film produced nor a proper CCD to replace the films.)

@munlander1 I say fine dust is OK - you don't want to risk scratching from cleaning too often, yet also from too thick dust from reduced performance - so I should say, if you want to store your telescope, put all the lid on, and leave it in a state where dusts won't really accumulate on the optics. Place in well ventilated room so dusts don't settle, and humidity and temperature more stable (is it ? not sure). If stored in the boxes, use all the plastic case bags it came with. AFAIK they're fine that way, more or less.

With reflectors it depends on the scope. SCTs and MCTs are fine being stored upside down, as are some modern reflectors. But if your scope's mirror is held in by clips, I wouldn't recommend it.

Edited March 27, 2017 by _Augustus_

[Green Baron]

Dust paints funny patterns on images, it will attract moisture, dust contains pollen which contain humid acids which will damage the coating of lenses as well as the aluminium surface of mirrors. No worries, if the cell holding the mirror is constructed and adjusted correctly nothing will drop out. Schmidt or Maksutovs are closed, dust won't enter too easily, but an open newton tube is a dust catcher. If there are only clips then ok, we probably are not talking about too high a value then ... :-)

Refractors depend, oil spaced objectives are very delicate when stored on the side. If the objective's fitting isn't constructed perfectly the oil films can have different thickness over the aperture which will cause a 20.000,- objective to have a strehl of a 200,- mirror (0.8 instead of advertised 0.98). I've seen such an objective from a very well known and high valued brand on the optical bench of an independent tester. The owner was crying, he had spent the price of a midsize car for the tube and waited a long time.

Air spaced aren't that prone to storage but still i would not store them on the side for a long time. There are few kg of glass held by screws in hopefully temperature compensated and stable non deforming steel or aluminium fitting.

Apart from that, keeping things dry and clean is a must.

Of course, the VLT or the Keck telescopes aren't dismounted during daytime :-)

[YNM]

1 hour ago, _Augustus_ said:

With reflectors it depends on the scope. SCTs and MCTs are probably fine being stored upside down, as are some modern reflectors. But if your scope's mirror is held in by clips, I wouldn't recommend it.

32 minutes ago, Green Baron said:

Dust paints funny patterns on images, it will attract moisture, dust contains pollen which contain humid acids which will damage the coating of lenses as well as the aluminium surface of mirrors. No worries, if the cell holding the mirror is constructed and adjusted correctly nothing will drop out. Schmidt or Maksutovs are closed, dust won't enter too easily, but an open newton tube is a dust catcher. If there are only clips then ok, we probably are not talking about too high a value then ... :-)

Well, how do they store Dobsonians ? Yes, not upside down.

32 minutes ago, Green Baron said:

Refractors depend, oil spaced objectives are very delicate when stored on the side. If the objective's fitting isn't constructed perfectly the oil films can have different thickness over the aperture which will cause a 20.000,- objective to have a strehl of a 200,- mirror (0.8 instead of advertised 0.98). I've seen such an objective from a very well known and high valued brand on the optical bench of an independent tester. The owner was crying, he had spent the price of a midsize car for the tube and waited a long time.

Air spaced aren't that prone to storage but still i would not store them on the side for a long time. There are few kg of glass held by screws in hopefully temperature compensated and stable non deforming steel or aluminium fitting.

Well those portable ones I described aren't that expensive (from your end probably)..

32 minutes ago, Green Baron said:

Of course, the VLT or the Keck telescopes aren't dismounted during daytime :-)

Yes of course they don't but so is my mounting, despite rarely used

Edited March 27, 2017 by YNM

[_Augustus_]

1 hour ago, Green Baron said:

we probably are not talking about too high a value then ... :-)

Literally every scope made by Cave, Criterion, and Edmund back in the 60s and 70s used clips for the mirror cell. And the Caves are still extremely valuable.

Also, one of my local astronomy clubs has stored a 16" SCT OTA upside down pretty much continuously for the last 8 years with no problems. So it's fine to store catadioptrics upside down.

Edited March 27, 2017 by _Augustus_

[Green Baron]

Nevermind :-) It was a suggestion against avoidable dust and storage problems.

 

[_Augustus_]

Just got a Meade 8" SCT OTA today at NEAF. It's an LX3 and had enhanced coatings (NOT the silver secondary mirror, thankfully), but the corrector had to be stripped because it was in poor shape - it's fine now.

I just need a mount and it'll be ready to use. Should produce nice planetary images.

[munlander1]

Imaging the beehive cluster right now. Not getting the best shots, but its a start. I also want to attempt to photograph the grs. about another 2 more hours till it comes around. Might just kerbal until then.

[Green Baron]

9 hours ago, _Augustus_ said:

Just got a Meade 8" SCT OTA today at NEAF. It's an LX3 and had enhanced coatings (NOT the silver secondary mirror, thankfully), but the corrector had to be stripped because it was in poor shape - it's fine now.

I just need a mount and it'll be ready to use. Should produce nice planetary images.

Nice. 8" is a reasonable diameter :-) Looking forward to your planet images !

Concerning the mount i can only give you the advice to do it right. Mayby one day (soon) you want to add a guidescope, a heavier camera, correctors/reducers/barlows, filters, adapters ... that's easily additional 7kg.

 

[_Augustus_]

4 hours ago, Green Baron said:

Nice. 8" is a reasonable diameter :-) Looking forward to your planet images !

Concerning the mount i can only give you the advice to do it right. Mayby one day (soon) you want to add a guidescope, a heavier camera, correctors/reducers/barlows, filters, adapters ... that's easily additional 7kg.

 

Looking at either a used CG-5 or a Meade LX70. The LX70 is really cheap new - only $250, but it's still a CG-5 class mount.

Edited April 9, 2017 by _Augustus_

[_Augustus_]

I think I'll actually buy the original forks/wedge/tripod and use those. Cheaper and cooler.

[munlander1]

For autoguiding, is it better to have higher magnification or lower magnification?