The Astro-Imaging Thread

[_Augustus_]

13 minutes ago, Adstriduum said:

4". I didn't specify the aperture because I didn't think anyone would belive me.

They're all dimmer than mag 14. How?

Edited May 3, 2017 by _Augustus_

[Adstri]

58 minutes ago, _Augustus_ said:

They're all dimmer than mag 14. How?

Entered my scope through this calculator, and on average the limiting magnitude is 14.5.

http://www.cruxis.com/scope/limitingmagnitude.htm

I had just cleaned my telescope at the time, it was cold out, there was not a wisp of cloud in the sky, and it was EXTREMELY dark. The planet was also at opposition. This could resolve at least Titania and Oberon.

The other moons of Uranus could have been "ghosts". However they seemed to be in about the same position as the real objects.

[_Augustus_]

34 minutes ago, Adstriduum said:

Entered my scope through this calculator, and on average the limiting magnitude is 14.5.

http://www.cruxis.com/scope/limitingmagnitude.htm

I had just cleaned my telescope at the time, it was cold out, there was not a wisp of cloud in the sky, and it was EXTREMELY dark. The planet was also at opposition. This could resolve at least Titania and Oberon.

The other moons of Uranus could have been "ghosts". However they seemed to be in about the same position as the real objects.

I suppose that's possible.

I am going to look for the moons of Uranus, Triton, and Pluto this summer at Stellafane with my 8" SCT.

Edited May 3, 2017 by _Augustus_

[Adstri]

Just now, _Augustus_ said:

Very interesting. I own a 4SE as well, but I live in the suburbs.

I am going to look for the moons of Uranus, Triton, and Pluto this summer/fall at Stellafane with my 8" SCT. 

Well I wish you clear skies then 

[_Augustus_]

1 minute ago, Adstriduum said:

Well I wish you clear skies then 

Thanks. You should really get a bigger scope to take advantage of your skies! 

[Adstri]

On my to-list. The 4SE I use for solar system objects and bright nebulae.

On ‎5‎/‎3‎/‎2017 at 2:49 PM, _Augustus_ said:

Thanks. You should really get a bigger scope to take advantage of your skies! 

I went out in no-man's land for that  

Spoiler

 

 

Edited November 17, 2018 by Adstriduum

[ProtoJeb21]

1 hour ago, _Augustus_ said:

Thanks. You should really get a bigger scope to take advantage of your skies! 

Image what my 8" dob would pick out in such clear skies.....

Speaking of which, it looks like I'll have an opportunity to image the First Quarter moon before it gets too late tonight.

[_Augustus_]

2 hours ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

Image what my 8" dob would pick out in such clear skies.....

Speaking of which, it looks like I'll have an opportunity to image the First Quarter moon before it gets too late tonight.

I already did; currently stitching together a mosaic at the moment.

Here's Jupiter from tonight: http://www.astrobin.com/294391/?nc=user

[Adstri]

3 hours ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

Image what my 8" dob would pick out in such clear skies.....

Speaking of which, it looks like I'll have an opportunity to image the First Quarter moon before it gets too late tonight.

Doing that right now

[_Augustus_]

Here's a mosaic of the Moon:

http://www.astrobin.com/294441/?nc=user

Some blurry spots because I put it together fast.

[ProtoJeb21]

I got a few recordings of Jupiter last night to process. @Epox75 I'm definitely going to need a tutorial for that conversion program you mentioned, because I can't even understand how it works based on what the site says.

10 hours ago, _Augustus_ said:

Here's a mosaic of the Moon:

http://www.astrobin.com/294441/?nc=user

Some blurry spots because I put it together fast.

Hmm....that image gave me an idea for a moon for my Upsilon Kandromedae pack I'm working on. Nice shot!

[Epox75]

4 hours ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

I got a few recordings of Jupiter last night to process. @Epox75 I'm definitely going to need a tutorial for that conversion program you mentioned, because I can't even understand how it works based on what the site says.

You mean k-lite codec pack? Is not a conversion program, it just needs to be installed. Basically it allows any player / video editing program on your computer to read any video file format. Just install that not caring much of its options, choose profile 5 (the most complete) when asked and the other options are good as they are. This is the download page https://www.codecguide.com/download_k-lite_codec_pack_mega.htm it also has a great media player based on the old windows media player. After the installation restart your computer and see if autostakkert reads the files that wasn't reading before. If that doesn't work you can uninstall the codec pack or keep it, it might be of use for something else and I consider it a must have to support video players and video editing programs on my pc

[Green Baron]

Got up early today and had a nice view on the galactic center shining bright in the south. I am 28° north. Next month there'll be enough time for something photographic / wide field.

Edited May 5, 2017 by Green Baron

[Epox75]

Actually this is a shot i thought I was going to trash. I used the ASI1600MM and a 0,63 focal reducer, hoping to get the full Moon. I was (am) very tired and didn't realize that the firecapture window, at 4k resolution, was in full screen. So I didn't realize that I was actually able to get the full disc of the moon in one recording. So, a bit disappointed, i started recording what I thought was a normal close up of the Moon's surface, while instead I was recording almost 3/4 of disc.

Anyway hold your breath and watch it in full screen, download it if you see cross artifacts the image is huge and I can only view it at its best with any image viewing program (the right part of the picture has less frames compared to the left side, tracking wasn't perfect and I used the expand function in Autostakkert)

 

Edited May 6, 2017 by Epox75

[_Augustus_]

I added labels

[Epox75]

So this is my first ever picture of a deep sky object, the Bode Galaxy. Yesterday I captured the light (10x30sec exposures with a Lumicon Deep-Sky Filter). And today I did darks, bias and flats. The picture was taken without autoguiding, with the over 70% Moon high in the sky which is also very light polluted and with a decent but not perfect polar alignment. I am very happy, premises are very good and this is an achievement... I made my fist picture of an object that is million light years far from us

Edited May 6, 2017 by Epox75

[Green Baron]

Well done Sir !

Is that a little coma i see on some stars ?

May i ask what you focal ratio is ?

My setup rests under a blanket. Sky is clear right now but i can read a book outside because of the bloody moon. It'll be dark in the morning hours but that is not my time. Since i have f/7 i will have 4min per frame for the object, even with the ccd. If i wanted 10 frames per channel that'll be 160 minutes, plus 10 * 30sec L for a little hdr against the probably overexposed centres + changing filters that's more than 3 hours. I hope i am planning that right, it worked with M42 in January (2min / exposure).

[Epox75]

4 minutes ago, Green Baron said:

Well done Sir !

Is that a little coma i see on some stars ?

May i ask what you focal ratio is ?

My setup rests under a blanket. Sky is clear right now but i can read a book outside because of the bloody moon. It'll be dark in the morning hours but that is not my time. Since i have f/7 i will have 4min per frame for the object, even with the ccd. If i wanted 10 frames per channel that'll be 160 minutes, plus 10 * 30sec L for a little hdr against the probably overexposed centres + changing filters that's more than 3 hours. I hope i am planning that right, it worked with M42 in January (2min / exposure).

Thank you! Yes is definitely a coma, very noticeable in full res, I still do polar alignment without the polar scope that I'm waiting together with the autoguiding equipment. So I decided for a somewhat shot exposure.  I really didn't expect much taking this picture since it was a mere test.The focal ratio is 6.3 (F/10 with a flat field/reducer 6.3x)  

[Green Baron]

10 hours ago, Epox75 said:

Thank you! Yes is definitely a coma, very noticeable in full res, I still do polar alignment without the polar scope that I'm waiting together with the autoguiding equipment. So I decided for a somewhat shot exposure.  I really didn't expect much taking this picture since it was a mere test.The focal ratio is 6.3 (F/10 with a flat field/reducer 6.3x)  

Hmm, that makes me rub my chin. I thought you owned one of the Schmidt Cassegrains ?

[Epox75]

1 hour ago, Green Baron said:

Hmm, that makes me rub my chin. I thought you owned one of the Schmidt Cassegrains ?

Yes a C11. Why rub your chin?

[Green Baron]

That may now be a terribly stupid question, but isn't the Schmidt-plate meant to correct aberrations of the main mirror ?

Edit: (i always edit) no, it is not. Not off axis aberrations. It was a stupid question. Because i am an ignorant apo user :-)

Edited May 7, 2017 by Green Baron

[Epox75]

2 hours ago, Green Baron said:

That may now be a terribly stupid question, but isn't the Schmidt-plate meant to correct aberrations of the main mirror ?

Edit: (i always edit) no, it is not. Not off axis aberrations. It was a stupid question. Because i am an ignorant apo user :-)

It would be the same for me speaking about apo  C11, as it is, is not very good for Deep-Sky because of the F/10 and the curvature of the main mirror. So there are on sale specific reducer flattener for SC. I bought a cheap unbranded reducer with flattener. When I use it I get some vignetting and fish eye effect at the side of the picture. Still the FOV gain is great compared to the native Focal ratio. 

At this very moment i'm drooling at the idea of having an apo, i'm thinking about getting a Skywatcher 80-ED soon or later. It's relatively cheap and I really like the pictures taken with it. 

[_Augustus_]

50 minutes ago, Epox75 said:

I'm thinking about getting a Skywatcher 80-ED soon or later. It's relatively cheap

$690 is cheap????

[Green Baron]

Apos are a very heterogeneous family of instruments. I have a cheap (well, it once cost 800 funds) china made "apo" , also with an ED-element, an Explore Scientific 80/480. Optically it is nice, but the focuser is absolutely unsuitable for photographic use. But i heard then even the optical quality varies greatly. The objective can be adjusted with screws, but that'll be another 100,- if you take it to somebody who can do it right(tm).

I have heard good things and terrible things about the Skywatchers Apos, both concerning optical and mechanical quality. Then there are all the house brands of amateur telescope shops, in Germany that is Telescope Service in Munic and APM in ... forgot.

APM were the importers of the fantastic Russian LZOS objectives, the best you can buy if you are looking for an air spaced triplet. But in the meantime LZOS stopped supplying amateurs. If you can get a grip on a used 115/805 or even 130/780 (THAT is a dream machine for DSO photography !), but i doubt that anybody who is content sells such a thing. Haven't seen a single 130/780 on the second hand market in 3 years, though it was produced over decades.

The other well reputed source for air spaced triplets would be the Japanese Takahashi with Minolta (i think) objectives, the 120 and 130 are still portable and probably don't bust your mount, if it carries the 11" bucket.

Then there are the oil spaced triplets. There are disputes going over what is best. German Zeiss were the first ones in the last millennium to build these, but Zeiss doesn't supply amateurs any more. TEC, Astrophysics and the newly come up CFF are reported to make first class telescopes, but oil spaced do have their own problems. For me it is an absolute no-go to wait years for a TEC or Starfire. That keeps the prices high. They are very prone to wrong storage and temperature compensation, and after ten years they might need an "oil change". Price / risk ratio is too high imo. Maybe an air spaced objective lacks the last 0.05 strehl in comparison to an oil spaced under optimal conditions, but it keeps its performance over a very long time (decades) and under very wide conditions if handled with care.

If money is the second criteria after reliability then try and get a TAO 120. Plus reducer. Plus flattener. Different versions. Nice 100° eyepieces ... *rolleyes* :-)

Edit: oh, an 80mm, well, how about one of the small Takahshi FSes ?

 

5 hours ago, _Augustus_ said:

$690 is cheap????

I fear that is the case for a real one. A nicely made 80mm fluorite APO (no ED !) goes over the counter for 2.500,- ...

Edited May 7, 2017 by Green Baron

[Epox75]

52 minutes ago, _Augustus_ said:

$690 is cheap????

I didn't use the adjective "relatively" randomly