April 16, 2009
Taken with my QHY8 and the Nikon adapter.
I have a new lens, a Nikkor 28mm, with a lovely flat field. Some images from 1st April, 300s subs, cant remember how many of each (will have to go hunt them down). I think the CLS filter used is too harsh, so I will have to find the funds for another IDAS filter, as well as taking much longer subs.
Click on image for the larger version… M51 and M101 are both visible in the large version 🙂
And if you squint, you can kind of see the merest hint of milky way… click on image for larger version
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on Nikon DSLR lens widefields
April 2, 2009
Well, what another great night… seeing was great, transparency kind of “magic murk” again. With the hour change, I was out, set up and polar aligned well before astro dark started. I discovered that I can now laterally balance the MakNewt on the ADM side by side plate if I have my QHY8 + Nikon lens bundle on top of the ED80 on the other side of the plate… result! (Might post some wide field images from that later)
Anyway, here is my attempt at the Leo Trio. Never imaged this before, so am very happy with the way this has come out. I may have to reprocess it over the next day or two, as I havent had any sleep at all, and we all know what that can do to your post-processing 🙂
Note: This is now the reprocessed version.
OTA: Skywatcher 190 MakNewt
Guiding: ED80 + SX Lodestar + PHD
Imaging: M25C + MaximDL, 21×600s, IDAS (100 bias, 100 flats)
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Post Process: PSCS2
(Click on the image for the larger version).
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on A crisp and clean Leo Triplet (reprocessed)
March 21, 2009
I am extremely pleased with the outcome of this one 🙂
It took a while to get the C11 sorted, getting the SXV M25C in focus, and then getting the Off Axis Guider parfocal…. never want to do that again, but the result was just incredible. Perfect round stars, even when imaging at 2800mm focal length from a mount that was outside. The data was so good that I managed to drizzle stack this for 6000×4000 and the image data is still incredibly good…
OTA: C11 @ f/10
Guiding: C11 @ f/10 + Celestron OAG + DSI-C+ PHD
Imaging: M25C + MaximDL, 28×300s, IDAS
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Post Process: PSCS2
(Click on image for larger version)
And a closeup crop of the centre section
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on M13 RGB via the C11 @ f/10
March 13, 2009
Sorry, but with the weather and cloud cover being the way it is, the only thing keeping me sane is reprocessing previous data. Two versions this time. With the first one, I was going for the light and fluffy look, and the second version was the harsh and colorful look. I think I pushed both options about as far as I could. I still prefer the light and fluffy version. Click on the images for larger versions
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on Poor weather means more M42 reprocessing
March 7, 2009
After 60+ days of not getting any useful images out of my cameras, the weather gods finally realised that it wasnt funny anymore, and gave me an entire night to play with the stars. The fact that I kind of messed up most of the night doesnt really count 🙂
This was taken on Friday morning, fighting the 68% illuminated moon. Its kind of washed out the colours, but I`m not all that bothered by that. Discovered some flex in the system (C11 vixen dovetail maybe?), so had to decrease the length of each sub to reduce trailing
OTA: C11 @ f/10
Guiding: Skywatcher ED80 + Starlight Xpress Lodestar + PHD
Imaging: M25C + MaximDL, 42×150s, IDAS
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Post Process: PSCS2
(Click on image for larger version)
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on M13 against the moonlight
January 4, 2009
One of the longest “time on a single target” that I can remember doing, this is 5 hours of data on the Christmas Tree area, plus the Cone Nebule and some of the fox fur area. Its still quite noisy, probably due to some high cloud passing through or some othere excuse (hence why its all a bit “soft”). There are also at least 2 column defects in the full size image, so need to work out how to process them out, or move over to the M25C (and fix the dewing on the external nosepiece glass).
Anyway, here is the final image. I may look at getting some Ha data on this in the near future, and add that into the mix.
OTA: Skywatcher 190mm F/5.3 Maksutov-Newtonian Astrograph
Guiding: Skywatcher ED80 + Starlight Xpress Lodestar + PHD
Imaging: QHY8 + MaximDL, 30×600s, IDAS LPR
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Post Process: PSCS2
(Click on image for larger version)
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on NGC2264 Christmas Tree + Cone Nebula + Some Fox Fur
December 8, 2008
Yes, I know its been less than a day since the M42 posted below, but I was sure I could get some extra detail out of it by taking my time. I think I was right, but unsure if its a better image or not. Sure, its sharper and more contrasty, but is it better than the smoother ethereal feeling of the original?
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments (1)
December 7, 2008
After I night of near disasters, I managed to pull this one out of the hat 🙂 To say I am chuffed is an understatement….
I was set up by 4pm, two pass polealignmax by 5.10pm… yeah! all going well! Errr… then
My cable that supplies power to the QHY8 control box broke (the back of the centre pin came lose)
Bodged that with my NS8GPS power cable
Then the fuse on that cable blew (shattered actually!)
Found a replacement from an old project
Blew another fuse in a lighter socket extension cable
moved everything closer to the mount, turned off non-essential dew strips
imaged all night 
OTA: Skywatcher 190mm F/5.3 Maksutov-Newtonian Astrograph
Guiding: Skywatcher ED80 + DSI-C + PHD
Imaging: QHY8 + Nebulosity, 42×300s, IDAS LPR
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Post Process: ImagesPlus + PSCS2 + Noel Carboni’s AstroTools
(Click on image for a larger image)
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on M42/M43/NGC1977 RGB with the MakNewt… yes, another one!
November 26, 2008
After finishing my evening meal in a rush, wiping the sleet off the MakNewt sat outside under a cover, one of the most hurried set ups ever (never a good thing!), working my way round house guests with large heavy kit, fighting the cold, the blustery wind, my laptop crashing… twice!, PHD locking up, my DSI guide camera deciding to play hide and seek with the USB controller, I`m just glad I manged to get something to show for it. Consider this a false start, a not even a work in progress…. consider it lucky to get this before the clouds rolled in to finish off a most miserable evening.
Minimal detail because it doesnt deserve anything else
Imaging: QHY8 + IDAS 4 x 300s, no flats/dark/bias, minimal post processing
Guiding: PHD + DSI-C + ED80
OTA: Skywatcher 190 MakNewt
Yes, this really is only 20 minutes!!
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments (2)
November 8, 2008
Finally, after what seems like an incredibly long “new kit” induced period of clouds, the skies cleared last night. Seeing was OK, transparency was borderline rubbish, and the moon just made things worse
But… there were stars, and plenty of them. I was hoping the skies would stay clear all night so I could go for an RGB target, but alas the clouds rolled in at about 2.15am. The image is a bit noisey due to the transparency and the moon glow, but I`m happy with this as a first light with the Mak-Newt
After running PoleAlignMax to get a really good alignment, here is the result:
OTA: Skywatcher 190mm F/5.3 Maksutov-Newtonian Astrograph
Guiding: Skywatcher ED80 + DSI-C + PHD
Imaging: QHY8 + MaximDL, 20×600s, Astronomik 13nm Ha
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Post Process: ImagesPlus + PSCS2 + Noel Carboni’s AstroTools
(Click on image for larger version)
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on NGC281 Ha with the Skywatcher 190mm F/5.3 Maksutov-Newtonian Astrograph
