October 24, 2008
One of the issues with imaging with the Hyperstar @ f/2 is that the wavelengths all get shifted by ~6nm, so doing narrowband with it can cause some real issues. A 13nm filter would appear to be OK, but in fact by the time (for example) Hydrogen Alpha is shifted by 6nm, its in the 30% or less bandpass section of the filter.
Then Baader released their new range of filters, including an oddity… a 35nm Ha filter. Is it a wide Ha or a narrow red? Who knows, but its use on the Hyperstar was obvious to me, keeping the peak Ha emision line well above the 90% transmission. It also seem to cope really well with the full f/2 shift at the outer egdes of the QHY8 APS size CCD. The only small downside is that because of the wide bandpass, its not quite as “contrasty” as you would expect from a narrowband filter.
So, here goes:
OTA: NS8GPS @ f/2 (Hyperstar v3)
Guiding: William Optics ZenithStar 66 SD + DSI-C + PHD
Imaging: QHY8 + MaximDL, 24×600s, Baader 35nm 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 IC1805 Heart Nebula, with new Baader 35nm Ha filter
October 24, 2008
Not in my usual comfort zone, I was going after something else but had problems, so went for this instead
OTA: C11 @ f/6.<something>
Guiding: SW ED80 + DSI-C + PHD (via EQMOD)
Imaging: QHY8 + MaximDL, 30 x 300s + 30 x 90s, 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 M42/M43 close up, not my usual territory…
October 9, 2008
After the first all night imaging session at home since what appears to be the beginning of time, I am shattered 🙂 At least at Kelling I could have a lie in, but I had to come to work today… bah!
After taking a couple of sequences (that I still need to work on quite extensively), I saw a familiar sight appearing just over the top of the roofline… the top of Orion, his head peeking over the top and his body sliding slowly round the corner, showing more and more as time passed. Winter really is almost upon us, it was very cold last night, almost frosty.
Instead of rushing to point the kit at Orions Belts or the sword, I waited a while. I walked up to the back of the garden to get a better view, to see if an old friend of mine was likely to come out to play before the sun made its presence known by turning the sky blue.
And there is was! Trailing not that far behind Orion, and just a little low, but certainly about to make an appearance for my camera. I turned the scope to where it should be, and watched as the shadow of the roofline slowly slipped away in the quick images that were flashing up on the screen.
And there it was…. Hello old friend, I`m sure we will be seeing an awful lot of each other over the next few months.
OTA: NS8GPS @ f/2 (Hyperstar v3)
Guiding: William Optics ZenithStar 66 SD + DSI-C + PHD
Imaging: QHY8 + MaximDL, 15x600s, 13nm Ha
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Post Process: ImagesPlus + PSCS2 + Noel Carboni’s AstroTools
(Click on image for larger version)
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments (2)
September 30, 2008
What an unbelievable weekend! A UK weekend in September that had 3 clear nights (4 if you count Sundays slightly milky sky). That is just unheard of. In fact, I had more clear nights in one weekend than the rest of the appalling UK summer. And the fact that it was star party weekend just makes it astonishing.
Just a couple of astro related images to start with, followed by some other pictures.
M45
OTA: NS8GPS @ f/2 (Hyperstar v3)
Guiding: William Optics ZenithStar 66 SD + DSI-C + PHD
RGB Imaging: QHY8 + MaximDL, 31x300s, IDAS
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Post Process: ImagesPlus + PSCS2 + Noel Carboni’s AstroTools
(Click on image for larger version)
M42/M43/NGC1977
OTA: NS8GPS @ f/2 (Hyperstar v3)
Guiding: William Optics ZenithStar 66 SD + DSI-C + PHD
RGB Imaging: QHY8 + MaximDL, 20×60s + 20x300s, IDAS
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Post Process: ImagesPlus + PSCS2 + Noel Carboni’s AstroTools
(Click on image for larger version)
And now some other random images from the Kelling Heath Start paty weekend. We were down in the blue field at Kelling, so what you see here is a small part of several hundred pitches, all of them full with astronomers and their kit. And yes, that orange glow in the sky is light pollution 🙁
And click >> HERE << for a large panorama image taken from the middle of our small observing field, helped by Tony and his many clones 🙂
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on Equinox Star Party, Sept 2008
September 19, 2008
Conditions were pretty dire last night…. sure it was dry and calm, but that big bright moon lit of the hazy skies like it was on fire 🙁 … but it was a clear sky! I`d nearly forgotten what they looked like. I also had a few “issues” that made me lose 2 hours of imaging time. Grrr!!!
I`ve been after the Veil complex since the end of last year, but weather and other things prevented me from being in the right place at the right time. The only tool that was right for the job was the NS8GPS+Hyperstar, which hasnt seen a night sky since April. It was great to get the beast out again, quick and easy polar alignment, and no issues about meridian flips.
Considering the state of the sky, I`m happy I managed to get anything out of my subs at all. I was fighting some horrid gradients, and the noise in the stacked image started to show very early in the processing.
OTA: NS8GPS @ f/2 (Hyperstar v3)
Guiding: William Optics ZenithStar 66 SD + DSI-C + PHD
RGB Imaging: QHY8 + MaximDL, 13nm Ha
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Post Process: ImagesPlus + PSCS2 + Noel Carboni’s AstroTools
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on Fighting the moon to shoot the Veil complex
September 1, 2008
What exactly do I have to sacrifice to the weather gods to make the near 24/7 cloud cover go away? Its just getting silly now. Its been the gloomiest August on record (cloud cover), with some parts of the UK have had the wettest August on record.
Not that the skies havent been clear…. we have have plenty of glorious mornings, and fantastic evenings… but as soon as it gets anywhere near dark, the cloud cover rolls in, and stays there until the sun comes up, at which point it occasionally rolls out again. Since my session on the 2nd August, the nearest thing I have had to a clear night this month was a few hours on Saturday 30th August, with a cloud bank rolling over 2-3 hours before midnight, and leaving at about 3-4am. Not that it would have helped, as I was at a wedding near Stockton-on-Tees, which was 100% cloud cover all night.
The problem is that the pressure graphs for northern europe look like the ones for December, with storm pattern after storm pattern rolling in, one after the other, and passing straight over the UK. Normally they pass north of us, pushed out by the high pressure from the Azores, but it hasnt happened this year. So not only do we have this converyor belt of storm patterns coming in, they are large and swollen with water vapour from the Atlantic, making them overlap with each other. At least in winter we get some break between the storms!
So, here I sit, watching the depressing weather forecasts that always say “clear skies tomorrow” but when we get there, it cloudy again, but promising clear skies tomorrow again. When will this ever end? Over the course of this year, I am down to 1/3rd of my sessions compared to 2007. I think I`ll take up stamp collecting, or knitting, or just standing outside at night, cursing at the weather gods until they reaslise that this is not funny anymore!
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on Sacrifice to the weather gods?
August 3, 2008
Well, what a quite amazing night that was! I was at a BBQ early in the evening, and managed to escape early (wife could see me staring up at the sky all the time), got home and set up. The Milky Way was bright and crisp across the Zenith, no wind, no rain, no clouds, and the sky got REALLY dark (down to 20.30 Mag persquare arcminute or something on my sky meter).
Anyway, here goes: M27 Dumbell
OTA: C11 @ f/10
Guiding: SW ED80 + DSI-C + PHD (via EQMOD)
Ha Imaging: QHY8 + MaximDL, 30 x 300s, IDAS
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Post Process: ImagesPlus + PSCS2 + Noel Carboni’s AstroTools
(Click on image for larger version)
While waiting for this sequence to finish, I started playing with the 350D, and this image popped out of the camera earlier today. Some heavy duty light pollution removal, and a two layer composition wth alpha channel, and here is the end result.
(Click on image for larger version)
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on RGB M27 Dumbell (and a star trail image)
July 24, 2008
The last few months have been extremely frustrating. I`ve been out 3 times since the 23rd April, and I have been going stir crazy.
But finally, the high pressure is building, the weather is warming up, and it fells almost like Summer. A bit hazy last night, and the moon coming up later didnt help matters, but the seeing was very stable.
I had both systems out last night because I wasnt sure how the skies would turn out, but in the end, I used the EQ6/C11 combination.
OTA: C11 @ f/6.3 (or thereabouts)
Guiding: SW ED80 + DSI-C + PHD (via EQMOD)
Ha Imaging: QHY8 + MaximDL, 9 x 300s (lost 3 subs to the seeing), Astronomik 13nm Ha filter
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Post Process: ImagesPlus + PSCS2 + Noel Carboni’s AstroTools
(Click on Image for Larger Version)
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on Clear Skies! At last…. a night out under the stars
July 16, 2008
The seeing and transparency were fantastic last night…. in Australia <sigh>. I gave in and spent some more money on my Global Rent-a-Scope account to use the scopes in Oz to grab some new subs.
NGC7293 is an object that is JUST too low from the UK to be a valid target, but was nearly at the Zenith from Australia.
So, here we go:
OTA: RCOS 10″ f/6
Imaging: SBIG ST-10XME, 10 x 600secs, flats and darks applied.
Notes: This is the first image I have processed using the techniques I have learnt over the last few days from Ron Wodawski’s Zone System book, which is well worth a read if you can get your hands on it.
(Click on image for larger version)
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on NGC7293 Ha (Helix Nebula) – GRAS
June 26, 2008
It seems like forever since I was last out in my own garden with my own astrokit (23rd April), but finally the skies cleared and allowed me out to play.
This was my first serious session with the “new” EQ6 Pro + C11 + ED80, and so it took a while to get everything organised, attached, cables routed, etc, but I got there eventually.
With the nights so short and light, I needed to choose a target that would be bright and easy to image. Yes, sadly its M13… another one! I do have a soft spot for M13, it was my very first DSO I ever imaged back in May 2007.
Things have changed a LOT for me since then, new kit, lots of experience, a lot of confidence… but all this counted for nothing with a completely new rig to get working last night.
Thankfully, I used EQMOD + GPS + wireless gamepad, which made life so much easier. I only touched the Synscan handset when i powered up and when i packed it away.
Anyway, here are the results of my first imaging light with the C11.
OTA: C11 @ f/10
Guiding: SW ED80 + DSI-C + PHD (via EQMOD)
RGB Imaging: QHY8 + MaximDL, 11×180s, IDAS
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Post Process: ImagesPlus + PSCS2 + Noel Carboni’s AstroTools
(It was supposed to be 30 x 180s but I didnt remember that the C11 will need more heat on the dew strips, so it dewed up after about 30 minutes and I didnt notice)
(Click on image to view larger version)
I learned a lot of things last night, useful things that will help me set up faster and get imaging sooner. Am already looking for the next clear night!
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments (1)
