M1

[Rocket Pooch]

Well my setup is merrily imaging M1 at the moment at F6.7 or 1345mm, I'm trying to do 15 minute Ha subs, if the clouds hold for 2 hours and the twigs dont get in the way of the guiding I wonder what it will come out like?

Yes I am imaging between the trees, oh how extreemem the guide scope is 400mm its currently readin .11 & .13 Pixel in RA and DEC, I did a polar alignment test earlier and its bang on, but focusing the SCT is not easy.

Anyway, here's hoping?

[Rocket Pooch]

Does having an aircraft and a satellite fly through a sub count as good luck?

[Ian]

only if the satellite was the moon.

And the aircraft was the Wright Flyer.

[JohnP]

No Mate - you need to have a comet, an asteroid, a meteor, spaceman, ISS & a toolbag as well before it's good luck....

[MarkS]

I was out making another attempt on my image that can be never be done - the Horsehead.  Yet again, transparency was not good and then turned even worse before the clouds rolled in ...

[Rocket Pooch]

what was worse was the guider getting hold of one of the object going through the frame!

I'll post the dub later today!

[MarkS]

what was worse was the guider getting hold of one of the object going through the frame!

Sounds fun.  I'd love to have seen it!

[Rocket Pooch]

Ok, this needs flats etc, but here's a raw stack 16x15 Minutes M1 in Ha 8" ACF Meade @ F6.7 with ATIK 314L, guiding with 400mm Scope (guiding kept to .11 pixel RA & .10 pixel in DEC) even with the guiding working very well there is some flexture in the system the scope moved a bit over the 4 hours and 15 minutes it was imaging, oh well can't expect everything from a cheap mount.



Did I say it was cold, have a look at the dew shield on the scope, complete ICE!



And the plane and satellite

[Daniel]

That's fantastic, can't believe your guiding is that spot on at that focal length there's a hell of a lot of detail there too, on the subject of focusing the sct, I've just got a feathertouch focuser for my C14 from starizona and it's incredible, that said, can't see any focusing probs on your M1 anyway

Daniel
:O)

[JohnP]

Chris - looks vgood - but your processed image is very dark - hard to see detail - can you lighten up a bit.. the raw is much brighter.... like you say stars are a little elongated (flexure) but superb image & FOV

John

[Rocket Pooch]

Daniel & John, thanks for the comments, I will process it properly later today and remove the 3 subs with elongated starts, the other subs had .031 elongation of the stars which would mean I could probably guide at something around 2.5 meters, but I would have to chuck some subs away, but I'm not intending to go over 1.5 meters anyway.  It was well worth while rebuilding the mount last year and replacing the RA & DEC bearings.  Also having sorted it out, I can't fault AA for guiding, its bloody accurate.

I think the still conditions helped.

I brightened it up a bit John, but you can see the need for a flat for the scope, not as bad as the ZS66, but there is uneven illumination.

[JohnP]

oh err.. now that's starting to look fantastic - can really see extent of nebula - I look forward to seeing final process...

Is that full size crop around Neb or did you reduce size of frame?

Gradient/ vignetting is not too bad The Gradient Xterminator Plugin I use with Pshop would easily get rid & only looks like one Dust bunny (the air you bought did a good job)

John

[MarkS]

Chris,

That last picture of the M1 looks really good - it is a great image scale and you captured some fine detail in there.  Your guiding is so much better than mine with the C11/EQ6 - I might have to do something about my mount.

I love the picure of the dew shield - mine was exactly the same last night.  I find that both a dew shield and dew heater are essential for those large SCT scopes.

Mark

[Rocket Pooch]

Mark,

The upgrade I really would recommend is replacing the RA and Worm Bearings, not the main bearing, and also the grease if you have one with the tar special in it, my mount is +- 23 with a light load and +- 18 with a heavy load and its a nice sign wave as well, also the trick it to balance against rotation this helps a lot, the guiding in RA last night was .11 pixel adv which is, .5 ars seconds, the image scale was approx 1 arc second per pixel.  If you need help replacing there I will help.

I'm going to make up some dew controllers and strips soon, if anyone wants on I'll do them for cost + £5 to a charity BHF.  But I need them for the wooden rails on the observatory, that was extra slippery last nigh.

Chris