Ngc 2070 hoo

[Atmos]

This is just one of those regions that I keep coming back to over and over again. I think I've imaged it with one filter or another with every imaging setup I've had so far and this is no exception.
Earlier this year I drained my virtual wallet and put in the order for a Officina Stellare RH200 and I've been playing with that for the past two months. Still having some teething issues but the after sale support from Officina Stellare is beyond reproach. During office hours (in Italy) there is usually an email response within 30 minutes. So far I haven't done anything or touched anything without getting the go ahead, being paranoid that I'll tighten or unscrew something that'll cause it to fall to bits :lol:

Long story short Riccardo (a properly Italian name) thinks I'll have to make some very slight adjustments to the front lens so I'm just waiting on them to write a document on how to go about doing it and which of the 8 hex bolts I should/shouldn't touch.

This is a complete bare bones rendition. No noise reduction, no deconvolution, no nothin'. Stacked and stretched.
I loaded it into GoodLook 64 which did an excellent job but until I can get some more data to separate the faint Ha and OIII background from the gradients that'll just have to wait. At the moment it appears like virtually every bit of the field has stuff and the SNR is too low on the left side of the frame.

High Res Link (https://www.astrobin.com/full/321178/0/)

Like the professionals, offical first light is when I get the gremlins sorted out :)

[gregbradley]

Pretty spectacular for a scope you are still sorting. I don't see any issues in the image so not sure what the problem is with the scope.

Could do with a bit more saturation is my only comment. Otherwise its a WOW.

Good choice of scope. All the top imagers are using Honders type scopes!!!:lol:

Greg.

[Regulus]

Oh yes! Lovely to look at Colin. Detail, and a nice use of the palette.
Very nicely done.

Trev

[Atmos]

It's largely masked by shooting on both sides of meridian. The attached plot is taken from 29 drizzled frames from one side of meridian. Although it looks like a tilt issue, this largely remains unchanged even when fiddling with the built in tip/tilt plate.
On arrival one of the bolts that holds the tip/tilt plate in place was very tight and I eventually found out that it shouldn't have been. This is the first image I took after I backed that bolt of 0.6mm to get the backplate within ~100 microns of flat using a digital depth gauge. Before backing off the bottom right corner was just terribly out of focus (maybe 200 microns) compared to the top left corner. Also getting maybe 2% vignetting on the left hand side of the frame and up to 11% on the right.

Having come from two Chinese refractors which had quite good build quality, nothing at all to complain about them, when you get something that just oozes quality in every part of its manufacturing, you cannot help but admire it in the light of day. I also have to say that it is very forgiving to use. Yes it has some teething issues but that doesn't bother me, they're not serious, one bolt tightened that shouldn't have been and what currently appears to be a slight front lens miscollimation after a 12,000km journey through various handlers.

Also have to remember that even the tiniest of issues are made more noticeable at F/3! And people say going from F/5 to F/4 is bad :P



Thanks Trev :)

[RickS]

Looks promising, Colin. Once you get the scope dialed in you will be cooking with gas!

[Slawomir]

IMO the data looks great already Colin. And a beautiful scope too! Great to know that 3nm Astrodons work at F/3 :thumbsup:

[SimmoW]

Wow, thats a top shelf setup you have there now Colin! Good first light too.

[gregbradley]

[QUOTE=Atmos;1344553]It's largely masked by shooting on both sides of meridian. The attached plot is taken from 29 drizzled frames from one side of meridian. Although it looks like a tilt issue, this largely remains unchanged even when fiddling with the built in tip/tilt plate.
On arrival one of the bolts that holds the tip/tilt plate in place was very tight and I eventually found out that it shouldn't have been. This is the first image I took after I backed that bolt of 0.6mm to get the backplate within ~100 microns of flat using a digital depth gauge. Before backing off the bottom right corner was just terribly out of focus (maybe 200 microns) compared to the top left corner. Also getting maybe 2% vignetting on the left hand side of the frame and up to 11% on the right.


Something is shifting when you go on the other side of the meridian do you mean?

F3 would be touchy collimation. Tiny changes would be the go.

If you are using an OAG then the pick off mirror can easily create a big shadow. I had one on my RHA for a while until I raised the pick off prism and it went away! F3 means the light rays are at a steep angle and that will cause the prism to cast a larger shadow. Perhaps check this is not the case.

Greg.

[Atmos]

It's now just down to improving star shapes are FWHM across the frame. Going to get some adapters so I can put a Nikon D810 on the back, it'll make seeing whats happening over the whole corrected imaging circle a lot easier.



One thing I have noticed going from an EQ6 to premium mount and now to a premium scope, as with you going to a Mach 1, even when things aren't working perfectly they still work well. When my EQ6 was having a bad day (gremlins), it just plain didn't work!



Thanks Simon. Once I get the collimation set, Official First Light will commence :P



Nothing shifting, just that the top of the image is better than the bottom so once you go over meridian everything flips 180º. After stacking it helps star shapes all over the frame... to some extent.

Just waiting to hear what I need to touch. I've been told it isn't difficult to do but with just shy of 10 hex bolts at the aperture of various sizes, don't want to go eany meany manie mo :P

Also not using an OAG but I have noticed that the very steep light angles cause more "artefacts" on a sensor with micron lens' and no anti-reflection plate on sensor :P

[strongmanmike]

Wow Colin that's an awesome scope you have :eyepop:

I can see the stars are kinda triangular :question:.... and that makes sense given your description of the difference across the meridian problem but this is really only noticeable at full res. I hope you get it sorted, having such a potentially mighty fine instrument you would want it returning excellent stars across your relatively small chip...lucky you aren't using a 16803 chip!!! :eyepop: Good luck :thumbsup:

Mike

[Atmos]

The collimation shouldn't be off by too much, just going to need some small adjustments but considering its 12,000km odd trip, that's kinda normal in most instruments :P Maybe not refractors like your FSQ so much :lol:

For one of the other Mikes, finally got around to having a more serious process with GoodLook 64.
GoodLook 64 Version (https://www.astrobin.com/full/321178/B/)
Had to load it into PI to drop it from its native 65mp form back down to a more respectable 16mp and then cropped slightly :P

[alan meehan]

Colin that's a amazing image get it sorted quick
AL

[redbeard]

Wow, and then I saw the high res!

Really like the colours.

Cheers,

Damien.

[traveller]

Noice....:P

Seriously it's sharp, plenty of details and punchy colours to boot.
Well done Colin.
Bo

[gaseous]

I know nothing about Astro photography, but that is just a fabulous image.

[willik]

Looks good Colin it just keeps getting better
Martin

[Placidus]

A most excellent and pleasing result. Lots of fine sharp detail; lots of faint wispy subtle stuff in the background.

Hoping you'll add SII at some point.

[JA]

Excellent result :thumbsup:

Best
JA

[Atmos]

Found out over night that apparently I can collimate using a Tag Collimation Scope so that'll something I'll be purchasing shortly... Plus an adapter to connect one scope to another :P



Thanks Damien, hoping that an eventual SHO version will be even more colourful :D



Thanks Bo, been good seeing yours come along as well :) HOO is easier to process than SHO btw :P



Thanks Patrick, in some ways it kinda looks like what I see through a telescope than my usual heavy processing. Colour aside obviously!



Undecided whether I prefer the very minimalistic processing approach or not, will see how it goes once the fainter SII gets thrown into the mix.



It was a bit of fun processing in GoodLook64 although my laptop was REALLY unimpressed with dealing with 65mp images :P
I was going to add some Sunday night but decided last minute to get more data on NGC 292 give M42 to a crack instead.



Thanks :)

[strongmanmike]

Actually Colin looking closely again at your image at full resolution and assuming you haven't specifically worked on your stars in anyway (?) the issues you are having look to be pretty minor, you must almost be tempted not to touch anything in case it gets worse..? :eyepop:...still, seeing it this good and knowing that a tweak could make it perfect must also be very tempting :)

Mike

[gregbradley]

Yeah I'm with Mike. I would be pretty conservative attempting collimation on an F3 scope.

Tak ED180 F2.8 scopes were notorious for needing to be sent back to Texas or Japan for recollimation.

The faster the scope the touchier it becomes. Baby steps of collimation would be the go.

Greg.

[Anth10]

Colin,
This is a brilliant image, top shelf. Ghostly detail, love it. Your constant efforts on this subject have led you to one you must be super proud of. Like Mike suggested, it would be easy to ignore the minor imperfection since the quality is already very high- but like most of us we can't let things like this beat us! Good luck resolving the issue, and celebrate with a good Italian wine when you succeed!
Anth

[Atmos]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cj5tydocrlh0ivk/29%20Frame.tif?dl=0

This is a full res simple stretch of 29 frames of Ha from one side of meridian. The stars in the top left are the best, the top right still have a low FWHM but stretched. The bottom corners have nearly twice the FWHM and are elongated. This is on a 15mm diagonal or whatever the KAF-8300 chip has, micro 4/3rds.

Ultimately I would like to put a Nikon D810 on the back to make use of its whole 42mm imaging circle! I don’t mind spending the time making small tweaks but hopefully I don’t have to do any attempts under the stars. Ordering some stuff this afternoon, Tak Collimation Scope and some adapters.



Riccardo tells me that he’s done something like this before and it took him about an hour. Granted, he has lot more experience working with the products but as long as I take it really slowly it should be okay. I’ve taken images of defocused stars with it already and from that determined that it’ll only be under sheer desperation that I’ll be attempting that form of collimation!
My plan in a few weeks when everything arrives is to check it with the Tak Col scope before touching it. If it doesn’t visible look like it’s out of collimation I’ll be going back to Riccardo for advice before touching anything.

As you say Greg, at f/3 it’ll be very sensitive to small changes.

[Camelopardalis]

Looks a cracker Colin :thumbsup: should certainly help you make the most of the skies down there ;)

IMO ~600mm is a really interesting F/L, often overlooked. Lots of detail to be gleaned there and decent FOV.