Seeing in Brisbane was good for a few nights earlier in the week. My first attempts at some high resolution moon imagery turned out a treat! All taken with the QHY5L-II and RG610 filter through an EdgeHD 925:
In order: Plato and Mare Frigoris mosaic, individual panels of Plato and Mare Frigoris, Copernicus, Kepler, Gruithuisen all from 28/7/15.
On 29/7/15 i grabbed the Aristarchus plateau and Rimae Sirsalis.
John - these are with the camera and scope listed in OP, then using a Televue powermate 2x and a filter wheel which i set to the RG610 filter. Captured using firecapture at full resolution of the QHY5L-II, stacked in Autostakkert, careful wavelets in Registax and a very small levels and contrast adjustment in PS, then "save for Web" in PS to create attachments for the forum . The mosaic i stitched manually in PS.
Thanks Dunk and Pat! Yes Pat i spend a lot of time collimating - i spent about an hour making sure it was as good as possible, examining a star in focus with metaguide
Thanks Dunk and Pat! Yes Pat i spend a lot of time collimating - i spent about an hour making sure it was as good as possible, examining a star in focus with metaguide
whats this metaguide then? i am a bit scared of trying to collimate my c11 and it is well out of wack i think!
i bought the hubble 5 star a few weeks ago and set it up inside my house, i think it was a mile out and i think i got it closer
pat
whats this metaguide then? i am a bit scared of trying to collimate my c11 and it is well out of wack i think!
i bought the hubble 5 star a few weeks ago and set it up inside my house, i think it was a mile out and i think i got it closer
pat
You shouldnt be scared Pat! Although Dunk can vouch for me being petrified at the prospect of collimation at first as well!
Basically you view a in-focus star through a 4x powermate or barlow/equivalent with a webcam/planetary/guide cam (not a DSLR) and Metaguide stacks 10 or more frames continuously to form a live video of said star, but because it is stacking it the seeing doesnt matter anywhere near as much. Then you adjust screws until the star looks like a perfect dart board.
I have a hubble. It is only useful for coarse collimation (ie making sure the secondary is roughly centered in out of focus star image to form a donut). As such it is pointless, because that is super easy to achieve anyway with any star under any conditions (except for clouds ).
You shouldnt be scared Pat! Although Dunk can vouch for me being petrified at the prospect of collimation at first as well!
Basically you view a in-focus star through a 4x powermate or barlow/equivalent with a webcam/planetary/guide cam (not a DSLR) and Metaguide stacks 10 or more frames continuously to form a live video of said star, but because it is stacking it the seeing doesnt matter anywhere near as much. Then you adjust screws until the star looks like a perfect dart board.
I have a hubble. It is only useful for coarse collimation (ie making sure the secondary is roughly centered in out of focus star image to form a donut). As such it is pointless, because that is super easy to achieve anyway with any star under any conditions (except for clouds ).
ah ok krishan, i have a lodestar mono and my brother has an orion ssag, i looked up this metaguide site but they did not mention either of these two cams, what would you suggest? / bit disappointed about me hubble 5 star there fella ha ha!
oh and i only have a 2 times powermate
pat
oh and you do it with an in focus star? what magnitude?
Pat - sorry i forgot to mention with Metaguide, i have to use EZplanetary which comes with the QHY, and live broadcast it to Metaguide, using EZplanetary to set the gain and exposure.
i havent tested my scope with a 2x powermate - with mine the airy disk is probably still big enough, but not sure about the C11. you will have to try and see!
Pat - sorry i forgot to mention with Metaguide, i have to use EZplanetary which comes with the QHY, and live broadcast it to Metaguide, using EZplanetary to set the gain and exposure.
i havent tested my scope with a 2x powermate - with mine the airy disk is probably still big enough, but not sure about the C11. you will have to try and see!
thanks for persisting with me here krishan, so i have a qhy10, can i use this EZplanetary with my OSC?
pat
no worries Pat - i think the QHY10 might work but the pixels might be a bit too big. Give it a try though for sure! Find a decently bright star (not too bright, something around Mag 0), start EZplanetary, set exposure as fast as possible for a gain that doesnt give you too much noise. exposure must be faster than about 50ms, 20 or 30ms is ideal.
swing me a PM if you want to discuss more, but really just get out there and give it a try! first step is getting the airy disk big enough so that is what you will need to get right first, before starting with Metaguide
. The mosaic i stitched manually in PS.
like your use of the near full phase to bring out the subtle crater details.
).
