AO-X NGC253 first light

[Peter Ward]

I often marvel at the sophistication of equipment that is available to amateur astronomers, and given today was first light for my AO-X, I'm happy to say that sense of awe continues.

Seeing in Sydney was not great. Convective cloud and blustery conditions prevailed. But, as the postman had delivered a custom adapter from the USA late afternoon, I figured it was time to end a 4 year wait....

Software and calibration routines worked seamlessly, even better there was a suitably bright guide star to allow a 10Hz guide rate with none other than NGC 253 nicely centred in a rather vast Honders + STX 16803 field.

Swiftly passing cumulus allowed only a single 10 minute exposure.

Not flats, they will have to wait until I can get some twilight data...hopefully tomorrow..

I stress this was a *single* 600 second image, from Sydney's light polluted suburbs. No colour, noise as expected....but....I think the system shows much promise :)

The result is here (http://www.atscope.com.au/BRO/gallery277.html) (apologies for the 3 meg file)

[RobF]

Impressive!

[renormalised]

The extra subs will work a treat on this one, Peter. It's a good shot as it is :)

[alpal]

That's going to be great when you do a whole set of subframes.
I can see that it's so sharp.

[Paul Haese]

Send it down my way. I will test it for you. Seeing is good at Clayton. ;) Nice single sub. Not sure about what is going on in the bright stars though. Looking forward to future results.

[TimberLand]

WOW. The stars are very sharp, some of the close doubles can be almost spilt. Mega data up and hold on.

An AO-X may be the next thing on my list of wishes, my scope and mount are now showing the limit of my seeing here at Warwick.

But is there any technology that can remove or see through clouds.

Justin

[Peter Ward]

Yes, it's called Hubble :lol:


Ah, yes the bright stars had that MaxIm DDP bounce (serves me right for posting so quickly) ....now fixed.


Ta, that's the plan...but being on the scope for the first time....:cloudy::rain::windy:





Thanks... AO on a 16803 has changed my thinking. The signal is way better than expected with very tight FWHM's, I suspect it may lead to some impressive mega-data :)

[pvelez]

Peter

do you have a rotator on that scope? Or does the STX find a guide star with ease?

Pete

[Peter Ward]

I do have a rotator, but not on that scope.... I doubt it would be possible on the Honders due limited back-focus (see attached pic..BTW the RHA tube has a 14" OD..it' a big camera! ).

That said, after slewing to NGC253, several usable guide stars were in the field of the guide chip.

[gregbradley]

That's excellent. No decon right?

Its quite a slim unit too. I know you only used it once but any feel for how it compares to earlier AO units?

Greg.

[pvelez]

That is a beautiful set up - all very slim and sexy-red.

Might be gutting expensive hanging around this site

Pete

[Peter Ward]

Ta Greg. No decon....that would look very ugly with just 600 seconds of data :)

My impression was it responded faster with less overshoot compared to earlier models. Running it at 10Hz, the guide star looked like it was magnetically locked into position. Quite amazing for such a large (80mm) modulated aperture.

[Bassnut]

Well, thats impressive, but im a bit confused. I cant see a star brighter than about mag 8 close to NGC253. Did you get 10hz on a mag 8 star?.

[DavidTrap]

Looks very impressive Peter,

What's the total back focus consumed by the AO, filter wheel and camera?

Also, what does the total setup weigh?

(Having evil thoughts at the moment...)

DT

[Peter Ward]

91mm, 5.5kg



Yes...mag 8 is fine. Mag 6 luxury....

[Bassnut]

OK, ill take that as an official spec, 10hz at mag 8. Ill be looking forward to that.

[Leonardo70]

Wow, what a dream setup ... congrats !!
Great resolution.

All the best,
Leo

[pvelez]

How much back focus does the AO-X take up? I read somewhere its about an inch.

Pete

[DavidTrap]

91mm is ok, but 5.5kg on the back of my scope might just tip the scales too far for my little Mach 1.

Might have to wait for a mount upgrade...

Ta
DT

[ChrisM]

Looks impressive Peter - both the image for 600 seconds, and the set up. Look forward to more!
Chris

[gregbradley]

Seems like a fantastic piece of equipment. Its only compatible with an SBIG camera right? Can STX16803 use the self guiding filter wheel?

Greg.

[niharika]

Last I heard STX would implement MOAG integration in the future instead of self guiding filter wheel.

[Peter.M]

Im pretty sure that Peter said in a previous thread that the stx cameras would still need to use the in guide chip. Don't quote me on that though.

[Peter Ward]

Peter, a bit over in inch 27.33 mm

Only SBIG cameras will work with the AO, the STX can't use the SG wheel due a different remote head interface.



MMOAG would work, albeit with some massive back-focus

[niharika]

Personally I found it hard to choose between STXL & STX. Each had features I liked but split across the two model. A 16803 based ccd with guider in front of the filter wheel and AO-X would be dream come true.

[multiweb]

Pretty insane shot. :eyepop:

[dvj]

Impressive indeed. What was your estimate of the seeing conditions at the time? With passing clouds perhaps not optimal -- meaning it can only get better from here.

j

[E_ri_k]

Looks like a great start Peter :) Very sharp indeed. That setup will certainly produce some great results.

[Peter Ward]

Ta, That's what I'm hoping for :)



It was about 3 arc sec.

Well..sentiment appreciated :) but perhaps with another 300 minutes we might get something special ;)