Second Light - an image from my bedroom

[Phil Hart]

Well there is nothing revolutionary about this image being just another Lagoon. But the difference for me is that this represents my first remote and automated image..

Remote in the sense that I opened the dome and started everything from upstairs at home without even bothering to walk the 80 metres to the dome and automated in the sense that once I started the sequence after midnight I went to bed. I woke up late this morning with the dome closed and everything safely stopped (which it has done reliably since I got the basic gear up and running a couple of months ago).

Takahashi FSQ
EQ8
QHY9 CCD, Astrodon LRGB filters
~5 hours LRGB
Sirius 2.3m Dome
AAG Cloudwatcher
Robofocus
ACP, Maxim, FocusMax software etc.

Higher Res on SmugMug (https://philhart.smugmug.com/DeepSkyAstrophotography/Nebula/i-H9rPxLQ) but my LRGB processing is a little rusty.

I'm calling it Second Light as my "Rival to Mars (philhart.com/content/rival-to-mars)" image was the first taken from inside the dome, but that was in a very low-tech mode with modded DSLR and telephoto lens. This image is first light for my Tak FSQ and my old QHY9 which is back in service for a little while at least.

Thanks for sharing in my fun ;).. look forward to seeing some of you in Parkes next weekend for CWAS Astrofest. Great lineup of presenters as well!

Now just have to wait three weeks for the next clear night..

Phil

[multiweb]

Superb field and colours. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[leon]

Wow, just go to bed, tell it to do its stuff, and the job is done. incredible.
how technology has advanced, beautiful capture by the way.

Leon

[Phil Hart]

Thanks Marc and Leon! I don't function well without sleep these days.. it used to be a lot easier but this will keep me imaging :-)

Phil

[h0ughy]

wow - i am in awe of the setup and the result - marc's favorite bit of sky ;)

[Phil Hart]

Thanks houghy.. you're having some fun at the moment with yours too though right! ;)

Phil

[Paul Haese]

Ah welcome to the automation/remote club Phil. Believe me you will never look back and wish for getting up and checking things again. How have you found ACP? I have been huming and ahhing about it for the last couple of years and wonder if it is worth is over CCDAP.

The image is not bad but seems a little green and red biased to me. I think it needs a bit more blue. Detail is good and I like the field of view. I like that extra space you have around the Lagoon.

[marc4darkskies]

Hey Phil - lovely image and congrats on reaching full automation. Alas, my camera firmware issues (intermittent timeouts) prevent me from reaching this milestone.

Agree with Paul - bit of a green cast. I don't think it's overly red though. Some midtone colour balance to lessen the green is probably the go. There might even be some fainter reds in there crying to be seen as well?

[Phil Hart]

Thanks Paul and Marcus. Interesting that you both saw green.. I can just see what you are referring to on my monitor. I've tweaked it a tiny bit.. any more and the magenta looks too strong to me?:

https://philhart.smugmug.com/DeepSkyAstrophotography/Nebula/i-WzdvMq6




hmm.. that would bother me! i have some software issues to sort out before I can achieve the level i'm aiming for but hopefully not firmware issues!



I think ACP Scheduler (and external web interface for other users) is the difference. I'm not familiar with CCDAP but I assume you have to fire it up each night and give it a plan to work with? ACP Scheduler allows you to load a whole bunch of targets with priorities and constraints and it does the rest - optimising time on each target each night and opening and closing and re-opening observatory along the way (based on sales description - I haven't got that far yet). Early days for me yet..

Phil

[topheart]

Hi Phil,

All the best with the robotic journey!
Cheers,
Tim

[Phil Hart]

Thanks Tim!


And just for Marcus, I've blended in a little Ha:

https://philhart.smugmug.com/DeepSkyAstrophotography/Nebula/i-PvB3wxZ

[marc4darkskies]

That's better, but I find it's often best to remove any green cast altogether (curve or colour balance tool in PS) and then settle down any magenta bias to taste with say the selective colour tool (PS). It can sometimes be iterative too - eg perhaps your stars will get a bit too red after fiddling so you can add a little green back into them using highlight colour balance or curves.

[silv]

you still do the processing manually?

a system call script after image collection that runs the import into stacking has to be part of your project, I insist.

(Somebody called video astronomy the way for lazy buggers - and got told off for his insensitivity. I better bite my tongue, too, eh? :p )

[silv]

It's a beautiful picture, of course! :)

[gregbradley]

Nice image Phil. Congrats on automating.

On my monitor it looks a bit fluoro, but despite my monitor being calibrated (colour munki smile) I am still gaining confidence it is correct so take that into consideration. On my laptop it looks fine but my laptop has a slight blue bias and is less colourful.

Greg.

[RickS]

Looks good on my laptop screen, Phil.

[Rod771]

Lovely image, Phil!

Sleeping and imaging what a combination! Glad its all coming together for you.

[rustigsmed]

very nice work Phil.
How have you found the eq8 on full automation? a lot of people have queried its usefulness for full automation because it uses relative encoders but you seem to have had no worries - any secrets / tips you could elaborate on for the eq8 users?

the lagoon looks great :)

Russ

[Phil Hart]

Very early days but ok so far Russ. I am hoping that a future version of EQMOD will recognise and work with the home sensors - I was a bit surprised to find that functionality not working.

At the moment I'm reliant on the mount parking correctly before I shut power down. As long as that happens then it's fine. If I lost power then I may need to check the scope manually (or plate solve if I can get the dome lined up with the scope in whatever position it was left).

Phil

[Paul Haese]

Yep CCDAP requires me to turn everything on each time and then update the scheduled run for date etc.

Yep ACP is the flag ship for sure and on my list of eventual buys. I want to put the obs on permanent solar power before I go down that track so I can reduce my power costs.