NGC 1763 - a test run

[Slawomir]

Ahoy!

Have just managed to collect my first data with the new mount. It is only 100 minutes of Ha collected from between 30 and 43 degrees above the horizon from Paddington in Brisbane.

It appears that seeing was the main limiting factor, probably for the first time in my adventure with astrophotography. Duration for guide images was between 4 and 5 seconds. Bias and flats were applied, as well as a simple stretch. There is a bit of field rotation making its mark on the data, in particular at the bottom half of the image; I will try to polar align more accurately next time.

100 minutes of Ha: http://www.astrobin.com/full/272604/0/

250 minutes of Ha: http://www.astrobin.com/full/273012/0/


I am really looking forward to clear skies, so I could take this sketch of a photo a bit further.


Thank you for looking!
Suavi

[Atmos]

Really nice start Suavi! How did you find working with the AP over the EQ6? It took me a few mights to get to really get to grips with the ASA but that was mostly learning how the damned software worked, the best way to do PA and all that. After a few outings it was like night and day in performance.

[RickS]

Look forward to more., Suavi!

[Slawomir]

Thanks Colin. Yes, I am at a stage of getting used to the mount and learning what it is really capable of. The biggest limitation for me in terms of setting up are very obstructed sky views, so need to be inventive when it comes to polar alignment and it is quite hard to get it right. Some of the practical differences that I have started to appreciate are:

-> the ability to very precisely and easily adjust alt and az position of the mount. AZEQ6 was much better than HEQ5, but Mach1 is at yet another level. I personally like not having that long bolt used for altitude adjustments in AZEQ6 - it gets in the way at some telescopes positions.

-> the moment-to-moment errors in tracking are much smaller; last night 4-5 second guiding exposures seem to be adequate to correct errors. It was simply impossible with my AZEQ6. I am curious to see how guiding will look like higher up in the sky (last night's session was quite low above the horizon and somehow I only had dim stars in the fov as well as one saturated one).

-> running cables through the mount is gold.

-> actually it has been a smooth transition from EQMod to AP ASCOM driver and APCC. Both integrate very nicely with the rest of my software that I have been using for a while: SGP, PHD2 and Cartes du Ciel. Have also tried PemProv2.99 and it certainly is a keeper too! It now works with SGP and PHD2 and has some nice features that I need to investigate further, such as PA Wizard.

Have not tried yet imaging past the meridian. Will report again after a few more astro sessions :)




Me too! :)

[codemonkey]

Looking good so far Suavi! Out of curiosity, do you know the combined RMS in arc seconds for your guiding?

[Atmos]

What you describe is one of the things I like about both TheSkyX and the Autoslew software that runs the DDM60, both allow for accurate polar alignment with very little visible sky.

In TSX I do a random 16 point model on one side of the sky to get my polar alignment down to ~20 arcmin. I then use Autoslew and a 4-6 point (2-3 each side of meridian) model to get <1 arcmin.

Does the APCC allow something along these lines for creating multipoint sky models?

[Slawomir]

Yes, combined RMS was between 0.49 to 0.55 arcseconds for this session. I hope it will be better still higher up in the sky. Average HFR in the subs was between 1.81 to 2.00 arcseconds.



Sounds great Colin. Yes, APCC allows for creating customisable pointing models but I have not gotten to that yet. I may first experiment with PemPro as the PA Wizard seems to be very nice and simple to use.

One thing I noticed though that connecting via my house network might not be the best - in the log there were multiple timeout errors but I did not notice that at night. I will test setting up mount's own network or go back to using a cable.

[strongmanmike]

Pretty nice Suavi, clean and crisp, very cool area of the LMC that one :thumbsup:

Mike

[gregbradley]

Love that Ha image. That is really sharp and detailed and perfect field of view.

Easiest way is to learn T-Point in the Sky X. once you've learnt it you could get an accurate polar alignment with no view to the south in half an hour.

Once the setup is done you simply repeat next time and it will be much quicker.

Greg.

[Atmos]

+1 :thumbsup:

[Slawomir]

Thank you Mike, it is a promising start and I am glad that the mount arrived safely and it performs. Looking forward to taking my photos to a higher level :)



Thank you Greg, I really appreciate your advice. Perhaps one day I will look at the Sky X, but would like to learn how to get the most out of what I have first, in particular, that APCC has pointing modelling etc.

I have a view to the South, but both East and West are totally obstructed. I eventually managed to find a place in our tiny courtyard that allows me to see just enough of the sky to the East to use either PHD2 or PemPro for PA alignment. PemPro seems to be particularly easy to use as it tells how much (in arcminutes or arcseconds) one needs to shift the mount and in what direction. The manual tells exactly how much Mach1 will move by turning precisely machined altitude and azimuth knobs in the mount, so in the next session I should be able to get accurate PA.

Now I just need a clear night!

[SimmoW]

Ooh i didnt know you were getting the new mount Suavi, very nice! And yes im now loving tsx myself, 3 tpoint runs of 23 stars gets very good results, other night i was down to .32 arcsec error low on horizon.

Nice bonus image too.

[Placidus]

Everything working beautifully there.

[Slawomir]

Thank you Simon, Mike and Trish :)

I can report that PA Wizard in PemPro is super easy to use and I got the mount aligned more accurately tonight, to within less than 1 arc minute.

Need to double check camera settings in APPM to create a pointing model - but making a pointing model appears to be a simple process. I could easily select available part of the sky, set density of points, etc.

Clouds rolled in though so will need to wait for another night.

[Slawomir]

Added a bit more data: http://www.astrobin.com/full/273012/0/

[Placidus]

That's looking spectacularly improved. Yum! :thumbsup: Lovely sharp detail and faint features. There's a beautiful globular toward 11 o'clock that's sadly out of frame in our attempt.

[atalas]

Excellent Suavi....stars as tight as the butt of a fish:thumbsup:I'm am very happy for you!

[Slawomir]

Thank you M&T. There are a few interesting objects in this area of the sky. Would be nice to be able to add RGB stars. One day will get there! :)



Thank you Louie. You reminded me that is has been quite a while since I went fishing...:lol: