First real light on HEQ5

[RyanJones]

Hi all,

Since I got my new HEQ5 before Christmas, I've had very little clear skies to do some testing. First was to get my head around PA as what it was doing didn't make sense. A big thanks to fellow IISer Karlsberg for pointing me in the right direction there.

I never did get to the bottom of how to get the hand controller to control my camera so a remote intervalometer went on the shopping list ( I don't know why I spent so long to make that decision )

Next was a pretty clear night that basically taught me how thirsty for power this mount is in comparison. I could do 3 nights @ 8 hrs/night on my Alt-Az with my first homemade battery pack...... This one ran flat after 4hrs....... Time to make a new power supply with a much bigger battery.

Finally I was ready. I'm bored of M42 to be honest but it's big and bright and easy to do in Bertole 7-8 skies so last night it became my test mule. Unguided I tracked in total for 6hrs with about 10% FOV movement. I chose my SCT because it highlights every error. I'm pretty happy with the shape of my stars on 40s subs and I think I could have gone longer.

The processing is far from perfect but I thought I'd play around with a softer more natural approach that makes the nebulosity softer and more wispy.

365 x 40s @ ISO800
45 x 40s @ ISO1600
Canon 5d
Celestron C5
HEQ5 Pro

[Startrek]

Ryan
Beautiful image !
I would consider PHD2 guiding as your next step up the ladder
It’s not that daunting, I’d wished I started a lot earlier ( took me 9 months to convince myself ) It gives you so much flexibility with your imaging. I even guide on 30 sec subs
Have a think about it
I can send you my tip guide for PHD2 guiding if your interested in getting into it at some stage
If you tired of M42 why not give just the running man Nebula a go with lots of 40 or 50 sec subs , darks etc
I’m imaging the RMN tonight if the clouds stay away.My anticipated capture plan on BYEOS will be ISO800 with 50 x 90:welcome: sec subs and darks whilst PHD2 guiding
Keep up the great work
Cheers
PS: prior to August I was standing next to my scope holding a remote shutter switch taking images , now I’m doing AP from my outdoor workstation 2m away from the scope. It didn’t take that long to take a big leap forward , I’m really enjoying controlling everything from my laptop. No more stiff necks and sore backs. The biggest expense was the laptop, most of the software is free and cables are cheap

[Paulyman]

Nice first shot. It’s nice to see the trapezium I always end up blowing it out. I’m going after the Rosette tonight if the clouds stay away. I agree with Martin, I love the Running Man.

[RyanJones]

Thank you Martin and Paul,

Guiding is definitely on the cards. First is going to be a UHC filter of some sort so I can take advantage of the longer sub lengths at home. I can do longer subs at a relatively dark site I've found about half an hour away but then my guide setup needs to be portable. I read most people going PH2 but what are peoples thoughts on Autoguiders ? The alternative is a dedicated small guide laptop that I can take in the car with me to the dark site ( I can park the car right next to my scope out there ) While we're talking about next steps, if anyone has advice on the filter that would be welcome too ? ( without going completely NB ..... for now..... )

P.S. - I like the running man too but ive got something a little different on the cards for tonight ( going to the dark :) )

[raymo]

Yes, good first go, but until you are taking high quality images 365 subs is
plain overkill, and will wear out your shutter quickly,[about 300 images with a 5D]. At this stage 50 or so is plenty.

Martin, I don't know why you were sitting using a remote when for $20 you
could have got an intervalometer. Programme it [takes 2 minutes max] and go
indoors and leave the rig to do its job.
raymo

[Startrek]

Raymo
I enjoy the set up , frame and focus , set guiding and capture plan , hit the button and then I go inside and watch a movie or a cuppa etc

I don’t sit at my laptop all night although if I have my 12” goto set up next to the imaging rig I will stay out all night and shuffle between the two

Cheers

[Outcast]

Nice shot Ryan,

This is what I aspire to eventually...

My next step is using the focal reducer I just acquired & an EQ mount although I'm not to sure about deforming my Meade just yet. I'm starting to lament moving my 80mm APO on.... but, something had to give to get the solar scope I have coming... maybe another APO in the future...

I enjoy chatting with you & others, the learning curve sure is steep but, the help from you & others on this forum is truly humbling.

Cheers & hope your imaging goes well tonight.

[RyanJones]

Thank you Carlton,

Please aspire to more than what I'm doing lol. I'm only just staring a whole new learning process myself.

The learning curve is steep and I don't think it ever stops. We've all been where you are now though and if I/we can help you learn too, then in the long run it benefits the entire Astro community.

[Outcast]

Baby steps....

Getting to the quality you are currently at would be a quantum leap for me at present...

Cheers

[ChrisV]

Nice Ryan. But now you've got the HEQ5 I'd look at improving sub quality before gathering tonnes of data as Raymo says.

- Make sure you get polar alignment precise since you are not guiding yet.

- I'd consider other things before worrying about a UHC filter. I've got one but rarely use it (and I have Sydney suburban skies)

- I'd also consider get the cheapy laptop (or a long USB cable to a computer in your house) and AUTOMATE! Not sure what you are doing now, but this will make things much easier, give better focusing. When I had my 550D I used EOS utilities (free, or backyard eos - costs a bit) and then astrophotography tool (only about $25). They are really easy to setup with a DSLR. Easy focusing (especially with a Bahtinov mask) and setting up sequences for lights/darks/flats.

You could even do this before starting guiding if you retsrict subs to 0.5-1min. But guiding will help AND its not that hard, especially with the likes of PhD2, although there is an initial $$ outlay for a camera/guidscope. But one step at a time.

Sorry if I've ranted on a bit here. And again nice M42!

[RyanJones]

Thank you Chris,

As I said before, guiding is definitely on the cards at some point. In order to keep the set up portable, I was considering auto guiding. Not a lot of people on here seem to use auto guides though, is there any reason for this? A cheap lappy is also an option I'm weighing up, I already have BYE but my current lappy runs 64bit Windows which canon don't make a driver for my old 5D.

In regards to the UHC filter, not using one would be great but how do you deal with the LP in your subs? I find that no matter what I do, removing it also removes some of the fainter nebulosity. I'd love to be able to image more from the backyard but my faster scopes (f5) just give me whited out subs. That's why I've limited myself to using my f10 SCT in LP skies.

As both you and Raymo have said, I know I don't need that many subs, especially for M42. The idea there was purely to see what the tracking was like unguided for a long session and to test the longevity of my new battery box.

Cheers Ryan

[xelasnave]

Nice to follow your progress Ryan.
Well done.
More subs work for me.
The main reason is you end up getting a better bank of data to sellect from...
I hope to head North tomorrow ... leg has healed...ear looks terrible but as the surgeon said "with your long hair no one will see it".

I could not pack my gear last trip back down so it all up there. .... I hope the leg allows me some camera time...and the weather is good...and most of the gear works☺.
Alex

[multiweb]

Good tracking. :thumbsup:

[RyanJones]

Thank you Alex and Marc,

I hope the leg holds up for you too Alex. I always look forward to seeing your work :). Good job all the equipment is still north so you're ready to go.

[ChrisV]

You're really making some great progress Ryan. And you must be doing something good on the tracking without guiding!!!

I remove light pollution (but not it's noise) with a few passes of dynamic background extraction in PI, rather than clipping it off. I'm sure with 8 hours on M42 you could process it out with whatever software you are using.

I have a uhc filter. I used it a lot for live imaging but don't like what it does to the colour for AP. Haven't figured out how to get around it properly

[RyanJones]

Thank you Chris.

I had the trial of PI but it's expired now.

I read that the UHC did change the colour cast. Apparently the UHC-E, although slightly less effective, doesn't do this. Also better given the largest OTA I have is 5 inch.