Eta Carina NGC 3372 (L+ha,R+Ha,GB)

[PRejto]

I ended up getting a ton of data on this over most of April as I chased equipment issues: camera and issues with focus. I ended up ditching all my luminance and got a sharper result making up a synthetic luminance from the RGB.The problem finally traced to my flattener which provided a quite flat field but lousy offsets between R and B which made luminance focus worse than focusing individually between each RGB filter. And finally after a year of pain with the new SX-46 (5 different main camera boards) I feel confident that the issues are totally resolved. Over the last year I had project after project never complete due to these issues. This time I was just determined to get "something!" So, this was overkill, no doubt, with 10 hours of RGB (5 min subs) and 16 hours of Ha (15 min subs). Overkill or not, this much good data certainly made certain aspects of processing easier.

https://www.astrobin.com/406649/B/

Full size image here: https://www.astrobin.com/full/406649/0/


Thanks for looking.


Peter

[Slawomir]

A fantastic image Peter - certainly worth exploring at high resolution. Wow, 5 circuit boards, and the flattener. Sometimes we must be really patient in this hobby of ours. But now it looks like you have a wonderfully capable cosmic photon collector :thumbsup:

[PRejto]

Thank you Suavi.



Honestly, these issues and others (not to mention a dec motor failure that took a long time to properly diagnose and then get parts from the USA) just about did my head in. In spite of a ton of help from Martin Pugh I was unable to make headway with the two issues and made the hard decision to pull my gear out of Yass. I brought it home and temporarily setup out back and spent two weeks experimenting. Finally what was going wrong revealed itself. A new reducer/flattener is on its way to Los Angeles where I will pick it up next week. But, as I'm currently packing up my house for a sale and moving, I think it will be a long time before I image again. That is, unless I succumb to a back of the mind nagging thought that I "might" buy a portable mount. I beat down that thought every day but it won't die. Die I say, die!

[jwoody]

Excellent image Peter.
I really like the colours (not overblown or fancy) Colours looks natural IMHO.
A perfect image for my tastes.
:)

[strongmanmike]

Well, looking at a terrific image like that after so much heartache must give you at least some feeling of relief Peter?? :thumbsup:

Mike

[Atmos]

24 hours of data certainly helps! Very nice image Peter, great contrast and detail.

[willik]

Very nice image quality
Martin

[alpal]

Hi Peter,
that's excellent,
there is very high resolution &

beautiful noiseless colours.


cheers
Allan

[PRejto]

Thanks all for the kind words!


Yes, Mike, it is a relief if not also ironic given that I have now packed up all my gear and probably won't image for a considerable length of time.

[topheart]

Hi Peter,
A very very good image indeed!
Sorry, you had so much equipment trouble. Can I ask, what was the exact issue with the PME2 dec assembly??
Cheers,
Tim

[PRejto]

Hi Tim,


Well suddenly the MEII wouldn't home properly. I've forgotten some of the details but Software Bisque thought it had to be a cable issue. So, cables were sent and did not solve the problem. Then SB said it must be the MKS5000 control board. I was unconvinced since RA worked fine. More time passed and I drove to Yass and convinced myself that the board was fine by swapping the RA and Dec motors on the board. The RA motor ran fine from the dec plug on the board so that proved that the board was fine. The dec motor wouldn't run from the RA side of the board so that finally proved the issue was actually in the dec motor. The dec motor would spin. Finally a dec motor was shipped and the problem resolved. It was most likely a failed encoder on the dec motor. I hear that is a very rare event, so naturally it happened to me!


Peter

[topheart]

Thanks for that Peter.
I have had some mild to moderate hysteresis of the dec from day 1 with my PME2 that is annoying, but unexplained and unresponsive to troubleshooting and adjustment so far.
Regards,
Tim

[PRejto]

Hi Tim,


Sorry to hear about that declination problem. Do you see it as a N/S spread in the T-Point RMS scatter plot? I've seen that on occasion too but mine is responsive to cam and plunger adjustment. There is one other adjustment that might make a difference but you need to be super careful to not tighten too much. I'm speaking about the large hex bolt on the end of the worm block that keeps the worm from moving laterally. You may discover that it is too loose. First be sure to read all the docs on adjusting this.



Peter

[topheart]

Hi Peter,
Thanks very much.
Yes, it is a N/S spread on the TPoint scatter plot exactly.
Thanks for the tip, I haven't noticed the large hex bolt being loose, but I will investigate that for sure.
Thanks again.
Cheers,
Tim

[gregbradley]

A spectacular image despite the issues.

Good to hear its resolving.

Greg.

[PRejto]

Many thanks Greg. I'm now very confident that my system will finally be 100% when I next am able to setup.

Peter

[Ryderscope]

Good to see that you stuck with it Peter. The results show that the effort was worth it. I always say that if this hobby was too easy we would probably find something else more challenging to explore anyway :)

[Retrograde]

Very dramatic and detailed.
One of those objects that's easy to do but hard to do really well. You've certainly succeeded there.

[PRejto]

Thanks so much, Pete. I realised the other day that I made so many revisions during processing that I doubt if I could generate the same image again from my data. Kind of a strange thought, actually. Perhaps a good one in that these "works of art" are more art than we sometimes imagine.

[codemonkey]

Solid effort Peter, sounds like you fought hard for this one. Congrats on the IOTD too!



Now that is priceless... this hobby can be so frustrating. I look forward to one day having similar confidence with my rig.

[PRejto]

Thanks Lee!

I guess 100% sure is silly sounding given how many things can and do go wrong with regularity. But at least I have more confidence in the camera. And, I picked up the newly designed flattener in Los Angeles a few hours ago.

Peter

[Placidus]

'tis a very lovely image Peter. Agree with others about the pleasant and appealing aesthetic approach. Well done!

Oh, what a tale of woe! On par with our experience with the now more-or-less nonexistent Apogee. Four months door-to-door to do a very minor repair under warranty, then death of the main camera a few weeks after its return. Then being told that the replacement camera that we'd ordered and paid for could not be manufactured just now. Then, as we dusted ourselves off and installed a lovely new FLI camera, the drivers for the Apogee filter wheel and (admittedly ancient) guide cameras, which have loaded fine through several generations of computer, will not load on a brand new one. End of the road. We've been down since October, and the skies pristine.

[PRejto]

Hello MnT,


Thanks for the kind words. I think your tale is as bad as mine or worse. I hope you will find a way to be up and running very soon. Re the computer, have you considered loading a virtual system with an older operating system? Or, is it a hardware issue?


Peter

[Paul Haese]

This hobby is not for the impatient. I know that one for a fact. Well done on persevering and sorting the issues. I really like the colour of this image. Detail is good too.

[PRejto]

Thanks a lot Paul! I've been following your saga with interest and a bit of sorrow. Maybe you and I and MnT should form a club (others welcome!).


Peter

[gregbradley]

Also to add to that, FLI has been bought out. I sent them 3 emails to get a replacement dead fan. No response. I probably need a new email contact and not the one on their website. I hope they continue to service their products.

Greg.