Back in the game, a new image with a new setup

[marco]

Hi all, it has been more than three years since my last post in this forum, which corresponds more or less to the hiatus I took from astro-photography, even if I have meanwhile enjoyed doing some planetary imaging (https://www.glitteringlights.com/Images/SolarSystem) from my new home in Singapore.
During the last years I got busy updating my observatory in Coonabarabran with a new OTA, much larger than my mighty TEC140, which gave me so many satisfactions in the last decade.
The new telescope is a Officina Stellare Rifast 500 (https://www.officinastellare.com/professional-telescopes-prod/rifast/rifast500.html), a fast astrograph 500mm f/3.8 with a large corrected field but also much more complex to tune that my old refractor. I have experienced first hand the difficulties of moving to fast scopes with their demanding tolerances on focusing, planarity and collimation.
Anyhow I am getting close to tame the beast and I am happy eventually to produce the first light image with it :rofl:. The subject is a classic of this period, the Silver Coing Galaxy NGC 253, however I appreciate how the faster optics could easily record the faint extended halo of this galaxy and yet deliver some interesting resolution on tiny details.

Silver Coin Galaxy (https://www.glitteringlights.com/Images/Galaxies/i-tzf9bDr/A)

The camera is still my "old" PL16803 which produces on the Rifast a nice square degree field of view @ 0.98"/pixels, which is a good match with the average seeing conditions I have at my site.
I have to admit that I got pretty rusty in processing after such a long pause and I am back learning a lot of the basics, so it will probably take a while before I will be again comfortable with all PS and Pixinsight passages I used to do :shrug: I will update the observatory page on my website on the coming weeks or months (not in hurry here), adding details about the new telescope, meanwhile feel free to ask me if you need any information about it.

I hope you will enjoy the image and I am happy to be back in the game!

Clear skies
Marco

[Peter Ward]

Dark site, Big aperture, fast optics, excellent camera, expertly processed
hence you'd expect a good result...but what a result!

A truly exceptional rendition of a perennial favourite. Fantastic ! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Great to see you back Marco. A fabulous start. You really caught that extended halo which is always a great thing to see in galaxy images.

A wonderful scope that should see many good years of superb images.

Greg.

[Placidus]

Unbelievable. Stunning. The halo is most impressive. I didn't know it was there.

Welcome back!

Mike

[Atmos]

To echo others, you’ve done a great job to show the extent of that extended halo! The detail and contrast within the core is very good too!
Large fast optics with big pixels, cannot go wrong!

[strongmanmike]

Welcome back (with a bang!) Marco :hi:

Nice deep image of NGC 253, I agree a fast scope and with aperture, sure makes a difference ;)

Great shot and I suspect the quality will only get better as you continue to dial this new temperamental beast in :)

Any photos of the new beast on site in Coona?

Your planetary images are World class by the way, enjoyed looking through those too :thumbsup:

Mike

[Geoff45]

Nice rendition of the halo Marco. I don’t think I have ever seen it before

[Andy01]

Woohoo! Marco’s back! :party2:
You’re one of my all time Astrophotography heroes and I’m delighted to see you saddled up & back on the imaging horse here on IIS. :)
Looking forward to more of these great images from you! :thumbsup:

[marc4darkskies]

Outstanding image Marco! Welcome back!

[alpal]

Hi Marco,
outstanding image and I'm amazed at the planetary images too.
Glad to see you back.

cheers
Allan

[multiweb]

Nice to see you imaging again Marco. :thumbsup: Top shot and what a beast of a scope! :eyepop:

[marco]

Thanks Peter!


Thanks Greg, it has been a loong pause from deep sky imaging but I have to say I feel back the excitement now ;)


Thanks Mike! In fact I imagined the halo already with my TEC140 (https://www.glitteringlights.com/Images/Galaxies/i-PjtVVWs/A) and Mr. Sidonio has also a deep image of it (https://www.flickr.com/photos/strongman/16232305109/), however this is definitely a faint structure that requires lots of light to be collected in order to pop out..


Thank you Colin, funny as nowadays 9um pixels are considered "large" in a world switching to CMOS camera and their supertiny cells :lol:


Thanks Mike, in fact I have not many pictures of the rig, when I was there making the stuff working I was so busy that forgot to take some nice images of the equipment (plus, as a side note, as photographer I suck :P). Attached anyhow a few of them, the Gemini focuser now is removed and replaced by a tip-tilt remotely controlled (custom made for me by OS), I do the focusing moving the secondary thanks to its innovative computer controlled support which allows as well to adjust the collimation remotely.
Several other things of this scope are quite particular, including the primary mirror which is conical to reduce weight and improve thermal acclimatization, not a common feature on this size-class telescopes..


Thanks Geoff, about the halo see my reply above ;)


Thanks Andy, I am honored! :thumbsup:


Thanks Mark, I am happy too :rofl:


Thanks Allan, the planetary endeavor in fact is something I discovered to be lot's of fun, I am doing it from the roof top of my condo in Singapore, luckily despite here we totally miss sky darkness we experience usually a very good seeing, which is a great bonus for highres imaging!



Thanks you Marc!

I hope to post soon some new images, I am on the collecting photons phase these days :atom: :D

Clear skies
Marco

[strongmanmike]

Wow excellent stuff, so you can adjust both tip and tilt of the camera and the collimation, remotely?? wow :thumbsup: sounds a little fiddly, do they need tweaking often?

How awesome is that "el Capitan"! :eyepop: :prey2: ....did yo know I got myself an AP1600GTO (https://pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/168564573/original) :D It's also awesome, I don't even use PEC and only polar aligned with the RA polar scope and it guides even better (https://pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/169201456/original) than the NJP did, Astrophyiscs make some nice kit :D

Good to have you back, don't be a stranger :thumbsup:

Mike

[alpal]

Mike - you wouldn't want to drop that puppy on your bare foot. ouchh.


Health and safety comes first. :)



( you'll have to excuse me - I do some health and safety jobs at work)


cheers
Allan

[strongmanmike]

...actually, of more concern and what was indeed on my mind during this photo, was the likely damage it would have done to what were then newly laid floorboards! :eyepop: I would have been in biiiiig sheet! :eyepop: :lol:

[alpal]

You're forgiven for not following health and safety rules.




Alpal

[marco]

No Mike, no need to keep adjusting the collimation or the planarity of the camera :D However both of these activities are quite time consuming (in particular the planarity adjustment) but absolutely necessary at f/3.8! When I first mounted the camera on the Gemini focuser/rotator I got a lot of issues on the latter and eventually got the tip-tilt done. Now despite still it takes time to adjust everything, this can be done comfortably watching the monitor from everywhere I am, plus the adjustments are fully measured and repeatable, meaning I can get a very precise alignment at the end of the process. If I had the scope in my backyard I would probably just done all the adjustments manually, investing few nights until I got a satisfactory alignment, but having the equipment installed so remotely it is a great bonus to have everything controllable over the internet :) OS told me they also integrated some tip-tilt sensors into the secondary support, with the idea to make a fully automatic collimation and perhaps mapping and correct for any differential flexure it may occur at different pointing angles, however I believe they never actually developed the software since the structure is very rigid and strong enough to guarantee the alignment to be kept at any angle even with heavy loads.. At least at the moment I am using the secondary computerized "tripod" support to focus and it works great :D
About the mount, it is great and yes, tracking is very good. I bought it together with the dome and the rest of the observatory secondary equipment from the former owner, which used to have a TEC180 on it. I basically sold my old dome (2.3 meter, I believe like yours) and purchased this one (3.5m) that was just beside mine, that was coincidentally for sale at the same time.. The 3600 has even the absolute encoder installed on RA but I have to say I am still not using it, tracking is good enough and I want to make sure everything else is working well before adding further variables..
Last, considering the weight of the OTA (about 100Kg with the camera and accessories!), ElCapitain payload is a very good match :D

Happy to be back too mate :thumbsup:
Ciao
Marco

[multiweb]

Is that petal shaped sheet behind the primary some dew heater?

[marco]

Yes indeed, the scope was installed with both both primary and secondary mirrors heaters, however I found no need to use them and even OS recommends not using in most of the cases, apparently unless crazy humidity heating the mirrors create more troubles than benefits..
Ciao
Marco

[multiweb]

That's very interesting. The only contact seems to be at the bottom of the mirror. Do you know why it is this shape?

[codemonkey]

Lovely image, congrats! Great rig, also... I'm jealous! :)

[marco]

The shape is because the heater was bent and attached to the back of the conical mirror. I took the picture while I was cleaning the optic so I detached it, than decided to left this way since I am not going to heat the main mirror in any case and this way the air flow from the fans has better cooling effect on the mirror itself!



Thanks lee!

Clear Skies
Marco

[multiweb]

Cool - thanks for the clarification. :thumbsup:

[Ross G]

Hello Marco,


Welcome back!


Great photo and great equipment...looking forward to some amazing Coonabarabran photos!


I was at Coonabarabran for three nights imaging in October....my first visit there in 5 years.
I drove past your dome and wondered what you were up to these days.


Happy imaging!


Ross.

[PRejto]

Hi Marco,

Great first light! Say, I'm pretty sure I now own (for many years actually) the TEC180 that used to sit on your mount...

Peter

[topheart]

Gorgeous image!!
I am so glad you are back.
Cheers,
Tim

[marco]

Thank you Ross, I was away for a while but I am happy to be back, I was definitely missing deep sky imaging :)


Hi Peter, thanks. Yes, I believe you have the wonderful 180FL owned by Angus Lau, the former tenant of my observatory. He took amazing pictures with that telescope!


Thank you Tim!

Clear skies
Marco

[Bart]

That is nice. Great sense of the spiral, almost 3d look to it.