Testing my rig - Pleades, M42 and NGC104- my first real go at it

[h0ughy]

My actual first time I have tried the mount out, I tried to polar align as best i could and I didn't guide the shot manually (yet to learn that one).

I got M42 and pleades and NGC104 before the battery ran out in the camera.

Taken wiht the pentax *istDS with my 50-500 lens

had to contand with a stack of light pollution and car headlights :sad: I will do someting with them later.

[Chrissyo]

Niiiiiiice! They certainly look like what they're supposed to look like! =) You should take a trip out to some nice dark skies to fully test it! :)

[h0ughy]

Thanks Chrissyo for the comments.

I must thank Rumples Riot for his help and addition in the official Spam thread to his friend who set up an observatory in QLD. I went to the site to have a look and lo and behold his mate had a for sale area. So I checked that and i nearly fell off my perch, there was a second hand ST4 autoguider for sale. I have been after one of these for a few months. Hehehehe so i have just bought it. Thanks Paul :2thumbs: . now when I get it I will be able to autoguide. :)

[Striker]

Well done Huffy,

It get's pretty exciting looking at what you have just imaged.

Keep it up.

[Howzat]

Nice pics h0ughy

I was wondering what firmware version your using for your DS? I noticed on the Pentax site (http://www.pentaximaging.com/customer_care/show_firmware?firmId=3) that from version 1.01 they have improved noise reduction.
If you've upgraded it have you noticed any difference?

[h0ughy]

Thanks Tony,

I am so impressed with this mount. it is absolutely amazing. I did a test before i took images last night. I did the polar aligning and I almost got it spot on. i thought well I will read up on drift aligning to get it right but i was distracted by the kids and the wife and left it for 2 hours whilest getting them to bed and bathed etc. I had it set on Formalhaut, it had not moved from where i had it. i jagged it! i had polar alignment!!!!!! not only that, I punched in a few objects on the keypad and it went straight to them. then I tried the objects i photographed. But I had severe light polution and where I set up I had some car headlights which were apparent in some shots.

the mount is smooth and has virtually no backlash. I am impressed with the work that Roger from BATSC did on the mount!!!! Well worth it

[h0ughy]

No I am not aware of that! I have done 1.01 from 1. I will have to do that and see what the difference is?

[RAJAH235]

Nice pics. hUffy. :thumbsup: :D L.
ps. The prob. with the installed battery/ies can be overcome by using an external one & fitting a 'dummy' one in place of the original. PM for details if req'd. L.

[RB]

You're off to a great start with your setup Dave.
Can't wait to see it in full swing.

Cheers.

:)

[ving]

interesting pics david. 42 has some interesting colours to it hey. :)

[tornado33]

Howdy
Excellent, the tracking is spot on, so the mount is working well :) Focus is good too, how do u focus, just by eye?
Scott

[rumples riot]

H0ughy, I had a go at doing some processing of your images. I stacked three of the M42 and did some processing on the stack. Still a little noisy but managed to get a little more out of the shot. A stack of 10 or so would have been better.

Anyway here they are.

[h0ughy]

Thanks Paul, that looks great. As I said I haven't processed anything yet, I will do something maybe tonight (cloudy conditions predicted). I should give you the originals. But I also did take some with 1600 ISO on the dial = graininess . Did you read up on my latest aquisition?

[davidpretorius]

nice work fellow dave!!!

[rumples riot]

Yeah H0ughy I saw that you spent some money. Should do very well. Where did you find it? I looked under shop but could not find it.

[h0ughy]

at the bottom of the home page

[rumples riot]

Ahh ok, will look. Thanks

[Itchy]

Well Done Houghy!

I'm guessing that you took these in Jpeg mode. Since I know nothing about the *ist, does it have a RAW mode?

You realise that you are probably an Aussie Pioneer, pointing an *ist to the sky !!

We will have to get together one day!

Cheers :drink:

[h0ughy]

Tony,
yes it does have RAW mode :nerd: , however it is not really well supported around the software manufacturers like the canon stuff. it is really not a bad little camera. But is isn't as good as the canon though I will say that.

If we don't manage to bump into each other before Astrofest at Lostock, I will see you there :) next year.

[Itchy]

I understand that it has the same chip as the Nikon D70. Does the software that came with the camera convert the raws to Tiff?

thanks

[tornado33]

Yes even if Photoshop doesnt support Pentax raw, I think the supplied Pentax software would allow them to be converted to 16 bit Tiffs, that way all the information in them is retained. Levels in them could be stretched more before noise becomes a problem.
Scott

[h0ughy]

I haven't explored that facet yet Tony! might have to look at that? :help3:

[atalas]

Well done David ! your well on your way now to catching the imaging bug ,aint no turning back mate. David If I catch up to you at Kulnura one day I can help you with an easy
to follow drift method ,once you go through It you'll always remember It( asuming you haven't got It sussed by then )

[h0ughy]

SOunds good Louie :) I had the bug long ago but no way to meet its needs, (hey thats still almost true - any one with an St10 they want to donate :wink2: )

[atalas]

ST10 ! oh Houghy you have It bad mate :clap:

[fringe_dweller]

expecting great things from this set dude! excellent! more daily hits of eye candy :-)))) increasing the dosage!

[gbeal]

Nice start Dave.
One thing I thought of with your hard earned polar alignment.
Have you thought of marks on the ground, wherever you set up.
I work on asphalt (except in the middle of summer due heat), and have a set of three white dots of paint, and the roll out pier sits on them, giving me almost bang on aligment. Of course i had to get it reasonably right to start, but why do this every time?
Gary

[h0ughy]

I have grass Gary, a bit hard to mark that out. I do know one thing but, i will be almost bu993r3d when the moon is a bit fuller, between that and light pollution it is hard to see the octans bit.

[[1ponders]]

h0ughy, sink three bricks into the ground (the ones with the frog in them, if not then holed bricks will have to do, three holes if you can get them.) and set your tripod up against the end of the frogs and mark the spots with paint. Or mark the hole you use if you can't get a frogged brick.

[h0ughy]

Awe come on Paul that sounds too practical to be true! Knowing my kids they will dig it up just for the pleasure of raising "dads" anger to get some mileage. good practical thought though. I will do it this weekend!

[Striker]

I can't see it either......do a drift align.....they say its more accurate anyway.

[h0ughy]

Blame EddieT, andthe other beings of a higher order. I'd settle for a 20DA :P

[h0ughy]

If Scott doesn't show me then I think Louie will next time I am at kulnurra

[tornado33]

Howdy
With the drift method, I will pick a star as close to right overhead as possible, let the scope track on it for a few mins, and take note to wether the star drifts north or sough in declination. If the star drifts north, it means the scope is drifting south of the star. If this is so the azimuth is out and needs to be rotated slightly clockwise by a degree or so as you look down on the mount. If star drifts south, then scope is drifting north and the azimuth needs to come anticlockwise by a degree or so, then try again and see if its better.

next pick a star in the east or west below 45 degrees altitude, this time if the star (one in the east as an example) drifts north in declination, the scope is drifting south meaning the altitude is too low, raise it a degree and try again. If star drifts south the scope is drifting north meaning altitude is too high, reduce it by a degree and try again.

If using a star low in the west, if star drifts north, scope is drifting south meaning altitude is too low, and so on.

Using high magnification, each drifting session needs only be a minute or so long, meaning reasonable alignment may be possible in only 1/2 hour or so.

This method has worked well for me. When imaging, if I note guide star drifts in dec. a bit, I will adjust the Azimuth (if guide star is close to overhead) or adjust altitude if the sgudestar is lower in east or west and is drifting.

Anyway id be happy to show you when youre out under the stars soon :)
Scott

[h0ughy]

Thanks Scott :)

[beren]

:) Hey great to see work from you houghy , top stuff....c'mon drift aligning isnt that hard :P