quick second light C14

[spearo (Frank)]

Hi All,
I managed one night of imaging before i hit to road to visit friends in Brissie.

I haven't fully resolved all minor issues but i think the G11 can handle the C14, I need to spend a bit more time on a) drift align b) collimation C0 balancing and d) guide settings for PHD

It was a race against time as usual and after a pretty descent drift align, i spent some time working out the sweet spot for balancing and got it just about right.

I just know i can get the tracking to be even better if i keep fiddling with the 4 main variables above. I also want to eventually shoot at F/11 !

Also, I discovered a major trick in DeepSky Stacker. This came about because I made a bad series of darks by mistake (at the wrong ISO...), so I think i used darks on the Trifid but none for the Helix or M83.
I had never used the cosmetic function before but now I use the standard bayer matrix/no interpolation AND cosmetic to remove noise...NO DARKS and the result is simply amazing...i need to spend some time to improve this but I think this is going too improve my images.

Anyways, I thought I'd share these three images from this weekend, warts and all, they were processed quickly with very little sleep because i had to hit the road. They include Coma on edges etc... and I'm away from the main computer for the next few weeks so wont see replies too often nor will I get to reprocess for a while but I have to say: I'm excited at the possibilities!
If someone has time to test out stacks with Darks vs stacks no darks but using cosmetic (i think i set it to 1 px at 94%) to compare that would be great!

Ill check back when I can
Thanks for looking
Frank

[matt]

Well done, Frank.

And welcome to Brisbane

[spearo (Frank)]

Thanks Matt!

we're in Tamborine visiting friends, not exacly Brissie...nice spot!
frank

[Matty P (Matt)]

Stunning images Frank. Very well done.

Lovely colours and detail.

[bluescope]

Good looking images Frank !

M83 is my pick of the three !

Nice to have 14inches of aperture to gather the data.

[peeb61 (Paul)]

Great images Frank! Keep em rolling!

Paul

[matt]

Originally Posted by spearo

I managed one night of imaging before i hit to road to visit friends in Brissie.

Oh....OK...I take it back

Welcome to Tamborine

[Lester]

Fantastic images Frank, well done.

Did you use the 20Da for these?

[Ric]

A lovely set of images Frank, your really getting the best out of the C14.

I really enjoyed the Helix nebula.

[spearo (Frank)]

Many Thanks everyone!
Sorry I dont get to use a computer as usual to reply.

Lester, yep all three images done with the 20Da, love that little camera, god performer.

I still think i can improve and will only get the best out of the 14 inch until i resolve al the four main variables i mentionned and can image at F11! There's a few small fuzzies on my list I cant wait to try and image at F/11!

Thanks for the feedback everyone
cheers
frank

[Lester]

Hi again Frank,

I am still in awe when looking at your images.

Do you use the ZS80mm for guiding on these images? If so, you obviously don't have any problem with mirror flop in the C14 when taking 5 minute or longer exposures.

I will be going down this track in the next few months, and just thinking if I needed a off axis guider or not for when I use the 14" LX200.

Thank you.

[spearo (Frank)]

Hi Lester,
Yes I use the WO ZS80 to do the autoguiding with a QHY5 camera.
If you have a look at frankbonneville.com in the astro tab, the last pic at the bottom shows a shot of the setup when I first set it up. It's now slightly different in that I have removed the flip mirror that is attached to the WO ZS80 and simply use a couple of extenders instead (the flip was bugging me because i stuggled to get it to perform perfectly so i do without now). Obviously, the diagonal is normally replaced with the 20Da (in fact i virtually never hook it up-i always use the 20Da).

I have also installed a couple of C14 flop-stoppers from Ironwood in case I got some mirror flop issues (i usually wait for a problem to develop before fixing it but this time i took no chance). Seems to work a treat.

So i dont think i'm getting any issue with mirror flop in these 10 min shots.

I'm not sure if your OTA is on forks or a GEM. You might get some field rotation at 10 minutes? if on forks? I have to say i know nothing about forks (and probably not much more about GEM)

I was looking to see if I could see your setup somewhere but mainly found some of your awesome Jupiter posts I saw one done with a 2x Barlow!!!! Holy Chiwawas! I will definitely try it out at some point with a 3x Barlow)
I want to nail the drift align first to do some shots at F11...then I'll give planetary a shot (my knowledge base there is Ziltch!)
frank

[Lester]

Thanks again Frank for your indepth reply to my question, I appreciate it.

Yes my 14" LX200 is mounted on Goliath EQ mount and I am waiting for Losmandy Titan to arrive in a few months. Then I will attempt auto tracking and longer exposure times, now I am limited to either manual correcting or only 2 minute exposures through the 14" at f6.3.

Didn't mean to sidetrack your thread from your great images.

All the best.