Well yesterday I had a number of firsts that I have managed to tick off my list. It was my first night of unmanaged imaging (still checked it numerous times throughout the night but it was largely automated). It was first light for my ASI1600 which arrived at 8:30 am yesterday morning (first light 13 hours after delivery). It was the first time I'd used a holographic attachment for focuser alignment and it worked remarkably well after I figured out what I was actually looking for.
It probably wasn't a good idea to be amalgamating the first use of the camera (took about an hour to get it to talk to software via ASCOM, no issues connecting to the computer), was the first time I'd used Sequence Gen Pro in about 6 months and the first time I'd ever attempted to set up an all night imaging platform. Actually the second or third time I'd used my FLI PDF in aggression after the final adapter arrived for that a week or so ago.
Thoughts on the ASI1600... Brilliant, even though I accidentally plugged it into the USB2 port on my USB hub I had wondered why it had 5s downloads, figured I just needed to fiddle with things in software at a later date.
Buggered up the OIII data though, SGP struggled with focusing the OIII frames even with 5s exposures so my next clear night will be spent figuring out the Offset from L of all my filters. It did a good job with the Ha though so I have a stack of 1.91" FWHM at 1.15"/pixel.
Ran at Unity Gain as I was too willing to go to bed to fiddle with anything else! Uncalibrated, took flats but they NEED to be calibrated. So far all I've done is an AutomaticBackgroundExtraction, Stretched and increased the contrast a bit with the curves.
31x300s so ~2.5 hours of Ha on NGC 2020.
Anyway, off for another 8 hours of work so I'll post a larger version at another point
Great first light result Colin. The ASi1600 is so smooth. Make sure you are running the latest camera driver from ZWO (its linked on the downloads page of the product).
I would suggest pluging the camera USB3 cable directly into your laptop if possible, second choice is via a powered USB3 extension cable. I assume the one you received has the integrated USB2 hub for the filter wheel.
Suggest you set the USB speed at 70 to start with on the ASCOM driver page, which you can access in SGP after you connect.
Congrats on implementing all those firsts in one night! You did extremely well to get it all working as well as you did. The usual thing is for that to take a while.
Great first light result Colin. The ASi1600 is so smooth. Make sure you are running the latest camera driver from ZWO (its linked on the downloads page of the product).
I would suggest pluging the camera USB3 cable directly into your laptop if possible, second choice is via a powered USB3 extension cable. I assume the one you received has the integrated USB2 hub for the filter wheel.
Suggest you set the USB speed at 70 to start with on the ASCOM driver page, which you can access in SGP after you connect.
Have fun.
I don't have a CD Drive in my laptop so I was forced to download all of the latest stuff
At this stage all I have is a powered USB Hub, I'll see how that goes for now. The camera does have the extra USB ports but I'd prefer to keep away from them if possible as it keeps USB traffic away from camera.
I think the default USB traffic setting is 80, will have to double check that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy01
Looks good Colin!
I love those little LMC nebs maybe framing is a tad tight on the top left?
Nice first light
There is a lot of little knots all over the place, I don't think there is a single good frame
Quote:
Originally Posted by RickS
Congrats on all those firsts, Colin. Promising results. Look forward to the first real images.
Cheers,
Rick.
I was hoping for a bi-colour, I have 1.5 hr of OIII but it's FWHM is closer to 4" due to focus being a bit off. It looks OK at the moment but I really need to get some calibration frames.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JA
It Looks amazing - Bring on the colour
Colin, is that imaged from the Melbourne suburbs?
Best
JA
It was indeed shot from Melbourne Burbes, being in the north eastern suburbs I am imaging directly over the Melbourne sky glow. I love the 3nm Astrodon!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Placidus
Wow! A very productive 2.5 hours, and against towering odds with all those firsts. Well done.
If you had another 2.5 hours, perhaps you could frame a bit to the left, and do a mosaic.
It isn't showing up so nice here BUT there is a decent sized bubble looking thing to the bottom right to which I am curious about! I have a feeling that I'll just keep on finding more nebulosity that needs to be shot :/
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spookyer
Great start and good effort to get this on a first night.
Thanks Brett
Quote:
Originally Posted by DJScotty
That's nice Colin.
Some fantastic detail in there.
Glad to see you are liking the ASI.
It does take a little bit to get used to, but well worth it!
Keep chugging along
Scott
What's not to like about a wider FOV and greater pixel density Havent really had much of a play with it yet! Hopefully next week, not sure if I'll find time this weekend.
Congrats on implementing all those firsts in one night! You did extremely well to get it all working as well as you did. The usual thing is for that to take a while.
Greg.
I may have gotten lucky I had considered calculating the offsets last night but at midnight F was too late and having to get up at 5am to pack up for work... Wasn't gonna happen! I guess the same logic still applies, tackle one issue at a time
Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Ward
Wow. Have to say I'm impressed. You have to be chuffed with the results
I am pretty happy with the results, have no idea on the read noise or how much longer I need to get sky limited. Take some bias and darks soon enough
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stevec35
Looks very good Colin! Detailed and sharp.
Cheers
Steve
Really helps to be blessed with <3" seeing for a change
Thats a very crisp first light Colin, congrats! Welcome to the 1600 club, the mods need to setup a 1600 group theres so many of us!
Ive used the cam's usb hub, havent noticed any issues... yet
Still far more KAF-8300ers out there If I end up having any issues with the USBHub I guess I'll have to look at getting a powered USB3 extension and run most of the stuff through the camera. I only have two USB ports on my computer so I am limited by that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Camelopardalis
Congrats on the first light Colin, looks like a successful night
Wow, not bad Col and nice work getting it all working so quick, well done. I know it was basically a test session but I agree with Andy, if you had just framed the Wacky Races Sherman tank there in the top left a little more to the right....
You have some cracking equipment now mate, so once you are finally out of test mode and you get some good weather, you are gunna crank out some purlers I recon...look forward to the show
Beautiful...really inspired by the 1600 capturing Ha in 5 minute subs
Quote:
Originally Posted by atalas
Splendid Colin
Thanks
Quote:
Originally Posted by strongmanmike
Wow, not bad Col and nice work getting it all working so quick, well done. I know it was basically a test session but I agree with Andy, if you had just framed the Wacky Races Sherman tank there in the top left a little more to the right....
You have some cracking equipment now mate, so once you are finally out of test mode and you get some good weather, you are gunna crank out some purlers I recon...look forward to the show
Mike
This looks like a camera where you cannot get away without calibration, especially when dragging off the noise floor. I have removed a fair bit with gradient removal but on the RHS there is what looks like a fair bit of amp glow.
I hadn't seen the Sherman Tank but once seen it cannot be unseen! Love Hanna Barbara (SP?)!
Some new framing is definitely in order though, the top left is more interesting that the RHS although there is an interesting bubble popping up on the lower right.
I have a dream scope I want... RH200 F/3! The spot sizes on your 300 F/3.8 is mind blowing but I am quite happy not moving much over the 10kg scope
I had wondered why it had 5s downloads, figured I just needed to fiddle with things in software at a later date.
and nice work getting it all working so quick, well done. I know it was basically a test session but I agree with Andy, if you had just framed the Wacky Races Sherman tank there in the top left a little more to the right....
