It’s been a while, but I’ve finally got my equipment back up and running. I certainly underestimated the amount of effort in reworking the Titan. I regreased the worms and reprogrammed the PEC with pempro. Considerable improvement in performance - perhaps most importantly is the auto-guider is certainly not working as hard as it did previously. I even spent 5 hours CCD drift aligning to reach polar alignment errors of 15 arcsecs in altitude and 17 arcses in azimuth – a little too keen.
Anyway, all this equates to the first light images of the new Takahashi FSQ-106ED. I was dodging clouds all night to get what I would call negligible data - 40 minutes in total. Really need more data - kind of a waste, but was keen to see what this scope could do. Overall, the scope is a strong performer. The new CAA (camera angle adjuster) is a pleasure to use and makes image composition a breeze. CCDInspector shows I have some field curvature present (about 12%), but I’m putting this down to poor focus (I haven’t created a FocusMax V-curve yet) and CCD x/y tilt is out. The latter I will address with precise parts to make a special adapter for the STL. I now fully acknowledge why imagers call the FSQ+KAI-11000M chip a killer combination. Excellent wide field views and image scale for DSO’s provides ideal sampling.
Other details; Images reduced (darks/flats) in MaximDL and aligned (registered) in Registar, then combined in MaximDL (averaged - which I dislike). Processing performed in both MaximDL and PS CS2. RGB weights at 1.60:1.0:1.35 respectively – colour balance is close, but really need more data. Kept processing simple, actually there’s not much room for processing with such insufficient data - though I did use an inverter layer mask to smooth the dim areas riddled with noise while keeping detail in the highlights. The final image is an LLRGB composite.
Very nice Jase....
Like you mention the Sbig and the Tak make a killer combo and on a Titian puts the icing on the cake!!!
Very sharp and a lovely color balance
cheers
Thats awesome Jase, yes, even with no processing, zoomed in it still looks clean. Pin sharp and perfect guiding. The FSQ handles the large format cam with easy, youd be very happy with that.
I continue to ride the learning curve. Wide fields are great, but they come at the cost of nasty gradients. I've redone my tshirt flats this afternoon so may try reprocess the image again sometime. This also contributed to the erroneous CCDinspector statistics. The quest continues... Thanks again.
Upon further testing and analysis, my imaging train is producing an undesirable field curvature which is actually higher than I initially tested (around 24.7%). This is not an optical problem as one would normally expect. It’s caused by the X/Y tilt of the CCD camera. Having a large format 35mm chip, if the camera isn’t perfectly square on the optical axis, any camera tilt will be seen on the edges. The tilt throws all the other numbers out such as collimation etc.
I've ordered a custom-made M92 male to M92 female focus extension adapter from Precise Parts in the US which will significantly strengthen the camera mounting. I intend to still use the scope as I can remedy the curvature in processing, be it is less than optimal. Prevention is better than a cure.
Attached are one of the field curvature tests performed. Actually, these were 10 minutes lumance exposures. When performing the optical tests, they should be no more than 15 seconds exposures. Regardless - the curvature is present either way. I will be certain to post the new results once the custom-made adapter arrives. Curvature should be around 8% for the FSQ (not 24.7%!)
