Well I got my auto-guider working on Wednesday night so I decided to try a long exposure of NGC253 . The light polution here is very bad so 30min is not a good idea but I wanted to see what the guider is doing.
The shot was taken through the ED80 and guided through the C11 all mounted on a G11 mount . The camera is the single shot colour camera by StarLight- Express SXV-H9C and the guide camera is there dedicated SXV-auto-guider.
Nice image, Louie.nice round stars, no trails at all that I can see.
if that's a single 30 minute exposure, then your guider is doing very well indeed and your CCD and processing are doing even better to get rid of all the LP. Looks like all systems go for the next clear night at a dark site.
not sure about the final colour though..suppose that's a question of salt and pepper to taste in photoshop
Love it! what a shot! Thats a nice well set-up mount Louie
I have always loved that apparent triangle of bright stars this prince amongst galaxies appears to be nestled in. It has a weird power of impression on me always in the scope, very unusual. Always wondered what kind of triangle that is - its not just a plain old right angle is it? (no maths/geometry genius here LOL) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isosceles_triangle
kearn
Very impressive image Louie, very impressive indeed. I reckon if you could just tweak the focus a little (stars look not quite at focus) it would jump out at you even more.
Congrats on getting everything to work - that is a major milestone in ccd imaging!
Thanks for the kind words everyone,Narayan I forgot to metion I used a CLS filter could account for the colour not sure. Kearn yes a great visual Galaxy for sure mate !
Dennis yes your right mate, I thought the same thing on the focus . I'm not sure If the problem was the bad seeing but I could just not get It any sharper,even though I spent an Hour on It trying to get It right. Ive had a strange time with this equiptment,If the Argo was working well the auto-guiding wasnt happenig,If the guiding was good the Argo was out a couple of deg ! drives you nuts sometimes .
I think that you just have to remember Its just for fun so keep having fun and take things at your own pace.
Yeah - focus can be a challenge at the best of times! With my ST7, I use CCDSoft to set up the ccd camera, focus and acquire the image. It has a neat function for software aided focusing. I use a motorised focuser (JMI NGFS) and just sit there pressing the in-out buttons whilst eyeballing a dynamic graph on my computer. When the graph peaks, I know I am at pretty good focus. It can still take up to 20 mins to focus though, so it's not easy, unless you get an horribly expensive software controlled, temperature compensated focuser.
Thanks Tony and Mike , I've got an STi Ronchi and knife edge focus aid coming so I hope this helps with my focusing. I use to get better focus with the ST7 If I remember correctly or maybe I was more patient then.
oh yes Dennis ,there is a focus aid in the the Starlight software (brightest pixel )
the larger the number the closer you are to best focus,but I found that It would
have a huge difference in the reading because of the seeing.
If you've got the cash to spare consider "The New CCD Astronomy" by Wodaski. I received it on Wednesday and am about half way through it. I'll do a review when I'm finished ...BUT... at this point in time I've found it a gold mine of information written so that even I can understand it , even though I'm using the 300D its still very useful to me. For someone using a dedicated CCD though I can see it being the difference between keeping your hair and going bald painfully. There is a great section on using CCDSoft for focusing (along with other programs)
I've got an STi Ronchi and knife edge focus aid coming so I hope this helps with my focusing. I use to get better focus with the ST7 If I remember correctly or maybe I was more patient then.
oh yes Dennis ,there is a focus aid in the the Starlight software (brightest pixel )
the larger the number the closer you are to best focus,but I found that It would
have a huge difference in the reading because of the seeing.
Louie
Hi Louie
Please let me know how you get on with the STi Ronchi 'cos I ordered one last week 'cos my old eyes struggle with focusing the Pentax istDS.
I also find when I am close to focus with the ST7 I can get wildly varying numbers when the seeing is poor. In the good moments, all the photons land on a single pixel (= high count) and when it turns sloppy again they are spread over adjacent pixels (= low count).
Thank you all for the kind words, Dennis I'll let you know how the STi goes for sure mate.
Paul I bought the book about a year ago , I would be totally lost without It.
As yet CCDsoft does not support Starlight Express cameras and I doubt It ever will,well I guess Sbig has something to do with that. Thats a real bummer cause I like CCdsoft for camera controle ,oh well thats life.
Nice detail, those StarLight cameras are great.
You've got a great setup and that book- The New CCD Astronomy by Wodaski, I agree, is a must have if your getting into this area of astronomy.
It was great to meet you last night at Kulnura mate.
Yes Narayan I'm glad you brought Maxim Dl up , at $400.00US I was hoping a kind hearted gentleman like your self would buy It for me !
I've been wanting that for a while now mate , I'll give in and buy It sooner or later I'm sure. To be honest Narayan I thought that If I don't totaly understand
what I have now there would be no point in moving to better softare . Of cause my logic could be incorrect and I might just be a tight ...... at the wrong time.
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, even though I'm using the 300D its still very useful to me. For someone using a dedicated CCD though I can see it being the difference between keeping your hair and going bald painfully. There is a great section on using CCDSoft for focusing (along with other programs)
