StarTools

Hi all,


- 200/1000 GSO Newton / SkyWatcher EQ-5
- Baader MPCC
- UV/IR cut
- EOS 2000Da, APT
- 50/200 Guide Scope, ASI 120 MC, PHD2

- ~ 240 x 90s @ ISO 800
- flats, bias

The data for this image was collected on three nights, May the 13th, 17th, and 18th. On the first night there was a lot of humidity – as haze in the air and later it condensed on the equipment as well. The haze and the light pollution caused a visible gradient and halos around the bright stars, which is visible in the lower left of the image. But I decided to use the data from this night anyway, as it allowed a much deeper stretch. The other two nights were dry with good transparency and one night of them with good seeing on top. But the nights are already short here in mid-May, maybe about 3 hours of astronomical darkness.

The motor controller of my EQ5 mount is battery powered and until now I had no way to stop tracking automatically. So I always had to stay and stop the imaging by myself, to prevent the scope from crashing into the tripod. But now I have connected the motor controller to a USB port of the notebook that I powered down by timer after some hours. So enough sleep for me and much more time to collect data. Nevertheless I think I will buy a new mount soon ...

SV Decon (not sure which alpha I used) did a great job with strong impact on the fine structures in the core of the nebula. I remember I reduced the deringing setting quite a bit. I think the stars look nice, I only did a few iterations with Shrink module. However there is some Pepsi action going on with the stars on the left side. But that doesn’t bother me.

There are already some of the surrounding dark dust clouds visible. I think that’s not too bad under the bright sky here at my location. But I wonder why these clouds are -hmm- some kind of grey for me and not brown as they look on other images? Maybe the red sensitivity of my (astro modded) DSLR is still too low? Any thoughts? Comments welcome

Best regards, Dietmar.

I find it an impressive image, Dietmar, well done.

I guess i should try thisone too somenight, still sofar i did not think off it to image it. It is not really a favorite of mine.

I noticed some haze on the left side, it that humidity? Or nebulosity..i don't know the object very well.

I also power down my mount manually. I guess i could automate it more but i don't like the idea of going to sleep while the mount is running...i monitor during the night. Cause one just does not know what might happen. There are many cats around, it happened that one of those paid a little bit too much attention to the cables ...
I don't do automated meridian flips either. Tried it once on my IEQ30 pro and it seemed to work , but did not work on my CEM60. I use an older iopton commander but that one works for both my mounts with the firmware the mounts came....so i don't feel the need for upgrading but it could explain the failing meridian flip of the CEM60.
sometimes i leave my gear outside, seldom cause of the weather, but i have to covered it after the session because in most cases humidity is a issue here in Belgium , everthing gets just too wet...

CS
Freddy

Nice blue detail in there, Dietmar.

All in a charcoal grey dusty cloud, with a sharply-spiked star sitting right in the middle.

If clear skies permit, this is a monthly group target so I might be trying for it. Kind of better for fall than late spring I would imagine, but no meridian flipping necessary. Or even possible.

Thanks for your reply, Freddy. Much appreciated

fmeireso wrote: ↑Thu Jun 08, 2023 7:36 pm I noticed some haze on the left side, it that humidity?

Yes, the left side suffers from the humidity/haze of the first night. Maybe I will try to get one more night of clean data later, but for now astronomical darkness has passed by for the next weeks ...

fmeireso wrote: ↑Thu Jun 08, 2023 7:36 pm i don't like the idea of going to sleep while the mount is running

I don’t like the idea, either. Humidity is an annoying problem here as well … most time of year the rain and clouds are coming over with Atlantic west winds … well from Belgium I try to protect the notebook with a box, but mount and scope are often wet due to dew setting in later in the night. Oh, and yes - my wife is afraid of thieves, not of cats . That’s unlikely here, but who knows these days …

I’m still not sure which mount to buy. Martin and Stefan suggested a SkyWatcher EQR-6 Pro or HEQ-5 (to save some money). Jochen suggested iOptron ... maybe the CEM 40 mount, but of course, it’s quite a bit more expensive.

Best regards, Dietmar.

" most time of year the rain and clouds are coming over with Atlantic west winds … well from Belgium"

Yep,entirely my fault! sorry for that

I would go for ioptron. software is kind of more modern, if it works well... i would not buy a CEM40 cause i have read about some issues with it on CN.
I would go for a GEM45. But Ioptron is more expensive and a HEq5 , tad less sophisticated, sure works well. Thesame with a EQ6 kind of a mount.

i had an HEQ5 once, long before any goto existed. Used it for visualy, tracked well at the time , even with a heavy 10" newt ..and about 15 kg of counterweights...

Hi Dietmar,

great image of a favourite of mine! Very nice colors and sharp details. The spikes of the bright star within the nebula are delicious

In terms of dust color I guess that maybe you really need a lot of integration time to reveal the brown color. I have once tried it with 2 hrs with grey dust and once with 15 hrs with brownish dust. Maybe 6 hrs isn't enough?

Did you try to increase the dark saturation in the color module? Did that reveal any color? Or shifting the color balance a bit towards the red?

If you're looking for a mount you can try this german forum:

https://forum.astronomie.de/forums/biete.96/

Second hand EQ6-R or HEQ5 mounts can frequently be found. Though I don't see iOptron mounts very often. Maybe they are that good that nobody wants to change

Regards
Stefan

Thanks, Mike.

Mike in Rancho wrote: ↑Fri Jun 09, 2023 7:02 am a charcoal grey dusty cloud

Mike in Rancho wrote: ↑Fri Jun 09, 2023 7:02 am If clear skies permit, this is a monthly group target so I might be trying for it.

If you do so, please let me know. I would be interested to see, if your clouds are grey like mine or brown like Stefan's I remember we discussed M78 some weeks ago and you wrote why your M78 is so much more red than mine. And I think, I did not reply I will check that again and reply to this.

Best regards, Dietmar.

Stefan B wrote: ↑Sat Jun 10, 2023 8:01 pm great image of a favourite of mine

Thanks - and I like this object too, Stefan.

Stefan B wrote: ↑Sat Jun 10, 2023 8:01 pm In terms of dust color I guess that maybe you really need a lot of integration time to reveal the brown color. I have once tried it with 2 hrs with grey dust and once with 15 hrs with brownish dust. Maybe 6 hrs isn't enough?

Yes, maybe that's the case. But I have the impression that the red channel is still weak with my DSLR, as seen for example with my IC434 or M78.

I have seen your images (already before) and the second one is really awesome

Stefan B wrote: ↑Sat Jun 10, 2023 8:01 pm Did you try to increase the dark saturation in the color module? Did that reveal any color? Or shifting the color balance a bit towards the red?

Yes, I think I tried both. But maybe I will have another go on it. I'm looking forward to a new version of Guy's STReplay that works with ST9. It is much easier to to do such tweaks with STReplay

Stefan B wrote: ↑Sat Jun 10, 2023 8:01 pm If you're looking for a mount you can try this german forum

Thanks and yes, I recently saw a second hand EQ6-R there. It was about 1.5 hours drive by car from my home, but I was too lazy to go

BTW: Are you a member of this German forum? For me, the ST forum here is my favourite waste of time and I really like the people here ...

Best regards, Dietmar.

Hi Dietmar!

decay wrote: ↑Sun Jun 11, 2023 8:15 pm But I have the impression that the red channel is still weak with my DSLR, as seen for example with my IC434 or M78.

Mmhh...did you try if you have a red taint on your images if you using the DSLR it for daytime photography? If that's the case I would guess it should definitely be suffice to catch the color of reflecting dust.

decay wrote: ↑Sun Jun 11, 2023 8:15 pm I have seen your images (already before) and the second one is really awesome

Mmmhh...again. I don't like the second one. It had a major flaw in acquisition (some light leak from an LED or something similar) that made processing difficult. So the data wasn't up to the aggressive processing that I did. But that's not the topic here

decay wrote: ↑Sun Jun 11, 2023 8:15 pm Yes, I think I tried both. But maybe I will have another go on it. I'm looking forward to a new version of Guy's STReplay that works with ST9. It is much easier to to do such tweaks with STReplay

Let me know how it goes. Interested in seeing this...

decay wrote: ↑Sun Jun 11, 2023 8:15 pm BTW: Are you a member of this German forum? For me, the ST forum here is my favourite waste of time and I really like the people here ...

Formally I am a member but only in order to be able to participate in the second hand market. Although I've always been too slow until now Otherwise this is my only forum. Following more forums etc. is to time intensive with family etc. It even took me three days to reply to your post

Regards

Stefan B wrote: ↑Mon Jun 12, 2023 6:28 am Mmhh...did you try if you have a red taint on your images if you using the DSLR it for daytime photography? If that's the case I would guess it should definitely be suffice to catch the color of reflecting dust.

Yeah, the images are pretty bloody And yes, I would assume the same. But as said, I will keep on trying to figure out ...

Stefan B wrote: ↑Mon Jun 12, 2023 6:28 am Following more forums etc. is to time intensive with family etc. It even took me three days to reply to your post

Yepp, the same here, Stefan.

Best regards, Dietmar,