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Post by southernskies on Aug 8, 2018 10:51:42 GMT
Am new to this forum and don't quite know where my EAA viewing/imaging fits into the image type classification structure used. But I assume that maybe this is the right sub-forum to use.
Telescope equipment is a SkyWatcher PDS 150mm f/5 Newtonian on an HEQ5 Pro mount. The camera is the GStar-Ex3 with added focal reducer to achieve an effective focal ratio of f/3.4. No coma corrector was used. No guiding was involved, tracking reliance being handled solely by the quality of the mount's RA drive and the precise polar alignment obtained using a Polemaster unit. The camera control / image capturing program used was ToupSky which allows real-time auto-alignment stacking and dark frame subtraction.
Attached are screenshots taken 7th August
All images used the maximum gain setting and a gamma setting of 0.40. No post-processing involved.
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Post by Dragon Man on Aug 8, 2018 13:55:18 GMT
Southern Skies (whoever you are) Welcome, and Well done! Yes, your images are perfect for this Forum. You are using the same software I use. Well, I use the one called RisingSky. but it's the same one. Works fantastic. You use similar settings to me too, except I tend to use No Gain at all, or very little if needed. Very good results
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Post by davy on Aug 8, 2018 16:12:05 GMT
As ken say's,, welcome to the forum,, great images,, been a bit quiet due to the bad weather we all seem to be getting ,
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2018 8:42:53 GMT
I have similar equipment to you southernskies but my images are nowhere near as good as yours. Southernskies and a Gstar Ex3, I assume you are Australian. Where do you do your outreach ? Paul
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Post by southernskies on Aug 9, 2018 9:11:06 GMT
Hi Paul
Based near Sydney. Recent outreach venues have included Macquarie University annual open night, Penrith Observatory open night and Rouse Hill School annual astronomy night. All within the Sydney light dome but using a Baader IR-Cut Moon and SkyGlow Neodymium filter does help quite a lot to "bring out" faint nebulae. For example when last out at Penrith it was really easy to display the Horsehead Nebula on screen when much larger visual Dobs failed to show anything at the eyepiece.
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Post by davy on Aug 9, 2018 12:12:40 GMT
Great write up,, this will help a few folk out I'm shure.
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Post by southernskies on Aug 10, 2018 8:51:27 GMT
Paul
You may find this two-part video of some interest when using your GStar-Ex3. It was shot last year using a little 130mm Newtonian. It demonstrates the basic workflow that I use as outlined in the post on the Software | Other Software Board.
If you don't have the time or the patience to view it all, may I suggest that you start with the first few minutes of part 1 and then switch to the last three minutes of the second part where snapshots of the targets viewed are compared with their later Photoshopped counterparts.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2018 9:59:10 GMT
Thanks southernskies I have the AliExpress IMX 178 which is the same camera as the GStar-EX3 and RisingSky software but I havent used it much as yet with my Newtonians. I have followed all Steve Massey's info and have watched his videos. Because it is a smaller sensor than my ZWO 294 I have been using the 178 on my SCT's with a Meade 3.3 FR without much success. Havent had much time lately and weather has been pretty bad in Bendigo but I intend using the Newtonians more often. I have the gear,but I just need to lift my game. Paul
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2018 10:36:50 GMT
Southernskies Thanks for the videos. I havent seen those before Paul
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2018 11:13:18 GMT
Southernskies I notice in the videos the GStar-EX3 used USB2 in the software. The HP laptop used has USB3 ports. Why USB2 ? Paul
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Post by southernskies on Aug 10, 2018 11:59:59 GMT
No particular reason Paul. The laptop has two USB2 ports and one USB3 port. Using a USB2 port for the camera works just fine so there was no imperative to use the USB3 port.
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Post by ChrisV on Aug 18, 2018 13:06:04 GMT
That's a real nice collection of live stacks !
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2018 22:49:42 GMT
Southernskies has shown some beautiful images with the 178 sensor on a fast newt ,EQ mount and longer exposures.
I have a bit of experience on how NOT to use a 178.
I am on a mission for a lightweight alt/az system with a fast scope, sensitive camera and short exposures for a grab and go system. I live 30 minutes from the ASV dark sky site .
My favorite camera, the 294, has a sensor that is too big for my C6 hyperstar and 3.3 FR’s on the lx90. About f6 on the lx90 is not fast enough for short exposures so the 294 stays at home with the EQ mount and newts. I am pleased with the 290 and 224 on the C6 but have never been happy on the lx90. This was a scope that I used to take to dark sky nights with the mallincam xtreme and results seemed good a few years back. Maybe I have been spoiled by the 294 on newts and am expecting too much.
Anyway, the 178 was getting very good reviews and as Southernskies has shown ,great images. I thought with its small sensor , I could get the FR down to a fast f3.3 on the sct . With the 6.4 mp, I could get a bit more detail(not sure that is correctthinking) and the sensitivity should be good enough for short exposures on an alt/az.
Wrong. It needs much longer exposures and forget about an alt/az
Paul
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Post by howie1 on Aug 22, 2018 23:32:21 GMT
Paul, if you don't mind going wide field, a DSLR with an f/2 Rokinon 135mm lens (Canon fitment) works with single 30 sec frames. That's definitely Alt Az territory. You can zoom in / crop in on small stuff once you have the large widefield image. In the zoom mode it's actually pretty spectacular if doing outreach as you can zoom in and using the arrows/mouse take a "tour" around the region stopping at globs, open clusters and the large spectacular objects without shooting another frame. Only done that (outreach) once mucking around with the lens at home in bayside Brissie. Was just before the hernia disks started killing me! Theres two images attached ... the Flame neb to Orion neb is a single 90 sec ISO800. The second of Eta Carina is a single 60 sec ISO800. But important to note is before I shot those images (I was testing the Rokinon lens for the first time) I shot ISO1600 single 30 sec with it no problems. Yes some noise but very nice image none the less and very close to both the attached images. IMO the sharpness of DSLR images are way better than ZWO's etc. And therefore ISO3200 should allow 15 sec frames and both 15 and 30 sec is Alt Az territory given the forgiving of field rotation low power / widefield FOV. This very small Alt Az with Rokinon fast lens on Canon DSLR is actually the route I am hoping I will be able to go once the frozen shoulder and pins and needles and mid back pain etc etc all go away. Yes, I am going to have to sell all my beloved other kit, but the beaut nights lately up here in Brissie do have me still yearning to (maybe) be able to keep some small bit of very portable kit like what I have just described and heading out. Cheers, Howie [Edit : PS there are adaptors to actually mount the Canon lens' onto ZWO's BTW! So you could get wide or narrow field of views and still use ZWO's which you are happy using and know. ]
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2018 0:23:13 GMT
Great images Howie. I went a bit over the top with buying cameras last year and now need to consolidate what I have.The DSLR would be a whole new learning curve but looks very impressive. Had a bit of surgery recently as well so anything lightweight ,which for me is alt/az, is what I will concentrate on for another month at least. Weather is supposed to be a bit clearer in the next few days so hope to get the C6 out. Last night was clear but that was not predicted so I missed it and next week I am back to work. Shoulders take a long time to recover so take care Paul
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2018 1:25:01 GMT
Still on the subject of alt/az and the 178. Here are 2 images using my Orion ST80 f5. I added a prostar 0.5 FR but didnt use any filter. Using astrometry.net , the system was f3.6. I have a Baader fringe killer and a Baader uv/ir cut filter which I didnt use and the images obviously need one of them. A refractor at f3.6 is looking for trouble with coma and CA. but I was happy just to get images with 10 sec exposures. What filter would be the best for these images? Gain was 300, bin 3, 20x10 stack, both cropped Centaurus A Trifid cheers Paul
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Post by Dragon Man on Aug 31, 2018 13:35:48 GMT
Paul, when using a CMOS sensor like in the 178 it has an RGB Bayer Matrix, not a CYMG as used in most CCD sensors, and the Violet Fringing in these RGB sensors is cleaned up by using a Minus Violet filter, or to a slightly lesser amount, a Baader Fringe Killer. The UV/IR cut filter will prevent star blooming if it rears its head. I did a thread about it back here: astrovideoforum.proboards.com/thread/1079/using-achromats-video
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Post by Deleted on Oct 5, 2018 10:36:10 GMT
Tried the 178 on the c6 with hyperstar. This is M8 14secs stacked x 5 on alt /az.
cheers Paul
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Post by howie1 on Oct 7, 2018 8:32:29 GMT
Great stuff Paul! And we need more stuff (photos and videos) Southernskies. Cheers
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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2018 9:23:03 GMT
Thanks Howie Took the C6 and the alt/az setup to the ASV(Astronomy Society of Victoria) Dark sky site last night and it was a bit of a disaster.I cant see well enough with the red light. Got cord wrap a number of times and gave up in disgust.
The ASV has just purchased a 40 inch Dob .One of the galaxies I saw was NGC624 which was magnitude 14. I couldnt see any structure in the galaxy but the more experienced eyes could describe it pretty well. Next chance I get, I will try and get that galaxy on one of the cameras . I expect to see more structure. What combination of camera and scope do you think would give the most detail? cheers Paul
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