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That's really spectacular, thanks for sharing. I see other folks doing stuff like that from Bortle 8/9 skies and it gives me hope. I just need to get out and put in the time on various targets, it's been a couple of years since I really did any serious astrophotography. And I have Ha and OIII filters now too. How do you like the ASI2600?
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Jan 6, 2022 01:33
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The ASI2600 rules. It's a really good piece of kit. The IMX571 sensor is amazingly good. It has basically no dark noise. I stopped using darks completely and have no regrets. The dark histograms even at 10 minutes look statistically indistinguishable from my bias frame's histograms and there's no amp glow. A lot of folks have been buying IMX571 cameras from ali express instead of from ZWO/QHY. This obviously comes with some risk, but the price is almost half that of the name brands. Other things that it has going for it:
The only disadvantage I've had with it over the 294MC PRO that I had before, is that its bigger so the TEC has to work a little harder. I'm in Phoenix, so summer nights are hot and the cooler has to run at 80-90% in the summer to get me down to -5C. It won't go any lower. The smaller camera's cooler was at 40-50% for the same results. I think it's really the best sensor on the market right now for amateur astrophotography.
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Jan 6, 2022 05:40
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simble posted:Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33) I’d just like to say “Holy poo poo.”
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Jan 8, 2022 01:19
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This has been on FLO's site for a while now, https://www.firstlightoptics.com/offers/offer_skywatcher-evostar-150-ota_270505.html It's a 6" f/8 ED doublet refractor that sells for like 3x that price, or more. If you search "Evostar 150ED" you'll see Sky Watcher wants like $3k for a new one. If you have a big bad mount that can handle it, it might be worth a shot. You certainly can get your money back selling it on the used market if you decide you aren't a backyard artillery guy. If that (Synta) 150ED is as good as my old (Synta) 100ED, then you'd be in for a huge treat come planet season. Again, make sure you have a mount that can handle it. I mean, if that's really an Evostar 150ED as it appears to be.
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Jan 8, 2022 06:01
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Not an ED. In Europe, a bunch of achromats are also branded under the "Evostar" label as well. Unless it also has the "ProED label" it's an Achromat. Unfortunately this is just a 6" Synta achro. Edit: this is what the "Evostar" line consists of in Europe. Definitely not ED. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/evostar.html AstroZamboni fucked around with this message at 16:32 on Jan 9, 2022 |
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Jan 9, 2022 16:28
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simble posted:The ASI2600 rules. It's a really good piece of kit. The IMX571 sensor is amazingly good. It has basically no dark noise. I stopped using darks completely and have no regrets. The dark histograms even at 10 minutes look statistically indistinguishable from my bias frame's histograms and there's no amp glow. A lot of folks have been buying IMX571 cameras from ali express instead of from ZWO/QHY. This obviously comes with some risk, but the price is almost half that of the name brands. Wow, that is crazy. I poked around CN and read a few threads about the cheaper versions if anyone else is curious: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/739387-risingcam-imx571-camera/ https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/773197-touptek-mono-imx571-risingcam/
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Jan 9, 2022 20:27
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AstroZamboni posted:Not an ED. In Europe, a bunch of achromats are also branded under the "Evostar" label as well. Unless it also has the "ProED label" it's an Achromat. Unfortunately this is just a 6" Synta achro. Ahh, that makes sense then.
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Jan 9, 2022 22:59
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I've been trying to dust off my astronomical sketching skills. Here's my first attempt in years, drawn at the eyepiece last night. https://imgur.com/gallery/UbAWmdb
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Jan 11, 2022 05:18
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Here’s Orion from Bortle ~6 skies last night. Shot on Canon R6 70-200 2.8 on a star tracker with about 7.5 minutes total exposure. 
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Jan 13, 2022 00:35
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simble posted:Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33) That is an expensive set of kit you have there. Nice capture!
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Jan 14, 2022 20:15
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I've got what's probably a dumb question about DeepSkyStacker. I take 40 bias/offset frames, and stack them all into MasterOffset.tif. My understand is that once I've done that, instead of stacking all those bias frames together with my light frames, I just bring in MasterOffset.tif, stack that with the light frames, and I'm done, right? Okay, so let's say I go out tonight and shoot a bunch of photos of a target. I do my stacking, and I wind up with an output file, target.tif. Then I go out at some point in the future, and take another night of exposures of that same target, and I want to stack the new exposures along with the old ones. Do I need to re-stack all the frames that went into making target.tif, or can I just stack target.tif alongside my new exposures?
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Jan 19, 2022 21:25
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B&H updated their used listings today. Includes a 6" f/8 dob for $180 and a few more expensive kits at pretty healthy discounts. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/products/ci/3307/N/4294246674?sort=NEWEST
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Jan 29, 2022 23:10
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duodenum posted:B&H updated their used listings today. Includes a 6" f/8 dob for $180 and a few more expensive kits at pretty healthy discounts. What's a good eyepiece to pair with that? e: well nm, got snatched out of my cart as I was checking out. like the 3rd time I've missed one of these 
Enos Cabell fucked around with this message at 00:32 on Jan 30, 2022 |
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Jan 29, 2022 23:47
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https://www.cloudynights.com/classifieds/item/284604-skywatcher-8-200p-classic-dob/ Here’s an 8” dob for $380 if you can pick it up in Vegas.
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Jan 30, 2022 02:22
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Mods please change the thread title to "PM dob sales to Enos Cabell"
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Jan 30, 2022 02:49
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Got out under dark skies (bortle 3) for the first time in ages last night. The transparency was unbelievable. Logged 23 objects on the Herschel 400. Also definitively saw two objects I've been trying unsuccessfully to view for years; the flame nebula in Orion, and the planetary nebula in M46. Killer night.
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Jan 30, 2022 22:20
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AstroZamboni posted:Got out under dark skies (bortle 3) for the first time in ages last night. The transparency was unbelievable. Logged 23 objects on the Herschel 400. Also definitively saw two objects I've been trying unsuccessfully to view for years; the flame nebula in Orion, and the planetary nebula in M46. Killer night. Speaking of flame nebula: I know I'll never get photos like the others in this thread, and I know this target is overdone, but I am pretty happy how this turned out.  I've been practicing my travel setup: no tracker, no guiding. Just a Fuji xt2, Samyang 135, cheap-ish Amazon tripod. Max 1s exposures. This is 400 1s exposures from last night in my backyard. 100 dark, flat, and bias frames. This was my first time trying Siril, and my first time using photoshop in 20 years. I overdid my reduction of star bloat, for sure. And surely other issues. But going from never taking manual shots a couple of months ago to this, I am pretty excited.
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Jan 31, 2022 03:25
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Thank looks really great, especially for the equipment used. You should be super proud of it! The wife and I just put in an offer to a house with Bortle 3 skies. 
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Jan 31, 2022 03:34
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That looks great, I love it.
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Jan 31, 2022 03:53
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This is solid dude, great work. Nice nebulosity, some IFN, and good framing to catch some interesting stuff. 
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Jan 31, 2022 13:38
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pumped up for school posted:Speaking of flame nebula: This is awesome! Especially with no tracker or guiding, really well done!
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Jan 31, 2022 19:35
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I'm set up at a B2 site tonight. Northern NV desert. It is quite cold! Only 6pm and there's still some sun glow to the west, but still lots of stars. I drove through some B1 places, but I'd be just off the freeway on the middle of nowhere and didn't feel too comfortable there solo. Maybe tomorrow night. I did have a country cop pull over while I was setting up and he was pretty interested. Said he'd be back in a couple of hours to check on me. I think he was just making sure I wasn't drinking. pumped up for school fucked around with this message at 03:15 on Feb 2, 2022 |
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Feb 2, 2022 03:09
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I kinda prefer being in sight of a road when I'm that remote and solo. The imagination kinda takes over when I get deep into the night and having people go by sometimes kinda helps. I like staying as close to the car as possible for the same reason.
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Feb 2, 2022 04:37
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Hi All, I was wondering if anyone has some links to getting started ideally without needing a 2nd mortgage. Am interested in this but starting from scratch 
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Feb 6, 2022 04:31
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Beccara posted:Hi All, Astrophotography or optical astronomy? Planets/moon, nebula, or galaxies?
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Feb 6, 2022 04:41
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Yooper posted:Astrophotography or optical astronomy? Doh, my bad  Astrophotography, wanting to see beyond what you typically see so nebula/galaxies
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Feb 6, 2022 08:34
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Beccara posted:Doh, my bad Right! First tier would be wide angle AP with a stock dslr+lens and a star tracker. Star tracker can be as simple as a "barn door tracker" all the way up to a Star Adventurer Sky Watcher, which looks like they go for $500+ these days. There are some really beautiful photos coming off star trackers. +Cheaper +Not (as) sensitive to polar alignment +No laptop +Galaxies and clusters will look great - Nebula will be basically invisible due to the IR filter on the camera - Find and centering targets can be challenging Below are two categories to give you an idea of what to expect from different lenses. The Canon 50 can be had for like $120, the Rokinon 135 is like $500. Note some of these photos are "modified" DSLR's, so the nebula will look great compared to unmodified cameras. With an unmodified camera I shot a nebula almost all night and got virtually nothing to show for it. https://www.astrobin.com/search/?q=Canon%20EF%2050%20mm%20f/1.4 https://www.astrobin.com/search/?q=rokinon+135mm Next up would be that same camera on a goto mount. The plus is here you can grow with the mount. Complexity ranges from using a hand held control all the way to programming your night with NINA and using a laptop. Then when you want to add a telescope and astro camera you can bolt it on. There is "motorized" and "goto". Motorized just means it slews at a sidereal rate, goto means it has a processor that you and use to slew and control as well as moving at sidereal rate. There is a price difference but the GOTO mount offers so much more later. +Can grow with it +Can use NINA to find targets +Can add a guide scope for dithering (huge change in picture quality, especially with DSLR) -More expensive -Heavier \\//Complexity ranges from fairly easy to however advanced you want it. But it'll be more to get rolling than the tracker. After this you can upgrade in bits and pieces. A guide scope and guide camera is a great starting point followed by a telescope and cooled camera. DeepSkyStacker is solid for starting out with but I really like to stack with AstroPixelProcessor and see a definite benefit. PixInsight is nice too, but it's expensive. In all cases astro poo poo is hard to get right now. I got into the hobby pre-covid and a quick googling showed almost all of my rig is backordered. There is a certain price threshold that will get you really great stuff and going beyond that gets you diminishing returns. Yes, the sky is the limit in price (bad pun) but spending $10k may not get you a better photo than spending $3k. One of the best local photographers uses a $500 mount, modded camera, and that Rokinon and he takes just amazing photographs. He's Using : https://explorescientificusa.com/products/iexos-100-2-pmc-eight-equatorial-tracker-system $500 Canon 600d (modified) This is the T3i from a decade ago ZWO 30mm GuideScope + 120MM ($250 for the pair) Rokinon 135 from above ($550) That will get you almost world class wide angle photography.
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Feb 6, 2022 13:12
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Great advice - the thing to me to keep in mind for beginners is that astrophotography requires learning several different skills at the same time for best results: - Knowing the night sky, scheduling, what's up when, what you need to use to see specific targets - Alignment and usage of the mount (be it a simple tracker or a full up GOTO) - Your camera and its characteristics - exposure times, what it can see (e.g. IR filter), then into stuff like dark/bias frames, and filters - Likewise, your optics - focusing, field of view, then moving up into stuff like flat fielding - Postprocessing - what do you do with all that data once you have it - integration, and noise reduction Some of those things you can throw money at, some require specific knowledge and experience, some require specialized tools to really reach the limits (hw & sw). Just tackle a few problems at a time and be patient.
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Feb 7, 2022 00:52
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Thanks, Going to need some free time and a big pot of coffee to even start to get to grips of this
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Feb 7, 2022 07:52
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Beccara posted:Thanks, Going to need some free time and a big pot of coffee to even start to get to grips of this It's a pretty deep rabbit hole. One thing to keep in mind when doing research is that the fundamentals are the same, but in the past few years affordable quality telescopes coupled with affordable high quality sensors have enabled some real amazing imaging. If you are reading an article or a forum and it's from 2012, then I'd say search for something more recent. Share your budget and we can give you some options.
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Feb 7, 2022 13:23
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If I could stay around $750-1000 that would get things rolling quicker but I could save up for a bit and do $1500 if there's going to be a decent easy/quality shift in the extra $500
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Feb 7, 2022 20:32
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Beccara posted:If I could stay around $750-1000 that would get things rolling quicker but I could save up for a bit and do $1500 if there's going to be a decent easy/quality shift in the extra $500 First off, the mount. This'll have 20 lbs of capacity, but realistically you want to aim for half. https://explorescientificusa.com/products/iexos-100-2-pmc-eight-equatorial-tracker-system $500 Next up is the DSLR. Astrocamera is out. In a perfect world you'd find a modified DSLR on CloudyNights, barring that I'd find a used Canon T5 or T3 on eBay. Call it $300. Add in another $100 for a prime 50mm lens. I really liked my SMC Takumar 200mm, eBay has 'em for $50-100. Prime lens means it has no zoom, so the aperture, the part that lets light through is bigger. At this point you are functional for galaxies, clusters, and milky way shots. Add another 10% for bracketry, cables, usb adapters etc. So you're about $1,000. My next goal would be for a guide scope setup so you can dither. Dithering will do more for your shots than anything except shooting in a Bortle 1. For that you'd need a guide scope ( ZWO 30mm $100) and a guide camera (ZWO 120MM $150). The kicker is now it has to talk to a laptop or minipc. But you get plate solving (it finds where you are and automatically goes where you want it) and much greater control. On the flip side it's more cables, equipment, software, and terminology. Nebula will require a modified camera or astro camera. But beyond that you'll take some solid shots.
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Feb 7, 2022 20:50
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I've been thinking about a proper mount and guide cam for the house, because Polaris is hidden from my backyard. But then I think about the extra gear involved and I just recoil. Mostly because I just want to set up and start shooting in a few minutes. I guess that's something I need to get over.
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Feb 8, 2022 02:10
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pumped up for school posted:I've been thinking about a proper mount and guide cam for the house, because Polaris is hidden from my backyard. But then I think about the extra gear involved and I just recoil. Mostly because I just want to set up and start shooting in a few minutes. I guess that's something I need to get over. I put together a cart that lets me do just that. Basically one of these: https://www.amazon.com/LUXOR-EC11HD-B-Capacity-Shelves-Black/dp/B00I4TK20C?c=ts&refinements=p_n_material_browse%3A515306011&ts_id=490895011 Screwed a little USB hub to it, used VHB tape to stick various AC adapters to it, and screwed a power strip to the bottom shelf with an extension cord plugged into it, then set to with a bunch of zip ties. So I've got nice orderly bundle of wire that goes out to my equipment at one end, extension cord runs out the other end, and all I do is wheel it out into the backyard, plug the cord into the wall and the laptop into the USB hub. It's not exactly something you can throw into the car and go somewhere else with but it really only takes about a minute to get everything set up and powered on, only a few minutes longer to get aligned and focused and tracking.
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Feb 8, 2022 02:42
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I'm in the market for a new telescope and am looking for some advice. I've got a couple good scopes for wider-field shooting and would like to get something for shooting galaxies/smaller nebulae and, occasionally, planets (though that's definitely secondary to galaxies). I'll probably use this scope to start narrowband shooting as well. Cost isn't a factor at this point - the limiting factor is that I've got an EQ6-R as a mount (44lb weight max, so ~22lb for shooting) and am looking for the best scope for the job that will fit on this mount with a guide scope/camera/EFW/etc. I've been eyeballing the Celestron EdgeHD 925, though I'd love feedback or other options to consider.
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Feb 9, 2022 04:08
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Yooper posted:First off, the mount. This'll have 20 lbs of capacity, but realistically you want to aim for half. Thanks for this, I'm sitting down this weekend and starting to have a look at things. At what budget range would you put a telescope into play for some of the nebula/galaxies? Or rather what would be a entry level telescope based setup look like?
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Feb 11, 2022 01:05
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Beccara posted:Thanks for this, I'm sitting down this weekend and starting to have a look at things. At what budget range would you put a telescope into play for some of the nebula/galaxies? Or rather what would be a entry level telescope based setup look like? For an actual telescope, not just a lens, you'll either need a dedicated astro camera or an adapter for a DSLR. Beyond that it gets into how nice of a photo you want. You can totally get an inexpensive telescope coupled to a DSLR. But you'll have chromatic aberration, out of round stars, or both. An actual "telescope" doesn't equate to better photos. Here's a good video from Ed Ting where he has an Orion 80mm short tube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M31GP7khEM8&t=703s It's like $120. He does some optical stuff and also some astrophotography at the end of the video. Another good channel is Astrobiscuit, he's kind of goofy but a decent guy to watch. Some YT personalities are a bit much for me, but I find both of those entertaining. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na-aBhc_gTY The Sharpstar 61EDPHII was hot for awhile, and was fairly well regarded, Astrobin here : https://www.astrobin.com/search/?q=61edph. There's also some William Optics, https://optcorp.com/products/wo-zenithstar-61ii-ota such as that guy. Look familiar? Yah, so, like most of the big name scope places get the budget scopes from the same few factories in China. Next up is a Newtonian, but it becomes a big scope (so big mount) as well as some additional maintenance such as collimation. Which isn't hard, but tosses another monkey wrench into the learning process. I'd avoid it for starters. I'd really recommend something like that Rokinon 135 coupled to a DSLR. Barring that I'd get that Zenithstar from a reputable dealer, one that is known for handling returns well, just in case you get a dud. Add a guide scope and a guide camera and you'll be surprised what you can get. How is your light pollution?
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Feb 11, 2022 04:00
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Thanks for all of that, I've only got the most basic grasp over things so wasn't sure if a telescope would help or hinder at the start. LP is okish, I'm in a small city and my home is shielded tho this is going to limit my at home sky access. I happen to have a mate who owns alot of hilltop sites around my region that are way out so that should mean almost nil LP edit:// Whilst i'm being an annoying newbie, looking locally at cameras in the cannon range there seems to be a few EOS 600D/650D/700D's around and a couple of 1100D/1200D's. I assume that newer but low entry level is preferred to older but high entry level camera's? thermal noise and whatnot. I thinking that the camera is going to be around for a while somewhat maybe getting modded. There's 2 locally at the moment a 700d and a 1300d. Leaning towards 700d as it's a newer gen and the tilt screen is a major plus in my mind
Beccara fucked around with this message at 10:12 on Feb 11, 2022 |
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Feb 11, 2022 05:31
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8” Dob for $287 and free shipping, “minor scuffs and scratches.” https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/802458578-USE/sky_watcher_s11610_1_classic_200p_8_dobsonian.html edit: Careful, apparently that’s just the OTA. No base. duodenum fucked around with this message at 17:25 on Feb 11, 2022 |
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Feb 11, 2022 15:00
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Beccara posted:Thanks for all of that, I've only got the most basic grasp over things so wasn't sure if a telescope would help or hinder at the start. LP is okish, I'm in a small city and my home is shielded tho this is going to limit my at home sky access. I happen to have a mate who owns alot of hilltop sites around my region that are way out so that should mean almost nil LP Fear not that you're an annoying newbie, we were all newbies once. I think you are correct as far newer sensors go. The tilt screen is indeed helpful if you are trying to frame shots without a laptop to assist. I always head to Astrobin and check out what sort of photos people are getting with the equipment I'm looking at. For example, https://www.astrobin.com/fiuzje/?q=700d, was taken using a 700d with a Samyang 135 (twin to the Rokinon 135). He's in Bortle 6-7, and that's one hour of integration without dithering. Walking noise (the banding) is present but not obnoxious. Nebulosity is there, but not as rich and deep as you'd get with a modified camera. Here is one of M31, https://www.astrobin.com/szx0rr/B/?q=700d&camera=, it is a modified camera but that shouldn't make much difference for a galaxy.
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Feb 11, 2022 15:46
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