M82: I really like this shot I took of M82 on 4/15/15. It was taken with my Meade 8" 2000mm fork Mount on Polar Wedge. Nikon D800E at ISO 12,800, 30 sec at f/9.5, Auto WB Processed in...

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

I really like this shot I took of M82 on 4/15/15. It was taken with my Meade 8" 2000mm fork Mount on Polar Wedge.
Nikon D800E at ISO 12,800, 30 sec at f/9.5, Auto WB
Processed in Lightroom, Topaz Clarity and Denoise, Cropped 300%

(Download)

Murray Loc: New Westminster

Sweet!

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Murray wrote:

Sweet!

Thank you very much Murray and welcome to the Astronomical Forum.

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

Great work Craig.
Glad to see you had a bit of open sky.

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Albuqshutterbug wrote:

Great work Craig.
Glad to see you had a bit of open sky.

Thank you Jim, that was the view last month.
Here's the view tonight.
Craig

Oknoder Loc: Western North Dakota

I have a question for you Craig, what program do you use to control your camera, or do you use a intervolometer? I ask because I have been trying to find one program to control it all and have been utterly unsuccessful. I have narrowed it down to maxim dl 5 to control guider cam and mount linked with the sky 6 all synced and controlled by ACP to keep it simple, like that is possible. Maxim seems to crash everytimeit attempts to read the nef from the camera, so I have been using digicamcontrol but am bothered I cannot integrate it into ACP which when all the wrinkles are worked out is completely autonomous.

In theory that is,
Matthew

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Oknoder wrote:

I have a question for you Craig, what program do y... (show quote)

Soory, so far Matthew I just use an intervolometer. I got the Celestron NexGuide stand-alone autoguider.
I got it 3 weeks ago and have had no clear skies to work with it. It has a built in screen for guiding the scope.
I don't have a lap top that can handle the DSLR yet.
Hopefully one of the other guys here can help us both with that question.
Craig

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

That's a beautiful image, Craig! :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Bluetooth...
Bluetooth and WiFi.
Think ahead. We need to get all of this working in a way we can run it from a work station.
Or that is where my head is at right now. (With a mess of wires I keep refining.)

I do (too) use an Intervalometer with my DSLR. Great tool to automate the camera's shutter.
But I haven't been using my DSLR on the scope much yet.
I should probably do that though, especially since I could very easily. :?
At least I would get file extensions I could actually work with. :twisted:
Orion... :oops: Shame on You!

Oknoder Loc: Western North Dakota

I wont hijack your thread with my initial response, instesd I will try to write a log of my attempts at autonomous control, at least so far. Your image is stunning. Is this just a single exposure, what is the total time for that data. You have done quite well capturing a dim DSO at F/10 mind you, or do you use a focal reducer? Eitherway a beautiful image.

Clear skies,
Matthew

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Oknoder wrote:

I wont hijack your thread with my initial response, instesd I will try to write a log of my attempts at autonomous control, at least so far. Your image is stunning. Is this just a single exposure, what is the total time for that data. You have done quite well capturing a dim DSO at F/10 mind you, or do you use a focal reducer? Eitherway a beautiful image.

Clear skies,
Matthew

Hi Matthew thank you very much. It is a single, shot for 30 sec at a very high ISO of 12,800.
Craig

Oknoder Loc: Western North Dakota

Nice, with my 10" I am not able to gain an exposure over 20sec. Considering the scope is around the mounts limit without the finder or camera so I figured it would do till I upgrade to a more capable mount.

Bravo on the capture.
Matthew

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Oknoder wrote:

Nice, with my 10" I am not able to gain an exposure over 20sec. Considering the scope is around the mounts limit without the finder or camera so I figured it would do till I upgrade to a more capable mount.
Bravo on the capture.
Matthew

Thank you Matthew for the compliments.
I do understand the 20-30 sec limit on the Fork Mounts.
Now that Jim, Sonny and I have upgraded to the Celestron AVX Mount the sky is the limit on exposure time.
Craig

5 Minutes on the Whirlpool Galaxy

(Download)

Oknoder Loc: Western North Dakota

I demounted my aging lx200 10" and mounted it on a losmandy rail via two cradles from ADM. I have used it on my AVX a couple of times but the ota is roughly 30lbs so its drastically over the limits at least photographically. On a twenty sec exposure I get a 33% keeper rate. I have used it to image some globular clusters a couple times.

Ill have to share some images soon
Matthew

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Oknoder wrote:

I demounted my aging lx200 10" and mounted it on a losmandy rail via two cradles from ADM. I have used it on my AVX a couple of times but the ota is roughly 30lbs so its drastically over the limits at least photographically. On a twenty sec exposure I get a 33% keeper rate. I have used it to image some globular clusters a couple times.

Ill have to share some images soon
Matthew

Yes I imagine that much weight, 30 lbs, could be a problem.
I hope to mount a Celestron 9.25" @ 20 lbs, in the not to distant future.
Right now I have a Meade LX90 8" @ 12 lbs, mounted with a Losmandy Rail.
And I'm only using the stock 11lb counterweight, it works fine.
Craig

brucew29 Loc: Cincinnati, Ohio

CraigFair wrote:

I really like this shot I took of M82 on 4/15/15. It was taken with my Meade 8" 2000mm fork Mount on Polar Wedge.
Nikon D800E at ISO 12,800, 30 sec at f/9.5, Auto WB
Processed in Lightroom, Topaz Clarity and Denoise, Cropped 300%

Nice shot Craig... I saw the Moon out tonight (05-22-2015) but I am kind of burnt out on the Moon for a while...