A few more ATIK Color Horizon test images
Apr 27, 2018 14:28:04 #
Almost a full Moon and smoke in the air but still a pretty decent night...
Sky-Watcher 190 Mak-Newt, Hutech HEUIB-II filter, pier mounted Celestron CGEM DX mount, unguided.
Checked polar alignment with PoleMaster; dead on after sitting all winter. Slewed to Arcturus, did a Bahtinov Mask focus and calibrated the StarSense unit to the scope.
Started the evening by splitting Mizar as a test of scope and camera. Moved on to the Perseus Double Cluster; it was far away from the Moon. Finished off the night by shooting the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51); not a good choice with the Moon and haze in the air (far too much processing to get an image; kinda ugly)!!
Enjoy!
bwa
Sky-Watcher 190 Mak-Newt, Hutech HEUIB-II filter, pier mounted Celestron CGEM DX mount, unguided.
Checked polar alignment with PoleMaster; dead on after sitting all winter. Slewed to Arcturus, did a Bahtinov Mask focus and calibrated the StarSense unit to the scope.
Started the evening by splitting Mizar as a test of scope and camera. Moved on to the Perseus Double Cluster; it was far away from the Moon. Finished off the night by shooting the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51); not a good choice with the Moon and haze in the air (far too much processing to get an image; kinda ugly)!!
Enjoy!
bwa
Mizar Double Star(28x1sec,1x1binned,LowGain)_IP(MinMax)_PS
Perseus Double Cluster(25X30sec,1X1Binned,MedGain)_PI_ABE_MStretch_PS
(Download)
Whirlpool Galaxy(M51)(25X45sec,1X1Binned,MedGain)_PI_ABE_MStretch_PS
Apr 28, 2018 15:20:59 #
bwana wrote:
Almost a full Moon and smoke in the air but still ... (show quote)
Very nice. Mine is on order now. Highpoint Scientific had a 5% off sale that ended a couple nights ago. Also getting the Polemaster.
But I haven't yet finished the special project at work, so they are not ready for me to be sent back out to pasture. No time yo play yet.
Apr 28, 2018 16:46:41 #
JimH123 wrote:
Very nice. Mine is on order now. Highpoint Scientific had a 5% off sale that ended a couple nights ago. Also getting the Polemaster.
But I haven't yet finished the special project at work, so they are not ready for me to be sent back out to pasture. No time yo play yet.
But I haven't yet finished the special project at work, so they are not ready for me to be sent back out to pasture. No time yo play yet.
You'll love it! At least I do.
I was out again last night for four hours. Still thin cloud hanging around and a bright Moon but one can't waste a stable sky!!
bwa
Apr 28, 2018 23:09:50 #
bwana wrote:
Almost a full Moon and smoke in the air but still ... (show quote)
Nice separation of the double star Mizar! Those 2 stars are 14.4 arcsec apart, and need sufficient magnification to see them separated. Your image shows them separated nicely. I looked up your scope and it's focal length is just over 1000mm. The Horizon uses a m4/3 sized sensor, meaning that the effective FOV is the same as a 2000mm focal length lens on a full frame camera. And as we can see, it resolved it cleanly. I went looking for Mizar in any of my images, but all I could find were lower focal length images, and they didn't resolve it.
I have added a picture taken with an Olympus em5ii (same sized sensor) and a Samyang 135mm lens. Much shorter FL then what you were shooting. And as you can see, it is not resolved.
Nice job!
May 3, 2018 17:39:59 #
bwana wrote:
Almost a full Moon and smoke in the air but still ... (show quote)
Spectacular work Brian.
The M51 is one of the best I've seen.
Are you using an updated version of the ATIK software?
Craig
May 3, 2018 20:13:03 #
CraigFair wrote:
Spectacular work Brian.
The M51 is one of the best I've seen.
Are you using an updated version of the ATIK software?
Craig
The M51 is one of the best I've seen.
Are you using an updated version of the ATIK software?
Craig
The latest version of the core software (Version 4.2.2.1) was updated on the 3rd of April 2018.
bwa
May 4, 2018 13:02:44 #
bwana wrote:
The latest version of the core software (Version 4.2.2.1) was updated on the 3rd of April 2018.
bwa
bwa
Brian, I'm not seeing the stripes. Did you figure out what was causing it or is it the software???
Craig
May 4, 2018 16:05:59 #
CraigFair wrote:
Brian, I'm not seeing the stripes. Did you figure out what was causing it or is it the software???
Craig
Craig
There is still a degree of horizontal banding but you really have to stretch an image a long long way to see it, which you normally won't do.
I've also found dropping the cooler temperature from my original setting of -10C to -20C really made a difference in noise levels. I'm going to give -30C a shot the next time out... The two stage cooler on the camera is supposed to maintain a -45C differential from ambient so might as well give it a shot. I might even be able to shoot at -40C
bwa
May 4, 2018 17:12:10 #
bwana wrote:
There is still a degree of horizontal banding but ... (show quote)
Thanks for the update I usually do 25* below ambient.
Craig
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