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Posts for: CraigFair
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Apr 11, 2018 16:35:35   #
nikonshooter wrote:
I have had a goal to reduce the number of cables to two - a data cable for the laptop (outside) and a power cable, either DC or AC. That operation is complete. I finished this project for both pier kits adding Rigrunner Power strip (made new cables with powerpoles as plugs) and 10 slot USB3 powered hub.

....and if, if, all holds - I may have three days of skies with only 15 percent clouds! We shall see!

Very well done Ed. It's going to be a lot better for all the cables you would have hanging around the computer.
Craig
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Apr 10, 2018 12:05:27   #
Europa wrote:
Craig, you haven’t posted anything in a while...where’s the pix? Oh, sorry, this was Jim’s post...I would love to see you do a stack with the lens only, it’s so amazing to me how well that Tamron Lens performs.

I picked up a couple of Rokinon lens 14mm f2.8 and a 85mm f1.4, hoping for some cool Milky Way shots when I get to some dark skies.

Hi Brian, it seems that every time I want to get some photos it's been bad weather. Those are going to be a couple good lenses for Milky Way shots. They will open up a whole new level of photos for you.
Craig
PS: I promise I will be getting out more.
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Apr 10, 2018 00:24:51   #
Albuqshutterbug wrote:
Thank you Craig.
I really really need to learn guiding.
That's next on my list of must dos.
Jim

I think my guide scope and camera are the best investment I've made for Astrophotography. I can take a crappy shot and still have perfect round Stars.
Craig
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Apr 10, 2018 00:20:58   #
Albuqshutterbug wrote:
Thank you Craig.
You are correct. I have this lens pretty well dialed in on this body.
Tonight I plan to try my newer 6" Celestron SCT with the fancy coatings.
I worked on my mount today and now have the cradle almost in line with the base.
I may be wrong, but it seems if you have a dead on polar alignment the cradle should be pointed along the same line at the home position.
Fingers crossed for tonight.
Jim

Good luck Jim I hope you have clear skies.
Craig
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Apr 9, 2018 18:12:51   #
bwana wrote:
Not at the moment but it appears to only have started with the most recent release of the Infinity software, which did fix a couple other problems but might have introduced another!?

I'll shoot some subs using ATIK's Artemis software next time out and see how it compares? I might also fire up SharpCap and see how it fares? Since the ATIK's Artemis software and the Horizon ASCOM driver haven't changed, both Artemis and SharpCap should work...

The banding is quite serious as shown below:

bwa
Not at the moment but it appears to only have star... (show quote)

Hello Brian, Please keep us (me) informed as to the Banding Issue.
I am getting ready to pull the plug and get an ATIK Horizon and would
like to know it's not an issue with the Camera. By the way, they are both
beautiful shots.
Craig
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Apr 9, 2018 18:03:52   #
SonnyE wrote:
So I found a hole around 9ish, did a nice quick set-up and alignment and shot till the clouds came wondering by.
Mostly nothing fun or exciting, but keeping my hand in and the AVX from turning to stone.
So here's the smear...

(As shot, no processing. Feel free to play if you'd like. )


Hi Sonny, nice series.
Craig
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Apr 9, 2018 18:00:44   #
Albuqshutterbug wrote:
I setup my CGEM early last night based on reports of clear skies and decent viewing.
The report mentioned light winds but by the time the sky cleared the wind was hitting 10 to 15 MPH.
Still I did a 2 PoleMaster alignment followed by a 2 + 2 star alignment.
Go to when I finished was darn close to centered.
I wanted to shoot the Whirlpool Galaxy but clouds had other ideas so I went to Bodes and the Cigar Galaxy again.
I dropped the ISO to 400, set my aperture to f:/6.3 and shot for 140 seconds.
Tracking was spot on and this is what I pulled.
I am going to post uncropped and cropped.
Jim
I setup my CGEM early last night based on reports ... (show quote)

Very well done Jim. I assume you used the Tamron 150-600mm @ 600mm.
Craig
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Apr 9, 2018 17:57:57   #
Albuqshutterbug wrote:
Shot with a Canon 7D Mark II afocal on a Celestron C8 SCT.
Tracking with a Celestron CGEM mount and processed in Canon Digital Photo Professional and Photoshop CC 2018
This is a single 2 minute 40 second shot.
I must be channeling Sonny, stacking with time.

Beautifully done Jim. The Celestron 8" comes through.
Craig
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Apr 1, 2018 20:17:04   #
SonnyE wrote:

Don't touch your tongue to them in freezing weather....

You probably learned that trick in Wyoming.
For your lightweight rig, you probably don't need the extra long clutch handles.
For me though I just bought them and expect to get them Thurs.
Craig
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Apr 1, 2018 20:14:54   #
Albuqshutterbug wrote:
Thank you very much.
I need to play with Barlow’s so I don’t have to cut my resolution so much. But then you lose light so I’ll have to play it by ear.

That sounds like a great idea to me. Did you shoot this one thru the Diaganol???
Craig
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Apr 1, 2018 19:54:45   #
bwana wrote:
A great Moon shining through thin cloud lighting up the sky, not to mention atmospheric motion bouncing stars around the sky...

Set up the ATIK color Horizon camera on the WO Megrez 90 with a 0.8x flattener/reducer and STC Duo-Narrowband filter (Oiii and Ha) to partially reduce (Moon) light pollution, mounted on an AVX mount, no guiding. A quick polar alignment with PoleMaster. A star alignment with StarSense. Ready to go!

I first shot Sirius to check atmospheric stability; not a pretty picture but a colorful time-lapse, at: Sirius In Motion.

Then I went after the Alnitak region (Flame and Horsehead nebulas), did a Bahtinov mask focus on Alnitak, captured a real time aligned / stacked image (19x30sec.) using the Infinity capture software and saved the subs (50x30sec.). 38 subs were later processed in PixInsight. The results are not at all great but the -15C (5F) outing under the stars was invigorating (and helped cure my cabin fever)! My eldest granddaughter also enjoyed the outing away from the noisy relatives in the house.

If nothing else, I was fairly happy with star shape and focus as well as controlling flare from Alnitak (I can easily see its twin!). As for nebulosity, I'm surprised I actually captured any!!

Enjoy!

bwa
A great Moon shining through thin cloud lighting u... (show quote)

Great job Brian. Fighting the Moon is always tough but well done. I watched a couple tutorials and was more impressed with the 2x2 binning in the ATIK software.
Craig
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Apr 1, 2018 19:47:46   #
JimH123 wrote:
The clouds just do not want to go away. No capturing new images here. Decided I wasn't very good at using Nebulosity, so went the Tutorial Videos route.

Here is one I redid using a stack of 10. Camera was an Olympus EM5ii which has been IR modified, and a Samyang 135mm f2 lens. The exposures where only 8 sec each at ISO 1600 which wasn't enough to pull in the outer regions of the disk of Andromeda. I can tell that my focus was off just a tiny bit when I look at the faint stars. And just to the right of Andromeda, I see a vertical band of horizontal stripes, that must be processing artifacts.

But I did discover that there were things about Nebulosity that I wasn't doing right.

Attaching the same image as done using DSS for comparison. I actually think DSS did the better job. The stars are predominantly yellow due to the IR conversion of the camera.
The clouds just do not want to go away. No captur... (show quote)

Hey Jim H I think I'll have to go with the DSS too. I have never been able to get DSS too work that well.
Craig
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Apr 1, 2018 12:56:27   #
bwana wrote:
I also have a CGEM DX. What the heck is the knobs upgrade?

bwa

They are larger size, bright orange, knobs. You can get the individual knob sets too. This setup is for the CGEM.
https://telescopes.net/store/cgem-or-celestron-cgem-knob-upgrade-kit-includes-9-knobs-orange-anodized.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwhoLWBRD9ARIsADIRaxQ7rmShkpfvb8kpoQ4IWJPTyLeaGGIQB-HkAPDkoff2-Gtb5Af65q8aAkneEALw_wcB
Craig
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Apr 1, 2018 12:39:48   #
Albuqshutterbug wrote:
Thanks Craig.
Gotta love high altitude humidity that won’t fall. We are now in severe drought with no end in sight.
But hey, this is the desert.
Jim

Yeah, we're also having the same problem as you. The one real rain event we have had last week hardly made a dent.
Craig
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Apr 1, 2018 12:34:17   #
Albuqshutterbug wrote:
This is the one for sale,
It looks like it should fit on my oldie moldie.
It lists at $158 from Orion and its for my Orion scope.
I agree about wasting nights now. You know how much I love the full moon.
Jim

I think you probably have dual focusing for the other scopes, so I know you will be happy with the one in your photo, if you plan on using the 135mm more.
Craig
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