An Incredibly Rich Star Field in Canis Major

On 20 Δεκ, 01:10, Anthony Ayiomamitis wrote:
On 19 Äåê, 19:48, Davoud wrote:





Anthony Ayiomamitis:

Can I trouble you for your thoughts on the Starfish? I am looking for
a guider and I would love to get your thoughts. Other options include
Lodestar, LVI as well as standard webcams.

I love it! I have the uncooled version because I'm not interested in
using it for anything but guiding. It has great sensitivity and it
offers guiding that is about as simple as auto-guiding can be. Mac OS
or Windows, just connect the camera to USB and to the mount's guider
port. Use PHD. Calibration is unbelievably quick and easy. For the
first time since I have been imaging auto-guiding is a rather trivial
matter for me.

The area is indeed quite rich and which is obvious with your result.
There is a tint of blue in the central portion - is this due to
reflection nebulosity or due to a lack of flats?

Lack of flats. In lieu of flats I used the Dynamic Background
Extraction routine in Pixinsight. The dark blue did not escape my
notice, but it didn't bother me, either. I figured that only the creme
de la creme of astrophotographers would be likely to notice and I was
right :-)

Davoud

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

David,

Thanks for the feedback. I will check it out. My interest is also
strictly for guiding and nothing else. I considered getting a cheap
ST-7 but the weight may lead to flexure and in contrast to other
solutions which are much lighter. I hope the Starfish allows for guide
exposures around 4-5 seconds so that one does chase the seeing.

With respect to your result, check out the colour balance in Photoshop
and especially the first option for shadows and by slightly reducing
the blue and being careful not to clip the histograms. You may also
need an ever slight adjustment for the midtones (blue once again).
Finally, make sure the box for "Preserve Luminosity" is checked off.

Anthony.

...... Finally, make sure the box for "Preserve Luminosity" is checked
ON and not off as I accidently wrote above. Similarly, "... so that
one does NOT chase the seeing".

I am preoccupied with a new project starting on Monday and running for
six months ... sorry for the typos above.

Anthony.

On 20 déc, 00:10, Anthony Ayiomamitis wrote:

strictly for guiding and nothing else. I considered getting a cheap
ST-7 but the weight may lead to flexure and in contrast to other
solutions which are much lighter. I hope the Starfish allows for guide
exposures around 4-5 seconds so that one does chase the seeing.

Weight was also worrying me especially since my setup wasn't too well
balanced (mechanical constraints on the OTA I can't solve) and I
recycled an old Philips toucam. Even if I use it in unmodified mode
(integrating short frames), PHDGuiding goes to 5 sec without any
problem, even without dark frames, but then the -15C we had today
helped a bit G.

Here's the night's image

http://www.datarescue.com/life/kepler/20091219/M45.jpg

20x5 mins with a QSI 583 on the Lichtenknecker FFC

Nothing special, but it doesn't hurt posting astronomical images now
and then...

On 20 Δεκ, 03:04, Pierre Vandevenne wrote:
On 20 déc, 00:10, Anthony Ayiomamitis wrote:

strictly for guiding and nothing else. I considered getting a cheap
ST-7 but the weight may lead to flexure and in contrast to other
solutions which are much lighter. I hope the Starfish allows for guide
exposures around 4-5 seconds so that one does chase the seeing.

Weight was also worrying me especially since my setup wasn't too well
balanced (mechanical constraints on the OTA I can't solve) and I
recycled an old Philips toucam. Even if I use it in unmodified mode
(integrating short frames), PHDGuiding goes to 5 sec without any
problem, even without dark frames, but then the -15C we had today
helped a bit G.

Here's the night's image

http://www.datarescue.com/life/kepler/20091219/M45.jpg

20x5 mins with a QSI 583 on the Lichtenknecker FFC

Nothing special, but it doesn't hurt posting astronomical images now
and then...

Pierre,

That is a gorgeous image and easily a keeper. Add some RGB data and
you have a winner.

I also have an old Philips ToUCam and I am delighted to hear about the
longer than usual (for a webcam) exposure! Did you use a GPUSB
interface between the computer and the mount?

Anthony.

"Davoud" wrote in message
...
In article , Davoud:
The page http://www.primordial-light.com/deepsky6.html#thor contains
the full frame reduced to a width of 1024 pixels; there is a link to a
larger image, as well.

John Nichols:
That's one nice pic. Why not submit it to APOD?

My humble thanks to all of you for your kind remarks.

I have submitted it to APOD, but when you consider the gorgeous detail
that people are getting with their RC's from elevations of 2500 meters
and upward in New Mexico, the Atacama, and such like, not to mention
the stuff from the professional observatories and Hubble, a photo taken
at 18 meters elevation in the heart of the East Coast light dome seems
unlikely to end up on the top of the pile the APOD people have to
choose from! Who can blame them!?

True enough, Davoud. But one thing I've learned as a poet is that you don't
get accepted in you don't submit. Even if APOD doesn't take it, it's still
a fine photograph.

On Dec 20, 3:30*am, Anthony Ayiomamitis wrote:

I also have an old Philips ToUCam and I am delighted to hear about the
longer than usual (for a webcam) exposure! Did *you use a GPUSB
interface between the computer and the mount?

I use the following setup

ED80 - Toucam - PhDGuiding
PhDGuiding - Ascom Interface - USB-Serial - Vixen Skysensor.

I didn't expect this to work very well, at least not as well as the
SBIG integrated guider, and I ordered the wsg version of the QSI with
the idea of adding a stand alone guider later. But in fact, it works
well enough that I don't even bother with dark frames for the webcam.
What PhDGuiding is able to achieve even with low SNR guide stars is
amazing, at least compared to what Maxim does.

As far as the exposure is concerned, if the camera is used in normal,
non long exposure, mode I believe PHD stacks 1/10th of a second
exposures. The only drawback is that downloads from the main camera
take a bit longer than usual because the USB bus bandwidth is limited.
Using single exposures in modified mode should take care of that, but
again this hasn't been a critical issue (downloads from the main
camera in 12 seconds rather than 8)

Anthony Ayiomamitis:
Thanks for the feedback. I will check it out. My interest is also
strictly for guiding and nothing else. I considered getting a cheap
ST-7 but the weight may lead to flexure and in contrast to other
solutions which are much lighter. I hope the Starfish allows for guide
exposures around 4-5 seconds so that one does chase the seeing.

The Starfish permits exposures from one ms to five minutes.

Davoud

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

Pierre Vandevenne:
I use the following setup

ED80 - Toucam - PhDGuiding
PhDGuiding - Ascom Interface - USB-Serial - Vixen Skysensor.

Looking at the fine monochrome M45 that you posted, it's impossible to
argue with success.

Nonetheless, your guiding setup seems convoluted compared to Starfish
PHD and Starfish Mount. No arcane ASCOM, no USB-to-Serial.

Davoud

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

On 20 Äåê, 15:07, Davoud wrote:
Pierre Vandevenne:

I use the following setup

ED80 - Toucam - PhDGuiding
PhDGuiding - Ascom Interface - USB-Serial - Vixen Skysensor.

Looking at the fine monochrome M45 that you posted, it's impossible to
argue with success.

Nonetheless, your guiding setup seems convoluted compared to Starfish
PHD and Starfish Mount. No arcane ASCOM, no USB-to-Serial.

Davoud

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

Davoud,

This is the same scenario with the SBIG cameras having a second chip
for guiding and which acts as a "hub" between laptop and mount.

Anthony.

On 20 Äåê, 15:02, Davoud wrote:
Anthony Ayiomamitis:

Thanks for the feedback. I will check it out. My interest is also
strictly for guiding and nothing else. I considered getting a cheap
ST-7 but the weight may lead to flexure and in contrast to other
solutions which are much lighter. I hope the Starfish allows for guide
exposures around 4-5 seconds so that one does chase the seeing.

The Starfish permits exposures from one ms to five minutes.

After posting my message last night, I did check out the
manufacturer's webpage. Something I forgot to ask and which I
confirmed last night is compatibility with the ST-4 protocol given my
mounts are AP.

Anthony.


Davoud

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

On 20 déc, 14:07, Davoud wrote:

Nonetheless, your guiding setup seems convoluted compared to Starfish
PHD and Starfish Mount. No arcane ASCOM, no USB-to-Serial.

Well, since I've spent the last 30 years of my life in the bowels of
computers and computer programs, this is the easy part :-)
(and the Vixen Skysensor PC won't accept a direct ST4 connection, I
made a custom cable)