Ritchey–Chrétien enjoyers thread

[harsh matrix]

Wtf

Does that not give you any banding?

[frosty shard]

Not from my inspection. But I stack 32 flats

It might be a good idea for me to do that for broadband tbh

[harsh matrix]

Do what?

[frosty shard]

Reduce the brightness and add a diffuser

[harsh matrix]

Ah

Any reason in particular?

[frosty shard]

I had that flat overcorrection issue in IR and I do want to be more careful since I may do more broadband mosaics

So far broadband flats are correcting properly, but it can't hurt to just keep a cloth around just in case

[frosty shard]

@harsh matrix actually how are you doing flats?

[harsh matrix]

Ive been doing sky flats but its not working 100%

Its only working about 95% of the way

Today I used my new tracer panel and turned the brightness way down.

But ended up with heavy undercorrecting across the board.

[frosty shard]

Oh you just got a panel okay good

[harsh matrix]

Yeah

Very much still learning how to use it.

[tight lodge]

Use some printer paper to difuse and dim the light. You can use multiple sheets to get the right results

[tight lodge]

@harsh matrix The stars don't look that bloated ngl

[harsh matrix]

Thats good

[harsh matrix]

Ill consider it

Only problem is, how do I gauge when ive added enough?

[tight lodge]

You use nina flat wizard with dynamic exposure. Start with 2 sheets of paper.

Oh wait. You're in US. Gemini flat pannels are super OP.

For the first time in my life, I enjoy taking Flats just because of the flat pannel

[fringe delta]

Wdym, should I get one lol?

[tight lodge]

The US and China deal. I got my flat pannel from Aliexpress

[fringe delta]

Does that make it cheaper or what

[tight lodge]

That makes it more expensive

[tight lodge]

Also. I'm definitely difraction limited by the IR. Tonight is a bit windy so my RMS was jumping as high as 1" RMS. Between the 0.5" and 1" is literally no difference in sharpness

[harsh matrix]

💀

Welcome to pain

Small aperture pain

[tight lodge]

Hey!... it's average

[harsh matrix]

😩

[frosty shard]

I got to see NGC 604 and NGC 595 in a 12" Dob recently

It's probably doable in your Dob or RC with a nebula filter

[high aspen]

biiig spiral nebula

[tight lodge]

@harsh matrix

[tight lodge]

@frosty shard . No IR halos

[quartz meadow]

thats pretty, now beat hubble by adding a healthy amount of Hα

[tight lodge]

i'm not done yet. i want more luminance, more colors moooore DATAAA!!

[quartz meadow]

Gooooood

[tight lodge]

Did y'all know andromeda has a lil' neighbor?

[high aspen]

i should buy an rct and use it as a teacup

[tight lodge]

@frosty shard look! A honse!

[brisk swift]

It's a cat tail.

it's called the cat tail nebula

y'all tripping

[frosty shard]

honse (how many min)

[tight lodge]

1x600s

[frosty shard]

honse (10 min)

[tight lodge]

Not as sharp as I could pull off die to wind. But a monumental difference from the last year

[tight lodge]

#1024061483757355068 message

[harsh matrix]

HUH

[harsh matrix]

Holy balls

[tight lodge]

Right? IR brought up so many stars

[frosty shard]

Very easy with a nebula filter. They're both highly luminous

[harsh matrix]

That it did

[harsh matrix]

That is still surprising to me

[harsh matrix]

anybody remember when my redcat did this?

[tight lodge]

Master Vel, do you think this is a good filter distribution?

R = NIR in this case

[harsh matrix]

I have no idea

I'd say yes or at least almost, I guess

a lot of people say you want 3x more lum than color data

you are more than 2x of your green and blue

[high aspen]

it made red

[tight lodge]

i know. but those people don't image in IR as well 😄

[quartz meadow]

I knew thanks to hubble

[tight lodge]

now i know as well... thanks to the backyard hubble

[quartz meadow]

[tight lodge]

Boys... check this out.
Nina messed up the flats last night. So I couldn't calibrate the NIR data

So I took the master Flat from the Luminance channel and applied it to the NIR. It kinda worked 😂

[stiff mason]

An extremely honsy honse

[tall summit]

Thats pretty cool! Started looking for it on my shot, but might be outside of fov, where is it roughly? I found another tiny one though:

Its closer to m110

[tight lodge]

@high aspen remember when you were flexing with the RC simulation? Behold! A ray traced simulation

[brisk swift]

dann

damn

[bleak solar]

Hello guys, I want to get myself a RC telescope. I was thinking about getting this one. I also already ordered an OAG. My camera is the ToupTek585 would all of this be a good combo?

[tight lodge]

If I remember correctly, @vapid patio has an RC-6 combined with the 585

[bleak solar]

6 means 6 inch aperture, right?

[silver ibex]

Yes

[bleak solar]

Okay thanks 😁

[tight lodge]

Yes. 6 inch is 152mm

[silver ibex]

It's actually 152.4

[bleak solar]

Yeeeeeah… Details 😂

[tight lodge]

It's actually 152.40mm

Ooor. 152.400μm

Oooooor. 152 400 000 nm

Oooor 152 400 000 000 pm

[quartz meadow]

If you want to be more efficient in a way of actually gathering more signal, the 8" is the better choice because the central obstruction is smaller in relation to the aperture

[oblique sun]

0.15m

[tight lodge]

0.015 dam

[oblique sun]

0.02

precision is for losers

[quartz meadow]

*0.152400000000000000000000000

[frosty shard]

Note that your FOV will be tiny and the 585 is going to be oversampled at native FL, but it's still workable. The 585 also has much better IR quantum efficiency than a 533 if you want to image in that band.

[bleak solar]

what does oversampled mean in this case`?

[frosty shard]

The pixels are smaller than the effective spatial resolution of the telescope.

[bleak solar]

okay, so less details then...

[frosty shard]

Your effective resolution is going to be limited by optics, guiding, or atmospheric conditions, not sensor pixel pitch.

[bleak solar]

okay thanks for the help and explaining

[frosty shard]

You can use techniques like drizzling 2x or downsampling to get a pixel scale that better corresponds with your telescope's resolution. So it's not the end of the world if you're grossly oversampled or undersampled.

Sensor size may be more of an issue just because your field is tiny (about 28' x 16'), so you will want to learn how to build mosaics.

[bleak solar]

good thing I am willing to learn then 😄

[frosty shard]

I've done it before in SIRIL and it's not too difficult.

[bleak solar]

Guess I will stay in this chanel now 😄

[tight lodge]

The RC6 is not gonna oversample him a lot. If he has an average seeing of 2" then he should be right at the limit

2nd. You can use a reducer to get a more suitable pixel scale

[frosty shard]

And that'll help with the field size

[tight lodge]

Jup. If you're smart about it, you can get away with a lot

[ripe crystal]

All hail blender

[high aspen]

hot

[tight lodge]

This triggers me

[fringe delta]

bro hates rc6

[frosty shard]

GET OUT

[tight lodge]

It triggers me because I want an RCT. But ain't got the money for one right now

[tight lodge]

Can you show me a picture of yours? I just want to see how an RC8 looks on the WAVE150i

[frosty shard]

Oh Mr. Pickles my beloved, I apologize for my treatment

[tight lodge]

Brother... I spent a whole day modeling and simulating an RCT. Ain't that enough to prove that I'm part of the gang?

[tight lodge]

Oooohhh that's gorgeous 😭

[frosty shard]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritchey–Chrétien_telescope#Design

It's also here

[tight lodge]

#1326833769495269376 message

If you want, you can add these renders

[frosty shard]

Is that for an 8" GSO RC?

[tight lodge]

Ok... don't ask for the size

Or brand. Is the general light path of an RCT

Also. I need to experiment a bit. The projected light cone looks... strange

I want to see, if I add a light mask in front of the source, will it magnify it?

I need to figure out how to simulate a naked sensor in blender

[bleak solar]

oh damn... sorry then 😬 ☹️

[tight lodge]

No worries. That gives time for the 130PDS to grind its grand project

This is how is looking so far

[fringe delta]

stars

[tight lodge]

In a different galaxy

[fringe delta]

yeah, what filter you using?

[tight lodge]

This one, L,NIR,G,B
Optolong L-CCD
Optolong G-CCD
Optolong B-CCD
Svbony SV-183 IR pass filter

[fringe delta]

ah nice, how do you stack the NIR or combine it? i just ordered a zwo ir pass filter since i have an extra slot in my filter wheel for 1.25"

[tight lodge]

Well... most people use the IR data as luminance. I use the IR data on the Red channel

[fringe delta]

interesting. the IR shows more stars than a red filter?

[tight lodge]

Yes. IR passes trough dust much easier than BB data

[fringe delta]

cool. i got the nir filter to image the moon really, didn't know I can use it for dsos lol

[bleak solar]

DAMN!!!

[tight lodge]

for example, this is without any IR data

[fringe delta]

oh yeah thats a big difference

how long are your IR subs

[tight lodge]

180s

[fringe delta]

does it have less light pollution compared to luminance filter? i can really only get about 120s on my lum

[tight lodge]

to some extent. yes, it does reduce the LP slightly

i found that the IR is much more affected by the moon.

[fringe delta]

excited to give it a go once it get here. somehow i only get cloudy nights when its a new moon lol

[tight lodge]

so i shot my BB data during full moon and the IR during new moon

[fringe delta]

BB during full moon

[tight lodge]

2h of luminance under full moon

[fringe delta]

moon is this way lol?

[tight lodge]

i think...

[fringe delta]

brave man

[stiff mason]

God damn great photography skills

[stiff mason]

Holy what fwhm

[tight lodge]

2.1" for Luminance G & B, and 3.8" for NIR

[stiff mason]

Damn also how good is the sv 183 i was thinking of getting one

[tight lodge]

pretty darn good. Most of us use it 😄

[stiff mason]

Alright say no more also i ask beacuse most of the use ive seen from it was with planetary not dso

[tight lodge]

Also, it's like dirt cheap. So definitely something worth to have in the kit

[stiff mason]

Yeah

[high aspen]

yummi :3

[high aspen]

it blu

[vapid patio]

Hai

[frosty shard]

I don't use luminance in my compositions so I usually do IRG

[fringe delta]

no B?

[frosty shard]

I haven't really used it (though I do have an RGB image of this object)

I just like IRG because it highlights H-II regions really well

[fringe delta]

stars look not much different with RGB compared to irg

[frosty shard]

You pick up on some deep red stars in IRG but yeah the overall chromaticities are still what you'd expect

Unfortunately I don't yet have a rigorous way of color calibrating IRG (need to get transmission data for my filter)

[fringe delta]

i guess SPCC doesn't do great on it huh?

[frosty shard]

In SIRIL I can't select R filters for the green channel or G filters for the blue channel. I just want the chromaticities of the stars to be roughly Planckian

But at the same time they are in my image

I also still need more RG integration in both images

I've just been waiting to travel to a dark site for that

IR/H-alpha Euclid-like composition

and here's a scuffed HaIRG image

[fringe delta]

oh thats weird and annoying

i just got my IR pass filter today

have to wait a bit lol

[stiff mason]

Wait could i perhaps have the data separate channels if possible

[high aspen]

irg is silly :3

[frosty shard]

true

[tight lodge]

How about SLOAN gri?

[high aspen]

you should get a nitrogen filter

[tight lodge]

@frosty shard are those red giants resolved by a telescope way outside your league?

[ripe crystal]

[harsh matrix]

M33 from the RC8

flats wont work at all right now which is a massive bummer...

I spent almost all day looking for light leaks and patched everything i found

so if i shoot this again and flats still dont work...

im going to be massively disappointed

the resolution is bonkers

I noticed very tenuous filaments of H-alpha connecting each nebula in this spiral arm

it's kinda crazy

can see that in 45 minutes of red data

and an hour of lum

from bortle 9

[stiff mason]

What camera

[harsh matrix]

Touptek ATR2600M

[stiff mason]

Ooh nice

[stiff mason]

Did you have any other camera before this if so what was the difference when upgrading

[harsh matrix]

I have a Ares-M Pro from P1 that I used for about 5 months exclusively

between it and the Touptek, no difference

just more field of view

i had a 533 MC Pro before the Ares-M and that was a completely different experience

the signal of a mono cam is so much better than color

under every circumstance

okay for instance

the M33 above is about 3 hours of mono data from bortle 9

this is 47 hours of broadband + narrowband data from my 533 MC Pro, this scope was slightly slower than my RC8

[stiff mason]

Why is it that when i stretch a color cam data the background gets all rainbow like but mono with filters doesn't suffer the same fate well atleast not as much as color

[harsh matrix]

I do not know

I think it is some byproduct of the bayer matrix

[stiff mason]

Huh alright

[crisp flower]

I had an issue like that once when i was pointing my telescope too close to a street light when shooting
Could it be a local light source thats too close?

[stiff mason]

Well a nearby light like any light pollution will cause your signal to be reduced which means you will have to stretche the image more to bring out the colors and details and thus causing those color splotches

[stiff mason]

Which is why i cant wait to get a mono cam soon

[crisp flower]

I know thats not exactly what i meant
In my case, i had a literal rainbow stripe across my image
I thought ur issue was kind of simular

[stiff mason]

Oh no its not like that mines more like color blotches like this

[crisp flower]

Aaaah

[fringe delta]

time to dither

[stiff mason]

I did 😢

[fringe delta]

still looks like some walking noise lol. how often were you dithering and how many pixels?

[stiff mason]

I think it was like once every 5 pic and i think it was 10 although take this with a grain of salt since i dont exactly remember

[fringe delta]

hmm i do every 2 subs usually, or every sub lol

[stiff mason]

My mount takes too long to settle some times

[fringe delta]

that does make it harder

[high aspen]

i need the fin walking noise gif

[tight lodge]

You can get those blotches with mono as well if you are not careful 😅

[stiff mason]

Well atleast it will be cooled so less noise unlike my current camera

[tight lodge]

Tru

The blotches in mono can be from, improper gain, wrong temp, insufficient integration and overstretch

[stiff mason]

Also from processing many mono cams images ive seen that the color blotches are usually more evenly spread compared to osc and you'd need to strech them a lot more to make it visible also some of the color blotches from my current camera is probably because of dark current

[high aspen]

splotchies :3

[vapid patio]

so sexy

[sonic portal]

Why do RCs hold so much aura

[tight lodge]

Because they are the best

[frosty shard]

I can't explain it but

[tight lodge]

Whoever reacted with ❌ , I hope your telescope tips over

[tight lodge]

Still... RC8 unbalanced makes me uneasy

[fringe delta]

i was thinking the same lol

[frosty shard]

It has held up in extreme winds (not for imaging though, just visual)

I have total trust in the setup

[tight lodge]

Tomorrow my adapter arrives. No more CF tripod

Also, you know what that means? More payload capacity

Getting ready for that juicy RC8

[scenic mist]

perhaps im misunderstanding relativistic response yet again but they look pretty similar

[undone sedge]

okay this image aura farms in general

[fringe delta]

buy me one while you're at it

[tight lodge]

i can't afford it myself

[high aspen]

🤤

[fringe delta]

not an RC but love being back to imx533, mono this time!

[oblique sun]

kick him out of here

how dare you drag that non rct filth into this safe place

(I say, as a newt user )

[harsh matrix]

Im out in bortle 3 atm

Shooting M33 with the RC8

Secondary dewed up

Good stars are now ruined.

😭

[tight lodge]

Exactly! Only RC's are allowed in the RC Gang
This might or might not have been taken by a newtonian

[tight lodge]

Quattro is finally doing some work I see

Are you planning on IR as well?

[harsh matrix]

RC8

[harsh matrix]

No

[tight lodge]

But but but... IR

[harsh matrix]

Nah I dont want to shoot NIR with the 571

[tight lodge]

Doesn't the 571 have a better QE in IR than 533?

[harsh matrix]

Its the exact same

We have clouds

Night may already be over

This wasnt supposed to happen

[tight lodge]

My pier extension arrives today. I can not test the difference between CF and steel tripod this weekend because of the clouds

[bleak solar]

JUST SENT IT!!! PLEASE 😭

https://tenor.com/view/spongebob-spongebob-sad-spongebob-depressed-spongebob-head-in-hands-spongebob-react-gif-2112710549962906415

[crisp flower]

Pain

[tight lodge]

Oh... they need a bit of threatening

[crisp flower]

Or a reminder
Helped when i got my rc from them and i slid in their dms like:
Hey👉👈
Where rc?

[tight lodge]

When I ordered my WAVE150i I was like... Excuse me? WHAT THE FU?!!!! You guys have the mount and tripod separately in stock and ready for shipping, but you don't have the bundle that I ordered?

They were like... yeah well we don't have the bundle in stock

So I told them, let's swap from the bundle to separate products

I got my stuff shipped in the next 10 min

[tight lodge]

But... that's something that people don't understand. This is german efficiency

[crisp flower]

Lmaooooo

[crisp flower]

Yeaaaa

Tbh its been almost the same with the rc
I wrote them, 1 hour later they sent it and tgen they responded like: we are so sorry, but dhl messed up, we dont know what happened

Like: yeaaa sure thing mate

[fringe delta]

my IR filter has halos

i think i got the zwo 1.25" mounted one from agena

[tight lodge]

You got zwo LRGB filters?

[fringe delta]

no i have touptek

[tight lodge]

Get Optolong LRGB

[fringe delta]

how does that help my IR halo lol

[tight lodge]

Hold on... I brain dead

I just realized you said IR filter

I thought you said L filter

[fringe delta]

lol i thought you misread it

my IR data seems to actually have less stars than the luminance, looking at M33 last night

and thats 180s L vs 300s IR

[harsh matrix]

i think all of them do

i dont have one that doesnt have halos

plus dont worry

if you didnt have to deal with halos, you would have to deal with micro lensing

[fringe delta]

idk what micro lensing is

[harsh matrix]

well micro lenses are little lenses on top of each pixel to help direct light on to the pixels more efficiently

i dont know the exact reason but basically microlensing is a repeating pattern visible around stars caused by the interaction of light with those micro lenses

it shows up most often when shooting wavelengths outside the visual range

[crisp flower]

Looks like this on bright stars

[fringe delta]

oh thats fun

[harsh matrix]

Guys we got about 6 and a half hours of good integration on M33 last night

Thats despite the clouds and despite the dew

[stiff mason]

Well considering the whole deal with the imx585 is that it super sensitive in IR im sure there is no micro leasing right, right?

[harsh matrix]

I believe the 585 does have micro lensing but I dont think it kicks off until further into the IR part of the spectrum

[stiff mason]

Noooo

[tight lodge]

There's absolutely no microlensing with the 585. this is 4.5h of NIR data, so if there was micro lensing, it should have showed up

[harsh matrix]

Wtf?

Thats impressive tbh

[tight lodge]

ok... i didn't test it by pointing it to a bright star like Vega or Alnitak

[stiff mason]

Oooh

[tight lodge]

here's a sub if y'all don't believe me

[stiff mason]

Well it makes sense because the imx585 is designed around NIR sony specifically advertises it

[tight lodge]

ooor, it could be the optics contributing to it?

idk... Not an optics engineer

[stiff mason]

Well not every star emits in IR especially the larger blue giants and hot stars

[tight lodge]

Stars are broadband targets . they emit from radio waves to gamma rays and everything in between

[stiff mason]

Thats only when specific times I'm talking about black body emissions

Our sun emits slightly more in NIR than in visible with about less than 2% in mid IR and less than 10% in UV with longer wave lenghts taking majority

But thats not to say that the sun doesn't have gamma and x ray bursts

And sun spots dont shine bright in NIR

Big giant blue stars emit most of their energy in UV with some in visible and very minimal in NIR

Like less than 1%

So basically thats like trying to capture something as faith as a red dwarf in m33

[crisp flower]

Not nessissarily
Im only getting it at very bright stars

The example i posted was vega, thats why it was so extreme

[high aspen]

ir filters be like

[tight lodge]

Imma test it, whenever I get clear skies

[harsh matrix]

@frosty shard do you think that the pickaxe shaped stars at the edge of the image circle on an RC (due to the light baffle tube) can also happen if, say an M42 sized ring, is cutting off light near the camera, with the sensor being APS-C?

Cause my corners all have pickaxe shaped stars.

Right around where the worst of the vignetting starts too

[harsh matrix]

[frosty shard]

Potentially, but I don't have a means to test this.

[stiff mason]

Whats going on with those stars

[harsh matrix]

FUDGE

[harsh matrix]

dew heater moment

[stiff mason]

How

[harsh matrix]

it had to be in the light path

which created the wild flaring

also the rejection algorithm got rid of half the flaring but not the other half

that's why it looks so weird

[stiff mason]

Damn that sucks

[harsh matrix]

eh not really

it was either use a dew heater or dont shoot

and i went there to shoot

so i was using the dew heater

the data was very sharp regardless of that fact

[stiff mason]

Why not use a dew shield

[harsh matrix]

dont have one

dont really want to deal with the issues that come with using them either

i cant guarantee that my flats will work, for instance

[stiff mason]

How come

[harsh matrix]

if the dew shield shifts at all, for any reason, it will throw everything off

[stiff mason]

Ohh right but wouldn't a dew heater cause internal convections i mean a telescope is pretty sensitive i can literally hold the back of my hand in front of my telescope in room temperature environment and see a pretty noticeable blurring

[harsh matrix]

depends on the ambient temperature outside and how warm the dew heater itself is

there's ways to work around that but it didnt seem to affect my rig last night

[tight lodge]

Not massive convection currents. A dew heater will keep the optics temperature slightly above ambient temp. your body temp will always have a much higher delta t compared to a dew heater.

[stiff mason]

Right

[frosty shard]

Guys, I think buying an RC was a mistake. It's nowhere near as satisfying as getting wide field shots.

(this is my first unserious, scuffed attempt at widefield with a DSLR lol)

[tight lodge]

Did you take something?

[frosty shard]

About 40 GB of raw images

[tight lodge]

I'm not talking about data, i'm talking about drugs.

[frosty shard]

Tylenol

I need to go to sleep and then process this data

[high aspen]

I like your contrast on the nebulas :3

[high aspen]

thats how my brother got his autism

[tight lodge]

Damn... for 60€ this pier extension is too OP

I already put the mount on I'd and gave it a shake test, already is much much much more solid than the CF tripod

[frosty shard]

Which one is it? I may want one...

[undone sedge]

good holder for hex wrenches too it seems

[tight lodge]

https://a.aliexpress.com/_Eyq8YvC

[high aspen]

🤤

[frosty shard]

Legendary data haul this weekend and it looks like I got another clear night tonight to shoot IR

[high aspen]

yupee

[tight lodge]

Where's the laser?

[frosty shard]

In the finder bracket

[tight lodge]

Speaking of lasers... I ordered 10 x 50mW modules

[frosty shard]

What wavelength?

[tight lodge]

532nm

[sonic portal]

Peak

[frosty shard]

Choose your fighter (the correct answer is the one on the right)

[sonic portal]

RCs are so chunky

[frosty shard]

Had to blow most of the night fixing up my collimation, but it's in the best shape it's ever been now

[tight lodge]

Why your rig looks slanted?

[high aspen]

right

[frosty shard]

Lens distortion

[high aspen]

star looks like ring nebula

[oblique sun]

u look like ring nebula

[high aspen]

why are you being mean to me :(

[oblique sun]

thats not even an insult tbh

ring nebula is good

[frosty shard]

ur mom looks like ring nebula

[frosty shard]

uh oh

[sonic portal]

the rust?

[frosty shard]

Yup

It looks like there was water in my telescope bag

Probably from the deranged humidity on Saturday

[sonic portal]

Uh oh

Are you going to replace the screws

[frosty shard]

Not sure. I mean if the scope holds collimation it's fine

But I'm surprised there aren't galvanized or zinc dipped screws in there already

I'm more worried about there being some other water damage I can't see

[sonic portal]

carbonstar cutting corners

[frosty shard]

I even wiped down my OTA but it looks like condensation occurred in my telescope bag and I forgot to air it out

So I also cut corners

[sonic portal]

fill the OTA with rice

[frosty shard]

At least zinc dipped screws are cheap

[frosty shard]

Actually maybe I should get one of those silica moisture absorber bags and put it in there

[sonic portal]

Those do work great

I have way too many

[tight lodge]

Tbh... I like the looks of it. It looks like it has seen some stuff, it looks like it's actually being used, unlike them redcats being more of a paper weight than a telescope

[frosty shard]

If it's cosmetic I don't mind. It's more so that I don't want anything structural to be compromised

[tight lodge]

Soak the screws on oil

[stiff mason]

Why do those screws look like they are on the verge of being stripped

[high aspen]

D:

[tight lodge]

Have you seen the average Toyota corolla undercarriage?

[tight lodge]

I've committed a crime boys

[high aspen]

ricecooker :D

[frosty shard]

https://tenor.com/view/ree-frog-angry-mad-pepe-the-frog-shaking-gif-17567919

[tight lodge]

That's what RC stands for?

[frosty shard]

I do want to get one of these though

[crisp flower]

Do it

[tight lodge]

Well... I got the cine one and not the photo lens

So I will test it and tell you if it's worth it

[frosty shard]

Oh I didn't notice that

[tight lodge]

Cine lenses use T stops instead of f stops for aperture. That's an easy giveaway

[frosty shard]

Really astronomers should use T-stops too

[tight lodge]

Truuuu...

I mean... technically we do

[frosty shard]

Wait where? I've never seen a telescope with a listed T-stop

[tight lodge]

ain't this the formula?

[frosty shard]

It is, but like, nobody uses T-stops in amateur astronomy in practice. I've never seen a telescope marketed with a specific T-stop

[tight lodge]

How many people here understand T-stops vs f-stops? so, it's easier to market it as f-stop

[frosty shard]

But it makes the most sense when you have an RC and 25% of your f-stop is blocked by the secondary

Or any obstructed design really

[tight lodge]

Well... theoretically, in an RC... The secondary is not obstructing too much of the reflective surface of the primary mirror, since is on axis with the lightpath

like... i think a Newtonian blocks more of the reflective surface of the mirror than an RC

ok... i improvised some numbers to get a theoretical number

i used 95mm for the CO, 203mm outer and 80mm inner diameter of the primary mirror. i get around T-9... feel free to correct me on that

the transmittance is around 78% in this case

[frosty shard]

About what I got as well from previous calculations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNOJPnWxOxE

[tight lodge]

All hail to Wolfram Alpha 😂

[frosty shard]

Also should have mentioned that the mirrors have 96% reflectivity each

so the system transmission is (0.96)^2 = 92.16%

[tight lodge]

yeah well... i assumed ideal mirrors

I don't have an RC and i don't know the dimensions for yours either... si i had to pull numbers out of my .... uuuhm... barlow

[frosty shard]

https://discord.com/channels/794642864218439681/1422789036472533002

Now this. This I'm really proud of. 17.2 hours of integration, all totally worth it

I'll probably process this data over and over again (and add in H-alpha) but this is where I'm feeling I'm using my rig to its full potential

[tight lodge]

I really love how the stars turned out

[frosty shard]

IRG stars never fail to deliver

[tight lodge]

Why you don't invest in a set of gri filters?

[frosty shard]

I'm actually planning on getting Bessel UBVRI filters in the future. I want the overlap for distinct reproduction of spectral colors

[tight lodge]

This is overlap

[frosty shard]

This is 14 hours RGB (for the normies)

[tight lodge]

@frosty shard
I need your aid.
Optically they are identical. Which one should I lock on?

[frosty shard]

If you experience high humidity I would recommend the carbon fiber version

[tight lodge]

High humidity is something that I'm dealing with daily😅

[harsh matrix]

then get the carbon one

theyre not immune to dew as both brandon and I can attest to but it takes much longer for dew to form inside the tube than a typical steel tube scope

[frosty shard]

I've also heard some people report rust on the steel tube versions. Not sure if it's enough to be structurally significant, but I've been told to specifically avoid the steel tubes if you're in a coastal area

[harsh matrix]

oh my wtf

[tight lodge]

Now that explains my mylar foil doesn't it?

[frosty shard]

I forgot you had that

[tight lodge]

I mean... come on... look at it. Almost space ready

[high aspen]

you should get hbeta filter

[oblique sun]

habata filter

[bleak solar]

Look what the cat dragged in

[crisp flower]

It looks so CUTE!

[bleak solar]

Time to upgrade it!

https://tenor.com/view/upgrades-robots-gif-21291099

[tight lodge]

Oh come on!

[quartz meadow]

looks like the 6" am I right?

[bleak solar]

Yes!

[quartz meadow]

watch the clouds roll in

[bleak solar]

Gonna add the OAG and the electronic focuser and then just wait for clouds to go away

[bleak solar]

whats the matter?

[tight lodge]

I want an RC as well

[bleak solar]

Okay how can I attach the ZWO EAF there?

love the black color... but the fingerprints xD

[tight lodge]

You need to get the R&P focuser

[bleak solar]

Damn! But I found a print online, gonna try that first

[bleak solar]

There it is 👀

[fringe delta]

thought that was the inside of your PC for a second lol

[high aspen]

3d printer pc

[bleak solar]

Okay yes I see it now 😅

[high aspen]

wrong cat

[tight lodge]

i had to unpack it in the car... i was too excited

[harsh matrix]

[harsh matrix]

ROKI

[tight lodge]

Samy

Samy yummy

Lots of goodies in one day right?😂

[harsh matrix]

you dont

[bleak solar]

what do I do instead?

[harsh matrix]

get a new focuser

[bleak solar]

hm... well I already have an EAF lying around xD

[tight lodge]

ooooooo... you can't keep the optics clean.

[harsh matrix]

that's not the only factor

that particular focuser is probably the worse one the RC's come with

i dont think it can support imaging payloads

without slipping constantly

[bleak solar]

which one do you recommend?

[harsh matrix]

this one has been really good

a feathertouch is a good pairing but theyre crazy pricy

[bleak solar]

hm... this is okay from the price

goes on my birthday list

[harsh matrix]

Hopefully you can make the stock one work somehow then

That stock one doesnt have a rail on the bottom does it?

I think thats the one that just rubs on a flattened part of the drawtube 💀

That is the same kind on my apertura dob and it slips with just a typical eyepiece in it.

[bleak solar]

Nope

[harsh matrix]

Ah yeah that one is supreme garbage

[bleak solar]

Probably not but since the semester is starting I will only use it once before I can get the new one

[frosty shard]

Seconding this recommendation, I manually focus my RC with this R&P focuser but it's a breeze to work with

[bleak solar]

Ball bearings 🫤

[harsh matrix]

[frosty shard]

The Crayford is excellent for visual observing though, I would keep it around if you plan to do any

[bleak solar]

https://www.astroshop.de/auszuege/ts-optics-okularauszug-monorail-m90x1-2-/p,57454?_gl=1*1hwchz*_up*MQ.._gsMQ..&gclid=Cj0KCQjwovPGBhDxARIsAFhgkwQCFsN3SKDykPDB-LgS-Pq7PgbrzMEiRaRZ7pmHeM62KeIOX03YU6caAm32EALw_wcB

I also found this one

But I believe aside from the knob design they are fairly identical

[frosty shard]

LENSES REEEEEEEEEEEEE
-# can't wait to see the results though

[tight lodge]

Saaame!

I also need one of those

[frosty shard]

Just shoot IR with it

[tight lodge]

i can't put any filters XD

it's a full spectrum DSLR

[distant coyote]

is this the good one?

they make f2 and f2.2

[tight lodge]

Cine lens.

[tight lodge]

T2.2

Which is the f2 lens but with correct transmittance is T2.2

This is the only test that I could run right now 😅

[frosty shard]

Is that at full aperture?

[tight lodge]

Yup. T2.2

[stiff mason]

Yeah u can just wash it with some distilled water then pour some isopropyl alcohol and then do a final rinse of distilled water

The only downside to this method is that it wont get rid of persistent stains and it wont get rid of tree sap

[tight lodge]

I was joking. My flats are almost completely spotless. There's one stray dust mote but other than that... spotless😅

[stiff mason]

I still dont know how you do it

What kind of dark magic do you use

[crisp flower]

I FINALLY got my RC fixed guys!!

quick 1 hour of ngc 1245 i just took in NIR G B

[harsh matrix]

I had to cut out and make a custom little fabric sleeve to keep light from going up and around the drawtube of the focuser

I put electrical tape around everything else

Thats the only way my flats finally worked

[tight lodge]

Dust blower and microfiber cloth. I clean the coma corrector before each imaging session.

[harsh matrix]

When your lock screen looks like a Hubble wallpaper

Ive been using Hubble's M51 photo as a lock screen on my PC and every time I turn on the PC, I stare at it like a dumbass

Can't wrap my head around seeing so many other stars in a galaxy so not close to us

My M33 photo echos that exact same feeling

[ripe crystal]

Wowza

Sharp!

[stiff mason]

Ah

[sonic portal]

if they ever make an RC with this color scheme I'd go crazy

[crisp flower]

Hold that thought

[crisp flower]

Close enough?

[sonic portal]

looks white not beige

[tight lodge]

Cook it in the sun for a while

[tight lodge]

NGC-206 is next, yes?

[crisp flower]

This is what some white paper look next to mine
So its definetely somewhat off-white

[tight lodge]

I mean... in the dark you don't see it😂

[crisp flower]

Fair point

[frosty shard]

ISO palette

[bleak solar]

Well that was to be expected 🥲

[tight lodge]

What have I created?

[bleak solar]

https://tenor.com/view/frankenstein-its-alive-happy-excited-gif-5625959

[frosty shard]

An abomination, because it is not a glorious Ritchey–Chrétien

What are you imaging tonight?

[bleak solar]

Is the gold foil an aesthetic feature or does it do anything?

[high aspen]

i love it.

[tight lodge]

M31 in Hα and heart nebula (I think) with the Samy

2 cameras, one mount

[tight lodge]

I know

[stiff mason]

Whats the gold foil for

[tight lodge]

Protects the steel tube from humidity, and makes the telescope more thermally stable

[stiff mason]

Do you have a fan on the mirror

Nvrm you dont

[tight lodge]

No I dont

[undone sedge]

it’s research time hehehe

[frosty shard]

The content we need in this thread

[frosty shard]

wait this is a Planewave RC right, and not a - and I shudder to utter these words - corrected D*ll-K*rkham

[undone sedge]

it’s a cdk… but it’s close(ish)…!

[frosty shard]

https://tenor.com/view/rare-reeeeee-dank-meme-triggered-gif-24062717

REFRACTION IS CHEATING

just use the right conic constants bro

[oblique sun]

@frosty shard i searched it and found this

[frosty shard]

I mean jokes aside I'm pretty sure the Planewave ones are diffraction limited well into the IR. Not so sure about UV

[harsh matrix]

okay my fellow cult members

I present

RGOiii M33

some of these nebula are unironically only a few pixels in size

[stiff mason]

Why do your stars have diffraction rings

[harsh matrix]

Central obstruction modulation

a byproduct of having a large central obstruction

[stiff mason]

Damn

[harsh matrix]

it was much more exaggerated on the night i shot my broadband because i had to put a dew heater around the secondary mirror

it's normally not that bad

[stiff mason]

Around the secondary? How does that work

[harsh matrix]

well the secondary mirror is parallel to the primary mirror and it has a giant dew shield around it

unfortunately that location gets so humid that the dew shield might as well not be there

I took my dew heater and wrapped it around that dew shield to get rid of the dew

NGC 604 picture

RGO

[stiff mason]

What would happen if you warmed your secondary directly with a heating strip directly behind it

[stiff mason]

One of the sharpest ngc 604 ive seen

[harsh matrix]

hopefully a better result than what i saw but i dont know for sure

i dont really know what the best way to approach dew is with these scopes

it's a giant headache

[stiff mason]

What scope is it anyway

[harsh matrix]

TPO carbon tube RC8

[harsh matrix]

Same

[high aspen]

ourple :3

[tight lodge]

Not too bad for a 230 Euro lens 😂

[frosty shard]

Pain™

It turns out the screw holes in the filter wheel were not the issue

Which is weird, because when I reshot my IC 10 IR data the flats corrected fine

[frosty shard]

Alright I think I need to go light leak hunting

I don't think my flats are bad because the big dust motes in the corner correct completely. Also, I took the IC 10 data when the moon phase was more favorable

[undone sedge]

i’ll bet you could modify your RC to have heaters behind the mirrors, that’s what we have on the cdks

not sure what that’d entail though tbh

but it’s probably the best solution

get a sensor to monitor temperature + dew point and some kind of dew heater controller

boom no more dew

[stiff mason]

how many times have you done that target

[tight lodge]

I just keep getting more and more data

[tight lodge]

[alpine flame]

holy shit, give me ur setup pls

and bortle

and elevation above sea lvl

that is CRAZY

[high aspen]

it looks like a cat :3

[blissful marlin]

I dont think you want Vels bortle

[harsh matrix]

8/9

[harsh matrix]

RC8, Starizona Apex-L, mono 571.

[harsh matrix]

182m

[alpine flame]

bro were like

almost the same

[alpine flame]

whats ur pixel scale

[harsh matrix]

0.72"/px

[alpine flame]

Hell yeah

What filters do u use

[harsh matrix]

The svbony sv227 set

Theyre not that great

[alpine flame]

Crazy

This looks so good

[high aspen]

svbony salmon very 227

[scenic mist]

what on earth

[harsh matrix]

it's not on earth

[bleak solar]

God this focuser is trash

[high aspen]

spooky focuser

show me the whole scpe

svopose

scope

i just wans see it

not to do with the focuser

[bleak solar]

I still cannot attach the camera, because the adapter ring for the 2 inch and OAG is lying in the post office which is closed today but tomorrow I will get it 😅

[high aspen]

buh

[bleak solar]

yeah, I was not home when the post guy was here xD

just imagine an OAG, filterwheel and the 585 from touptek at the end of it xD

[high aspen]

extension toob go brrr

[bleak solar]

boi is loooooong

[high aspen]

i forsee no issues

especially not with focuser tilt

[bleak solar]

this is why I am getting a new one xD

but I just wanted to connect everything to see how it will look

[high aspen]

based??!

[high aspen]

yes, good idea

[bleak solar]

https://www.astroshop.de/auszuege/ts-optics-okularauszug-monorail-m90x1-2-/p,57454?_gl=1*1t5jgx7*_up*MQ..&gclid=Cj0KCQjw8cHABhC-ARIsAJnY12yjHHoHo0fbi4II0NFPOvn3THEzoYyAYXa97GMsxQOmsULjvzTKfMsaAmsgEALw_wcB

This one

[tight lodge]

Holy spiral! Did match my data to Spitzer?

I referring specifically to the core

You big RC fellas gotta take a look deep into the andromeda core

[tight lodge]

That's a crayford sir😅

[bleak solar]

Not exactly because it also features this metal plate which keeps the focuser stable (up to 4kg of payload)

[high aspen]

huh, you could put a refractor in your focuser then

[bleak solar]

now dont give me ideas xD

[high aspen]

xD

[harsh matrix]

that one is also garbo

[high aspen]

would a rack and peanuts work better?

[harsh matrix]

Yes

[high aspen]

i have a rack and some peanuts in my garage so im all set!

[quartz meadow]

this is peak

[bleak solar]

any specific reccomendations for a rack and onion?

ah damn they have a R&P which is available after the first of december 🙁

[tight lodge]

@frosty shard Opinion on my L,Hα,IR,G,B palette? 😂

[harsh matrix]

literally anything other than the crayford GSO ones

feathertouch, even a moonlight would be better

thats if you cant get something else

i dont know if they intend to make the "carbonstar" R&P focuser available elsewhere but if they do, that's a definite must have

[bleak solar]

https://www.astroshop.de/auszuege/ts-optics-okularauszug-r-p-rc-2-/p,85521?_gl=1*iz6t5i*_up*MQ..&gclid=Cj0KCQjw8cHABhC-ARIsAJnY12yjHHoHo0fbi4II0NFPOvn3THEzoYyAYXa97GMsxQOmsULjvzTKfMsaAmsgEALw_wcB

Then I shall get this one. It will still take a few months to get here but thats fine then

[harsh matrix]

Yeah id at the very least place an order and then you know you have one on the way

That way you've got your peace of mind

Rushing to get any if the others that are available will just lead you to more disappointment.

[bleak solar]

true... and I can always just use my ZS61 in the meantime... which is sad but anyway

[harsh matrix]

Yeah unfortunately that is probably true, however you probably dont want to use it with an inadequate focuser anyway because getting it to work with the scope can be a nightmare

The linear rail crayford you linked above is identical to what my RC8 came with

[bleak solar]

oh dear

[harsh matrix]

That thing was slipping with half the weight it is rated for and the reason is because tensioning it actually had a worse impact on the weight capacity for some reason

Not to mention

It had quite a bit of flex in the drawtube, making accurate collimation impossible.

Thats still ignoring however the hell you're supposed to mount an EAF to it, which didnt work all that well im going to be honest

[bleak solar]

I already tested it with the 3D printed version and the EAF worked just fine so I suppose it will also work on the other focuser

[harsh matrix]

i think even if you can get that to work, you will run into what i saw where the focus position shifted quite a bit throughout the night and it made my filter offsets useless

if you have a simple OSC cam rn, you can maybe make it work if youre lucky but dont expect to reach tack sharp focus with it

[bleak solar]

Why shouldn’t the EAF work on this? It worked on all the other scopes I had previously too

[bleak solar]

oh you mean on the other focuser? Yes that is true, it would slip. But I dont think I will have this problem on a sturdy rack and pinion (I may even get a tilt plate just to be safe) and maybe I wont use filter offsets because i dont think they save that much time

[harsh matrix]

not that it shouldnt

that it is a nightmare to mount securely on those

[bleak solar]

aaaah! So that is what you meant 😅 sorry, was a bit lost there

[harsh matrix]

i mean on the stock focuser the RC came with yes

and even on the linear rail one you shared

[bleak solar]

yeah... no. I will order the rack and pinion one! This seems like the beast option for me at the moment

because the focuser it came with is the reason why the scope was so cheap 😂

Thanks for the help 😅

[harsh matrix]

yeah this looks almost the same as what @frosty shard and I got

it might be a slight downgrade because the compression ring bit looks like it may not come off?

dont quote me on that until you get it in your hands

[bleak solar]

which part is the compression ring? The silver one connecting it to the telescope?

[harsh matrix]

no

so you know the part at the end of the drawtube, where you have to lock down those thumb screws to hold the camera securely?

that's the compression ring

[bleak solar]

ah!

[harsh matrix]

compression rings on an RC are a bit of a headache and you want to avoid using them if possible because they will introduce tilt and collimation error that varies every time you take the camera off and put it back on 💀

however, if the compression ring doesnt come off

no worries

there are M48 threads here

[bleak solar]

I think you can directly screw the camera on there

[harsh matrix]

you can thread your camera straight onto the back

[bleak solar]

yes I just saw that too

[harsh matrix]

[bleak solar]

alrighty, let me just make a purchase xD

[harsh matrix]

idk what the thumb screw is doing there at the bottom of the focuser

mine doesnt have that

doesnt need it either

[bleak solar]

well guess I will find out in december

LETS GOOO

one step further away from becoming financial responsible

[harsh matrix]

heck yeah

[tight lodge]

Just make sure to poke them with a stick every now and then.

[tight lodge]

There's no such thing as financially responsible in this hobby

[quartz meadow]

red

[frosty shard]

bro has beef with his red filter

Also guys my scope wagon broke down after an outreach event...

Big oof

Unfortunately the manufacturer does not provide replacement wheels, so I have to buy a new one...

Well, not from them. I decided to order one from a company that provides spare wheels and far better support

[frosty shard]

https://aas.aanda.org/articles/aas/pdf/2000/10/h1962.pdf

[frosty shard]

This paper has information about how the aberration coefficients of an RC depend on the state of mirror misalignment. I'll give this a read later to see how this might assist with collimation

[tight lodge]

It's IR data🫠

[tight lodge]

I'd say, that's pretty good for a stick SW focuser😂

[frosty shard]

Okay I gotta ask what does the ASTAP tilt percentage mean?

I'd think of tilt units as being in degrees or subdivisions thereof

Is it just spread of the HFR values?

[tight lodge]

Is the average of the HFD value.

[harsh matrix]

HEY GUYS GUESS WHAT

I GOT

ANOTHER

BAD

AM5N

west side of the pier and a 2 minute sub

east side of the pier and another 2 minute sub (still bad guiding tbh but the sub isnt trailed)

i literally cannot even do 3 second exposures without trailed stars on the west side of the pier

it is impossible

i basically disabled input from PHD2 here to see the motion of the stars and uh

this is indistinguishable from 0.5s exposures and trying my best to mellow out the spikes

input actually doesnt work

it does nothing

the best it can do is bring the spikes closer to the 0 point and that is it, it does not reduce the magnitude or frequency of the spikes

no amount of changing my guide rate, changing min mo's, aggression, max pulse length, or RA correction algorithms has any impact on reducing the magnitude of these spikes

it is completely screwed

[tight lodge]

Get the WAVE150i

You have 2 pioneers that use it.

[harsh matrix]

i want a proxisky ngl

a ragdoll 20 pro

[tight lodge]

Isn't the proxisky the one that doesn't offer any technical support after the sale?

[harsh matrix]

no

they actually will talk one on one with you if you have any issues

[tight lodge]

Then who was it?

[sonic portal]

Juwei

Cheaper than proxisky, but idek who the owner is

[tight lodge]

@frosty shard I got enough lasers to transform my telescope into an EDM party

[frosty shard]

30-50 mW? Are you making a weapon?

[tight lodge]

Death ray

[frosty shard]

Tbh I think the Proxisky will be a better value for you, but if you are considering the Wave 150i, I have had zero issues with the saddle coming loose since I replaced the Dec bolts with M6x12s from the hardware store.

The issue was only the stock hand bolts, they're garbage. There's also a chance they may be different now because I know Sky-Watcher has revised the design a bit since I bought it

[tight lodge]

so far mine are solid

[frosty shard]

So actually I ended up discovering that I may have gotten a mount that was not intended to be sold to the public

Some pre-production Wave mounts were accidentally released that have a black base, and I have one of those

[tight lodge]

You mean the rotary plate?

[harsh matrix]

I might grab a wave specifically because I have an EQ6R tripod made for it

[frosty shard]

Yup. Mine's black

[harsh matrix]

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1TmXx4YBHoN9sFRXl5urfzwn6UBH40uTx?usp=drive_link

this is what my AM5N is doing

still going at it

[tight lodge]

Did you show this to ZWO?

[harsh matrix]

Yes

Just recorded and sent them videos of it happening in real time

[harsh matrix]

I apologize, I felt the need to image dump to glaze the RC some more

I dont need to speak for it

it can speak for itself

[tight lodge]

Isn't the M33 shot with the Quattro?

[harsh matrix]

no

[tight lodge]

Well in that case, here are some from my 130PDS

[harsh matrix]

THE SOYJACK

[tight lodge]

That's a scientifically approved annotation

[tight lodge]

This is worse than the first one 😭

[tight lodge]

Did you try to contact SkyWatcher and tell them that you got a pre-production model?

[harsh matrix]

uh wtf

oopsies

lol

that may explain a lot of your troubles

[tight lodge]

@harsh matrix I got the chance to test the pier extension from aliexpress. The guiding went from 0.8 to 1" in gusts to max 0.7 and an average of 0.3" / 0.4"RMS

Extremely cursed... but practical

[harsh matrix]

ez

[harsh matrix]

okay those ones are sketchy

[tight lodge]

Wdym?

[harsh matrix]

3 rods

those are typically less stable than a fully enclosed pier

[tight lodge]

There are 4 rods. 1 inch thick each

[tight lodge]

Oh I forgot the honse

[crisp flower]

HONSE

[tight lodge]

HONSE!

[harsh matrix]

tasty

[tight lodge]

Tbh, it could have been a lot better

The seeing that night was hot garbage

4"💀

[harsh matrix]

i can tell

[frosty shard]

Nope. It works fine and I just find it funny I got one

[frosty shard]

Finally got around to processing my outreach photos

[ripe crystal]

scary stuff

women

very spooky

[frosty shard]

Skill issue. Don't get a Ritchey–Chrétien

[ripe crystal]

guess I'll stick with the sct

oh well

[scenic mist]

pass it to me then

[harsh matrix]

@frosty shard first broadband M42 of the season

beat you

😩

[frosty shard]

Does IR/S/O count as broadband for this purpose

[tight lodge]

Why are you sending jpeg?

[harsh matrix]

https://app.astrobin.com/u/Wolfgang-Promper?i=vdujpa#gallery

[harsh matrix]

nope

[frosty shard]

I'm on my phone rn

[harsh matrix]

get off your phone bruh

there are other humans here

:clueless:

[frosty shard]

full quality: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:M42_(infrared,_S-II,_O-III).jpg

[tight lodge]

Well... that's why I want ugriz

[frosty shard]

My god the resolution

Oh it's literally over half the diameter of the HST

That explains a lot

[harsh matrix]

fr

I WANT MOAR

DAYTAR

[tight lodge]

Can I give you a challenge?

Resolve that protoplanetary disc

[harsh matrix]

I already plan to try some lucky imaging to get a cleaner image of it

it's already there but it looks like a tiny black dot, not a disc

[high aspen]

pretyy :3

[high aspen]

they got protoplanetary disk

[frosty shard]

I'm definitely getting a full ISHO mosaic of the nebula (2×2)

[high aspen]

yaa

i may try lucky image with a 2x barlow

[tall summit]

Hi there! I am currently guiding my RC6 with 30mm f4 guide scope and asi120mm cam. Do I need an off-axis guider in my life?

[frosty shard]

Are you running into any issues at the moment?

[high aspen]

o ly if isyes

[frosty shard]

If you get an OAG the issue you're gonna face first is that you're probably gonna want a better guide cam than the ASI120MM

[tall summit]

not really, other than my scope position is not adjustible and its a slighly different view with the main tube

[tall summit]

ugh, nope, dont want to invest in another cam at the moment

maybe I should get a bit bigger guide scope

[frosty shard]

If you're not seeing any differential flexure issues (great guiding but stars are still trailed) then a guide cam is fine for you

[frosty shard]

That may be the better play

[harsh matrix]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/975845011260309587/1427115454794698772/M45_firstofseason.png?ex=68edb056&is=68ec5ed6&hm=411e7c89693b0608063fc2c9478bdda3d4ccff45cd3652fcfeff762ca6b74634&

boys, Pleiades?

[frosty shard]

Pleiades nuts lmao

I think I'd have to hit up the Pleiades in 12 panels with my setup

[tight lodge]

This is bugging me

[harsh matrix]

what is?

[tight lodge]

The flares.

[harsh matrix]

goes to show how much i care about the flares

[tight lodge]

Well... your mirror edges might benefit of some masking or some black paint😂

[harsh matrix]

or i could just not

[tight lodge]

But... but... but... what about perfection?

[harsh matrix]

nothing is perfect

[crisp flower]

Beat u to it
Though mine has some microlensing

[tight lodge]

Imma be very late for the party

[frosty shard]

What camera are you using? And are you shooting IR?

[crisp flower]

Omegon 533m
I did not shoot nir for this one, but tried taking luminance
Was a bad choice to do so wout a uv/ir block in my filterwheel

[harsh matrix]

I think ive used my 571 for most of the year

[frosty shard]

Ah makes sense

[crisp flower]

Yeaa
I have one installed now, but i need to get at it again, as there are a few tiny dust spots on it

[tight lodge]

🤫

[crisp flower]

Ive managed to get everything except the lum dust_free, ill do the lum too!

[frosty shard]

I think I finally managed to get the HaIRG IC 10 image to a state I'm happy with

At least in terms of noise

The more I look at it the more I feel the need to go back and reprocess

[tight lodge]

I would add some normal LRGB data to it and fix the green Hα😅

[frosty shard]

https://tenor.com/view/benjammins-no-nope-not-doing-it-never-gif-16758419287806165606

[quartz meadow]

but.. but green!

[frosty shard]

The Ha is supposed to be green lol

I mean that's what it naturally looks like in an IRG image

Though it's more of a mint green, which I take to be the result of O-III in the blue channel. So I might have to go back and get O-III on this one

That'll be arduous with the dust extinction, but it just might be worth it

[tight lodge]

In SDSS/SLOAN, the Ha appears green because it lands almost dead center in the g' filter. In your case, the Hα is isolated between the R and IR pass filter. So technically you have the freedom to make the Hα any color. If I was you, I would separate the Ha and asign it to blue.

[frosty shard]

It's definitely in the R filter, it cuts off at 700 nm and the IR filter has negligible transmission at 656 nm. However, I am also wondering if I'm getting a weak Paschen-∞ contribution, which would be in the IR range (about 820 nm IIRC)

I did experiment with Euclid palette but it's bicolor

I could also try doing what I did with my Orion Nebula image and go for IR/S/H

[tight lodge]

Ngl, this looks more pleasant.

Buuut... one thing you have to agree with me. The data does need luminance😅

[frosty shard]

Nah. Luminance is for people who have lives. I don't

In all seriousness I'd probably add luminance if I had a suitable longpass filter, but since I don't and I want to make comparisons between IRG and RGB images, I just don't use luminance

I've even considered going UBVRISHO in a filter wheel and foregoing luminance entirely

[tight lodge]

There's a good reason why Luminance filters cut UV and IR. You can't focus both in the same point. Plus, in my m31 project I'm glad that I shot luminance because it really brought back some contrast. The IR already makes the dust fainter... having the Luminance helps the data separate from the background better.

[frosty shard]

Well maybe you can't focus UV and IR to the same point, but I can

In my proposed setup I wouldn't have a filterless slot though.

I have considered experimenting with one...

[tight lodge]

Bruv, imo I think you should really cut down your bandpasses😂

[tight lodge]

Aren't we both using reflectors?

[frosty shard]

Yeah, so no chromatic aberration. Assuming there's no other glass in the way, though

Your coma corrector, however, may not be so happy in the UV...

[tight lodge]

[frosty shard]

You'll always get better bandpass control with RGB or IRG only (at the cost of integration time)

Also, after looking into how to linearly combine LRGB data, I found this hilarious thread
https://app.astrobin.com/forum/topic/119761/luminance-subframes-degrade-color-images-resolution-a-demo-and-explanation-of-why

[tight lodge]

@short garnet
https://app.astrobin.com/forum/topic/119761/luminance-subframes-degrade-color-images-resolution-a-demo-and-explanation-of-why?page=1#post-161637

Is this you schooling that dood?

[short garnet]

Lol, I'm not great at schooling folks, but Alex is a tough cookie. Hell stand strong on that mountain. There are people that believe him, which scares me a bit.

[tight lodge]

Naaah. The moment I saw TopazAI I knew the truth. Seeing you there just confirmed my skepticism

[harsh matrix]

Whooptie pointed out all of the things that came to mind when I read the title of his page

honestly

he's one to talk

💀

he of all people complaining about it

all he does is waste his time and money on his equipment that he ends up butchering the data from any way.

me when the sub frame looks blurX'd

more like deconvolved

blurx has a certain look to it

[frosty shard]

You can combine luminance linearly if you do it in a linear color space like CIE XYZ or xyY, but it seems like this is not a straightforward process in most software

[high aspen]

:(

[tight lodge]

I read that thing twice and still doesn't make sense to me.
I understand being innovative and coming up with new more efficient ways of doing a task, but this, this is like one thing that should be kept hidden from beginners. Next are we gonna find someone saying that TEC is a gimmick and has no impact on dark current? 😂

[frosty shard]

TEC is a gimmick and has no impact on dark current 😂

I don't actually believe it. But you found someone who said it!

[tight lodge]

Ain't no way

Actually I remember someone having a very strong opinion somewhere in #🔨-do-it-yourself

Let me find it real quick

[pine path]

this guy has never heard of thermodynamics

[frosty shard]

Of course I have. Thermodynamics class is that once class that kills chemistry students

[high aspen]

yea 😭

[alpine flame]

FINALLY SOMEONE