Ritchey–Chrétien enjoyers thread

[harsh matrix]

@frosty shard I THINK I DID IT

15 minutes of exposure with flats

normally something sticks out already

nothing exceptionally abnormal here

hell

imma dump the whole night into this sucker

why not

[frosty shard]

Oh nice with the new baffle?

What's the target?

[harsh matrix]

i did away with a baffle extension

[frosty shard]

It's one of the Camelopardalis galaxies right

[harsh matrix]

instead i opted to do an internal light cut off ring

i double baffled that too

it sits inside of the decoupler and about 75 mm in front of the drawtube of the focuser/in front of one of the other internal baffle rings i made to stop light leaks from the focuser

[harsh matrix]

yes

NGC 2146

[harsh matrix]

this is what i designed

this side faces the secondary mirror and away from the camera

this side faces the camera

it is friction fit, a very, very tight fit, and it was designed in such a way that it only ever covers up the inside of the baffle tube extension and prevents the light from the sky from reaching the camera directly

in theory, and by looking by eye, it appears to work

according to a real test, it appears to work in reality as well.

i painted it matte black without missing any spots so any light that reaches it from the secondary is immediately absorbed

whatever sky glow from around the secondary hits it gets absorbed also

none of that seems to make it to the camera

the ring the camera can see through essentially has a built in knife edge baffle to reduce as much surface area visible to the camera as possible to prevent the build up of a light ring that could potentially interfere with calibration

that appears to be working as well.

the walls were all printed with a very rough texture to further increase light absorption

oh, the aperture for the camera is 30.5 mm in diameter

with where the cut off ring is fit, the angular size of the aperture is such that it completely obscurs any vision of the baffle tube extension from the camera, and only allows light from the secondary mirror to reach the camera

there seems to be some sort of reflection in the flats after a DBE but nothing residual remains in the light frames just yet, i need to do some long integration testing now

that reflection is likely what i observed before, and may be unfixable

since cutting down the size of the aperture on this ring will cut out view of the secondary and primary mirror, subsequently

[high aspen]

ill do when get hom

[desert locust]

dusty hand my beloved

[vapid patio]

@harsh matrix Would your focuser work on my rc?

Are they all kinda the same?

[harsh matrix]

The ones made for all of the closed tube RC's work for whatever aperture you have except the 10"

[vapid patio]

Perfect thanks

[vapid patio]

Could my horrible focuser mess up my collimation? Make it look different at different angles?

[harsh matrix]

Yes

But normally only if you are using the compression rings to secure the camera in place

[vapid patio]

Do you do it a different way?

[harsh matrix]

I got a baader click lock to replace the stock compression ring on the focuser i bought

It returns the camera to the exact same place every time, and does not interfere with collimation.

Preferably i would thread the camera directly onto the drawtube but I dont have a converter that would let me do that.

[vapid patio]

Fancy wow but like 100-150 dollars

[vapid patio]

Surprised it’s not a thing

[harsh matrix]

It is a thing

[vapid patio]

Oh

[harsh matrix]

Theyre just all out of stock on Agena

[vapid patio]

What’s it called

[harsh matrix]

I didnt have a choice if I wanted to keep using my reducer.

The decoupler consumes too much back focus and id never get the camera to reach focus if I continued to thread the reducer directly onto the drawtube.

[vapid patio]

I see

[harsh matrix]

M56 x 0.75 female to M48 x 0.75 male adapter.

[vapid patio]

https://agenaastro.com/blue-fireball-m56x75-female-m48x0-75-female-thread-adapter-m-41.html

Seems to be in stock

Might look into it maybe it will work for me

[harsh matrix]

that is M48 female

needs to be male unless you are willing to use that adapter as some kind of coupler where you thread the reducer all the way through it and thread the camera onto the back of the reducer

[vapid patio]

I give up

There’s like a million of them barely differnt

[vapid patio]

I see

[harsh matrix]

well @frosty shard 3 hours of lum later and no dust motes

i think its safe to say that i have fixed it

the bg is a little weird but we had >50% moon and the neighbor's porchlights were shining down my OTA at an awkward angle

RGB looks good

[vapid patio]

ok boom ordered

why is astro so much money

[harsh matrix]

because there are always problems with gear

and those problems demand more spending

[tight lodge]

Because it has Astro in its name😂

[harsh matrix]

true

the astro tax is a real thing

[frosty shard]

I have been very spotty about checking up here but once I return to Madison I'd like to have a closer look at how you fixed this

[harsh matrix]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/975845011260309587/1456009547897638912/image.png?ex=6956ce0f&is=69557c8f&hm=338f354221c4c5528dc1260c8922f78687c4c117b420502cc85169bfe164a41f&

A more aggressive DBE

[high aspen]

star

[tight lodge]

I know it's too early for most of you fellas. but
Happy New Year and clear skies!!

[crisp flower]

Happy new Year and clear skies!

[high aspen]

hapy new yerr

[harsh matrix]

That gives me an excuse to take off the imaging train one more time to photograph and document what I did behind the primary mirror and in front of the camera

[tall summit]

Happy New Year all!

[stiff mason]

Tbh i think it would be better if the new year started at a certain location in earth orbit and not exactly at 0000 like that everyone can celebrate it at the same time

[frosty shard]

A ton of RC users out there will appreciate that

I was gonna follow up with "not me "

But then I realized that this will certainly help people join the cult

and/or not ragequit with a used RC

[high aspen]

@tight lodge ive been looking into the 130 pds

does seem like a good next step tbh

would bring me within my mounts payload capacity

[frosty shard]

@harsh matrix should we write an unofficial owner's handbook for GSO RCs?

Nothing formal, just a Google doc filled with tips, fixes, etc. for issues we've come across and background information about these scopes

[high aspen]

ya

[tight lodge]

It's a good telescope.
Ok... it has good mirrors😂

[digital nexus]

Only if you tell me how to collimate

[high aspen]

[vapid patio]

The sharpcap way is holy

[digital nexus]

whats the sharpcap way

[vapid patio]

Veloren is the goat at collimation

[vapid patio]

It’s like Nina but with other tools it’s amazing for collocation

[digital nexus]

i know what sharpcap is idk how it helps collimation though

[vapid patio]

@harsh matrix I need reinforcements

[digital nexus]

How many of you guys use an OAG

is this too much vignetting for my guide cam with OAG?

[harsh matrix]

helps give you live feedback of adjustments you make during star collimation

idk how many times weve been through this but ive already said this multiple times

[harsh matrix]

no

[digital nexus]

i forget most of it cause i still havent used it

unfortunately

[vapid patio]

If you want to look up in chats between me and veloren, awhile ago he walked me through how to use sharp cap

[digital nexus]

is it for the DSI method

[vapid patio]

No, sharpcap

I found it quite easy

Once he walked me through it

[digital nexus]

Are you using the free sharpcap or pro

[vapid patio]

Free

Didn’t even know there was a pro

[digital nexus]

I only know about it cause Mazzif gave me his old mini pc, and he had Pro. It’s expired now so I keep getting “Your Pro License is Expired, Please Renew”

[vapid patio]

I see

Why are you a rc hater 😢

[digital nexus]

I said I’d have that as my name til I use it

I’ve had it 2.5 months, and haven’t used it

[harsh matrix]

I just realized I forgot to respond to this, maybe?

I dont have a lot of time to dedicate to something like that atm.

I think something like that has the potential to be very useful and I think it has the potential to draw the ire of people who dont want anyone buying these scopes because they had a bad experience with one.

[high aspen]

https://youtu.be/Kw7EVt1zAVs

opa!

(he got nowher near enough int)

[crisp flower]

His guiding was fluctuating quite a Bit as Well O.o

[high aspen]

looks like my graphs lol

and im on my mounts payload capacity

he must have said no to polar alignment

[crisp flower]

Oh daaaamn
Im having enough payload capacity left to theoretically Being able to have my Setup in the scope twice xd

[crisp flower]

Maybe
But going from 0.9 to 0.4 in the Same exposure is pretty crazy

[frosty shard]

To be clear it's not something formal, just a place to compile all the things we learn about setting up our RCs

At the very least it would be useful for us to refer back to

[tight lodge]

@harsh matrix I think MAS might be my new standard
Too bad they don't support unlinked stretch yet

[digital nexus]

Think il need more spacers…?

[harsh matrix]

add in the other 25 mm tube for the rear of your RC

it should have come with 2 25 mm spacers and a 50 mm spacer

@frosty shard heart neb core, raw

2.32" FWHM

5 min subs

this is with noisex and blurx

need more daytar

[harsh matrix]

yup

it's very very good

[digital nexus]

oh i didnt know i needed all 3

[harsh matrix]

you shouldnt

[digital nexus]

oh

[harsh matrix]

that's only if you cant reach focus where it's at

[digital nexus]

k il have to check it in daylight this week

[harsh matrix]

camera back focus w/ spacers doesnt matter as long as you can put the camera on the focuser

[digital nexus]

I thought i lost the m63 adapter i needed

but it was on the scope the entire time 🙁

[harsh matrix]

oh wait

you meant spacers for the OAG and filter drawer didnt you

[digital nexus]

yea

[harsh matrix]

gotcha

i didnt catch that right away

💀

[digital nexus]

oh

[high aspen]

what mas?

[harsh matrix]

you definitely could get spacers for that

[high aspen]

massgrave?

[harsh matrix]

it might be harder to reach focus with the OAG though

[high aspen]

that website

[digital nexus]

so think im good now? i guess il just have to see huh

ohh wait. the OAG will change focus when i swap scopes 🙁

that will be annoying

[high aspen]

[digital nexus]

soo i guess i should just buy a 2nd oag

problem solved

[harsh matrix]

yes

[harsh matrix]

yes

[harsh matrix]

i mean

hey

[tight lodge]

MultiscaleAdaptiveStretch

[harsh matrix]

that's what I did

[digital nexus]

well focusing the oag wasnt that hard

guess il deal with it

although i prob will get another OAG, camera, filter drawer, and filter eventually

and then another mount 👀 dual rig time

Right now im trying to figure out how I can easily move my mini pc and imaging train from my Askar to RC6. So far i think im going to try and keep all the cables stationary, so theyll stay with the scope. Then I just unplug everything and can quickly replug on the new scope

[harsh matrix]

heheh

now were talking

[digital nexus]

im getting a shorter ethernet cable and i did clean it up slightly. but my cable managment looks like this for the most part

hopefully i cna just easily slide out my minipc stack

gonna need to buy an EAF for the RC6 soon

[high aspen]

aisee

[vapid patio]

Rc6 where

[digital nexus]

where what

[high aspen]

did you eat it

[digital nexus]

yep

crunchy mirror

[high aspen]

ir cut filter was crunchy

[tight lodge]

@frosty shard you like to get uncomfortably close to the targets that you image. How comes you haven't had a crack at NGC604?

[oblique sun]

thats the bright nebula in triangulum right

i would like to see an up close of that

[tight lodge]

Yep

[tight lodge]

This is the best I got so far😅

[oblique sun]

you don't want to see mine

it's lacking integration, shot in full moon, my collimation slipped while shooting, and it was shot on a heritage 150p

take one look at it and you'll understand why imaging with that scope is hell

[tight lodge]

Mine lacks integration as well. It's a single sub

[oblique sun]

still better than what i got

[tight lodge]

How much you got?

[oblique sun]

oh, and i processed it at 5 am with my monitor in hdr mode

[oblique sun]

i meant the snr

i think mine was 1.5h

[tight lodge]

Mine is 23min. Single 1400s exposure

[oblique sun]

how tf

i threw away half the subs that night bc of ass guiding

[tight lodge]

Good guiding. The true power of OAG

[oblique sun]

i need one

so bad

[tight lodge]

Worth every penny

[oblique sun]

but i need other things so much more

i need a new camera, new mount, filters, focuser, ànd spider

and a oag on top all that

[tight lodge]

Ah... better OTA😂

[oblique sun]

i still have used my current ota a total of twice

and ive had it for 6 months

it's unbelievable how bad my clouds are

[tight lodge]

Bruh... in 2025 I think I got a max of 50h of imaging. Total... the whole damn year💀

[oblique sun]

you think that's bad?

i think I got under 20

[tight lodge]

Damn...💀

[oblique sun]

i will be honest there was 2 or 3 clear nights i didn't use

but for those i was either sick as hell and had no energy or it was like -20°

[tight lodge]

I'm locked to weekends only. So I miss most of the clear days during the week

[silver ibex]

Same

[frosty shard]

I have a single sub of the Triangulum core in H-alpha somewhere

[quartz meadow]

leave some for the rest of us

[stiff mason]

I never pass a clear night unless i am running on like 2hrs of sleep because i simply cannot afford to lose my precious clear skies especially during the winter months summer is a bit more forgiving as i have a lot more clear skies

[oblique sun]

i haven't had a winter clear sky yet

[tall summit]

December (and Jan so far) has been the worst

[oblique sun]

yep

[tulip iris]

Does anybody have idea if its too much to be this out w the spacers of the camera?

[oblique sun]

if that's the correct amount you're fine

[tulip iris]

Yeah it is, just makes me worry about the flexture

[digital nexus]

hey uhhh whats goin on buddy?

[tulip iris]

How can i explain

Best cable management ever seen

Its just the dew heater cable that is so long my first idea when i got it was to wrap it up around the spacer but since well gravity exists i decided to block it w a bit of tape

[oblique sun]

[digital nexus]

what dew heater do you guys use for ur RC

@tulip iris

[frosty shard]

I need to continue working on that again

how much integration?

[harsh matrix]

2hrs 55 mins

[vapid patio]

let’s gooo

There’s threads

Yippee

But I guess I’ll use the clamp

@harsh matrix Is it normal that I can feel every groove on the rack

Or does a screw need to be tightened or loosened?

[harsh matrix]

that's how mine is

i dont know if it's good or bad

[vapid patio]

If you can get good focus it’s normal then

Also

Is this little bit of play normal

[harsh matrix]

yes

[vapid patio]

Got you

Thanks

[digital nexus]

looks goofy

[high aspen]

someone should hyperstar a classic cassegrain

just bc

also, a doublet lens can correct an rcts field curvature

you can combine a doublet with a miniscus for better effectiveness

[frosty shard]

That's normal (and it's why I keep a Crayford for visual)

The Crayford is smoother/more precise for manual focus

[frosty shard]

Use it as a prime focus f/3 or so Newt?

I guess you would need a coma corrector

[high aspen]

ya

[high aspen]

also, you could use any noot with a regular coma corrector and replacing the secondary to make it "look like a rasa"

but you would need f4 or f3 mirrrorrs

[high aspen]

have you thought about NGC 1569

[frosty shard]

I have but it's smaller than IC 10

[high aspen]

[tall summit]

I didn't have a need for an ota dew heater. Just have one on my guide scope

[frosty shard]

Mine does not need one

[tulip iris]

Its not for my rc its for the guidescope on it

[tulip iris]

How do u balance out all that weight just on a side?

[digital nexus]

Wing it

[tulip iris]

Wdym

Believe me if i say that even a small thing as a finder shoe gives many many issues to me to balance out dec ord in 3rd axis, how the hell do u balance all that lmao

[digital nexus]

I’m not

It’s a harmonic so like I dont need perfect balanced

[vapid patio]

I see

[vapid patio]

Same

A few shield works great

[versed roost]

you dont want perfect balance otherwise you get wobbly backlash

[vapid patio]

I picked up a celestron one from Amazon for like 20-30 bucks, cut my own hole for the top rail and stitched it together works great and a lot less expensive than aatrozap

[versed roost]

the gears are not zero tolerance so there is some wiggle. if the balance is slightly off then they are at least always engaged

[vapid patio]

https://tenor.com/view/why-is-he-gif-3749724709641675358

[tulip iris]

Ah okay i thought u had a worm gear mount

[tulip iris]

Yep it should be a bit east heavy

[tulip iris]

Does the thing work the same in dec too?

[high aspen]

@frosty shard almost made the corrector for f4 noots

[frosty shard]

That spot size though, oof

[high aspen]

it oerforms okay now, ive changed it a bit

it doesnt work for f5 noots tho

it makes them f7

[high aspen]

i made it betterer

[high aspen]

also, i said its a coma coreector, never said it makes it flat field too

[vapid patio]

@frosty shard it’s weird like I will go in cloudynights and somehow find your post about somthing rc then I go on astrobin look at cool photos and find your photos like man your everywhere

[frosty shard]

... hopefully you only find one photo of mine on Astrobin

[vapid patio]

Why haha

[frosty shard]

I've only ever uploaded one photo there

[frosty shard]

New OAG acquired and installed. Weather looks like it got worse for tomorrow but I may pull the rig out to find the new focus point if it's not totally overcast

[vapid patio]

Yeah it’s that mosaic

[vapid patio]

What was wrong with the previous one

[frosty shard]

I had the Askar one, but it's inferior to a bolt-on one in terms of design, setup, and positioning of the camera with my filter wheel

Also one of the screws that holds the prism in place is gone

Also that prism is too small for my sensor

[frosty shard]

Looks like I'm actually gonna get a chance to shoot tonight, but I will be battling the wind

[vapid patio]

Atleast it’s not a zwo one

Trust me it’s a pain

[vapid patio]

Oh ok so it just got sketchy

[frosty shard]

Yeah I don't think it's a bad OAG overall but mine is not trusted since I can't find the screw for the prism and it moves around easily

The SVBONY one is a better value though, for sure

Though I got my Askar OAG for pretty cheap

[vapid patio]

Ok I see

What did you get in replacement

[frosty shard]

I have the SVBONY SV238 now.

[vapid patio]

Ohhhh ok ok I see

Have you gotten a chance to use it?

[frosty shard]

No I'm going to test it tonight

[vapid patio]

Dang it comes with helical focuser

[frosty shard]

Yup and the adjustment for the prism is much better

[vapid patio]

Love that they also made it wider not longer

[frosty shard]

With the Askar you have to adjust the position of the helical focuser if you want to move the prism holder around

With the SVBONY you just pull the prism to the position you want it

And you only need to loosen/tighten one screw to do that

[vapid patio]

Ok cool weird for askar to do that

Zwo is like svbony

[frosty shard]

Yeah it made more sense with my setup; it's compatible with Touptek and ZWO filter wheels

[vapid patio]

@harsh matrix Do you use any backlash setting on the focuser

[frosty shard]

I wanted a bolt-on OAG, not a thread-on

[vapid patio]

Isn’t askar limited to there stuff

[frosty shard]

and the Askar uses compression screws which is annoying

[frosty shard]

Nah if anything the Askar is compatible with more equipment

[vapid patio]

Oh ok

[vapid patio]

Zwo does aswell it don’t lock it that that well so if I move my filter wheel with little pressure it slides

[harsh matrix]

Yes

[frosty shard]

Imaging train is ready to go

[digital nexus]

Im new to this whole RC thing, but I think the focuser is supposed to be on the scope

[frosty shard]

I have two focusers

One for visual, one for imaging

By default the visual one is on the scope

so my imaging train includes the focuser as well

[vapid patio]

https://tenor.com/view/lil-yachty-drake-laptop-duh-gif-8033838636860661307

[frosty shard]

Tonight's data on the Perseus Cluster (3 hours LRGB)

No way. I actually got some of the H-alpha filaments in NGC 1275

You can see a faint red glow around NGC 1275

I'm not sure if I can use an H-alpha filter here though, becuase the galaxies have a significant redshift at 225 Mly

I know 3 nm filters are only good for galaxies with a redshift equivalent distance of 30 Mly

[harsh matrix]

you have 3nm filters?

[frosty shard]

Mine are Touptek's which are 6.5 nm

[harsh matrix]

okay good

you can maybe shoot that cluster in H-alpha

[frosty shard]

Too far away; H-alpha is at 668 nm for the cluster's redshift of 0.0179

[harsh matrix]

What about using Sii

[frosty shard]

That's at 672.4 nm...questionable, but not a bad idea, especially if the filter is slightly blueshifted

I've had the silly idea of looking for bad H-alpha filters to see if one might suit this cluster

ones that have incorrect bandpasses

[harsh matrix]

[frosty shard]

This might be a great excuse to do IRG though because the filaments will stand out more in green

[high aspen]

my orion imag is irgi

[frosty shard]

Someone dumped 30 hours of H-alpha integration into NGC 1275, oof: https://www.cloudynights.com/forums/topic/656082-ngc-1275-abell-426-h-alpha-troubles/#comment-9257170

[high aspen]

isnt there a baader 20nm wide bandpass ha filter

[frosty shard]

that still might be too narrow for this cluster

unless the filter is redshifted somewhat

[high aspen]

just shoot in ir 😭

[frosty shard]

But that starts at 685 nm, and the emission is at about 668 nm

It's a real challenge

[high aspen]

waaa

[frosty shard]

I will get IR on it though

[frosty shard]

yeah I should also shoot the Crab

(that is single SHO subs combined)

[crisp flower]

Thats bigger than i expected it to be

[frosty shard]

1624 mm of focal length does wonders

I need to get a full dataset on it though

[crisp flower]

It does indeed

[frosty shard]

also @vapid patio the new setup granted me ~20 mm of extra backfocus to work with

[high aspen]

can i have the stack pls

i wanna try work some magic

[frosty shard]

#1458718804484816948

[high aspen]

oki :3

[silver ibex]

2032mm

[high aspen]

juh

got only the nebula out of it

my tools i made do come in handy every so ofter

[frosty shard]

I was hoping I could treat this as a throwaway test image, but now I'm gonna have to commit to another 6-7 hours of integration lmao

[high aspen]

if i had like 8 hours of free time i could have done it to be smoother but i dont

[high aspen]

-# (my internet dying )

[high aspen]

i see some nebula in the blu chanel too

[frosty shard]

I wonder how the (R+B)/2 - G chromaticity looks like

[high aspen]

same

[high aspen]

green has very minimal

[digital nexus]

Does anyone want to buy my rc6

This thing is a curse

[high aspen]

already??

[digital nexus]

uh huh

Cloudiness Curse

I’ve had 3 clear nights since getting this thing 2 months ago

[high aspen]

wait and pray

[high aspen]

tried combining channels and it went badly

if u look at the nebula it kinda got a pne shape

[harsh matrix]

@tight lodge this is what the secondary and secondary holder look like from the focuser

I think its unnecessary but I've gone and flocked it too

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1325030460409249867/1458983348146802861/image.png?ex=69619fa0&is=69604e20&hm=5349ac92c00e4e46ff536a9504d021e1e18d14a0b162d19eda4d33a78421011f&

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1325030460409249867/1458983347572310265/image.png?ex=69619fa0&is=69604e20&hm=252cf9a8cb5b63d7afc85232bfe536edd7cb888f44d5057aeb2e1a2ad7847aa2&

This is printing right now

It goes inside of the telescope side of the CYCK focuser i have

The aperture is big enough for the coma corrector to poke through and not any larger

This should help alleviate all other possibility of stray light getting into the CC

Worst case scenario I get a 1x or Paracorr to push the point of focuser farther away which should ultimately solve the problem if this design works.

I need to make sure this doesn't restrict the view of the primary mirror in the coma corrector first, do test fits, and stuff before I call it.

[oblique sun]

dirt

[digital nexus]

why so dusty

[harsh matrix]

yall act like a mirror is a filter

a little bit of dust isnt going to do anything

[oblique sun]

that's more than a little bit

[vapid patio]

Agreed

[harsh matrix]

nah

that's nothing

[high aspen]

ur secondary got flocked

[stiff mason]

Veloren is right that much is pretty much nothing it might maybe reduce contrast by 1% at worse

[harsh matrix]

True

in reality they just want to give me crap for it but their mirrors are even worse than the ones on this quattro, and I can guarantee them that

if y'all really want to have squeaky clean mirrors, go ahead and be my guest

I'll be looking forward to the cries of anguish of you having to tear your scopes apart every day

[stiff mason]

Yeah every time i take apart my telescope i age by a full year lmao

[harsh matrix]

Imagine how I feel after I've had my RC8 completely apart like 10 times in the last 4 months of 2025

[frosty shard]

Well. Shooting may be impacted for me. My apartment has flooded

[harsh matrix]

what the hell

[frosty shard]

All my telescope equipment rolled out immediately so nothing of value was damaged

[tight lodge]

A little more dust can make your mirror behave more like a diffraction grating

[tulip iris]

Heya guys can anybody tell me a good focuser to get since im still stuck w the stock linear 2” gso one? No because i hear people say nah get the steelrack, get the moonlight, get the ts one, this that, im confused, so if some of you could tell me the best to get id be thankful

[silver ibex]

Probably a Feather Touch if you have a kidney to sell

Moonlites are good as well

[tall summit]

Finally got to shoot something last night, first night since before Christmas. I was only given 4h by the weather gods

[crisp flower]

What Palette is this

Please dont say sho

[tall summit]

why?:) Its HSO

[crisp flower]

If it were sho id be sad BC this Looks Like u nuked the Green the ha would be into oblivion

Im Not too Sure how hso is supposed to Look but for my taste its still too little green

Did you scnr it?

[tall summit]

nope, just starmask

I didn't spend too much time on processing, this will need more data anyways

[crisp flower]

Gotcha
From the colors, it Just looked so Simular to a nuked sho, thats why i asked

[tulip iris]

Nah its def too much i need something that is not over 400 bucks

Moonlite doesnt seem to be sold in italy tho, unless on used market, anything else otherwise?

[silver ibex]

The baader steeltrack isn't bad from what I know

I don't remember the price off the top of my head though

[tall summit]

Just tried SHO (my S is synthetic btw) and green noise removal post stretch

[crisp flower]

Aaaaaah that might be it
I thought you had a real S signal

[tulip iris]

Around 350€

[frosty shard]

How are you making a synthetic S-II channel?

[tall summit]

Nothing fancy, just DBXtract script in Siril

[frosty shard]

Oh so there is S-II data with an S-II/O-III dual narrowband filter?

I assumed it meant that the S-II data was estimated from other data

[frosty shard]

update: I may shoot tonight

[high aspen]

btw, the zwo duoband filter has from ha to a bit into 685nm

soo i may be able to get ha in that elliptical

[frosty shard]

I've been thinking about seeing if I can get some use out of a duoband with my mono cam

[high aspen]

i think you would be able to

would defo make some intresting coloured images

[frosty shard]

Aside from the extended H-alpha band, you could use it as a "nebula luminance"

[high aspen]

smart

i think using those quadband filters would be good lum

[frosty shard]

Yeah like the SV260

[high aspen]

i think altair astro also does one

ill compare theur bands

[frosty shard]

actually the SV260 is excessively wide

[high aspen]

this just shows those filters

[high aspen]

geebus it is

[frosty shard]

WAIT THEY GOT A 1.25" SV240

perfect

I need one for my little chungus Mak

[high aspen]

idk why they dont have a nice chart

but thats the graph

quite thin

covers hbeta halpha oiii sii

they also sell a literal osc tri band

which is hella cool imo

[high aspen]

@frosty shard use this as luminance

luminance premium™

[frosty shard]

I wonder what that blue transmittance is for. Reflection nebulae?

[high aspen]

um no, its for blu

bc its a literal rgb filter

for shooting rgb in light polluted areas

with osc cams

or to be used as lum

[high aspen]

this quadband doesnt have the blue tho

i think this could be interesting for pne's

they sell a 7nm version too

and a 2nm version 😭

they also do a 7nm nuv filter

[frosty shard]

Around what wavelength? 365 nm?

[high aspen]

395

also, my cnc spider is finally getting ordered this weekend i think

[high aspen]

i honestly may get this at some point

looks not bad

[harsh matrix]

I totally forgot about my Pacman project whoops

[harsh matrix]

@tight lodge finally getting around to the rest of that cone nebula/fox fur nebula data

i 2x drizzled it

oh this is totally raw minus a DBE

also finally getting around to experimenting with fixes

for it

unfortunately my printer was acting up yesterday and i didnt have a chance to attempt another print today

the prototype looks like it would work very well but i have one large problem with it, and that's that it is too long

i redesigned it to be shorter but i havent been able to print that one yet

I think this Quattro + 585 combo is sharper than my RC6 though

that has me extremely excited and motivated to fix this thing

[digital nexus]

Day 52 of owning an RC6 and being unable to use it

[tight lodge]

Do you want to do a collaboration?

I can offer 6h of Hα and 6h of RGB (2h a pop)

[tall summit]

Thats right, it is estimated from Ha/O3 dualband filter. I have sv220 7nm Ha-o3

[frosty shard]

Holy crap I saw the Milky Way in Auriga from home last night

[harsh matrix]

we certainly could

i wanted to get broadband on this but that aint gonna happen atp

holy balls

[high aspen]

eeeem

[tight lodge]

What files would you need? Masters or raw unstacked?

[harsh matrix]

yummy

masters preferably

[tight lodge]

Imma send you the files on DM

[harsh matrix]

how are you more cropped in than me

also my star spikes look ugly next to yours

i dont even know why mine are so subdivided

its gross

[tight lodge]

That's interesting.

[high aspen]

just scream at it to stop

(ur spikes are thicker than his)

[harsh matrix]

cause theyre flocked

[high aspen]

(the thicker the spikes the more subdevides there are)

[harsh matrix]

ahhhhhhh

ight

we have the same spider afaik

[high aspen]

buh

[harsh matrix]

he removed the flocking

i did not

[high aspen]

maybe the flocky increas the width

[harsh matrix]

oh yeah for sure

it increases it by about half a mm or more

[high aspen]

oof

i kinda prefer the more spiky spikes

[tight lodge]

It increases the width and reduces the formation of the spikes

[harsh matrix]

yup

oh god this is cursed

[tight lodge]

you could use the RGB stars anyways

[high aspen]

how much better is multi star guiding than single star guiding

[high aspen]

ew 😭

[tight lodge]

A lot better because you are averaging the ammount that the seeing is affecting the guiding

[high aspen]

a

ill test the diff

hopefully its not much with my guidescope

(phd refuses to remove the hot pixels)

it keeps failing to calibrate wtf maan

[harsh matrix]

True

[harsh matrix]

Significantly

Even just going from 3 to 6 stars can cut RMS by 50% quite often

[tight lodge]

Also, the 130PDS is getting optics quality tests

[high aspen]

at least that middle bit is covered by a co

[tight lodge]

What's wrong with the middle?

[high aspen]

stress lines from the donut

well, what looks to be stress lines

[tight lodge]

I think they are just side leflections

[high aspen]

ah

thats good then

[tight lodge]

This can't be right💀

[high aspen]

1/8 is insane 😭

[tight lodge]

You can see somewhere on the left, there's a hair on the mirror. It has the same effect

[high aspen]

i notic

[tight lodge]

I call the test a failure

Although... It did detect the mirror being slightly pinched... which is weird

[high aspen]

mayb get that checked out

just in case

[tight lodge]

After I build the interferometer and I get a reliable test, that's when I will check it

[high aspen]

oki

[tight lodge]

Right now this is how I tested it

[high aspen]

also, are you going full spectra?

[high aspen]

funnily enough that doesnt work properly

[tight lodge]

I guess the picture above confirms that😂

[high aspen]

ig

[tight lodge]

Yeah. Idk why I was overengineering a 3D printed design when I had to use a hair tie and an led strapped to the roki 135

Samyang 135

[high aspen]

i see

you do need to use a very sharp edge for a good reading usually

[tight lodge]

Just a match made in heaven🤤

[tight lodge]

I do have a big kitchen knife

[high aspen]

it also needs to be kiiinda flat

[tight lodge]

So no kitchen knife

I do have a machinist ruler

[high aspen]

sharpen it so much it gets a 0 on those knife sharpness testers

[silver ibex]

Razor blade is the standard

[harsh matrix]

This sounds really fun

I bet I have the brains to do something like this.

I just dont have the time or motivation

But interfermoetry is a very interesting subject to me. Maybe ill get around to it some day.

[stiff mason]

Wait how do you do this again

[harsh matrix]

see? everybody went quiet after I pointed out how ridiculous they sound

@tight lodge you have over 100 mm more focal length than my quattro

your data does have better signal than mine

[digital nexus]

Day 53 of owning an RC6 and being unable to use it

[harsh matrix]

this Oiii is probably not worth including lmao

[harsh matrix]

heyyyyy how about this?

this is just an STF

found a pretty nice way to add in narrowband to RGB data I think

in the linear stage

this is SHRGB

i dont think my Oiii will contribute anything beyond noise

💀

and a big halo

stretched with MAS then curves

[harsh matrix]

alright this looks beaut on my monitor, hopefully discord does it justice

i dont think it does it justice

those blacks look clipped even though they arent

not in pix

better

i dunno why discord is crunching the values

maybe it's an LCD thing

Looks fine on my phone, whatever.

[harsh matrix]

@tight lodge

first crop can work on a 1080p monitor, the other 2 are fit for a 2k monitor

I could never see the Christmas tree in the cluster until now either

i dont even want to publish my SHO image now

[tight lodge]

Dude! You did an amazing job at processing it

[tight lodge]

i got 6h of Ha. with all the calibration frames needed. (Except darks)

[high aspen]

i lick my mirrors clean

i dont wanna loose any tasty morsels

[high aspen]

more data maby?

@tight lodge is your scooe f4.5 or are you running f5?

[tight lodge]

f5

[high aspen]

aa

we have a very similar fl

[tight lodge]

Around 650?

[high aspen]

ya, im 675

[tight lodge]

Very similar

What OTA?

[high aspen]

150p with the skywatcher 0.9x cc

[stiff mason]

Wait how are your spikes so narrow

[harsh matrix]

I had roughly the same lmao

[harsh matrix]

this broadband is from Pickles and not mine

[harsh matrix]

oh yeah you like eating mirrors too right?

[high aspen]

ya

[harsh matrix]

I did add roughly 4 hours of Sii

As well

[stiff mason]

Still tho how is it so tight

[frosty shard]

How are you doing it?

[harsh matrix]

that would be a question for him

i know without flocking, these machined spiders are pretty darn thin

[tight lodge]

This one is just beautiful

[tight lodge]

#1326833769495269376 message

[harsh matrix]

agreed

[stiff mason]

So literally just a diffused light and a camera

[tight lodge]

Yes... kinda.

[tight lodge]

How much data we got in total?

[harsh matrix]

26 hours or so

[tight lodge]

Holy shit!

We gotta do it more often tho😂

[harsh matrix]

Yeah well

Make my quattro work

Then ill think about it

[tight lodge]

I'd love to

[harsh matrix]

I got another print to work

However, the result in the flats is not promising

All it seems to do is diffuse the reflection instead of getting rid of it.

I think it's because the secondary mirror is unevenly illuminating the inside of the coma corrector or something

Thats with a dew shield thats about a foot and a half long btw

[tight lodge]

I think I have a similar issue. The primary and secondary mirror are technically aligned, but the lightcone is not center on the secondary

Another idea is that maybe, the reflection comes from within the coma corrector. Yours is about 4 times longer than mine

[harsh matrix]

It absolutely does

Thats the entire reason this issue exists at all.

Yes

That's it

I just watched it.

So what I assumed to be the problem is the problem.

I cant fix it and use this coma corrector because making it any taller will intercept the primary mirror light path

I have to get a new coma corrector.

It disappears without the coma corrector.

But at the point of focus with the coma corrector installed, the coma corrector is far enough forward to pick up light directly from the sky or flat panel and that's creating the reflection.

I moved the focuser backward while running loops and noticed the reflection completely vanished as soon as the coma corrector was far enough into the shroud I made

YUP

As soon as I racked the focuser far enough in, the reflection spontaneously reappeared.

So dew shield length has 0 affect, as I already concluded.

Something to block the light makes a minor difference but wont matter in practice.

The only way I truly fix this is a better coma corrector.

[tight lodge]

Shorter one. I will risk a Baader MPCC Mk III if I was you😅

[harsh matrix]

I might just to get the ball rolling ngl

I hate having this scope sit around and do nothing

[tight lodge]

With the IMX585 you won't notice any issues with that CC

Assuming that you get one from a bad batch

[harsh matrix]

i better not

[tight lodge]

It's a 150$ CC anyways 😂

[harsh matrix]

theyre almost 300 USD

[tight lodge]

There's a non 0 probability that ypu will be the lucky one like me and get a hood one

[harsh matrix]

[tight lodge]

[harsh matrix]

better than the dang near 600 id be paying for a Paracorr

[tight lodge]

There's a shit one, and a good ine

[harsh matrix]

im looking at the one on the left

[harsh matrix]

by the way, what focuser do you have and where does your camera reach focus?

this is the cheapest option rn

[tight lodge]

Stock focuser. I can't really give you a value to where it is😅

[harsh matrix]

[tight lodge]

This is the only one that gives you an idea😅

[harsh matrix]

that should be sufficient i bet

possibly not for a sharpstar 1x or 0.95x though

[tight lodge]

The coma corrector is about that deep in the focuser 😅

[digital nexus]

do you guys know what today is?

[harsh matrix]

day 54 without being able to use your RC?

[digital nexus]

ding ding ding. We have a winner

But! Tomorrow I’m testing my OAG; and then it’s RC6 time

[harsh matrix]

I continuum subtracted them first, then linear fit each continuum narrowband image to the r channel of the broadband, and then did pixel math

i did a 70/30 split of H-alpha and Sii, and then linear fit the result to red, and did a 50/50 split of that

i linear fit the Sii to the H-alpha as well iirc

that way they all had the same "stretch" and I wasnt going to lose any data

[tight lodge]

So both SII and Hα are blended with R?

[harsh matrix]

yes

[tight lodge]

That explains the strong contrast

[tight lodge]

Did the PDS just resolved those 2 stars slightly better?

[harsh matrix]

Possibly

My quattros stars are very weird

Im not a fan

[tight lodge]

It's not up to the mirror potential.

[tight lodge]

Also, if you want to post the cone nebula in Astrobiscuit or Astrobin, it's up to you.
You did an amazing job at processing the data.

I mean come on. You nailed the star colors as well

[sterile pendant]

What a nice work !

I like how we can see the bluish tint on the cone

@harsh matrix is an anomaly… just be a Red Giant isn’t enough for him

[tight lodge]

I'm surprised that my cheap RGB filters managed to pick that up. But big credit to Vel for preserving that in the data

[tight lodge]

I agree

He got it right I have to admit😂

[tight lodge]

Damn! I was so close😭

Uugh... it's green

[high aspen]

it looks almost 3d

[tight lodge]

The one on the right is from HST just to make that clear 😂

[high aspen]

is it possible for you to get 15 mins of data on tombaugh 4 and do a 2x drizzle?

[high aspen]

ahhhh, makes a lot more sense now xD

[tight lodge]

If I have the chance, sure

[high aspen]

i wanna try do a comparison of resolution

[tight lodge]

Where's is it?

[high aspen]

i got a decent shot of it

i managed to resolve a mini seperation and i wanna see how urs differs due to that 1 inch smoller

[tight lodge]

Is just outside of the frame isn't it?

[high aspen]

yea

[tight lodge]

Does this count?

[high aspen]

thats a smol detail

[tight lodge]

How about this?

[high aspen]

0_0

im suprised that wasnt too bright ngl

i love how they all combined to make a single spike

[tight lodge]

Most people can't even resolve them

[high aspen]

where is it

[tight lodge]

It looks like gravitational lensing ngl

[high aspen]

theres a gravitational lens in andromeda

[high aspen]

its called the andromeda parachute

[high aspen]

is that another mini open cluster?

[tight lodge]

Nope

[high aspen]

huh

whats it called then?

[tight lodge]

Andromeda parachute is a different target

[tight lodge]

No clue

[high aspen]

i meant this thing

https://deepskycorner.ch/obj/j014709+463037.en.php

[tight lodge]

I want to image it

[high aspen]

sames

ill check my framing on it

[tight lodge]

How?

[high aspen]

put the coords into nina

[tight lodge]

Aaahh. Please share a screenshot of upur framing

[high aspen]

oki

if its only 6 pixels i have at least 12 pixels

[tight lodge]

Lmao😂 😂

[high aspen]

i cant see it in hips 2

oh no

[tight lodge]

I guess is a matter of shooting blind

[high aspen]

yup

im sure it will be fun

[high aspen]

heres the only reference photo i can find

mayb this is ut

[high aspen]

i dont think im resolving shit

[tight lodge]

That's it, right?

[high aspen]

yas

i may be able to seperate it into 2 blobs

maby ill be able to get it into all seperate with a barlow

[silver ibex]

Lucky imaging time

I'm at 0.38"/px without the corrector 🔥

[high aspen]

planned on

[high aspen]

u shoud image it too!

[tight lodge]

I don't think o will try something that small until I get a 10"

[high aspen]

makes sense

i feel you would get some insane shots with a 10"

[tight lodge]

Something that i can't get yet is the money for a 10"

[high aspen]

[silver ibex]

Relatable

[sterile pendant]

Under a certain quality, there is not so much differences

[high aspen]

rubo, my guiders field flattener is so good it reducer the shit out the scope

the only issue is is that it reduces the shit out the scope

[harsh matrix]

nah it's the spider

all that flocking material on the spider drastically increases light scattering around the star itself

leading to an almost dewed up appearance to all of them all the time i think

[harsh matrix]

I do

I want to post it everywhere

[harsh matrix]

I did use MAS to do the main stretch

it's a bit cheeky ngl

makes it so easy to nail the contrast and control it later as well

[harsh matrix]

dang it

that's not in mine

my fov too narrow

[harsh matrix]

you're on Astrobin, right?

maybe?

[harsh matrix]

I don't know how I managed to do that

I don't know if I can replicate it either

[sterile pendant]

I think you can ^^

[harsh matrix]

@tight lodge I really don't like you

i am extremely tempted to rip the flocking material off of the vains on my quattro

😭

the only problem is that if i decide i dont like it, it's hard to go back

[high aspen]

good luck

[harsh matrix]

oh the main issue with the baader mpcc mk 3 is that it will perform much worse on an f/4 system

you 130PDS is good since it's f/5 but i have an f/4 scope

[high aspen]

ha!ppens

[tall summit]

At last, spending some time today observing Jupiter with 2x barlow and 9mm eyepice with RC6

Its awesome

[tight lodge]

I am😅

[tight lodge]

https://www.astrobin.com/users/Petru989/

[harsh matrix]

when i upload it i can tag you as a collaborator

[tight lodge]

Thank you. And again. Amazing job at processing it

[harsh matrix]

thanks man

means a lot

[frosty shard]

Tonight's data was garbage

[tight lodge]

Under what bortle you shoot your Ha?

[harsh matrix]

8

[tight lodge]

Mine was in b4. That's interesting how light pollution affects the SNR even in NB

[crisp flower]

Better Garbo Data than None at all

[tight lodge]

Is this good?

[high aspen]

yoooo

its tha glaxaly i like!!!!

[high aspen]

gah dayum

[tall summit]

As awesome as it was observing Jupiter, I don't think I am ever switching my RC6 between deepsky astro and visual/planetary ever again. It was so out whack afterwards, pretty much wasted a good imaging night

imaging Jupiter through barlow was a fiasco on the top of that

Planetary is hard, needs its own setup

Best detailed Jupiter I was able to capture to date, which is sad

[frosty shard]

How was it out of whack? Even before adding the second focuser I never had any trouble switching between visual and imaging

(Actually now I would have some issues with the rotator and new OAG, but either way)

[tall summit]

Complete rebalance in my case (I run on maxed out CG4), guiding was very wonky afterwards, switching extension rings, rings getting dead frozen in place:)

[frosty shard]

Oh, right, I guess that's something I don't need to worry about with a harmonic drive

[tall summit]

Many frustrating things throuout the n8ght

[frosty shard]

(tbf balancing a harmonic drive is better but I can only go so far with the small saddle and no counterweights)

[tall summit]

My cam doing 3-7 fps)

[frosty shard]

As for the extension rings I've lubricated all of mine with perfluorinated polyether lubricants (Tribosys 3204) and they come off without any trouble

[tall summit]

Might as well dust off my 4" Mak, slap barlow and my old Canon on it, and have a separate train for this stuff

[tall summit]

Smart

[frosty shard]

Tribosys 3203/3204 and Krytox 205g0 are lubricants I use with my mechanical keyboard switches and they are also very handy for the astronomer

[tall summit]

Tbh, the visual part was fine. Star diagonal also helped with needed focus travel, it worked out great.

[frosty shard]

Yeah RCs are just fine with visual. Though you were looking at the planets I assume? That's its weakest point lol

[tall summit]

Yeah, I was rrying to go for Jup, both visualy and picture

I did enjoy the visual view

[frosty shard]

Where it really shines is with DSOs, so if you ever are inclined to try visual with again, I would absolutely recommend going out and checking out the Virgo Cluster this galaxy season

You can pan around Virgo and Coma Berenices and just find galaxies wherever you look

[tall summit]

I started off with 8" Dob, even with that, DSOs were rough in my B7 skies. I've seen some fuzzy galaxy cores, but that's about it (star clusters are great though of course).

[frosty shard]

Once you're in Bortle 3 or below, the difference is shocking. You can even see a few galaxies that don't even have NGC/IC designations

[tall summit]

I have experienced Milky Way from B1.5-2

[frosty shard]

*Forgot to say to go out to a dark site to do that

[tall summit]

just with my eyes, what a feeling that was

[quartz meadow]

I remember looking at Markarian's chain in an Observatory

[frosty shard]

Yeah I saw it in my 8" RC last year

[quartz meadow]

one of the things I wanna capture with my trusty DSLR and lens combo

although im not sure if its worth going for

[high aspen]

@quartz meadow rate the minut long frame on my mount mmeant for visual

pinged wromg person

its overcorrected by darks

mb

[high aspen]

@frosty shard i was meant to ping

[quartz meadow]

pretty round but why are the stars so beeg?

[high aspen]

overcorrection

[frosty shard]

honestly not bad

[high aspen]

and its a superstrech thing

[frosty shard]

just needs more int really

[high aspen]

its a simgle sub

[quartz meadow]

ah okay, very good lol

[high aspen]

i got some actual data

this was just a test

while i tune my mount

thats overcapacity

[tall summit]

I had one more Jupiter video, also a blur-fest 🙁

Is it a matter of having a faster frame rate cam, and accumulating/culling more data?

[high aspen]

i think ive done something never done before

i got my framing wrong before the flip

so now i have 2 equal sets of data

next to eachother

that i can mosaic

one of the first ever accidental mosaics

[high aspen]

@frosty shard one of the panstarrs survey options is irg

[tight lodge]

We can't shoot the tarantula nebula in our own backyard?
No stressing. We can shoot it in a galaxy 3 million light years away

[harsh matrix]

[tight lodge]

This looks like a mini trifid

[stiff mason]

How thick are your spider veins Mr Pickles

[tight lodge]

Uuuhm... idk. Something like 2mm thick

[harsh matrix]

2 or 2.5 but no larger

[harsh matrix]

yup

@tight lodge really good stats so far

[tight lodge]

I crossed my fingers for IOTD

[keen agate]

@tight lodge How did you remove the flocking from your secondary spider? I tried peel it slowly but it wouldn't come off cleanly.

[tight lodge]

I spent 5h removing mine

So yeah... is a very slow process

If you have acetone, it would help a lot to dissolve the glue

[tight lodge]

Even better

[tight lodge]

@frosty shard micro RC

[high aspen]

they have spherical mirrors

bc they meant for microscopes

[tight lodge]

Close enough is good enough

[frosty shard]

Guys I created propaganda

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTlFm51jgac/

brainandforce

Warning: financial side effects may occur

#astrophotography #skywatcherusa #youresa

Instagram

[tight lodge]

And yet no counter weight 😭

[harsh matrix]

even better now

oh we are so going to get screwed

this is unreal

[frosty shard]

Counterweights are for people who needlessly weigh their scopes down

[tight lodge]

This is messed up😭

0? Really?

[silver ibex]

There's a chance

But yeah it's non sense

That should get at least TP

[harsh matrix]

Yup

[harsh matrix]

there's still 0

well it was when i checked about 30 minutes ago

we finally have 1 vote at 63.16%

still easily one of my favorite images

i mean, i think i will be hard pressed to top this

or this

[harsh matrix]

yo

[tight lodge]

A ray of hope?

[tight lodge]

Speaking of rays. I got them all😂

[high aspen]

interferometer!!!!

[tight lodge]

Damn right

[high aspen]

you got any stuff off it yet?

[tight lodge]

Nope. Apparently it's a lot harder to diverge a laser beam

Sooo I need a new diverger

[high aspen]

good luck!

[tight lodge]

I hope this works

[high aspen]

lil guy

[tight lodge]

This is the size of the beam splitter kinematic mount for reference 😂

[high aspen]

like the same size

lil guys

[frosty shard]

Looks like I might get my autofocuser before the next clear night here, it's scheduled to be delivered on the 20th

[tight lodge]

Wait... you didn't had an EAF until now?

[frosty shard]

Nope. Good old Bahtinov mask and a delicate touch