Ritchey–Chrétien enjoyers thread

[crisp flower]

GODDAMN thats crazy

Very good Job on a Manual Focus tbh

[tall summit]

I recently got an EAF, kinda have mixed results with it. Convenience is certainly awesome, to be able to focus remotely and without shakes. But I find that more often than not I get a better focus manually compared to AF routine. Need more time with it to experiment with steps etc..

I think I want a 585 cam as a companion for my 2600mc pro. Does that cam make sense with RC6 at 925mm?

The idea is to use it for smaller targets and as planetary (and that would be 1370mm)

[frosty shard]

I'm gonna do a lot of experimentation and especially with my Bahtinov mask since that's going to be the the most reliable indication of focus

[harsh matrix]

@frosty shard I ordered some 30 foot extension cables that appear durable enough so I can put my rig out in the middle of the grass in my yard.

That way I can get a bit more time on things like Markarian's Chain, anything in Leo, and maybe Orion.

If you want to collab at some point.

[tight lodge]

Amazon borked up
A while ago I onger an 80ft cable and they sent me a 160ft cable. More overkill than I could ask for.
160ft of high power cable should have cost me about $100

I got it for 40

[harsh matrix]

holy

[tight lodge]

I think it settled down

[tulip iris]

@digital nexus Since u got an rc6 just like me, by any change u have a bathinov mask? No cuz i need to order one but i still havent figured out its size

[high aspen]

you can set up in the house behind youur neighbours

[digital nexus]

Idk the size

[tall summit]

I can help with this, what do you need to know?

[tulip iris]

Dang alr

[tulip iris]

Okay thanks, i have to buy a bathinov mask for my rc6 since i still focus lets say by heart but idk what size i should buy it cuz in shops they range from a mm size to another, like what matters is the mirror diameter or the diameter of the ota itself?

[tall summit]

This is the kind that you want, hope this helps

[digital nexus]

It just came with my scope, it’s a bit over 6” probably

[tulip iris]

Ay man i appreciate it a lot, thanks, so basically more or less 16cm

[tulip iris]

What brand was yours? Stellalyra?

I dont live in usa so idk brands but if im correct thats the one which seems to pay more attention to the customers so they provide quite a bit of stuff w the otas

[tall summit]

I got mine here:

Ebay

[tulip iris]

Was this the ebay guy right?

[tall summit]

Yep

[tulip iris]

I think i saw this too

[tulip iris]

Gotcha

[tall summit]

Its good, you can go for it

[digital nexus]

My rc6 is GSO. But the mask came with it used, and it’s 3d
printed

[tulip iris]

Yeah i think tho its gonna be a long road since hes in merica🦅 while in in italy

[tulip iris]

Ahhhhh alright, mine is too, just rebranded but other than the dustcap

Nothing

[high aspen]

@frosty shard

holiest denoise

im gunna have a biblically accurate background

[frosty shard]

Does it even converge lmao

[high aspen]

ya

it worked quite well

[high aspen]

i did continum subtraction

the blue is red, the gray is ir 685 and ir 850

it looks like the blue is hiding behind ir

[harsh matrix]

there's like no detail left from doing that though

[high aspen]

there was

[high aspen]

ohh, that image i just sent wasnt denoise that way

that was done with grax

mb

[harsh matrix]

o

[high aspen]

it didnt damage any data bc i had good enough snr

[harsh matrix]

either grax sucks or you didnt get more than 15 minutes of data

[high aspen]

thats an hour while i was still untracked

so 0.35secon subs

i am yet to deconvolve the image too

[harsh matrix]

that's extremely soft data

I am not sure you will get much out of deconvolving it

untracked makes a bit more sense

[high aspen]

heres the irgi version

its quite noisy tho

(and was perposely overdone)

[crisp flower]

Slight Aura-Farm?

[quartz meadow]

that red reached out so far in my shots

[crisp flower]

nniiiice. It wouldve on mine as well, if i had taken this image earlier. This was pretty much to the end of this spectacle

[quartz meadow]

it has weakened during the half an hour I was outside

[crisp flower]

i dont know how long i was out but i went to a nearby field so i could see more

just thougth about taking this shot as the scope had been running the whole while annd i wanted to check if ht polar lights messed up the frames

which they did not lol

[quartz meadow]

I've tried to catch them right near orion but I figured i was too late lol

[crisp flower]

i got that shot wwith some stray green ones

[quartz meadow]

gotta check them the next morning on my monitor lol

[frosty shard]

Needs more JPEG

Fingers crossed I'll encounter some auroras with my scope, but I don't have a suitable camera atm

[frosty shard]

Turns out I can't image in –20 °C weather

My Surface dies instantly in the cold

[high aspen]

[high aspen]

time for recollimate

[high aspen]

@frosty shard clouds and wind but stil got to test it out :D

(red lumpyness is actually nebula)

[frosty shard]

I hate you

Can't image in –20°C

[high aspen]

hah!

[high aspen]

get dew heater for equipment

[frosty shard]

Actually my rig handles it fine, I just can't use my Surface at temps that low

Except polar alignment is hell

The lubricants are too viscous

Also setup/takedown can be painful

[high aspen]

oouch

[tall summit]

I have -12 -14C now. Yesterday it took my scope over an hour to settle

[frosty shard]

Settle in temperature?

[tall summit]

Yeah

My camera cooler doesnt even kick in)

[tulip moon]

Hi I'm considering joigning the RC crew
Got any good RC8 recommendation ? Apertura Carbonstar looks sick but what about the mechanical design/included focuser?

[frosty shard]

First of all, how based of you to join us

[frosty shard]

The CarbonStar comes with a rack and pinion focuser stock

I haven't seen any baffling issues at native FL with the 8" version, but I have not used a reducer with it

[tulip moon]

Okay
Does it hold collimation well if not moved around too much ?

[frosty shard]

I have had to do two collimation adjustments the entire time I've had my scope, one because my secondary mirror was loose. The second was a minor tweak I didn't actually need to do (collimation was pretty acceptable but I knew I could do better)

But I have had no problems with it holding collimation otherwise, especially with my relatively brutal hand carting of the scope to and from observation locations

I've had it for a year now and I've been imaging with it since last May

[tall summit]

I have a 6 incher, no complains on any mechanical stability or focuser

[frosty shard]

Collimation is also straightforward if you use the DSI method; there is no need for lasers, holograms, Cheshire eyepieces, etc. except if you disassemble your scope and need rough alignment to start

[silver ibex]

https://tenor.com/view/based-meme-hello-based-department-based-based-department-gif-8935998474362718486

[frosty shard]

https://tenor.com/view/call-from-based-department-gif-25645857

[tulip iris]

The big leagues be callin

[tulip moon]

You got me convinced..
Yep I had a read at the DSI method, it looks straightforwars
Thanks

[frosty shard]

Also recommended accessories: 2" dielectric diagonal and low power eyepiece should you wish to do visual

(I had the Crayford focuser version and I kept that focuser for visual while using the R&P upgrade for the imaging train)

Also my autofocuser just arrived!

[tulip moon]

Oh so initially it was shipped with a Crayford but then changed to R&P ? Thats nice !

[silver ibex]

No excuses to not help auric then! Truly optimal

[frosty shard]

Yup. I prefer the Crayford for visual tbh

Though the R&P is totally serviceable for that

[tulip moon]

Yeah, but I would mainly image with it anyways

I think I'll make the jump 🙂 thanks for the replies

[frosty shard]

Do you have a rig already (I assume you do)?

[tall summit]

Speaking of collimation, can you help me understand what am I dealing with here? I am getting elongated "flat" stars in upper left corner, which also look like a stretched donuts. Is this a collimation or a tilt issue?

[tulip moon]

I do have a decent mount (AM5N), but still using a OSC camera and planning to go mono, so that will cost some money

Also using a low FL guidescope, will probably have to go to OAG

[frosty shard]

Are you using a reducer? If not I am certain this is tilt

[tall summit]

I do

[frosty shard]

If you are I'm less certain it's tilt, but I'd say it's pretty likely

Without a reducer the astigmatism of my 8" RC is sagittal

Do you have an aberration inspector view of the frame?

[tall summit]

so that corner, does it need to be pushed more towards ota, or away from it?

I do have a tilt corrector plate, right now its just flush all the way

[frosty shard]

I actually can't say with the reducer present; all I can say is try both and see which one corrects it

(honestly I'd be trying both at native FL)

Also what is the target

[tall summit]

This was M36, but I get this problematic corner pretty much on all shots where there are stars in there. I cant go any more closer to the primary, does this mean pushing the other side out? I've never adjusted tilt before

[frosty shard]

If I'm thinking of this correctly I think you need to pull out the side with the tilted stars

But don't quote me on this

[tall summit]

I might wait for a better weather to do this, don't want to be adjusting and DSI'ing in -14c 🙂

[frosty shard]

Yeah I made sure to dial in my collimation before it got brutally cold here

I think I'll guarantee myself twice yearly collimation checkups and tweaks, one at the end of fall before it gets too cold and one in spring once it warms back up

[tall summit]

Its not even that bad rn honestly, just that corner that's bugs me

[high aspen]

crop tool

[frosty shard]

Ah shoot I got the wrong version of the Gemini

No remote or temperature probe

[high aspen]

nooooo

[tall summit]

Bummer

[frosty shard]

Tbh the focus stability is not that big of a problem with my RC, so I don't mind just triggering autofocus runs every hour or two

[tall summit]

reasonable

[tall summit]

6min unprocessed livestack right off asiair, I might just leave collimation be for now

[tulip iris]

Check out the bottom and left spike, i think u are slightly out of collimation tho

[tall summit]

How does one interpret a "double" spike?

[high aspen]

3/4 spikes are split

[high aspen]

its due to either a bent spike or the collimation being off causing light that hits it to split instead of stay a single spike

you can notice it double easily if you unfocus

[frosty shard]

The thing is, for a perfect image, the diffraction patterns should be symmetrical by a 180 degree rotation. The fact that it's only doubled in 3 directions likely comes from the tilt

You probably have slightly misaligned spikes, which is not a problem, but you should only see the misalignment in an even number of directions

[tulip iris]

I think u are slightly out of focus, otherwise it can be tilt, mhm collimation seems pretty okay as i see

[tulip iris]

Yeah!

[tulip iris]

I dont really believe it could be tilt u know why, i definitely got tilt in my image but star diffraction spikes are fine

[tall summit]

Thats what I was thinking

[high aspen]

im gunna find it quite difficult to misalign my spike now

[frosty shard]

Every time I have a tilt issue I see it in the diffraction spikes (one direction is split when the other isn't)

[high aspen]

[tall summit]

What do 8 do though if my tilt plate is flush right now? In other words, I cant get that corner closer that it is

[tulip iris]

Mhm, idk dude maybe for me is different cuz i swear i have tilt but my spikes are all fine, later if u want i can drop here a pic of the tilt angle and then the star spikes

[high aspen]

would be cool

[high aspen]

oh, u may have an issue

[tall summit]

Do I raise the the whole plate a couple of turns each screw, and then get one corner closer?

[frosty shard]

Yup

[tulip iris]

Im doing it asap!

[tall summit]

Tnx, I'll try a round of DSI and then tilt once its above freezing point

[frosty shard]

Judging from the rest of the image I think the tilt plate is all you need to adjust atm

[tall summit]

I checked defocused on-axis the other night, looked good

[frosty shard]

EAF installed

[high aspen]

im gunna loosen every screw by a quarter turn when you arent looking

[tall summit]

what are those two side spikes?

[oblique sun]

sick

[tulip iris]

as promised the tilt

Mhmmmm for the star i dont have a proper frame that shows it as clearly as the one the other dude sent but i have a picture i took a week ago while i was focusing on a star tho and its this, idk if it can be useful or not, ah btw that halo is caused by the fact that i dont have the uv ir cut filter yet

[sterile pendant]

Look like astigmatism to me. Half of the image is in focus, your primary is tilt. Just need a collimation here 👍

[high aspen]

@frosty shard heres the last of the cloudy data

was also 2x binned

[desert locust]

cool spikes, have you made a mirror mask yet?

[high aspen]

buh

[tall summit]

Hi there!

has anyone taken a picture of m101 that you are happy/satisfied with?

[tight lodge]

I took a picture of m101... but I'm not satisfied with it

[tall summit]

@tight lodge Well, its better than mine:) its pretty good actually, pleasant to look at. How much int time is in it?

[crisp flower]

Nope mine is so terrible i cant be bothered to Look for it xD

[tall summit]

It turned out to be a tough target for some reason

[crisp flower]

Main Thing that bothered be on Mine were the Stars (i Had an sct with a dew heater Ring which resulted in wild Star shapes

[tall summit]

best I managed so far, about 7h in

[tight lodge]

Idk... something like 2h maybe?
The rest got absolutely obliterated by Starkink

[tall summit]

hang on, its in NB?

[tight lodge]

LHaRGB

[tall summit]

tnx, I'll keep trying

[tight lodge]

This was my first attempt. First time with mono rig and pretty much whole new setup

[tall summit]

this blue and purple you pulled out looks really nice on it.

[tight lodge]

I need to revisit it. I feel like I can get it a lot sharper

[tall summit]

I should at least add Ha to mine

[harsh matrix]

I tried this last spring but didn't get enough data due to weather.

[scenic mist]

i thought that was ur whole scope lol

[high aspen]

@frosty shard are eaf attachable to gso rct's stock?

also, can you send the link to the collimation guide

[tall summit]

https://www.deepskyinstruments.com/truerc/docs/DSI_Collimation_Procedure_Ver_1.0.pdf

[frosty shard]

Stock focusers are EAF compatible

[high aspen]

[high aspen]

im convincing someone else to get an rct

telling them all the pros and cons

[harsh matrix]

@frosty shard I won't know for sure until the first night out, but it could be fixed for real this time.

The left side is new flats, the right side is old.

The change I made was I introduced 3 new knife edge baffles of varying inner diameter and distance from the camera, and the combination of all 3 of these make it impossible for light to skip past the secondary to the camera, even after being reflected by the inside of the baffle tubes.

The interesting things to note about both the regular and DBE'd flats is how much easier it is to see the dust motes in the new flats, and how in the DBE'd flats, a reflection in the middle vanished.

Though the cherry on top is seeing the mirror struts that were once visible in the dust motes vanish from visibility.

That confirmed to me that the issue ive been battling this whole time was illumination from the mirrors and the sky at the same time, I was seeing dust motes get illuminated twice.

This would be the cause of the embossed vignette I was getting too, on both the 571 and the 533.

The fact that the struts have vanished means I achieved my goal, on paper. So it's time to see if the changes are a net positive or negative on the next night out.

Could be a change in rotation causing the struts to look like they vanished

If they are there, the contact was cut by over 50% id say

That would still account for the sky illumination I think

[frosty shard]

The flats on the left look much more similar to my flats. Is this with or without the reducer?

[harsh matrix]

with the reducer

[crisp flower]

Really struggling with the process but im in Love with the Details

[high aspen]

holy sharp

[high aspen]

with a 6" rct right?

[crisp flower]

8"

the sharpness is really nice imo, but the lum has so many gradiennts its really annoying

[high aspen]

aa

[high aspen]

sounds abt right

[crisp flower]

what really annoys me is that m82 is just not in the surveys for msgr so i ccannot use it to remove them (at least it wasnt last time ive checked)

[high aspen]

😭

[crisp flower]

Bane of my existence rn

[high aspen]

you need to finish the survey yourself ovc

[crisp flower]

Not with that fov 💀

I could Go Out andgather more Data, so i can ignore the Processing a little longer

[tall summit]

Still work in progress, just 6.3h in, no Ha yet, I think it's my personal best so far on this object

[haughty steppe]

Just some quick data to test a couple things. All together, less than 3 hours data.

[desert locust]

is this the rc

[desert locust]

what camera

[haughty steppe]

294mm with ccdt67 reducer at .7x

Horse head is 4x5min Lum subs, Bodes is 4x5Min Lum and 3x5Min RGB, Owl Nebula is 1x5Min RGB

[tight lodge]

@high aspen ... I'm getting really close

[high aspen]

dayum

you are

[tight lodge]

Now I have to figure out why is so messy

I might have an idea... but I won't say it

[high aspen]

probably the laser/cheap lenses

[tight lodge]

Oh definitely

[tight lodge]

But the higher quality laser that I have it's very thermally unstable and it has a shorter wavelength.

The shorter wavelength compresses the fringes so much that they become invisible

[high aspen]

ooof :(

[tight lodge]

Soooo... I might have to buy an overpriced diverger from Edmund optics. Also find a better 650nm laser

[high aspen]

[quartz meadow]

why does it look like a fingerprint

[high aspen]

its mine mb

[quartz meadow]

okay

[tight lodge]

It's a mirror finger print

[high aspen]

how accureate are the readings with that fuzzy reading

[tight lodge]

Bad

DFTfringe simply tells me to kill myself 😭

[high aspen]

wtf 😭

[tight lodge]

The igram is just too messy for a clear reading

Buuut... I can blame myself as well. I handheld the camera in front of the beam splitter

This was the best purchase
Gives me the ability to have micron scale adjustments with 0 backlash 🤤

[high aspen]

woaaa

[frosty shard]

I am being driven mad. It's gonna be too cold to image for the next week

I still need to get this EAF working

Actually since I'm new to EAFs, got any recommendations for what to do beforehand (e.g. testing in NINA, helpful extensions, sequence modification)

[harsh matrix]

im testing the RC with the new baffles installed

i dont know how well it will go

hopefully it works

it's hard to tell rn because the acclimation to the sub 20 degree weather is slow

[harsh matrix]

i think collimation is seriously off now though

so anything i get tonight will be unusable

yeah it's way out

took removing and reinstalling the primary to throw it out

[harsh matrix]

rip collimation

💀

i think im just going to get an SCT

this sucks

nothing ive done has helped the RC in any way

it's still scuffed as hell

worthless

if flats dont work then i cant do anything with this scope

[harsh matrix]

i think the era of the rc is over

[tight lodge]

Have you give it a go under dark skies?

[harsh matrix]

yes

ive said before that issues still come up after enough exposure time

the dust motes never fully calibrate out regardless of where the data was shot or how the flats were taken

i have tried again and again to make it work and it chooses not to

this is a dust mote that persisted after nearly 15 hours of lum from the bortle 3 site i go to

i took 2 sets of flats each night and i tried both sets to no avail

this one persisted regardless

same with the vignetting here

both issues im still wrestling with 6 months later

it should be fixed if this was something i could have fixed

but it seems the issue is rooted in tube flexture or the figuring of the mirrors

i have no way of testing or fixing either of those issues myself

so. im screwed

[tight lodge]

Is this with the reducer?

[harsh matrix]

yes

[tight lodge]

I'm not 100% certain, but I think that is glow and not reflections.
Hear me out

I'm building an interferometer, and I noticed that the mat grinded edges of the optics, makes them glow

So what I'm thinking is that the optical elements in the reducer are glowing

[harsh matrix]

if that's the case, what do i do instead?

and how would i test that?

[tight lodge]

I could try to experiment for you by painting the edges in mat black and see if the glow is reduced

[harsh matrix]

i think the edges are already black on this one

not a very dark black but black nonetheless

hitting the reducer at an extreme angle of incidence does make it glow but in this case that was not possible

i had an aperture cut off just in front of the reducer cutting out the edges from being visible to the secondary mirror and the issue was still there

and even though shooting without the reducer is cleaner, there's still major issues there too

heavily denoised to show it

whatever this is

[tight lodge]

Does the pattern stay fixed with camera rotation?

[tight lodge]

Damn discord reply

[harsh matrix]

this?

[harsh matrix]

because the answer is no in either case

after i fixed the focuser light leak, the vignette changed based on sky gradient

this example above was without the reducer but still resembles a lot of what im still dealing with

one side of the embossed vignette is always brighter than the other and usually the brighter side is the side with the worse gradient where the sky is brightest

it's uneven

[harsh matrix]

and this pattern changes daily

i dont know wtf is going on there

[sterile pendant]

Do you have some light pollution where you shoot ?
If yes, is there any light you can see directly ? Even a little one or far away ?

[harsh matrix]

oh i am in a firm bortle 8 into 9 on bad nights

there are no lights that can shine directly into my scope

stray light from the neighbors at best and ive tested with the scope aimed away from them, with the same results

[sterile pendant]

Oh, damn that is a lot

[harsh matrix]

so i know it's originating from sky glow

they also dont leave their lights on all night

usually they go out eventually and i dont see any difference when blinking through my frames

you would know by blinking the frames if a light was shining directly down the tube or not because ive experienced it before

[sterile pendant]

Some nights, when it had a lot of humidity, the reflection of light pollution on the sky could give me a halo inside the tube.
So, it isn’t impossible it come from your sky

And I was in a bortle 4 on bad days

The moon is also a problem

Very complicated to resolve the reflections

[tight lodge]

As I understand, you also designed a pre-reducer field stop?

[sterile pendant]

I saw that you want a SCT instead ?
Ahah, that is so much worse than RC in any case ! Because you don’t have the problems of condensation right now ahah

Your sky is very bright, so even if you don’t shoot close to them, the glow can impact your images

Did you seen this ?

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235716436_Iterative_method_of_baffle_design_for_modified_Ritchey-Chretien_telescope

[harsh matrix]

i did once, it did nothing

what i had in there was another stop of sorts

still did not have an affect

if anything it made things worse

the issue is that sudden drop off in light

[harsh matrix]

im mostly not serious about that

and dew isnt a common problem for me here

[harsh matrix]

i have not seen this

[sterile pendant]

If the baffle are too long, you have a dark vignettage, if it’s too short, you have a light one 😅

The adjustment take some try

[harsh matrix]

i have both

it's light and then gets dark

it's embossed

the vignette should calibrate out with flats if it was strictly due to the baffle tube

[sterile pendant]

This is a weird gradient. It’s like this on the stack ? Damn

[harsh matrix]

my baffle tube is supposedly long enough to be sufficient

[harsh matrix]

yeah that's the stack

i dont understand why it looks that way or what produces it

if you see something like that on a newtonian, the coma corrector is usually at fault

but i had no other optics in place beyond the mirrors of the telescope

no reducer or flatteners

[harsh matrix]

also this is inverse of what im used to getting

if anything, this should have been "too long"

[sterile pendant]

Did you tried with a laser ? To see where the light can pass ?

[harsh matrix]

as i added some knife edge baffles into the baffle tubes to cut out reflections and i think it was slightly over compensating yet for some reason that was my result

[harsh matrix]

I did not, no

but i installed what is by all means overkill hardware to combat stray light

[harsh matrix]

this being the result

[sterile pendant]

Try the laser anyway. You will see where the light go, it is interesting

[harsh matrix]

this is a raw sub btw

it does exhibit signs of a baffle tube that is too long

[sterile pendant]

Yes

[harsh matrix]

yet after flats, this essentially inverts

[sterile pendant]

It is not centered

[harsh matrix]

oh i am aware

it's mechanical in nature

this is my 533 and the sensor is slightly off of center

i dont know why and it bothers me

it's like this on all of my scopes not just this one

so i know it is this sensor and not the scope

[sterile pendant]

So your flats are wrong for sure. The light is maybe not straight and you have a light path that is not like the sky

[harsh matrix]

it was flat panel flats i used for this test

i keep the panel parallel to the primary

[sterile pendant]

Oh yes that are maybe all the unused lines of pixels for many reasons

[harsh matrix]

historically ive used sky flats too and those fall short of half decent calibration too

[sterile pendant]

Yes but the light isn’t parallel

[harsh matrix]

whether or not that is the case, it is a hopeless endeavor

since that's entirely down to human error

[sterile pendant]

🤷‍♂️

[harsh matrix]

a human cannot get the precision necessary for it to be perfect

if sky flats havent worked

[sterile pendant]

That is an advantage normally

[harsh matrix]

then why would flat panel flats work

ive been through this cycle many times, i get false hope when i think of solutions like those you are proposing

[sterile pendant]

Maybe the light pollution

[harsh matrix]

the results have always been disappointing

fallen short of expectations

the last time i used sky flats, i had low expectations, but the result was way worse than i expected

[sterile pendant]

Yes sky flats are really hard to use

[harsh matrix]

this is what that looked like

[sterile pendant]

Hmmm, that is not so great yes

[harsh matrix]

and this was with flat panel flats

i have had to pick the lesser of two evils and even the lesser is still horrendous

the flat panel was flat across the top of the scope here

yet the result is obviously sub par

i dont think one can get more parallel than that

ive tried shooting with and without a dew shield and flats with that too

no difference

it remains the same

with and without the flat panel, sky flats too

all do not calibrate well

[sterile pendant]

I want to discuss more about it but writing is complicated 😅
Because I have a lot to say and I write very slowly (like a turtle)

[harsh matrix]

you got time cause i gotta go to bed, i can read after i get up

[sterile pendant]

What I see :

• the baffles aren’t good,
• the sky is complicated,
• the sensor is a bit offset

But, I think we can improve everything

[sterile pendant]

Then, good night ^^

[tight lodge]

I mean, his RCT is quite heavily modded at this point. It's frustrating that the issues persist

[sterile pendant]

https://tenor.com/view/mando-way-this-is-the-way-mandalorian-star-wars-gif-18467370

[quartz meadow]

Its also not the filters being to small for the sensor?

[crisp flower]

Iirc He has 2" Filters and the issue persisted with the 533 as Well

[quartz meadow]

So its not the filters either cause I've seen this happen with 1.25" filters

[tight lodge]

Trust me. In his case, the problem is much more complex than undersized filters

[quartz meadow]

Im seeing it

[high aspen]

have you tried placing the panel further backwards?

so it diffuses out a bit more evenly

[tight lodge]

Cross that off the list😂

[high aspen]

darn :c

have you tried a concentrated beam of charged particles?

[tight lodge]

That would neutron activate the AlO and make it radioactive

[high aspen]

perfect!

[tall summit]

Anyone here using this specific combination - RC6, reducer and APS-C ?

Spent a few hours out in this cold trying to re-collimate

I was able to get a good stars across the frame without the reducer, but cant get corners right with the reducer on

[desert locust]

https://tenor.com/view/disappointed-gif-5387473523077203425

[high aspen]

sounds right

its a reducer not a corrector.

it just shrinks the field which makes the focus shift hella amplified

[tall summit]

So I might be just hitting the correction limit with my reduced 6" and aps-c?

Even with the cropped corner, I still get a bigger fov than native fl, might as well stick with that. Plus f6 vs f9

[high aspen]

ayy

not bad still

[high aspen]

yea, you may be able to correct it still in post processing

[tall summit]

Rn it looks good to me without the reducer on, just a light crop for stacking/dithering artifacts:

[high aspen]

dayum

thats decent

[harsh matrix]

My 571 sensor is centered and that has calibration issues too. I'm not sure the offset has anything to do with it.

The baffle tube solution on the scope isn't good enough which is why I added some knife edge baffles to stop further stray light.

It did that and did that really well but ultimately I cant stop light rays from hitting the very thin edges of those baffles, which would ultimately bounce light down to the camera.

I painted them in a super black paint too.

It would have stopped anything if I wasnt in bortle 8/9

[tall summit]

Tnx, I think I got the stars rounder than they were before with the reducer, cropped to the same frame. Next step is to put the reducer back on without touching current collimation and seeing what happens. I think last time I collimated, I made a mistake and was trying to do it with the reducer on.

[high aspen]

aa

[harsh matrix]

not without blurx

These RC's can do APS-C really well at native but with a reducer, it gets really bad

[quartz meadow]

let sam the chad do the work

[harsh matrix]

you need a reducer/flattener for acceptable results

*something that does both

[high aspen]

i can do it without bxt

[harsh matrix]

what kind of black magic is that

[tall summit]

It looks like (to be confirmed) that a slightly cropped reduced frame still has a bigger fov than native fl, and you do reap the benefit of a faster F

[high aspen]

making my own model the same way i did with the denoiser

[tall summit]

I wonder whether rc6 reduces better or worse than rc8

[high aspen]

worse 100%

8" shouldnt be effected as much

[tall summit]

I think reducer goes back on for good, native vs reduced (approximately matched fov):

[high aspen]

gimme a corners look !!

i needa stare at dose edges

[tall summit]

Round 3, I think its getting better. This is with the reducer, right off asiair

[tall summit]

Calling this a day, dont know if I can do better at this point

[harsh matrix]

I can see the physical offset of the 533 actually

I can tell it isnt centered

[tall summit]

Will do tomorrow

[runic violet]

What

[harsh matrix]

this if it isn't a reducer & flattener

[runic violet]

So you don't have apex?

Is what I'm guessing

Also re flats not correcting out: have you sent the problematic subs/flats/bias to anyone

[harsh matrix]

Andro doesnt

i do

[harsh matrix]

no but i did have that idea last night

[runic violet]

So do you have correction issues

[harsh matrix]

i think ill assemble a drive folder and send it to whoever wants to attempt to salvage my situation

[runic violet]

With the apex

[harsh matrix]

extremely minor issues

nothing id consider to be unusable

[runic violet]

I mean it should have none barring miscollimation

Collimation is very hard to get exact

[harsh matrix]

the apex is a pretty fantastic piece of optics

[runic violet]

Either way I had a big problem with light leaks but not flats until I got rid of every single light in my obs + covered every inch of it

We never had a problem with flat correction on that rc8

[harsh matrix]

I took 5 minute darks in broad daylight and had no light leaks present themselves

i also did the flashlight test at night with the dust cap on

found nothing

[runic violet]

So you don't have that problem anymore

[harsh matrix]

correct

i fixed all of the leaks

[runic violet]

Either way the light leaks have nothing to do with the flats

[harsh matrix]

they did

[runic violet]

Really?

[harsh matrix]

but not anymore

yes

[runic violet]

How so

[harsh matrix]

that's how bad the ambient light is from my sky glow

[harsh matrix]

you could see the shadow of the secondary mirror and spider veins in the background of the images

it was like it was being imprinted on to every image

[runic violet]

But that doesn't feel like it has much to do with dust mote correction at the very least

Sure your field is not corrected but I primarily mean getting rid of dust mote shadows

[harsh matrix]

it was in the flats too but since the flats didnt exactly match the lights due to changes in ambient light, it would have differing levels of correction after flats

[harsh matrix]

it shouldn't

that's the idea

yeah I dont understand how it wont correct dust motes

[runic violet]

What's your imx571 manufacturer

[harsh matrix]

touptek

but the issue is the same with my 533

which is player one

i have dust mote correction issues with both cameras on this scope

actually the 533 is when i first noticed it on the first night out with the scope

sky flats had better correction but still far from ideal and they did not entrely remove the motes

they left embossed imprints in the image just like light panel flats

but the direction and shape the emboss took changed based on if it was sky flats or flat panel flats, which makes it even more confusing

but

you guys used this scope under dark skies right?

I have too, and this problem is far less pronounced under dark skies

but it will manifest with enough exposure time

[runic violet]

But you're at the usual recommended gain?

And you use bias + flats and correct the flats with bias, and correct the lights with both?

[harsh matrix]

they dont recommend a gain lol

i do use the recommended gain on my 533 though

which is 125

[harsh matrix]

that's what ive done for the longest time yes

[runic violet]

Well there is one regardless of being official or not

[harsh matrix]

i tried dark flats recently but the difference between dark flats and bias is none

[runic violet]

Nah that doesn't help you here

[harsh matrix]

to calibrate the flats*

i use bias to calibrate the lights always though

[runic violet]

If you send me the data I'm fairly confident I can probably figure out why

[harsh matrix]

ive asked other peeps with it and they all do their own thing with it

I stick to 100 gain and i use high conversion gain and the low read noise mode

[runic violet]

Yeah I doubt that's the way to go about it

[harsh matrix]

i mean

[runic violet]

The qhy/zwo have basically one setting for theirs

[harsh matrix]

it doesnt have problems calibrating on my other 2 scopes

[harsh matrix]

they do and so does player one

[runic violet]

Yeah sure but that's not why I'm aaking

[harsh matrix]

alright i can assemble a folder here shortly

[runic violet]

I'm asking for the purposes of funny things happening as a result of choice of gain

Also are your flats at exposures greater than 0.2s or less

[harsh matrix]

I understand that but it doesnt make sense when my other scopes dont have problems with the motes calibrating out

[harsh matrix]

1 seconds or 2 seconds recently

[runic violet]

There... can be an edge case

I doubt it though

[harsh matrix]

with my previous panel i couldnt get them slower than about 0.2s

same goes for sky flats

[harsh matrix]

how many light frames do you want?

[runic violet]

enough to see the problem

[harsh matrix]

lately one is enough but ill give you more so it becomes obvious

[harsh matrix]

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GPUDSnrb67U-HIi7ywP3Osk7BX5LN5t2?usp=sharing

there you go

Apex-L + 533 on the 8

[tall summit]

One more tweak, I think this is the most balances I had it with the reducer

[alpine flame]

Im begging you clean that dust

Flats wont even help with this monstrosity

[tall summit]

Yeah, got a new donut while switching things around 🙂

[digital nexus]

Day 70 of owning an RC6 and being unable to use it

[tall summit]

Thats wild

[digital nexus]

but but

soon.

Guiding is good - OAG working, 120mm guide cam working.

everything is good. im almost ready

its just cloudy and cold. so i dont wanna collimate :/

[harsh matrix]

real

[tall summit]

I decided to use a shit weather and a few clear-ish hours to re-collimate my scope and chase one bad corner-it was VERY rough in this cold

[digital nexus]

its -5F outside and theres 20 inches of snow.

not an option lol

[tall summit]

I was wishing I didnt start

We got like 11 inches, still was a pita

[digital nexus]

Anyone have a reducer recommendation

That’s not crazy expensive

[tall summit]

Apertura RC reducer from Highpoint

[tall summit]

@https://www.highpointscientific.com/apertura-0-67x-ritchey-chretien-focal-reducer

[high aspen]

still got split bottom spikey

looks dapper af tho

[tall summit]

I was just reeeeaaaly happy to get stars right, didn't have a willpower to start chasing that double spike and probably EFFF something up in a process

[high aspen]

[harsh matrix]

Im not a fan of this one.

If you use it at 55 mm of back focus, you get a nasty artifact that is unremoveable.

It looks like this

Left side here

This is this reducer vs the starizona apex at the same back focus and point of focus on the scope.

Using it at the specified 55 mm of back focus causes this.

If you keep the "unnecessary" extension on the back of it, you dont get this problem but you dont get the full 0.67x reduction it advertises either.

Other people have reported this problem with this reducer to HPS and their response was essentially, we know but we aren't going to fix it.

[frosty shard]

You and me buddy

[frosty shard]

...maybe I could sell you my reducer, since I have literally never used mine at all

[tall summit]

True, but its also double the price for starizona

[harsh matrix]

Correct but you don't get an artifact that consumes the entire sensor.

[digital nexus]

only if you give me a good deal

[frosty shard]

What is the edge case that you refer to?

[frosty shard]

Also, when you refer to a "recommended gain" are you talking about unity gain, the gain setting that produces the lowest noise, the switchover gain for cameras that handle HCG/LCG switching automatically, just the manufacturer's word, or something else?

(I use a Touptek ATR533M, and in high conversion gain, high full well, and low noise mode. I did some experimenting to find unity gain is 200, and defaulting to 100 probably results in nonlinear sensor behavior)

[runic violet]

the lowest noise performaance that happens to be at HCG that is the best setting for virtually every type of imaging besides photometry

for the qhy268m its like 56/25 high gain mode

[runic violet]

sensors can have odd behaviors both sensitive to flat exposure time and gain, that's why nailing everything down is important

[tall summit]

Which artefact are you referring to exactly (maybe not seeing it on a small phone screen)?

[harsh matrix]

The halo eating up the entire frame

This foggy ring

[tall summit]

Aahh

I had a CRAZY ring before I extended my baffle, it was absolutely unworkable and no flats would help

[harsh matrix]

That could have been part of the problem here as the RC8's baffling allows light to get in around the secondary mirror and it will always reach the camera if you use a reducer.

Otherwise the stock baffling should be adequate. Except im not convinced and there seems to be nothing I can do about it.

The fact that it vanished either by changing the back focus or by switching to another set of optics entirely leaves me unconvinced of it being the stock baffling as well.

It's more convincing to me that the reducer was the problem

That it interacts strangely with the already wacky light cone.

[tulip iris]

Sorry valoren can i ask you a thing, does this thing really affect u on the final image? Im not following what u guys were talking abt but my rc6 and the 533 i think have the same behaviour on flats just as yours, this halo u talkin abt is something u just notice on the final stack or only the single cal frame?

[harsh matrix]

This issue is observable in single subs and persists after flats.

The method of flats you use is irrelevant as it will always survive flats.

[tulip iris]

Isnt it possible that since primary mirror is connected to the drawtube and all the other parts, by having a heavy rig down there the baffle that is where the primary sits is tilted?

[tulip iris]

U know i noticed that sometimes my images arent corrected too but it seems to be more something related to the dust sposts on the mirror since comparing the weird thing that remains on the image and then the flats the places are identical, i never seen anything like yours tho

[tulip iris]

What do u usually use to do them? Atp im curious, i heard u did sky flats too but it still doesnt perfectly correct the issue u were talkin abt

[harsh matrix]

I got a different reducer

That apertura one was yikes

I still had leftover dust spots

Btw if you see dust spots leftover in your photos, theyre not on the mirror

Dust on the mirror is far too beyond the plane of focus to see

[tulip iris]

Ah why dont u suppose it could be that too, like an internal reflection that happens when bright light such as the flats one enters the tube

[harsh matrix]

Theyre on your sensor or filter

[desert locust]

hot take, rc's are not worth it under 8 inches of aperture

[tulip iris]

Prolly sensor window

Woa crazy its even brand new lmao used 2 times since i got it

[harsh matrix]

I dont know what the cause was

But it could be like what @tight lodge said

The edges of the lenses in the reducer could have maybe not been dark enough, causing the optics to glow

[tulip iris]

[tulip iris]

It can be too dont exclude it and btw even tho theres this myth that baffles on rcs arent correcting properly the image so u need the 3d printed one its not always true

Just a very bit of light can enter if u dont have the 3d printed baffle but that looks like its not the case

[tulip iris]

Consider weird reflections between reducer lens and sensor too

I still Cant understand why is the circle u told abt so offsetted from the image

[harsh matrix]

You dont have to be worried about that

It's because the sensor of my P1 533 is slightly offset from center

Physically offset

I can see the offset with my eyes

[tulip iris]

Oka

[tulip iris]

How the hell did that happen, arent those sensors on a motherboard screwed in place?

Weird tho…

[harsh matrix]

Well on the RC6 the baffle tube is supposed to be 165 ish mm long to be adequate

My Carbonstar's was 150 mm long

My RC8's is 200 mm long and 175 mm is adequate, by all means it is overkill.

But both scopes got that exact same artifact and only with that reducer

So it does definitely have something to do with the lenses of that reducer

Either theyre bouncing light between each other or theyre glowing or something else, I don't know what, but it's the reducer itself.

[tulip iris]

Maybe its just an rc6 thing, even tho i never seen this before, neither on mine when i got it and i was literally clueless of everything lol

[tall summit]

it was pretty nasty

[tulip iris]

Well u answered urself then

[harsh matrix]

The 6's never got an extended baffle from the factory but the 8's eventually did

[tulip iris]

Probably as i said with a strong direct light it bounces off somehow and creates that weird effect

[harsh matrix]

Mine predates the mandatory addition of them from factory but came with a metal 50 mm extension

[harsh matrix]

Ah

[tulip iris]

Woa

[harsh matrix]

That's not quite like what im seeing on the 8

[tulip iris]

I swear no lights on mine look like thay

Is my rc6 maybe special lmao

[tall summit]

Sometimes you would get a rainbow after trying to BE it

[harsh matrix]

Nah, I avoid the parts of the sky where that's possible

It's how the reducer interacts with my bortle 8/9 sky glow

[tulip iris]

I think this issue of the baffle is pretty irrelevant since the amount of stray light that can enter and bounce then on the sensor is pretty much limited, not impossible im just saying i dont really think its that, even because u would have otherwise random reflections on the lights and not always the same thing again and again

[tall summit]

I then made a test baffle extension out of thick paper, and boom, the issue was gone

[tulip iris]

Same

[harsh matrix]

No you're absolutely correct

[tulip iris]

Okok

[harsh matrix]

I just wanted to clarify my own findings through my own investigations of the issue of baffle tube length

[harsh matrix]

Thats wild

[tulip iris]

Ah u are in bortle 8/9

[harsh matrix]

Yes

💀

[tulip iris]

This could be another hint too

Even tho

I gotta say

At that focal lenght light pollution aint too much of an issue unless u use filters (or correctors),if we arent considering gradient

[tulip iris]

Yeah i feel ya im tryina understand the issue

[harsh matrix]

I don't understand what was going on myself lol

[tulip iris]

Mhm pretty bad ngl

[harsh matrix]

But I will tell you

Dust motes not correcting out entirely is a common problem with these RC's

You said you have some that refuse to calibrate out?

[tulip iris]

I feel you, sometimes i get weird stuff too and i just be like wow i did everything as always whats wrong now

[harsh matrix]

Yeah I flocked, painted, and baffled everything i could and dust motes still persist after flats

[tulip iris]

Ah never heard abt that

[harsh matrix]

A quick Google search will make it painfully apparent

[tulip iris]

Very slightly yeah, if i switch between g r b channels expecially in blue sometimes i see like a very very faint shadow of the dust mote

[tulip iris]

Well atp dont overstress on something u cannot control

If its something w flaws u keep it that way or just live with it

I mean u tried many things, i wouldnt have even bothered 😅

[harsh matrix]

Yup

Blue and lum

Green after those

[tulip iris]

The less u know and the better u live they say it

[tulip iris]

Idk weird

I thought it couldve been the faxt that i literally use a white shirt and a shitty graphic table to use it as a flat panel

[harsh matrix]

All this work.

For this.

[tulip iris]

Dam

U pretty hardcore on it

[harsh matrix]

Can't see it without it dbe'd but theres a fat dust mote in the bottom right quarter of the image

[tulip iris]

I feel the disappointment man

[harsh matrix]

That didnt calibrate out

[tulip iris]

Its just like a woman when u try to tell here shes wrong

[harsh matrix]

I did everything i could.

[tulip iris]

Jk

[tulip iris]

Crazy

[harsh matrix]

Yeah I mean

I love the scope. Because when it works, the results make me drool.

[tulip iris]

When i took my frames using my apsc dslr i swear frames were better than urs even by not using any corrector

[harsh matrix]

I sincerely believed I could get it to a point where it was near flawless.

[tulip iris]

I just see weird fog that literally makes me crash out

[harsh matrix]

It showed promise every step of the way, but after adding some knife edge baffles in the baffle tube, it became clear that there was nothing left to try.

[harsh matrix]

Exactly

[tulip iris]

Yeah i feel you man

[harsh matrix]

It looks like the flats are over correcting due to a bad offset.

But that's not it.

[harsh matrix]

[tulip iris]

Idk i noticed that sometimes things just cannot be fixed however u try

[harsh matrix]

A lot of this is high bortle issues.

[tulip iris]

Same

[harsh matrix]

Id be a lot happier if dust motes werent persisting.

[tulip iris]

I switched from a stupid achro frac and a manual mount directly to this

Literally had me like i would not see anything except that

I just feel like, gso scopes are basically idk the more u pay the better they are, i thought that paying 600 bucks for the rc6 was all i had to do to image but guess what, u need to swap everything almost except the mirrors if u are lucky ahahahahahaa

[tulip iris]

It is what it is

Probably ur bortle doesnt help either

[harsh matrix]

I did the same.

This scope shot all of these incredible photos. But the majority of the broadband photos were under dark skies. It wasnt even flawless there.

I tried to make the doublet work but I was so fed up with chromatic aberration that I couldn't take it anymore

[tulip iris]

Crazy unlucky

[tulip iris]

Yeah i tell myself the same, in 4hrs i noticed that the shadows of the dust motes on the mirror like duplicated ahahahahahaha

[harsh matrix]

[tulip iris]

Thats crazy somebody professionally ill as me ahahahahaha

[harsh matrix]

Yeah hence why im done just dealing with it.

It will get much worse with the more exposure I add.

Exponentially so from home.

[tulip iris]

Tell the truth u were waiting for this moment to show me the pics

[tulip iris]

Except all jokes those are very good

[harsh matrix]

[tulip iris]

Did u achieve them in any particular way

Ngl id like to do the same

[harsh matrix]

I was not but those come to mind when I think about the disappointments with the scope

[tulip iris]

I bought the scope to image the pillars of creation and i did w the dslr but well, u know

[harsh matrix]

Wdym

[tulip iris]

My issue is that probably im crap at post processing lmao

Idk if 8hrs of stuff should look like this..

It seems okay

I feel like there could be more of it

[harsh matrix]

Looks like collimation is out.

[tulip iris]

Fr

[harsh matrix]

Im extremely particular about the collimation of my RC

[tulip iris]

Oof i hate it

[harsh matrix]

To the point that I decoupled it just to avoid astigmatic stars from the mirror sag

Also 8 hours of data from an RC, especially in bortle 8+ will look pretty rough.

[tulip iris]

U did good at least u tried everything

[harsh matrix]

But are you OSC?

[tulip iris]

Idk like a tip hahahaahahahaha

[tulip iris]

What how

[tulip iris]

Like..?

[haughty steppe]

Triffid looks amazing

[tulip iris]

Ah

[tulip iris]

Yeah definitely

[tulip iris]

Yep 533 mc

[harsh matrix]

Maybe not but your stars look funky

[tulip iris]

I see no issues w collimation idk

[harsh matrix]

Either smashed or triangular

But my 6 had the same problem

[tulip iris]

I just cooked them lmao

[tulip iris]

Wait where

[harsh matrix]

O

[harsh matrix]

Everywhere

Small ones especially

[tulip iris]

Lemme give it a look wait

I didnt wanna know it

Im mad now

[harsh matrix]

Thats another reason why it's underwhelming.

[tulip iris]

[harsh matrix]

These RC's get insane once you get mono.

You can cheat the signal a lot with luminance.

[haughty steppe]

mono itself is just really good

[tulip iris]

Ah okay, no maybe thats because my guiding lately aint being the best, im a bit experimenting w cable management so, my average is 0.8”

[tulip iris]

WDYM CMON I BOUGHT THE CAMERA FOR CHRISTMAS 😭

Life gets disappointing very easely lol

[harsh matrix]

Nah OSC from light pollution on an RC6 is pretty rough.

[tulip iris]

Yeah but i have no money bruhhh

[harsh matrix]

I did it for a while.

[tulip iris]

If i even pick the mono i just cannot make it

[harsh matrix]

This was 4 hours of data i believe, from bortle 3

[harsh matrix]

I get that, very understandable, but you should know it has its limits.

[tulip iris]

Im in bortle 5

[harsh matrix]

Try to shoot for 20 hours minimum per broadband object

[tulip iris]

Not in tokyo

[harsh matrix]

Okay then definitely go for more data per object

[haughty steppe]

Yeah, these stars are tilted a bit. Could be tilt or collimation

[tulip iris]

Dammnn thats nice i think i found somebody as me

[harsh matrix]

8 hours isnt very much and is even less for OSC.

[tulip iris]

It was gonna be my next target

[tulip iris]

I know that but i got it since i wanted to make the big step from the dslr to the dedicated camera

[harsh matrix]

Heh welcome to the club 💀

[tulip iris]

If i pick mono i need another 300 bucks for filterwheel and lets not talk abt filters

[tulip iris]

20hrs? Ah

Silly me i thought 8 were overkill

[harsh matrix]

Definitely not

Go for as much as possible

[haughty steppe]

8 is like nothing.

[tulip iris]

I think tilt since i got the stock shitty crayford focuser

[harsh matrix]

I went for 31 hours of broadband on M33 this fall

From bortle 3

Realistically there was no good reason to do that

[tulip iris]

Okay

[harsh matrix]

But the benefit was that I resolved a goofy amount of low magnitude stars in the galaxy.

And I didnt have to denoise the luminance

It was totally flat

[tulip iris]

No new it started to be like that after aknowledging the existance of female sex

[haughty steppe]

have you used a laser to check?

[tulip iris]

Okay then ill do better

[harsh matrix]

Oh absolutely

That focuser is a horse turd

[tulip iris]

Ok guys thanks for telling me im a disappointment i get it

[harsh matrix]

And practice post processing

Practice practice practice

From bortle 5 you can get infinitely better results than I can from home

[tulip iris]

Well i wish i had bortle 3 next to be

Best theres here is 4

[haughty steppe]

This is about 40min on bodes as I was just testing some stuff. 5Min unguided subs LRGB

My lum had some calibration issue but I was taking down the camera next day anyway so oh well

[harsh matrix]

It's 90 minutes away

I can only go once a month if im lucky

[tulip iris]

Hey u know however it goes it still comes useful sometimes, u know experience

[tulip iris]

Just siril to check it and theres i can assure you that

[haughty steppe]

Vel, what rc you got?

[tulip iris]

Believe me the screw under the drawtube broke the pastic piece that idk protects the shaft where the 2 wheels move around

I need the first 350 bucks to buy a new focuser for sure

After that whatever yall want

[tulip iris]

Im very trash at it

Ngl

[tulip iris]

So u live natively in b8/9 but u have the possibility to go better if u want

Lucky…

[harsh matrix]

TPO RC8

[harsh matrix]

Sort of

Depends on my work schedule too

Which, being in retail, could be extremely variable.

I am happy that there is a place close enough to go for a weekend though

[tulip iris]

Well lucky u

I got no time

[harsh matrix]

However, it hasn't been bortle 3 since like, March last year

Only the first and second trips were believable

[tulip iris]

I got back at the hobby cuz i finished highschool this summer and got into medschool

[harsh matrix]

Second one I measured the SQM which came out at a firm bortle 3

[tulip iris]

Since lessons start again in march sfter that ill be out agsin

[harsh matrix]

Every trip after that has been bortle 4 or 4.5 due to bad transparency

[tulip iris]

Idk till when so im lowkey sad abt it

[harsh matrix]

The tradeoff about that site is extreme humidity, regular high clouds every time ive gone, and rarely consecutive clear nights.

[tulip iris]

Yeah it can happen

[harsh matrix]

I have to be prepared to toss 25 to 50% of my data when I go.

[tulip iris]

I live in extreme humidity too

Always fogs up here

Btw same

Literally same thing

Its been over a month of continuous clouds now

In 1 whole month 2 nights of imaging

[harsh matrix]

Ah well im going to go back to uni in the fall so

[tulip iris]

Im a bit paranoid abt it so i just go outside every hour to check w my own eyes

[harsh matrix]

Once that happens, my time under those skies will probably be over for who knows how long

Thats the not so good part about it.

[tulip iris]

U got a bit extra time than me

[tulip iris]

Same

Idk when ill be again around here

[harsh matrix]

Yes and no

I need to study in depth before i go back

Need to dedicate my time to that and not travel

[tulip iris]

I was just thinking abt that

[tulip iris]

Eh same thing

I have physics exam the 12th of feb

Ofc guess what 2 weeks before exam only a stupid aah as me couldve gotten appendicitis lmao

I may be getting operated tomorrow

Hope i die lmao hahahaahahahahaha

[desert locust]

https://tenor.com/view/disappointed-gif-5387473523077203425

[high aspen]

hello hallo halo

[tulip iris]

Lil update im alive

I went to hospital and did some exams but nothing came out lol, it may be no appendix actually

[tulip iris]

Jk im in hospital lmao

Bruh what if i die who will do ap for me

[frosty shard]

I gotchu (once the temperatures exceed –10 °C here)

[vapid patio]

what scope?

[tall summit]

Apertura RC6 @ F6

[vapid patio]

ahh man of culture I see

I aslo have one

do you use a ccdt67

[high aspen]

guess what, amma get a cc6

instead of an rc6 >:3

[vapid patio]

cc6?

[high aspen]

classsy cassy

[vapid patio]

classy cassy

[tall summit]

nice! there are high F right, like 11 or 12?

[tall summit]

I use apertura's 0.67 reducer

[vapid patio]

ok sick

what camera you rocking

[tall summit]

that's 2600mc pro

[vapid patio]

ok dang thats fancy

did this awhile back with a 533 at f/9

just about 9hr

[desert locust]

so it was appendix

[tall summit]

love the detail/resolution on the spiral arms

that where I am now

[high aspen]

remove the secondary and it becomes f3

spend an extra 1k and it becomes f2.9

corrected to full frame

[tall summit]

you can "RASA" it?

[frosty shard]

Why would you choose to approach glory and not actually achieve it

[tall summit]

lololol

[frosty shard]

wait has someone actually RASA'd a GSO CC

[desert locust]

what scope also mono?

[high aspen]

https://www.orionoptics.co.uk/product/wynne-corrector-3-used-on-ag-series/

it can also be used for class casses if you remove the secondary

[frosty shard]

Well there's a big issue I see with trying to do this: the light cone shape

[high aspen]

why would light cone shape change

[frosty shard]

If you RASA a classical Cassegrain, the focal plane will be forward of the secondary mirror

And so you can run into stray light issues if you don't put it a lot of effort to baffle the sensor externally of the OTA

[high aspen]

wel yea

[frosty shard]

On top of that, you may not get any benefit of a wider field if the internal baffling cuts off the light cone with the aggressiveness needed for an f/12 scope

[high aspen]

we will see in a few years

[frosty shard]

Not to totally dissuade you from trying, but you may have to account for these limitations

Ray tracing will help

[high aspen]

planed on donutwory

[frosty shard]

I do wonder if attempting to convert an RC in this manner would get you better results

The trade-off being that you'd need a different corrector

[high aspen]

was boutta say that

i think a prolate elipse or oblate elipse would work best tbh

[vapid patio]

No, was osc and Astro tech rc6

[desert locust]

damn, nice image

[harsh matrix]

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1tjYgwMCMxBGim4LyNqAuJnuYVJ2r6Mra?usp=sharing

Here's some scuffed data if anybody wants to stack it to see if it wont be borked

[high aspen]

okki :3

[harsh matrix]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1361158206461837433/1466315788343443488/image.png?ex=697e46be&is=697cf53e&hm=72fec4e86631f5ac51a84ba8aeb7b171af5aee3944acf94c1393c588f2efa8df&

It should come out looking like this but with more diffuse signal since it's not the full set.

Dont be deceived by it, looks fine until you run a DBE, and a little bit of noise reduction, reapply STF, and then problems start to show.

https://www.kkinstagram.com/p/DUJtVaEErln/?igsh=MWU1YmRyOTBmemtmbg==

@frosty shard thought his was my image for a sec lmao

He scared me cause he processed it so similarly

Framing is quite a bit different

So it isnt mine

[tulip iris]

Okay perfect

[tulip iris]

Rc6?

[tulip iris]

Not really idk its a weird thing, every damn department head looked at all the things i did and told me i got no appendicitis

Think it more like something very close, phisically to the appendix that has its symptoms too but it aint

Its an irritation of the intestine close to that, precisely the ileum should be

Tho now im there and ill keep being here for another night lmao

[harsh matrix]

That's good, right?

[tulip iris]

Depends, if it would be something u can say ok the u got this this and this so u have to be operated such as appendicitis well, 30 min on operating table and ur done w everything, since this aint that ill keep being in pain and have fever for idk how much long so it depends

If ur goal is okay im happy im not being operated then yeah, if ur goal is i hope pain gets away then this aint really changing much

[harsh matrix]

Oh true 💀

[tulip iris]

Yesh

Lemme check if tonight was a clear one

I lost signal because of this💔

No okay luckly its terrible the weather here its being on streak this shi

Prolly the most worrying part is that i have to study for the exam

Not the thing i have atm

[vapid patio]

Yep

[tulip iris]

Its crazy

Love it

[bleak solar]

After three months I finally have enough weights to not make it so front heavy and the right adapter for the camera! Finally 😭😭

[tight lodge]

Ok, I might sound brutal, but it's better to get operated and have the appendix removed early.

[tulip iris]

If u got appendix inflamed then yeah

But i dont

I just have the fever and pain in the same area but all the damn exams i did till today proved the opposite

Would u be operated knowing that if u remove that theres no assurance the pain and everything w it goes away?

[tulip iris]

Thing is, i have some of the things related to that but whatever i did and tried gave opposite results so there isnt really a proof saying ok u got that so its a weird situation ehm

[tall summit]

If I have a filter drawer sitting between the reducer and sensor, is dust on a filter close enough to cause donuts/motes?

[frosty shard]

Yeah it certainly can

[stiff mason]

Yeah

But it won't be tight

It will be diffused

[tall summit]

Tnx

[harsh matrix]

should look like this after heavy DBE and denoise

@frosty shard

[frosty shard]

I saw that a little while ago. Do you think you might upgrade?

[harsh matrix]

on an RC, probably not?

for my quattro?

yes

[sinful sapphire]

zamn

sad that they discontinued the Xena-M

[digital nexus]

Should I pullout my RC for funzies

No Collimation, barely in focus, in -5F?

[high aspen]

yes

[frosty shard]

Unfortunately I think I'm going to have to abandon my Heart Nebula project

I really need the integration time on some different targets

And that's very hard to come by at the moment

This was 13 hours 20 minutes...f/8 on a full moon moment

[harsh matrix]

yeah