Ritchey–Chrétien enjoyers thread

[digital nexus]

It’s not worth it

I don’t care

I’m not going to spend 50 minutes finding the star after a small adjustment

[harsh matrix]

that's indicative of adjustments being too large

[haughty steppe]

its a callo thing

[harsh matrix]

doesn't really matter what thing it is

it takes weeks or months of practice

you cant be good at it in one or two nights

an RC requires a lot of patience and if one doesn't have the patience, it probably isn't the right choice for them

[slate falcon]

my astrocam sadly cant focus this, but have a phone cam shot instead

[frosty shard]

And it's worth getting right once because GSO RCs hold their collimation pretty well once you dial it in

[harsh matrix]

My baader diamond steeltrack just arrived.

My focuser was on darn tight and it was moving that much. 💀

[frosty shard]

Oh sick. Hope that marks the end of your donut saga

[harsh matrix]

It might. Can't thread the reducer directly onto the drawtube.

Since there are no click locks available for the steeltrack, im going to have to use the compression ring.

Luckily it's a click lock style compression ring instead of a thin piece of brass.

I feel a little more comfortable with that than a standard compression ring.

[harsh matrix]

Uh oh

I dont have a coupler big enough to fit this thing either.

I cant attach the bracket

It's straight up incompatible with my Gemini.

[tight lodge]

RASA + Reducer

[candid flame]

No reason to reduce if you're using the whole image circle already

[harsh matrix]

Wait so

Ive thought about this long and hard.

Should I just shoot at native and downsample to give the illusion of stronger SNR?

[tight lodge]

But what if you reduce it

[desert locust]

how you reduce a rasa?

[frosty shard]

You use a reducing agent like sodium borohydride

[desert locust]

or you microwave it

[candid flame]

wdym "illusion"?

[candid flame]

you don't

[harsh matrix]

yes

[harsh matrix]

put it in the oven obviously

it shrinks the primary mirror

[candid flame]

there is no illusion?

[harsh matrix]

I know

I am ragebaiting

[frosty flicker]

what happened?

[digital nexus]

i called off sick once

[frosty flicker]

bruh

[digital nexus]

u see

they only scheduled me one every other week

and i dont get sigups for their shitty credit card

[frosty flicker]

why do you need a credit card

[harsh matrix]

the real question is, what is not being said that led up to only being scheduled every other week?

[harsh matrix]

I feel like there's more to this than is being let on

that's why I didn't press it

kind of like that Krishna kid

[digital nexus]

i asked

im busy working a 40 hour+ a week internship to graduate.... thats unpaid. it also takes up most of my freetime

why the hell does a 533 have insane amouunts of vignetting with an RC6

wtf

[harsh matrix]

are you using 1.25" filters?

[digital nexus]

no

[harsh matrix]

ohhhhh

youre using the reducer

so it smushed the light cone down

i think it looks more exaggerated than it actually is

[digital nexus]

well its bad enough that my OAG is starved

[harsh matrix]

because of the STF

[digital nexus]

i had to use 6 seconds to see more than 2 stars'

[harsh matrix]

what guide camera are you using

[digital nexus]

120mm

[harsh matrix]

nah it isnt the OAG then

that's the 120MM doing its thing

[digital nexus]

the 120mm was fine at native

[harsh matrix]

I highly doubt that

[digital nexus]

it had more stars

[harsh matrix]

I could hardly make it work in galaxy season with my 6

that doesnt make any sense whatsoever

[digital nexus]

idk what to tell you. thats what happened

[harsh matrix]

the RC6 has a small image circle but I dont believe it is that small

[tall summit]

Ugh, there is nothing narrowband to shoot at the moment, and moon is rough on galaxies

[frosty flicker]

get Ha in galaxies

[tall summit]

Iam shooting a Coma cluster, they are way too small

[desert locust]

462 is goated guide cam

[haughty steppe]

What hfr do you normally get? And what fl and pixel size is that corresponding with?

[frosty shard]

Use your S-II filter if you do that

Not H-alpha

[tall summit]

dont have it

[frosty shard]

the redshift of the Coma Cluster is too high for H-alpha filter to work, but it slots right into the S-II bandpass

[tall summit]

shooting as is BB with moon, lets see what happens

[slate falcon]

it isnt that small, theres a reason the secondary is so big

[silver ibex]

Is this a US moment?

[digital nexus]

I’m not good at convincing people to sign up for their credit card and rewards program

lol

and called off sick once

so il probably be scheduled 1 day a month now so I’m still “working” there

[slate falcon]

atp look for another job so you can quit

[digital nexus]

I’m stuck in an internship that’s like 40 hours a week, and requires a ton of work outside of it: all unpaid.

So I literally don’t have time to work more than 1 day a week

[slate falcon]

are they the only place letting you work 1 day a week?

[digital nexus]

Well what job would hire somebody who can only work 1 day a week lol

[slate falcon]

macdonal

[digital nexus]

I refuse to work in a job dealing with food

[slate falcon]

cashier:

[digital nexus]

That’s what I’m doing currently

[slate falcon]

other cashier at different place :

[digital nexus]

bruh why so much vignetting

[slate falcon]

reducer entered the chat:

(also the tube sticking into the light cone to protect agains off axis light will block it some)

[digital nexus]

its only a 533 :/

[slate falcon]

isnt the scope only made for apsc un reduced

so reduced its gunna be tiny

[harsh matrix]

This is what I said yesterday lol

[slate falcon]

didn't see my bad

[harsh matrix]

It's not a bad thing that you reiterated

It reinforces what I said.

[slate falcon]

[slate falcon]

vel do you think a class cass will have the same issues with light leak and stuff you are having?

[harsh matrix]

hard to say considering how much farther back a camera will be in that system

im contemplating converting the RC back to native so i can use my rotator

i want a 1x flattener but i dont know if i can make that work with a rotator

or the rotator I own

i could make it work if i had the M68 version

[slate falcon]

truee

we will find out in time

i will also test a coma corrector bc afaik it doesnt work with one bc of the hyperbolic secondary

[frosty shard]

did you check your imaging train for reflective adapters?

[crisp flower]

Learning myself far outside the Window Here but i dont think my sct Had These issues (but ive only started Mono Back then so i really dont know)

[slate falcon]

guys, heres the jwst pallete on bubble

[digital nexus]

What could be reflective? I don’t remember there being anything reflective

[crisp flower]

mainly the extention tubes connecting the scope and camera

[harsh matrix]

basically the entire inside of the scope is reflective

[versed roost]

what is that palette

[slate falcon]

idk tbh

i just straight up slapped all 6 channels together and called it a day

[slate falcon]

okay but this actually looks scrumptious

[quartz meadow]

more int

[slate falcon]

its my megaproject for the next while

[slate falcon]

its also a combined 8 hours

buut in He and Ir its so dim that 30 mins of Ha drowns it out

[quartz meadow]

I was about to say "are you sure that is 8hrs?"

[slate falcon]

the bulk is Ha and red

the rest of the channels are sad

[slate falcon]

just wait until i get the ariii and siii filter

the oi filter wont be bad

oi has good snr

[digital nexus]

Stars are ovals

Like double the length they should be

Spikes are not sharp

[frosty flicker]

https://klipy.com/gifs/gameundt-fallout

[slate falcon]

why the rc6 so messed up

also doesnt it have an inbuilt tilt plate?

[digital nexus]

no

The tilt plate costs $90. I do have one though

But it covers the Collimation screws on the primary mirror

So I can’t use it lmao

[slate falcon]

wadafrug

[quartz meadow]

I'm in for the Ar III and OI but not the S III

[slate falcon]

whats wrong with siii

[quartz meadow]

weak

[slate falcon]

only slightly

[haughty steppe]

what do you think the spikes are?

[digital nexus]

OVALS

[haughty steppe]

First one is a literal double star btw

[digital nexus]

ik that one

[haughty steppe]

And the brighter small ones won't be perfectly round because of the diffraction

Looks like a good image to me

[desert locust]

https://tenor.com/view/riddler-paul-dano-new-rockstars-does-he-know-gif-26833694

[slate falcon]

@tight lodge 3 sets of leds

i spent ages lining this shit up xD

[digital nexus]

@harsh matrix did you hav any issue with color on ur rc6

whered my color go

[frosty shard]

have you tried doing a saturation stretch after the initial stretch?

[digital nexus]

yes

[frosty shard]

hmm

[frosty shard]

How did you color calibrate? Did you do any other color manipulation before stretching?

[digital nexus]

spcc

and no

[frosty shard]

(I may not be super helpful here since I've only really shot mono)

[slate falcon]

led diffuse light (not a point source)

the moon is so dim through it only my cone cells detect

😭

[slate falcon]

(full vs with uhc filter)

[harsh matrix]

No

[slate falcon]

absorbtion lines!!

[harsh matrix]

@frosty shard couldn't get an EAF on the BDS soon enough

However

There's not an unbelievable amount of tilt anymore.

My baby is sharp corner to corner just about.

Will need to iron things out once I get the adapter to use my click lock with it

Like im sure the tilt isnt great because I had it pre adjusted for the other focuser

Aka, I adjusted sag and not real tilt, most likely.

[harsh matrix]

Oh and guiding is much improved.

Even with the wind Im hitting a nice 0.5" on the opposite side of the meridian and in the north instead of the south.

Which, before, id be lucky to see below 0.65" ish when guiding away from the part of the sky I calibrated on.

Which all tells me that focuser was flopping around.

Shouldn't have been.

Seeing sub 0.5" rn wtf

That's with wind.

[desert locust]

do planetary

[harsh matrix]

That's not the seeing

My seeing is probably 2.5" rn

[desert locust]

oh

ohhhh

[tight lodge]

@frosty shard do you remember that we made a thread about the WAVE150i so we can troubleshoot issues with the mount? Now the thread is dead because there are no issues with the mounts😭

[harsh matrix]

@frosty shard it is finally over

[frosty shard]

https://tenor.com/view/crab-rave-dancing-dancing-crab-gif-16543314

THE ARTIFACT IS GONE

[tight lodge]

We are officially in danger 😭

[frosty shard]

Finally managed to get some H-alpha on NGC 2403 (HaLIRG+B preview)

[crisp flower]

SICK!

[frosty shard]

alright this looks a little better

I really just need to back this up with more luminance

And here's HaLRGB

That's 11 hours exactly of HaLRGB and just over 15 hours when the IR data is added in

I just saw this message while digging and if you haven't already tried it: it's worth a shot. RC and refractor reducers are often interchangeable

Refractors and RCs are aplanatic designs so it's not like an SCT reducer which also tries to correct coma

If you have tried it I'd be interested in hearing the results

[tight lodge]

The fact that you have IR shouldn't make Ha green😭

No, but I tried a frac field flattener on a newtonian

[frosty shard]

Skill issue, learn to embrace false color

[tight lodge]

There's a difference between false color and not calibrating your colors 😭

[digital nexus]

I have a flat field refractor (71f), so yea I’m curious how it’ll work: they both are naturally flat fielded

Il have to give it a try eventually

[slate falcon]

yummi :3

[harsh matrix]

Technically it is still there

But as i found through patching the light leak with the decoupler, it is likely from the light leak around the drawtube. 💀

So ill get to finding some way to either mitigate it, redirect it, or eliminate it entirely.

The stock adapter with the baader is designed not to let that happen but the M 90 adapter lets it happen.

Other focusers have flanges on the end of the telescope side of the drawtube, this one doesnt have that either, so another option is to make one

The reason I believe it is the drawtube is because the profile of the way everything looked after flats was identical to the unpatched decoupler leak.

in any case, the baader is a keeper

light leaks arent any worse than the GSO focusers, but rigidity is far superior

feathertouches have worse leaks than the baader

(which I was going to buy for a while before I learned of some first hand experiences with them )

[frosty shard]

...they are calibrated.

[harsh matrix]

sounds like SDSS palette

[frosty shard]

Here's a blink between the HaLRGB and HaLIRG+B

[harsh matrix]

i already fixed the light leak with the BDS drawtube lol

i made a part so precise that it does exactly what i needed it to do without letting any light by

to put this nail in the coffin, i designed another half that is currently printing that will go inside the decoupler to catch any high angle reflections before they can get anywhere in the optical train

judging by just how precisely made this first one was, i think the fitment will be exact

[versed roost]

what a saga

[haughty steppe]

Does anyone want to try some short integration processing practice :D. Heres some data I captured before main target was available. Its less then 1 hour 5 mintes total LRGBHa. Heres what I was able to pull out of the data. 1500mm focal length at 2.3um pixel size. This is drizzled data so original pixel size is 4.6um with bin2. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/19EFy7UhxB8BXfEYmltIUshnnJE4KxdiN?usp=sharing

[harsh matrix]

Heh

Decided I didnt need the other half of the blocking mechanism for 2 reasons

1, it's already very thin and wouldnt do much, 2 the bit on the drawtube and it don't align perfectly for whatever reason but they do fit together like they should.

I pointed my phone camera up the side of the drawtube with this current flange and I saw nothing.

At any point of focus id normally operate at, all the way racked in, and nearly all the way racked out, I made that so precisely that it just does the trick on its own.

Hell yes.

[tight lodge]

@harsh matrix @frosty shard I got a galaxy season challenge for you. In 1h I only managed to get two fuzzy pixels. Yall can do better on the Cheshire cat?

[desert locust]

yall should all do it then combine data

[tight lodge]

Yeah. We should... but people are more focused on average mainstream targets

[slate falcon]

shoud i do cheshire :3c

[slate falcon]

mainstream is mid

[crisp flower]

I will as soon as it clears Up (and i got som blue on m101)

[slate falcon]

blaeu

[crisp flower]

Oui

[tight lodge]

Just don't do it in IR

It's hard enough in luminance

[harsh matrix]

my time will be a waste lol

you dont want me helping

[tight lodge]

But it's a small region. Plus you might be just the right person😭

[slate falcon]

but ir is my pride and joy

[tight lodge]

Yeah, but this is a very dim target and you want every single photon in the spectrum. Especially where your camera has the highest QE

[slate falcon]

sooo, no filter at all then

i can do that

ohhh noooo the moon is up!

i guess i have to do infrared

[slate falcon]

sooo, this is the cheshire?

got shit seeing but i will lucky image it at some point

@tight lodge even got the mouth

[crisp flower]

i got the eyes and nose in 30 mins before tracking got bad

[slate falcon]

the nose gets mixed in mine if you can see

you can see like 3 pixels of nose

[crisp flower]

oh yea lol

how much int has yours?

[slate falcon]

lemme calc

[slate falcon]

83 mins

[crisp flower]

niiice

[slate falcon]

thats why im getting some of the galaxies too

and slightly the mouth

[crisp flower]

i wanted to do more but scope too heavvy

[slate falcon]

does it die at zenith?

[crisp flower]

if its over the zenit it goes downhill (literally lol)

i dont trust the stellavita with a meridian flip and i dont know how to force it

so im back at m101

[slate falcon]

[slate falcon]

m101 is fun

[crisp flower]

it is!

i can do gato when the moonphase is more favorable

[slate falcon]

what the hell galaxy

why are you do this???

[crisp flower]

its a bird lol

[slate falcon]

i love how many are just peppered everywhere

[crisp flower]

ill just keep glazing over this one for now

[slate falcon]

🤤

[digital nexus]

@harsh matrix Did you fix the circle thing in your image

I think it’s in mine

[harsh matrix]

Light leak

[harsh matrix]

The answer is yes

I believe anyway

The signs of movement were gone but I had artifacts comparable to your image there

Thats because light was leaking around the drawtube of my new Baader Diamond Steeltrack

[harsh matrix]

I found the main reason it manifests is because of light leaks in between the imaging train and secondary mirror

[digital nexus]

so you think this circle in mine is a light leak too?

[harsh matrix]

So think focuser light leaks or decoupler light leaks

[harsh matrix]

Yes

Definitely

[digital nexus]

hmmmmm i wonder where

well probably the focuser

I doubt it would be the where the primary mirror is

[harsh matrix]

It's not

That part is surprisingly sealed off

[digital nexus]

well if its coupled i really hope so

lol

[harsh matrix]

None of my testing has ever revealed a leak there thankfully

[digital nexus]

So il need to search my focuser

where was yours?

[harsh matrix]

Yes

[harsh matrix]

Gap between the focuser body and the outside of the drawtube

I made a little lip that I put on the scope side of the drawtube

Purpose built to avoid the mechanical parts, aka doesn't get caught on anything or stuck

Flocking the extension tube helped further dampen the leak

This is what i did to the focuser I was using

This got rid of the leak too

But you have to take care not to put flocking material between the gap and the drawtube where the gap is too narrow for the material to fit

[digital nexus]

would the light leak cause the flats not to fix the dust spot too though?

[harsh matrix]

I deemed that particular solution to be unnecessary for my BDS just based on how well the little flange with the flocked extension tube was doing

[harsh matrix]

I believe it can

[digital nexus]

cause you can still see it at top middle

and even slightly bottom middle

[harsh matrix]

Yes I noticed

With a leak as excessive as the one that comes from around the drawtube of a focuser, I believe it does allow dust to survive calibration

[digital nexus]

what did you use to make the lip thing

[harsh matrix]

Because the light leak during flats wont match the light leak during imaging.

[harsh matrix]

I 3D printed it.

[digital nexus]

oh, i dont have one 🙁

[harsh matrix]

I thought so, so I was already thinking about alternatives.

Low hanging fruit can be cardboard or something.

Maybe stuff like what I used for my decoupler, crushable foam strips, high density.

Or flock the ever living hell out of the entire inside of it and pray

[digital nexus]

I have some foam strips from when i made my shroud for my heritage, so maybe thatll work

What flocking material did you use?

[harsh matrix]

I got like 10 squares of stuff off of amazon

I dont remember the exact brand so give me a sec

[digital nexus]

is it a velvet? I thought flocking was like a paint

[harsh matrix]

Flocking is like felt

It isnt paint

[digital nexus]

k

[harsh matrix]

https://a.co/d/0eTDRbgR

I got this stuff

The adhesive is surprisingly good, it's very dark, and it's only about a tenth of a mil thick

[digital nexus]

so it sticks in the draw tube well enough?

[harsh matrix]

It's really good for this application

[harsh matrix]

Yeah

Almost not easy to get off ngl

[slate falcon]

felt does not taste nice

btw

if you ever wanted to know

[digital nexus]

Is this all you flocked?

[slate falcon]

its also a nightmare to get off your tongue

[haughty steppe]

you must not buy the flavored ones

[slate falcon]

clearly not

[harsh matrix]

No

The inside and outside are flocked around the end

Another solution which might be easiest for you

Is to make some kind of opaque shroud

Put it over the back of the focuser body all the way up to your imaging train.

Make sure it's not too tight so you can change focuser, but not so loose that it might drag on or get caught in the focuser's mechanics

And flexible enough to change with focuser.

[haughty steppe]

easy for callo. Thats impossible

[harsh matrix]

I agree ngl

[digital nexus]

😠

[harsh matrix]

@digital nexus this might be your best bet ngl

Not really sure of what exactly to make it out of, but I did have one made out of fabric

It did well in most cases but I didnt implement it perfectly.

[digital nexus]

So your light leak was on the blue and not red right?

[digital nexus]

I’m looking at one of these, might work

[digital nexus]

@harsh matrix Darks look normal so don’t think it’s a light leak

[harsh matrix]

Shine a light up the side of the drawtube while you take a dark.

[digital nexus]

Yep nothing

This is a 10 minute dark, with a light panel lighting up the bottom .

[harsh matrix]

Wtf

[desert locust]

hardy har brown drarf

[harsh matrix]

Are you using a filter drawer

[digital nexus]

yea

which has no leaks. i used it with my 71f and tested for leaks before

[harsh matrix]

Is the filter loose?

Maybe not even loose in the drawer, but in the frame.

You can figure out if you shake the filter sometimes

Though mine wasnt loose enough that shaking would reveal anything, I didnt find out it was loose until I cleaned it, and I felt the glass shifting.

[digital nexus]

dust is removed now. Pix didnt use darks/biases when stacking

but the vignetting ring is still there

[digital nexus]

Filter is good i just checked

apparently the vignetting ring could be IFN

[harsh matrix]

I can still see dust

[harsh matrix]

Nah

[digital nexus]

the bottom? oh its extremely faint

[harsh matrix]

It's a misalignment

[harsh matrix]

Top and bottom

Exact same places as the pix light stack

[digital nexus]

it looks like it lines up

[harsh matrix]

It does somewhat but there's a dark ridge next to it.

That's indicative of a reflection of some kind

[digital nexus]

So if it is, what do i do about that

Im retaking my flats tmrw with a t-shirt, i just used a light panel last time. maybe thall fix the dust

[harsh matrix]

Find the reason why it is moving between the flats and the lights.

In my case, the focuser was moving laterally.

Something it shouldn't be able to do.

Which is why I never considered it until I had to believe it.

[digital nexus]

whats moving?

[harsh matrix]

That's up to you to find.

I can't really help you out since I don't have your scope with me.

It would be a good idea to check if the primary mirror is fixed tight, same for the secondary, and it would be good to check to see if you can move the focuser drawtube up and down or left and right.

[digital nexus]

i can wiggle the draw tube up and down, idk how to tighen it

[harsh matrix]

Uhhhhhh

Is it a crayford?

Or rack and pinion?

Aka, does the bottom rail on the drawtube have teeth?

[digital nexus]

rack and pinion

i got that thick TS optics one with like 90mm of draw tube

[harsh matrix]

You cant tighten a rack and pinion

I tried to tighten mine

It made 0 impact.

The drawtube was still deflecting by a horrifying amount.

[tight lodge]

Gimme a wider image😭

[frosty shard]

wait I'm eligible for Wikimedia Commons Picture of the Year
(unfortunately you cannot vote unless you have 75+ edits on Wikimedia projects)

[frosty shard]

Globulars in NGC 2403

[desert locust]

cool

[slate falcon]

yummy globbies

[crisp flower]

looks like i didnt tighten the screws enough after collimating yesterday

[waxen mountain]

Noice how much Int ?

[crisp flower]

2,5 hours

[waxen mountain]

Do you want to collect more ?

[crisp flower]

100%

next clear night ill do some final adjustments and then im ready to go

[waxen mountain]

Goood

here is my little try only 12min int

[crisp flower]

lovely

[waxen mountain]

Thanks!

[crisp flower]

that a single sub?

[waxen mountain]

6×120

[crisp flower]

why did u leave the satelite trail in then

[waxen mountain]

Ehhh idk

Wasn't anything serious

[crisp flower]

lets just say it adds to the viibe xxD

[waxen mountain]

Hehe yee

yours looks very nice

You can already see a bunch of BG galaxies

[crisp flower]

urs has them too, theyre just not as pronounced, which could be due to urs being a sccreenshot

[waxen mountain]

Yea

[harsh matrix]

i see walking noise as well

[crisp flower]

Yea im Not Sure how that happened xd

[tight lodge]

Touptek messed up the new update?

[crisp flower]

Could be

I mean the StellaVita is now unable to save a sequence xD

[tight lodge]

Blink the unregistered subs. Maybe they were not dithered at all😭

[crisp flower]

Just did

Theyre dithered

[tight lodge]

Maybe it changed the number of pixels that it dithers?

[crisp flower]

I'll Check that next time

What ive Just noticed is that i should increase the setting time after a dither

Because the First sub after dithering Always has worse Star shapes than the one following up

[frosty shard]

Update: I missed three globulars

[slate falcon]

horay!

[haughty steppe]

Hehe. At such low integration you either drop the sub or leave it in. With my bodes data, first night 5/11 subs were with sat trails. So, you either wait for more integration or leave it in.

[digital nexus]

So RC bros

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/859175854431928371/1488695409684775014/image.png?ex=69cfb164&is=69ce5fe4&hm=2f074758443963ec08e821fe87ee92f15a3dd2ae2c42c635a51d7429067d9da0&

Would you guys say that my RC6 is in working status

based on this 2.5 hour M81

Collimation needs tweaked slightly, that ring is just something il have to deal with in processing.

I’d say I’m like 95% there

[slate falcon]

other than the god awful denoise yea

[digital nexus]

I know I over did it

But it was 2.5 hours and I don’t like noise

DeepSNR kinda burnt it ik

[slate falcon]

noise is better

[digital nexus]

why

[slate falcon]

bc it looks more real

[digital nexus]

uhh

[digital nexus]

Want to process my data yourself?

Give it a shot

[slate falcon]

in u want

[digital nexus]

go for it

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10pJiUsDjUdcZtyzli_YPYLZHN3I6FaIB/view?usp=sharing

[frosty shard]

I believe you are starting to cook

[digital nexus]

starting huh

[frosty shard]

That's only 2.5 hours, give it a full night and you may pick up some IFN

[digital nexus]

2.5 hours under 80% moon too

[frosty shard]

Oh yeah you'll get a lot more out of that without the moon around

[digital nexus]

Too bad it’ll be cloudy til 2030

[slate falcon]

(clockwise from top right) yur collimstion needs some work

[digital nexus]

Primary or secondary

[slate falcon]

yes

[digital nexus]

well it’s pretty close eh?

[slate falcon]

i dont know

it just looks worse than mine has ever looked

[frosty shard]

There's definitely room for improvement, but I'd also check for tilt in your image train first

[digital nexus]

How

I cant use my tilt plate

[slate falcon]

is it a single sub?

anyways its difficult

as denoise isnt what i wanted to use (i used a bit)

i also did manual decon

[digital nexus]

no that’s 2.5 hours

[slate falcon]

oh

[digital nexus]

Did you not stretch?

[slate falcon]

i did

and its bad

[slate falcon]

thats why i really didnt push it here

[digital nexus]

but mines not bad

guess im just built different

[slate falcon]

the noise is scary

[slate falcon]

um

no comment

[digital nexus]

better than 90% of M81s 💔

[slate falcon]

yeaaa

[harsh matrix]

I think there may be focuser sag

Just based on what Callo said about the drawtube

It has play in it

[digital nexus]

Ignore the dog

[harsh matrix]

Oh my god what the hell

That's way worse than mine

That focuser should be a lot sturdier than that.

[slate falcon]

shove masking tape in that saggy tube

or its got a few screws loose

[digital nexus]

Yea so what do I do

[slate falcon]

tigthen everything up lol

[digital nexus]

Tighten what

[slate falcon]

yk the screws on the other side

[digital nexus]

What screw

[slate falcon]

it should have a bunch on the other side

can u show me

[slate falcon]

i think you tighten the 4 bolts on either side of the middle

i think those 2 side grubs are for the focus knob

but i dont see any central grub to tighten it

so im guessing its the 4 bolts in each corner

[digital nexus]

There’s supposed to be a screw here but it’s missing

[slate falcon]

lmoooo

[digital nexus]

It’s to lock the focuser so it doesn’t matter anyway

I don’t want it locked since I use an EAF

[digital nexus]

I tightened them

It’s not wiggly anymore

[slate falcon]

[digital nexus]

Anyway to test if it’s too tight?

[slate falcon]

go through all the steps on your eaf

[digital nexus]

Im guessing this is why it has these scratch marks

[slate falcon]

if the motor missteps you will know

[digital nexus]

How

Idk how you notice that

[slate falcon]

it will thud if its a stepper

if it isnt a stepper it will whirr

[digital nexus]

I have a Gemini eaf

Idk what that is specifically

[slate falcon]

just run it and find out

any signs of not being able to move the tube easy it will complain

[digital nexus]

I finally got my OAG adapter off

Now I can move my prism down to get more light

[slate falcon]

[slate falcon]

[haughty steppe]

Behind the denoise is blur 💀

[slate falcon]

yea

bluwery af data

[haughty steppe]

Hahhaha. I told him before he started imaging to check collimation with a star because he used an ocal. He decided not to and now sees the wrath of collimation

[digital nexus]

I think it’s fine

Was good enough for a test run

Because I imaged I figured out other issues that I otherwise wouldn’t have. So now I can be mostly fixed up before next light in 25 years

[harsh matrix]

Oh so you told him too

I'm glad I'm not the only one.

[slate falcon]

i think everyone did

[harsh matrix]

Good

It's non negotiable

[harsh matrix]

Pretty sure those arent supposed to be that tight

Unless it was already all marred up like that

💀

[digital nexus]

it was

when i got it

[harsh matrix]

Yike

[digital nexus]

i didnt care enoujgh

i wanted to get data regardless

[frosty shard]

Where is my copypasta

I need to make a version for OCALs

[digital nexus]

it got me close to collimation

so im thankful

i understand il need a star test

but i felt and still do beleive that collimation was good enougy for me to test

[frosty shard]

Oh yeah it's good enough for that

[digital nexus]

i wanted to get SOMETHING after 5 months of having it sit in my room

[harsh matrix]

Btw the adapter I needed to change the output on my BDS from M 48 to M 56 x 0.75 so I can use my Click Lock is supposed to get here tomorrow, ish.

[slate falcon]

im hapy you finally usedit

[harsh matrix]

That way I can ditch the stinky set screws with big compression ring again

[harsh matrix]

Okayyyyyyyy

Fine

I guess that's a justifiable reason.

[digital nexus]

it was painful having it sit for 5 months unused

[frosty shard]

Oh sick, hope the weather cooperates

[harsh matrix]

It won't

Its like 2 solid weeks of rain

2 maybe clear nights.

El Niño hit and it's joever

[frosty shard]

You know what thread we're in, right?

[slate falcon]

[slate falcon]

if i get a cc im starting my own thread

[frosty shard]

You should

I still want to pick up a 4.5" CC just for kicks

[slate falcon]

yes

[slate falcon]

modify it into an f3.3 4.5" astrograph

[harsh matrix]

class cass sounds like fun maybe

[haughty steppe]

He keeps asking me, and this chat the same questions. I'm trying to do a project with him but he keeps getting two inputs

[tall summit]

Finally! Congrats)

[digital nexus]

LIKE HWAT

[slate falcon]

callo (the broken record)

[sinful sapphire]

RC enjoyers

i may attempt to build a Dall-Kirkham (maybe)

[quartz meadow]

DIY stuff is great

[slate falcon]

yesss

[sinful sapphire]

rate the spot diagram

(0.02mm or 20 micron)

[slate falcon]

odk?

[sinful sapphire]

nope

[slate falcon]

dk?

[sinful sapphire]

CDK

[slate falcon]

aa

[sinful sapphire]

not a planewave**

[slate falcon]

i wonder how bad a dk's spots look

[sinful sapphire]

just a Dall-Kirkham with a corrective lens assembly

theyre not bad

on axis

[slate falcon]

thats average

[sinful sapphire]

its 3.2k euro

im sorry but thats horrific for the price tag if you consider the alternatives

the collimation stability isnt good enough to justify that price either

[slate falcon]

okay ehat

an rc has better stars than that

[slate falcon]

buh

what the hael is this

[sinful sapphire]

btw

im estimating 1.500 euro for the 10" corrected dall kirkham i plan to build for the optics

the optics being from a company that is said to be zambuto level

[sinful sapphire]

also...

someone once tested their cassegrain mirror from that company

and got a strehl of 0.999

[slate falcon]

!!

[sinful sapphire]

https://tenor.com/view/skeleton-falling-gif-14424210651999537420

[slate falcon]

why not 1 fr

not good enough!!!!

[sinful sapphire]

its like a perfect 5 star rating on a restaurant

4.9 is way better

[slate falcon]

2

[sinful sapphire]

a perfect 5 star restaurant is odd

[slate falcon]

fr

[harsh matrix]

@frosty shard nvm i cant use the clicklock with this current BDS M 48 adapter

the adapter isnt wide enough for the reducer to fit through

i can use it no problem if i were to use some short extensions in front of the OAG to shoot native instead

honestly there's so many compatibility issues when trying to use the reducer that im tempted to drop it altogether

this is getting really frustrating

[frosty shard]

GET OUT OF HERE WITH YOUR SPHERICAL OPTICS

[frosty shard]

Well...this is upsetting...

[sinful sapphire]

A CDK is an RC for the weak

And I, am weak

[frosty shard]

I gotta be a little hyperbolic about gatekeeping in here.

[sinful sapphire]

Id say it’s better to get a great CDK instead of a mid GSO RC

[harsh matrix]

hi weak

[harsh matrix]

extremely

[slate falcon]

[slate falcon]

hi weak im amy

[harsh matrix]

a bunch of BDS adapters are on sale rn

im not sure if i should get anymore

AYO

wait

[sinful sapphire]

Also I’ll likely have a coupled Focuser so a ritchey chretien would make me cry

[harsh matrix]

the clicklock made for the BDS is back in stock and on sale

i think ill get that and possibly return the adapters i got

[slate falcon]

get class cass and a 0.5x reducer + a coma
corrector

[harsh matrix]

the M 54 adapter is back in stock too

i think i want to either get that or the M 68 adapter or get both, or just the m 54 idk yet

[sinful sapphire]

where are these 0.5x reducer ideas coming from

[harsh matrix]

oh nvm about the BDS click lock darnit

there's no ETA on them and theyre on back order

maybe that means they expect some soon ish?

[frosty shard]

I'd say skill issue.

[slate falcon]

gso reducer

[harsh matrix]

I already knew this wasnt going to work but ordered the adapter anyway

Im so annoyed with myself 💀

[digital nexus]

do you think that focuser slop was the reason i had that ring?

[slate falcon]

@frosty shard why does weiner filter denoise my image 😭

makes it sharper and acts as denoise

[crisp flower]

Not vel but id say so

Now that U secured it, wait for the next opportunity and u will see

[sinful sapphire]

I may not build a Dall-Kirkham but rather a Harmer-Wynn Cassegrain instead depending on the cost of the CDK I want to build

(Same concept as them CDK besides the primary mirror being parabolic rather than ellipsoidal)

[slate falcon]

@frosty shard BOO

[harsh matrix]

I think it is most likely to be the case yes

Do i think it was the entire reason? Hard to say

[digital nexus]

will find out Tuesday night

[frosty shard]

IS THAT A CDK?
REEEEEEEEEEE

[slate falcon]

its a CCC :3

[frosty shard]

REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE(fraction)

[slate falcon]

reeeefracton

[slate falcon]

this is the sharpest ive got a scope

for such a large corrected field too!

you can use a 1.2 meter big sensor with it

[frosty shard]

Yeah but what's the spot size on-axis?

[slate falcon]

on axis is left and 567mm off axis on the right lol

80° fov

[frosty shard]

I mean how big is the spot in microns

[slate falcon]

ohh

20um

about average

average refractor spot

[frosty shard]

bruh.

[slate falcon]

buut what im showing isnt a refractor

[slate falcon]

well its focal length is 5cm

so it wont matter

[slate falcon]

do you wanna know what type of lens it uses it :3

[frosty shard]

I'm scared to find out

[slate falcon]

its a pinhole lens looool

pinholes spot size depends on size of hole

[frosty shard]

...I feel like I just got jebaited lmao

[slate falcon]

and the focal length depends on how far the sensor is from the hole

sooo

[frosty shard]

[slate falcon]

you can technically use as big as a sensor as you want

[crude timber]

@slate falcon https://discord.com/channels/794642864218439681/1490097406199726251

[harsh matrix]

my next SHOathon addition

https://tenor.com/view/hehe-gif-1840159130613519810

[slate falcon]

yummers

[stiff mason]

Man i really need to fix my mount

[harsh matrix]

I think I am going to attempt to reset the RC's collimation next night out

💀

[slate falcon]

class cass corrector

[sinful sapphire]

A Dall-Kirkham can be corrected with just two elements

[slate falcon]

classy can be corrected with 1

i just wanted to reduce it a bit

[sinful sapphire]

m

[slate falcon]

[sinful sapphire]

also weren’t you going to make an f/2.8 Harmer-Wynn?

I need it

[slate falcon]

im not out of bed yet

[sinful sapphire]

https://tenor.com/view/parasyte-lock-in-locked-in-serious-meme-gif-5534810714910553671

[slate falcon]

my eepy ass can not cope in the morning

[crude timber]

https://discord.com/channels/794642864218439681/1490097406199726251
it lurks above you

[slate falcon]

okkaayyy

[slate falcon]

yummers

[silver ibex]

Are you talking about Zen Ottiche?

[sinful sapphire]

yes

[silver ibex]

That's way better than I thought damn

[sinful sapphire]

just know

strehl ratios get a bit weird at that range

and it wasnt a professional measurement so

take it with a grain of salt

[silver ibex]

Btw here's the price list

[sinful sapphire]

yup i saw

gotten cheaper tho

[silver ibex]

Strehl is also not the best method to test them, you should send the mirror to Zygo tbh

[bleak solar]

hey guys, I am getting a tilt adapter soon. Can I adjust it in daytime or just when looking at the stars? And what is the best way to do it? When out of focus to see the shape better?

[tight lodge]

You can make a fake star field out of some small ball-bearings place it at a certain distance frome the aperture and defocus the telescope on it. You should get something like this. This is a tilt test with the Samyang 135mm open at f2

This is how I made mine

[bleak solar]

Thanks!

[frosty shard]

Alright my fellow RC enjoyers

The skies are gonna be clear, but the winds probably aren't gonna cooperate

I can still image but it'll have to be short exposures (probably like 30 seconds or less)

Perhaps I will try to hunt RR Lyrae variables in M3

[plush raptor]

dang

[frosty shard]

our official spring meme

[plush raptor]

newtonian users are the bottom one every month

[frosty shard]

so are RC enjoyers

Aperture never fails you

[sinful sapphire]

get a bigger sensor

then you can be the bottom one all the time with an RC

[keen agate]

sadly most of the time I'm just a dissapointed clear outside user :/

[candid flame]

We got tons of circumpolar milkyway tho

[tall summit]

[harsh matrix]

[tight lodge]

https://tenor.com/view/disappointment-gif-21343121

Some of us don't even get clear skies

[harsh matrix]

me af rn

i think we finally got some clear sky last night for like 2 or 3 hours

i didnt set up because i was expecting to be blue balled

[slate falcon]

https://tenor.com/view/shrimple-shrimp-fish-pun-shitpost-shrimps-gif-17620865848267192583

[tight lodge]

Right? Like it's so frustrating to hear some complain

[slate falcon]

grr clouds

[harsh matrix]

looks like i have a 4 hour clear window tonight

i may take that chance to test the RC again

I don't really expect any issues

[slate falcon]

[slate falcon]

i hope your issues are gon

[quartz meadow]

oi how does that cute little sharpstar do?

Askar/Sharpstar same thing

[harsh matrix]

I think they will be

Im going to test this first tonight I think

[slate falcon]

[harsh matrix]

then I think im going to drop the reducer and instead do some resampling to get desirable SNR moving forward

both in an effort to avoid the vignetting, and to make way to use the rotator

[tall summit]

Its a freakin' little light bucket. Closing on on collimation too, stars have been hard to come by with this weather. 28min and 50min captures

[quartz meadow]

I can imagine collimation is a PITA at F/2.8 jesus

[slate falcon]

reds a lil overcooked there

[quartz meadow]

nah thats fine imo

[tall summit]

these are tests

taken under shitty conditions

[quartz meadow]

We'll ignore that, deal? deal.

[tall summit]

Tuesday is supposed to be all clear, all night long, the real session

[slate falcon]

this is the scope u have right andro?

[tall summit]

yep

[slate falcon]

whats your sensor width and height, could you also send a raw?

[tall summit]

raw stack or sub?

[slate falcon]

raw stack and sub if thats okay

[tall summit]

23.5mm x 15.7mm

[plush raptor]

can you do that thingy with my scope and reducer

[slate falcon]

;-;

[tall summit]

does that diagram account for a corrector?

[sinful sapphire]

tea

yes.

[sinful sapphire]

could you maybe recreate a zemax file for me

[slate falcon]

yup

[sinful sapphire]

to check for tolerances

[slate falcon]

fire, i do not have the specs of the corrector do i

how would i recreate it

when i have nothing to go off

[sinful sapphire]

check dms

[slate falcon]

when nothing is there:

[sinful sapphire]

there is now

i was too slow

[slate falcon]

also i thought you meant for the 0.75x

[sinful sapphire]

wut

[tall summit]

here is the sub

[plush raptor]

do mine

[slate falcon]

I DONT HAVE THE SPECS

[plush raptor]

6" f/5 gso, starizona nexys

[slate falcon]

t h e s p e c s a r e n o t p u b l i c

[plush raptor]

damn

its too good

[slate falcon]

no, its propriatary

[plush raptor]

idk what that means

[slate falcon]

[tall summit]

specs are a secret

[plush raptor]

which means its too good

[tall summit]

one doesnt exclude the other)

[slate falcon]

my decon is propriatary, which clearly means its too good

[slate falcon]

or include either!

[tall summit]

I really need to get the second mount going, want to run two scopes. Itching to use my Sharpstar obviously, but RC + 585 as well(

I wanna do m106 witht hat combo

[slate falcon]

you would be able to make one of those cool zoom in videos

where it goes in and gets replaced by a sharper image

[slate falcon]

damn that collimation isnt bad

[tall summit]

Thanks! Damn thing is sensitive

[sinful sapphire]

not bad

[tall summit]

Having RC prepared me for this moment:)))

[sinful sapphire]

well technically horrible but since its F/2.8, 130mm and at APS-C, not bad (without context someone will be hurt by these stars, welcome to the fast telescope world )

collimation seems better than 90% of the cases though so good job on that lol

you may have some backfocus issues though

[tall summit]

too close or too far?

[sinful sapphire]

hard to say

[tall summit]

I plan on spending up to another couple of hours tomorrow to narrow it down more

[tall summit]

If it needs to be shorter, there is nothing I can do. I have OAG and filter drawer back to back, that's it. I do have those thin spacers that came with the camera to make it longer

[sinful sapphire]

actually

do some collimation narrowing like you said

then lets see, it might just be the funky star sizes it naturally has

[tall summit]

Not to pat myself on the back, but I've seen a few F4 quattros with worse collimation than this

This is from yesterday, after I took out the secondary for cleaning and bench-collimated it from the scratch. No adjustments under the stars at all

I will be fine tuning from this

[harsh matrix]

that's clever wtf

was that in or out of focus

[tight lodge]

Out of focus

[tight lodge]

This is the amount of aberration my phone camera has😂

[harsh matrix]

Yup

Looks about right

[slate falcon]

hmmm

[tight lodge]

[slate falcon]

i need one

[tight lodge]

easy print

[tight lodge]

There you go

[slate falcon]

i dont have a printer :(

[tight lodge]

You can make it out of a plank of wood

[slate falcon]

i do like how we are in a world where priners are a common thing though

[slate falcon]

yea

i got a few of those luckily

im doing jupiter but it turns out this barlow im using has terrible spherical aberation

[digital nexus]

Hey chat

I’m going mono. Will my RC6 be able to handle that

[sinful sapphire]

stock focuser?

[digital nexus]

No

[sinful sapphire]

what sensor size?

[digital nexus]

533

I’m moving from a 533 Color to 533 mono, so I know it can handle the sensor size

Even though it starts vignetting

[sinful sapphire]

gonna be fiiiinnneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
-# ?

[digital nexus]

I can’t get a larger sensor

I’m just worried about the weight on the focuser

[sinful sapphire]

what focuser you got?

[digital nexus]

A fat TS optics rack in pinion

90mm travel, and heavy as hell

[sinful sapphire]

the 400 buck one?

[digital nexus]

think so

[slate falcon]

will be ok

[sinful sapphire]

yup will be alright

[harsh matrix]

the scope is dope with mono

the concern is the focuser

[digital nexus]

The focuser is wiggly

I think I fixed it

[sinful sapphire]

then adjust it

[digital nexus]

I haven’t tested it to make sure the screws aren’t too tight

[harsh matrix]

is that after you fixed it?

[digital nexus]

No

That’s before

[harsh matrix]

alright id test it first

granted that i get that it can be easier said than done

i cant even get longer than a few hours of clear rn

[digital nexus]

I have 4 days of clear skies

[harsh matrix]

a whole night is a pipe dream

[digital nexus]

But I sold my camera

So

I screwed myself

[slate falcon]

bweg

[harsh matrix]

yeah

that's normally when you get a clear window

happened to me

[digital nexus]

I didn’t plan on selling the cam so I was all excited lol

[slate falcon]

can i call you a dumbass?

[digital nexus]

I’m getting $700 for my 533 with a 3nm sv230

and uv ir cut filter

I’m shipping it Thursday so il have 1 more night with it

[slate falcon]

onions

[harsh matrix]

@slate falcon @frosty shard I might have just found the key to making mosaics out of Hubble data 👀

I've always wondered just how effective drizzling was on Hubble's images since I didn't know what the native resolution looked like from Hubble, and here it is

that's insane

[slate falcon]

that sounds yummers

[slate falcon]

oh dam

[frosty shard]

Yeah I've been meaning to try using this for stacking. SIRIL's good, but I'd rather just drizzle everything at once

[harsh matrix]

👀

so you knew about it but didnt tell us?

how dare you

[frosty shard]

I mean...I figured y'all already knew about it lol

[slate falcon]

im shoiting at zenith under neath the cone of a street light

[harsh matrix]

NOPE

[slate falcon]

so i put on my dew shield

aaaaaanddddd

it turns out its windy enough

[harsh matrix]

https://tenor.com/view/popcorn-minions-popcorn-day-laugh-gif-5026739

[slate falcon]

to hate me

[harsh matrix]

trying to figure out how to install it

[slate falcon]

sooo either bortle 9 conditions or trails

[frosty shard]

Then again, I keep forgetting I'm on the more technical side of things than you are

[harsh matrix]

looks like you have to do it through Python which I'm not familiar with so uh

[frosty shard]

I've been meaning to write my own implementation of this

[harsh matrix]

this is going to be fun

I was refreshing myself on C++ earlier and even that feels like another planet now

😭

[slate falcon]

im only know basic bich stuff like ray optics and other stuff :(

dumbass street light :(

[slate falcon]

i think i know the most about ray optics except for Ryan who comes first in this server

crazy to think about how unpopular ray optics are here tbh

[frosty shard]

I mean...is it because people here prefer wave optics?

If so, not crazy

If not, u rite

[slate falcon]

wave optics are evil though

ive done wave optics a bit

buut its not as fun

[frosty shard]

Waves are just rays but spherical

[slate falcon]

looks cooler though

[slate falcon]

ya

[frosty shard]

On that note actually