4.5 hours of Horsehead

Crappy shootout on the whole. The final 2.5 hours were really a mess. Flexure, focus change due to temp change, broken down remote control wire, so no dark frame...

Won't be able to do Horsehead again the coming days anyway, so let's call it that.

Horsehead Nebula

I was actually hoping I could get much more exposure on this one, but weather didn't permit, so that's it for the time being I guess.

Optics: Takahashi Sky90 with reducer (407mm F4.5)
Tracking: Takahashi EM11 T2M, autoguided by 50mm finder/guider, PHD
Camera: Canon 5DII modified,
Exposure:
31/1/2014 - ISO800 (5 min x 12)
28/1/2014 - ISO1600 (4 min x 15)
Total 2 hours

Hong Kong Astronomical Society Observation Site

Omega Globular Cluster

My first globular cluster. Of course I should start off with the biggest!

Optics: Takahashi Sky90 with reducer (407mm F4.5)
Tracking: Takahashi EM11 T2M, autoguided by 50mm finder/guider, PHD
Camera: Canon 5DII modified,
Exposure:
28/1/2014 - ISO400 (5 min x 15)

Hong Kong Astronomical Society Observation Site

Resized and Cropped

100% Cropped

Old Film Image

I dug out my old hard disk and discovered some unprocessed film image. Back in 2008 I was not able to process that due to technical difficulties, namely too serious vignetting. Now with the advancement of my skill and software development (which I can command) I can finally finish this, which should be, my final film astro image.

Sky90, EM11, manual guide, Mamiya 645, E200+1, mosaic of 2, 1 hour each.

The End of 2013

Have been making use of the clear but very polluted atmosphere to do some new equipment testing and light imaging.

I have sent my Sky90 back to Takahashi for collimation and service, and they have done an excellent job. The scope doesn't look like mine when it comes back! I'm very pleased with the appearance and the optical performance. Here are the results:

Tak Sky90, EM11, Lodestar, Canon 5DII modded, LPS-P2, 3 min x 32 (96 min)

Tak Sky90, EM11, Lodestar, Canon 5DII modded, LPS-P2, 3 min x 52 (156 min)

Tak Sky90, EM11, Lodestar, Canon 5DII modded, LPS-P2, 3 min x 40 (120 min)

My renewed Sky90!

The end of the imaging session, together with my friend testing my Borg125SD

Have been testing my RC8 as well, which was acquired quite a few years ago but never had the chance to use. Collimation was way off, and I had no laser collimator with me so I had to do it very crudely. Forgot to take a picture of the setup.

I will need to add a barlow to the guidescope the next time I image with it.

Microtech 8"RC, EM11, Lodestar, Canon 5DII modded, LPS-P2, 3 min x 10

Winter Sky is on the rise...

... and so are my astrophotography opportunities.

Two images are captured last weekend, and I'm quite happy with both of them.

The first one is probably the deepest M45 in Hong Kong:

Borg 77EDII + 0.7x reducer/flattener (357mm f/4.6)
Takahashi EM11, unguided
Canon 5DMkII modified; ISO800
LPS-P2 Filter
3min x 60 (3 hours)

The second one is my first successfully autoguided image:


Scope: Borg125SD + TS2.5Flattener (750mm F/6)
Mount: Takahashi EM11;
Autoguide: Lodestar, PHD, 50mm finder/guider
Camera: Canon 5DMkII modified; ISO1600
Filter: LPS-P2
Exposure: 5min x 27 (Total exposure 135min)

The optical systems are both new tries. I like the lightness of the Borg scopes so I got the 125SD for myself and the 77ED for my workplace. Both the Borg reducer and the TS flattener are working fine. If necessary the reducer can be used for the 125SD, which gives 525mm f/4.2.

Hope I will have another night of clear weather this weekend.

Summer Skies 2013, Hong Kong

Summer is half way done, and these are what were achieved so far. Images taken at a relatively "dark" site here. Nowhere is really dark here anyway...

Sky90 definitely needs to be sent back for maintenance, the question is at what cost.

All images taken with 5DII modified.

M8M20, Sky90 w/reducer, 2.5hour exposure

Veil Nebula, Sky90 w/reducer, 1 hour exposure

M31, Sky90 w/reducer, 1 hour exposure

Veil Nebula, Sky90 w/reducer, 24min exposure

Cygnus Milkyway Mosaic, Canon 100L@f/3.5, 2x2 mosaic, each pane 40min exposure

Attachment board

Being Sentimental

May you walk your way up to heaven, and fly among the stars.

Weird Corners... What happened to my Sky90?

Sky90 with F4.5 reducer/flattener, 1min x 10, unguided, 5DII modified

Full Image:

Centre crop

 Top right, bottom right, top left, bottom left

To demonstrate the problem this is an image taken in 2008, same scope and reducer, Mamiya 645 E200, manually guided 1 hour.

Is this a yearly blog or something?

I have been pretty frustrated not grabbing chances to go out when weather is good. I don't know what happened to my lazy bones...

Anyway, I have been to a few places in 2012, including A few countries in Europe as well as a popular site for Hong Kong people in China.

Haven't been able to do autoguiding yet, but actively looking for good weather to try it out. The following are the pictures I took in 2012...

 

A few Preliminary Images

Pristine Eclipse Coming Up

There hasn't been an ideal Lunar Eclipse observation condition since 2000. The prediction for this Saturday has been perfect: crystal clear skies, freezing weather (not really compared to the US and Europe, though...=) It's time to do something SERIOUS.

2 proposals:

A: Widefield Timelapse
Use a wide field lens, set timer 10 min each, set and go, quick and easy.

B1: Prime focus with starlit background
FSQ106ED, multiple-exposure to get enough S/N ratio. The problem is the moon is constantly moving compared to the background stars. The total exposure can't be anything too long otherwise the moon will start to blur if Sideral rate is used.

B2: Prime Focus Earth Shadow
FSQ106ED, switch on Solar speed on EM11, set timer, let go...

OK I admit I am always greedy so I'll definitely go for A and B1 together haha.

Alright...

Something has happened to my family so I have totally stopped imaging for a long time. Going to pick it back up during X'mas.

However I DID go to a dark place this summer just to relax myself and took a few shots... Not deepsky, just general scenery kind of stuff.

This is a place in Inner Mongolia. I went there with some students and we had a great time.

Finally some deepsky is happening....

Been astronomically vacant for almost a year.. finally starting to pick up some work done.

Also shooting from very light polluted sky, 3 open clusters were taken very lazily...

M35, M41, and M46/47, with exposure of 10x30sec, iso1600, 5DII modified.

Horsehead to come.

Old processed photos

I've worked on some urban deepsky photos last year late Novemeber. Haven't touched them much since acquisition, here are the results.


Each image involves 1 hour of exposure, 60 subframes of 1 min. Sky90, Modded 40D, EM11 unguided.

The background is not even, i don't really understand why even after PixInsight manual correction and IRIS auto correction the unevenness is still very prominent. THe are different patches all round the place which hinders post-processing of weak signals. May be it was because I haven't applied a correct flatfield...

Setup Reform

My imaging setup is currently under reform...

I have sold my modified 40D and is selling my FS60C, a scope which has stuck with me for 9 years and brought me a lot of joy and memories. What is left is Sky 90 and EM11. Newly acquired are the SG-4 and the Gitzo 3541LS tripod. I'm currently bidding a T mount photo lens to be used with the SG-4 on Ebay as well. I hope it will turn out fine.

With the new setup I can reduce the weight of the whole thing for 5kgs, which is really substantial.

I'm suddenly back with the interest of solar system imaging again. It's time to dig out my C5 and clean the optics, and maybe I can get an Imaging Source camera as well.

May be I should also consider a Mewlon 210, Or C9.25, or C8 EDGE HD....

Pretty unstable weather around here. I was out on last friday on a cloudless day but clouds rolled in and even rained at night.

Couldn't get much going lately apart from this 3min M45 on 135mm lens.


Looking forward to the Mid-Autumn festival weekend when Northern monsoon is blowing hard.. which i hope will result in a few day's clear.

New Shopping List

Main Setup
- Mewlon 210
- APM 107mm Astrograph
- Celestron CGE
- ST2000XM

Portable Setup
- FSQ106
- EM11
- 5DII modified
- SG4

Current Equipment List

Telescopes:
Takahashi Sky90
Takahashi FS60C
Celestron C5
Vixen 4" F10 Reflector (no idea what to do with it)

Mounts:
Takahashi EM11USDIII
Mizar New AR

Cameras:
Canon 40D modified
Mamiya 645
Vixen VX2


Plans for future:
Selling:
1- FS60C
2- 40D
3- Vixen Reflector (if possible...or give it away)
4- C5 (if possible)
5- ..... basically everything apart from EM11 is changeable

Buying:
1- SBIG SG4
2- Gitzo GT3541LS
3- Power solutions for the mount and SG4