Jan
12
2012

Celestron Releases Long Awaited Focal Reducers for Edge HD Optics

I just learned this morning that Celestron has finally released the long awaited for focal reducers for the Edge HD optics.  The focal reducers for the 11 inch HD and 14 inch HD OTA’s have been released.  I know many people have been waiting a long time for these reducers.  These new focal reducers are bit pricey listed at price of $599 each and show as being in stock.  This is large piece of finally machined glass, I do understand the price on these.  If they work great, which I am sure they will, homerun!

This is great news that Celestron came through on releasing the Focal Reducers, I am sure the wait will be worth it.  Each ota will require a specially configured focal reducer due to the way the HD optics field flattener is internal to the ota.  Many of us Edge 800HD owners  and also the Edge HD 925 owners will be awaiting a release date for focal reducers for these fine OTA’s  Fingers crossed!

I did recently stumble upon a quote from Celestron which was found in the questions section under the 800HD ota… This thought process makes me very happy! 

A similar situation exists for the production and first availability of EdgeHD focal reducers. Celestron wants to assure that they will be the same high quality as the EdgeHD telescopes and won’t compromise this goal to rush them on to the market.

 

The specs say they will take the telescope down one  full F stop (cutting photon gathering time by half) and increase FOV by approximately 43%.  They are listed as .7x reducers. 

 

Reducer Lens .7x – EdgeHD™ 1400

Reducer Lens .7x – EdgeHD™ 1100

 

 

 

 

Permanent link to this article: http://www.daltonskygazer.com/celestron-releases-long-awaited-focal-reducers-for-edge-hd-optics.html

Jan
01
2012

Happy New Year 2012 From DaltonSkyGazer Observatory

A  Happy New Year 2012 to all who follow the DaltonSkyGazer astro blog!

The holidays are winding down, thought I would post an update on activites and such at the DalonSkyGazer observatory.  I have been doing some visual observing along with a little astrophotography with my DSI III C camera.  I am happy to say that the warm control room area has been a blessing and works better than expectations.  The small ceramic heater I am using can be run on the low setting(300 watts) when temps are down to 10F outside and easily keeps the control room at 65F to 70F without any issues.  Warm up time is also quick on the control room when first running the heater for the evening.  I spent some time organizing the control room this past week, I decided to remove some extra clutter which was not needed in the observatory;    a printer, small refridge, and few tool items laying around.

I have not posted many updates recently been waiting for the arrival of a new imaging camera Canon 550D which has been placed on backorder, ordered up 28 November.  I am expecting shipping update this week after the New Years holiday.  Once the new Canon arrives I will be back to writing many articles and back into astrophotography again full bore.  I have also been recovering from blowing out a few discs in my back which happened in late July during Stellafane week.  I think a major cause of the back injury was hefting the 12″ scope up onto the wedge in the observatory while standing on 6ft ladder and having to extend way out to drop the base onto the bolt of the wedge.   The healing process has been bit slow taking me away from extra hrs spent in the observatory.

I am proud to say the blog has celebrated 2 years up as of this past December!   There  have have been over 70,000 page views per year to the site .   I have added a few small changes over the past few weeks to the observatory tab above and many new updates will be coming at faster pace in 2012.

Happy New Year to all!  Hope to finally be back into the AP game here in very near future when the Canon 550D arrives!

Be sure to check out some of the other astro blogs highlighted on my left hand tab.  Mike’s Astronomy Blog, Uncle Rod’s BlogSpot, Astrophotography Tonight, Telescope Man, Griceland Observatory , and Seal Killer’s Astrophotography Site.  All great blogs and great people from within  the astronomy community!

If you are interested in astronomy, I highly recommend joining Astronomy Forums.  The AF is the largest astronomy forum in the world.  If you have any astro related questions whether it be gear, astrophotography, accessories, etc,  be sure to check out  the Astronomy Forums. Joining the Forum is free and you will meet many great people with same interests from all over the world.

 

 

 

 

 

Permanent link to this article: http://www.daltonskygazer.com/happy-new-year-2012-from-daltonskygazer-observatory.html

Nov
06
2011

Using a Bahtinov Mask to Achieve Focus for Astrophotography

 

 

The use of a Bahtinov Mask is my preferred method for achieving critcal focus while set up for astrophotography.  A Bahtinov Mask can be bought for only a few dollars through any astronomy retailer or you can easily make your own mask via an online Bahtinov Mask generator. The task of focusing with a mask is easy to learn and quite fast once one becomes accustomed to using a mask.  

80 mm APO Triplet and Celstron 800 HD with Bahtinov Masks Attached
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
The basic steps to achieving focus with a Bahtinov Mask are highlighted in examples below:
 
With camera or imaging device attached slew telescope to a bright star.  Setup imaging software to take 2 to 5 second exposures.  I use Nebulosity 2.0 in the frame and focus mode.  Hang Bahtinov Mask over the end of the OTA, take a 2 to 5 second exposure. You may see out of focus view such as that in image below.

 

Out of Focus Bright star through Bahtinov Mask

 
 

The middle beam of light is almost centered very close to focus

 
The next step is to adjust the focuser and take another two to five second exposure.  The goal is to be close enough to focus to achieve the spiked star pattern seen on image to the right.  Once you have this pattern showing, make very small adjustments to focus and keep taking test exposures until you center the beam of light in between the diffraction spikes.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
     
Bright star near perfect focus using Bahtinov Mask

Perfect focus is achieved when your final adjustment looks like the picture to the left.  You are now focused and ready to slew to the object you wish to image.  Don’t forget to remove the Bahtinov Focus Mask before commencing image run.  It is always good practice to take test exposure and preview your focus once on the object you wish to image.  You are now ready to frame your object and begin the nights imaging run.  This focusing method is very fast with practice and makes focusing a very simple task.

Permanent link to this article: http://www.daltonskygazer.com/using-a-bahtinov-mask-to-achieve-focus-for-astrophotography.html

Sep
01
2011

Polar Alignment and Testing of the CGEM and Meade 80mm APO

I finally had an opportunity to get some sky time after setting the CGEM back up on the pier and completion of the recent  interior work at the observatory. The forecast was calling for clear skies, I was determined to get the drivers installed on my Windows 7 tower computer which I recently relocated to the observatory due to some keyboard issues on my laptop. My goal for the evening was to get the tower computer communicating with the telescope and cameras along with achieving my final polar alignment and park position for the telescope.  If I had extra time, this would be spent grabbing some lights to test out my cables and guiding settings for my setup.

I went out around 3pm to download the 64 bit Evisiage drivers from the Meade website, only to find out the whole Meade website was down.  I was a bit frustrated, but decided with the great forecast and observing opportunity to set my laptop back up and make do with an external usb keyboard and a stuck control key on the laptop.  I knew I would experience some minor setbacks and was prepared to handle them.  Luckily, I was able to operate with the laptop in a slightly limited capacity.

I came back out around 9pm and proceeded to do my two star alignment along with an additional two stars as part of the Celestron  Two star alignment routine.  During this time I aligned the Meade 80 mm APO scope along with  my finder scope.  The next step was  my polar alignment routine which was quickly accomplished in under five minutes.  Surprisingly, after the  first adjustment my PA came in dead on: objects were staying centered in the FOV of my EP for 30 minutes without detection of drift.    I quickly redid my two star alignment plus  an additional two extra stars after completing the polar alignment.  The CGEM appeared more than ready to take on imaging tasks. 

The final step in my preparations was to attach my cameras to the telescopes.  I attached the cameras and placed a Bahtinov mask on each OTA.  A  goto of a nearby bright star was then initiated, the object was almost perfectly centered in the FOV of the imager.  I next opened up Nebulosity 2.4 in the frame and focus mode set for 5 second exposures, controlling the DSI IIIC attached to the main imaging scope,  quickly achieving optimal focus while using the Bahtinov masks.  

I opened up PHD guiding software and established communications with the SSAG attached to the Celestron Edge 800 OTA.  Once again, I found the star was nearly perfectly centered in the FOV of the guiding camera, focus was quickly achieved.  I was very pleased with my initial results and surprised to find I had much more time now to capture some photons.

I decided a test run of imaging was in order, why waste time at this point on an easy target.  I looked at my charts and decided to enter M33 into the control pad, the telescope quickly slewed to where it thought M33 should be in the sky, a quick glance and I knew it was pointing in the right area of the sky.  I programmed in one 60 second exposure  to see if M33 was indeed in the FOV.  I saw M33 appear before my eyes a little bit left and up from center, more than acceptable. 

I turned on PHD to see what I had available for guide stars,  I was a bit surprised to find nothing in the FOV which would work.  I slowly moved M33 down in FOV and to the right a bit using a bright star as a guide using 8 second exposures until I saw a nice guide star appear in the PHD window.  M33 was still framed well, it was time to see if PHD would calibrate for me.  I changed a few settings in the brain settings,  I was using the F/10 telescope to guide with which is bit more sensitive to guiding settings.  I hit the button to begin the calibration process, PHD quickly calibrated in under two minutes and appeared to be guiding very well. 

I decided right away not to waste time on short exposures.  I programmed Nebulosity 2.4 to take five images of 8 minutes duration each, setup the file directory path, and hit the start button.  The time spent waiting for the results of the first exposure seemed like an eternity.  After the long wait, M33 appeared in front of my eyes with nice round stars, the first exposure was a great success and the image showed a large amount of hidden data.  I waited what seem like an eternity for the second exposure to show itself, a bit surprised when I saw nothing but white amp glow across the whole screen.  I figured it may be a glitch and waited on the third and fourth exposure, both of which came out same as the previous images, nothing but ampglow.  I decided at this point of time to end the image sequence.  I had an issue with the DSI which I needed to solve.

 The Meade DSI ccd imagers are known to require the max amount of power that a usb port can supply, they are very fussy and require high quality cables along with short runs.  I plug my DSI IIIC  into a powered usb hub to allow for ample supply of power to the imager.  I inspected the cable only to find I had attached a smaller gauge usb cable, not the one I normally use.  I changed this out, and to my relief the imager was functioning again, unfortunately precious time was wasted and M33 was high in sky at blindspot in my dome. 

I decided at this point of time to jump down in the Eastern sky towards M45 Pleiades.  The CGEM goto once again put the object nicely in the FOV on my imaging camera.  I recalibrated PHD in under two minutes  then setup the sequence to capture six 90 second exposures of M45.  Each exposure had nice round stars, all very useable.  I quickly placed my darkening towel over the scope and programmed in four darks for 90 second exposures and hit the start button.  While the scope was busy taking the darks I ran into the house to grab a few beers for a refill.  When I came back out the last of the dark frames was just finishing up. 

I took time at this point to inspect the one lightframe on M33, the data looked great, but I saw what appeared to be dust motes across the image when I performed a quick stretch on image to see the hidden data.  I pulled open one of the M45 lights,  to confirm that both images had the same exact dust motes showing.  It was nearly 412 am I decided the night was successful, I had accomplished my main goal of polar alignment along with establishing a hibernate position for the telescope.  That I had opportunity to grab some lights was merely icing on the cake.  The dust motes were a huge disappointment, but not the end of the world.  I will clean the DSI filter, even more reason to start taking flat frames in the future, which deal with these type of issues along with gradient issues.  

I did quick stack and process of the M45 data, nothing spectacular from processing side, I could not stretch image much to reveal the nebulosity without the dust motes becoming very apparent in this test image.  I used Deep Sky Stacker to stack and align the lights and darks, then did quick process in Photoshop Cs3+ with small amount  of noise removal applied to the image.  I undercompensated a bit on the red and green channel data, but thought I would post this image here to share the guiding results.  The second image below is the 8 minute exposure of M33.  The amount of data hidden in M33 looks great.  The nice round stars showing in this single unprocessed frame let me know that guiding is working great. I am confident next time out I will grab some solid data to work with.  I will work on removing the dust motes from the imager before my next imaging session.  Overall, the night was a great success.

M45-Six Lights(frames) of 90 secs. each. 9 min of data total. Very quick process in Photoshop Cs3+ to highlight guiding. Same dust motes are in this image if stretched more as in the m33 single lightframe.

 

M33 One 8 min exposure. No processing done. Small stretch applied to this data. This image shows nice round stars(excellent tracking and guiding), lots of data in this single 8 min exposure can be brought out when combined with many more single exposures like this. Notice the dust motes which appear as black blotches in image. For non imagers reading, this is one lightframe, A final image is processed from many single frames(stacked and aligned) like this single frame. The technique of stacking and aligning the exposures reduces grain noise, enhances colors, and reveals fine details such as nebulosity in the image.
m33 Meade 80mm APO on Celestron CGEM single 8 min capture Unprocessed

Same 8 min exposure(raw data) of M33. I stretched single exposure little bit more to reveal the data, dust motes are very evident. The DSI IIIC needs a good cleaning. More reason to start using Flats in future. I am very happy with the tracking and guiding results.

 

 

 

 

Permanent link to this article: http://www.daltonskygazer.com/polar-alignment-and-some-testing-of-the-cgem-and-meade-80mm-apo.html

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