Cartes Du Ciel

The first clear night for some days!

However, I am still waiting for the arrival of my new QHY5L-II Color High Speed CMOS Camera for Guiding and Planetary. BTW, I had decided on the color version rather than mono since money is always going ot be a consideration and I can use the color camera for moon/pplanet imaging as well as quiding. I appreciate it is not as sensitive as a mono but from what I have read it is better than the QHY5 guider and most people were happy with that at the time.

So, game plan was to actually LOOK at things astronomical, i.e. stick an eyepiece in and use an eyeball. More importantly for imaging, I also wanted to use the laptop with the telescope, specifically, to use Cartes du Ciel to control the mount.

Recap on Setup

Setting up the mount is easy now:
1. Carry it all out.
2. Polar align using polar scope
3. Two star align
4. Two calibration stars
5. (Polar align check using Celestron software)
6. Sync to star near object of interest

Having the DSLR set to ISO of 6400 and using Live View, I can centre the target stars on the camera screen and also focus using the Bahtinov mask.

Cartes Du Ciel

This is a straight foward download and installation on a laptop. Combined with the ASCOM Platform 6 software and drivers, plus the Celestron driver for  the CG5-GT mount, I already knew it connected to the scope fine, so I wanted to now use it in anger to actually drive the scope.

Regarding cables, I bought a 10 m USB extension so that I don't have cables 'hanging' between the scope and laptop in the dark. Instead, using an old door mat, I made sure there was plenty of slack and then covered the cables with the doormat - didn't walk into them or trip once !!

Anyway, once mount/scope was set up, all I had to do was to connect the Celestron RS-232 Cable (Serial) (attached to a CSL - USB 2.0 on serial RS232 adapter (Com Port)) to the Celestron Nexstar+ handset and then click on 'Connect Telescope' in Cartes Du Ciel. I had already set the program with my location and time (matching what is in the Nexstar+ handset) as well as the telescope details.

And that was it! Click on a target (using Full screen, night view), select Sync and with a loud noise, the telescope slewed to the object.

Targets for the night

I looked at the following:

M32/32 Andromeda Galaxy
Gamma Cassiopeia (eruptive variable star)
M15 Globular cluster in Pegasus
M71 Globular cluster in Sagitta
M27 Dumbbell Planetary nebula in Vulpecula
NGC 7331 Spiral galaxy in Pegasus

Now, I appreciate I have cheap eyepieces ( will be buying a better widefield when funds allow), but I was disappointed with looking at fuzzy blobs. I think imaging has ruined me for visual observing. I decided I preferred using binoculars to look at objects (or where they are). So, once I have the guider, if I buy anything at all, it might be a pair of bigger bins ( I have Nikon 8 x 32 - lovely and clear , but  a pair of Celestron 25 x 100 Skymaster Porro Prism Binoculars would be the sort of thing).

Now I need that guider!

Targets

It was a lovely clear night. I decided to get more data for NGC6781, to combine it with the subs I got earlier, plus some darks. I also aimed to get images of Brocchi's Cluster and M32 (using the ST80). As it was so clear, I ended up adding NGC147 and M33!

In processing order:

M33. I took these using iso3200 because I had a feeling the images wouldn't have enough data for DSS. I was right, so I had to convert the .nef into .dng and increase the exposure in Lightroom. Then, I tried processing the exported .tif files (didn't bother with darks since I still suspected the images wouldn't have enough data).

Nope.


M32: This was taken using the Skywatcher ST80, NOT the newtonian. The chromatic aberration is there, but not too bad; shows why achromats are cheaper than apo's. Shame the image wasn't centred!

After converting to .dng, cropping and then converting to .tif:

Brocchi's cluster = didn't have a wide enough field of view.

NGC 6781:

A definite improvement! Based on around 90 x 45 second exposures at iso1600, plus some darks.

However, the main conclusion is...I need to guide.

I have purchased a QHY5L-II Colour CCD/Guider. I decided to go for the less sensitive colour (over the mono) because  I can then use it for moon/planet imaging as well. $200 from a chinese website, inc delivery. IF I don;t get stung for import then £60 cheaper than in UK!

The Eagle and its dim relation

Another bonus night, or sort of anyway. The sky cleared around 8, so I set up, hoping to image NGC 678, a low surface brightness planetary in Aquila. Once the scope is set up, before I take any subs, I do a longer exposure to check that it is tracking accurately. Tonight, the target was Altair. This is the result of a single 107 second (unguided) exposure:

Not too shabby at all!

The target was close to Altair, within a few seconds, so I used Altair as the sync star. I planned on taking 90 plus 45 second subs, but sadly after about 40 minutes, the clouds rolled over. after getting rid of the worst, DSS stacked 27 to give me this:

Again, not too shabby considering!

On the equipment front, I am now considering:

1. Skywatcher Synguider Autoguider - seems ot be ok for most users, need a 80 mm guidescope (got that), plus the main thing is it does not need a laptop, just a powersupply (batteries at a push)
2. A set of Televue Plossls (25, 15, 11, maybe a 35)

Messier 27 The Dumbbell Nebula in Vulpecula

According to the previous day's weather forecast it was going to be raining all day; on the day it dried mid afternoon and left a lovely clear sky with only a little cloud.

I decided target for the night was going to be M27, mainly because I had had a go at imaging it previously in the summer and hopefully would be able to see some improvement, now that I have a routine for setting up the GEM to track accurately.

 I have also made a mount for the Skywatcher ST80 to piggyback the Newtonian. When I get a guiding CCD, I was going to get a SW 80ED but the newt is pretty good and I know a few of its idiosyncrasies now. Following advice from Stargazers, I have considered getting a 9 x 50 finderscope, but thought I would see if the mount could handle the weight of the newt plus DSLR plus ST80. So, with DSLR mounted over the counterbalance bar and ST80 on the opposite side, I was hoping for an interesting night!

I took around 120  x 45 second exposures; once cloud problem, squiggles, meteors and planes had been removed , I had 90; DSS left me with 27! Anyway, pretty pleased with this compared with my earlier go:

Next time, I will take some darks and bias and see what they do for me.

Cassiopeia, M52 and the Bubble

Nice dark clear night. lovely! Will the telescope track accurately after a polar alignment using the polarscope, two alignment stars and two calibration stars....no! So, after an hour of faffing, it seems a polr alignment using the Nexstar hand controller is well worth it. I even managed to get a half way reasonable unguided exposure of 160 seconds.

So, sometime after midnight I started getting some decent image data. M52 was slightly off centre but having wrestled with Deep Sky Stacker and Astroart, DSS won out (tried it with and without darks, did't seem to make any difference):

According to Wikipedia, Messier 52 (also known as M 52 or NGC 7654) is an open cluster in the Cassiopeia constellation. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1774. M52 can be seen from Earth with binoculars.
Due to interstellar absorption of light, the distance to M 52 is uncertain, with estimates ranging between 3,000 and 7,000 light years. One study identified 193 probable members of the cluster, with the brightest member being magnitude 11.[1]
Messier 52 is evaluated at about 35 million years old.

I also tried imaging the Bubble Nebula, NGC 7635, also called the Bubble Nebula, Sharpless 162, or Caldwell 11, is a H II region[1] emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia. It lies close to the direction of the open cluster Messier 52. The "bubble" is created by the stellar wind from a massive hot, 8.7[1] magnitude young central star, the 15 ± 5 M☉[4] SAO 20575 (BD+60 2522).[7] The nebula is near a giant molecular cloud which contains the expansion of the bubble nebula while itself being excited by the hot central star, causing it to glow.[7] It was discovered in 1787 by William Herschel.[5] The star SAO 20575 or BD+602522 is thought to have a mass of 10-40 Solar masses. (Wikpedia)

The star is a Wolf Rayet star, a really interesting and rare type that one day will produce a supernova.
Anyway, I got around 30 x 45 second exposures, all pretty nice. Not having a filter is a problem since I think it means I miss most of the nebula ! One day when I have saved enough pennies, I will be able to do long exposures with a filter and see it in all its glory. Anyway, for now , this is what I have found: