Anthony's Astrophotography

Archive for the ‘General Blog’ Category

Hi Everyone,

I wasn’t sure how this weekend was going to be in South East Queensland as all the weather reports said there was rain and cloud, however Skippy Sky said all would be clear for the first half of the evening so I thought I would give it a go. Well I am glad I did as I was blessed with a clear night, this time I had some company of a work colleague that wanted to come along and see what all the fuss was about. It was his first time seeing through a telescope and had a good look at Saturn and instantly became hooked, this promptly followed by how much do you think it would cost to gat a scope and mount etc. etc.???? It was great to see he had a good time.

As we enjoyed a good clear night, several Bundy Rum’s and good conversation we managed to squeeze in some imaging as well, this time I was keen to get some images of the night sky in wide field (thanks to Chris for lending me his 10-22mm Canon Lens) and think they came out quite well.

I hope you enjoy the next round of images, some are repeats but I think I am getting better as I go.

Cheers

Anthony

Hi Everyone,

I finally got an opportunity to get out to Blackbutt and do some imaging, this was not the new moon weekend so I had to wait for the moon to set around 12:30 AM but once it set the night really opened up and was one of the best I have seen before.

This evening I was testing out some new equipment I have purchased recently (GSO RC8 Astrograph and the Orion Deluxe Off Axis Guider, as we well as the Central DS CDS-600D), these have been sitting at my house since earlier in the year not getting any use. When I get a chance I will do a write up, but in the mean time here are some images I managed to take:

M20 (Trifid Nebula)

M8 (Lagoon Nebula)

M83 (Southern Pinwheel Galaxy)

Last but not least I took some time lapse shots on my standard DSLR with a Canon 10-22mm Lens.

Time_Lapse_C-E-Complete_1

I hope you enjoy.

Cheers

Anthony

 

Hi Everyone,

It’s been a while since I have had time to post much and definitely not much happening in the Astrophotography area at the moment due to the almost constant rain we have had here in Brisbane Australia.

However one thing I did manage to do earlier in March after I got my Central DS CDS-600D camera was to take a snap of the Rosette Nebula. This was more of a test than anything else as it was from my backyard and the moon was out if memory serves me correctly. I really just wanted to see how much better at capturing Ha the CDS was over a standard EOS Canon.

The good thing about this comparison is they are essentially the same camera; a Canon EOS 600D, one standard the other modified by Central DS so it gives you a good comparison of the difference a filter mod can make to a camera (Note these were taken via the same telescope on the same mount etc.).

Anyway to show the comparison here are two shots, the first one was 1.2 hours of data (7 * 10 minute subs) on a standard EOS 600D DSLR in a good dark sky site, the second image is 10 minutes (2 * 5 minutes subs) on the CDS-600D with an Astronomik CLS-CCD filter in Brisbane suburban light pollution. Needless to say I was stunned by the results.

Hope you enjoy and I hope this encourages readers to consider stepping into modded DSLR or dedicated Astro camera areas, the difference is amazing.

Cheers

Anthony

Hi Everyone,

Looks like the Sky Watcher EQ8 mount has been delayed till May 2013 in Australia, not sure if this is delayed by technical issues or what??? but hopefully for those that have ordered one they won’t be disappointed again come May, time will tell. I have on reasonably good authority that there have been 8 EQ8’s scheduled to reach Australia in May and all of these have now been ordered, I don’t unfortunately have any details about the second round of units being shipped??? so if you are looking to get one you may have a wait on your hands.

On a positive note I did fine a PEC recording from an EQ8 kindly posted by Tommy Nawratil of www.teleskop-austria.com. They also have some great video reviews (not in English of course) but still worth watching.

If I read this correct it appears to be quite good but I must admit I do not know what all of the details mean in the real world, from my estimate on the chart the Periodic Error for the EQ8 is around 7-8 arc seconds peak to peak. This is very good if it proves to be a smooth curve and no random jerks or bumps.

If anyone can comment on this I would be interested in their thoughts???

Cheers

Anthony

 

Hi Everyone,

I am sure a lot of you are keenly watching for any updates on the EQ8 mount from Skywatcher as we are getting ever closer to that elusive March 2013 release date. Well I just stumbled across this video from Astronomy and Nature TV who have done a great close up overview of the EQ8 Mount at the European Astrofest in London and thought I would share it with you.

Suggested in the video is the fact that the Visual Payload for the EQ8 is per the stated at 50 KG as released to date, however in this video they have also indicated the Astrophotography payload is more like 35 KG. I can’t verify this naturally but thought it note worthy at the least.

I also found it interesting that Astronomy and Nature TV have advised there is no indication on pricing, I do have to wonder then how the Australian distributors have set prices for the EQ8 if this has not been set by the manufacturer already and wonder if there is something else going on here????

Seems strange to me as you should be able to look at a price and perform a simple currency conversion to get a reasonably close guestimate of what to expect for pricing. Given Bintel in Australia have these for $4,449.00 you should be able to get a good idea on price for your country.

Anyway here is the video:

Cheers

Anthony

Hi Everyone,

For those that don’t know, I was invited to do a presentation for SEQAS last night during their OGM, To all the SEQAS members that were there; a very big thanks for the invitation and I hope my presentation on Autoguiding was of benefit to you all and starts you off in the right direction for your Autoguiding choices. As promised the presentation can be downloaded here. Also a big thanks for the bottle of wine, I will certainly enjoy this over the weekend :).

If any of you would like further information or have any questions please feel free to leave a post on the blog and I will get back to you soon.

Cheers

Anthony

Hi Everyone,

I thought I would share another update on the EQ8 Mount. I was reviewing the latest manual release from Sky Watcher when I found on page 36 documented confirmation that Camera Controls are built into the AZ-EQ6 and the soon to be released EQ8, with any luck this means the EQ8 is not too far away from release to that actual market. The manual can be found here.

At this stage the only update (and this is from the supplier channels as well) March is still the tentative date for it’s arrival.

Here is an extract from the Sky Watcher Manual on page 36:

1. Using the SNAP port on the telescope mount:
   Several Sky-Watcher’s equatorial mounts (such as the AZ-EQ6 GT and the EQ8) are equipped with a SNAP port. Users can use a proper shutter release control cable to connect this port to the same port on the camera.
2. Using the multi-purpose port on the SynScan hand controller:
   The SynScan hand controller uses 2 pins (The SHUTTER and COMMON pins in the diagram of Appendix 3) of its multi-purpose port to control the shutter release of a DSLR camera. Users may use a proper shutter release cable to connect the SynScan hand controller and a camera.

Any way hopefully it’s release will be soon, if you find any further details please feel free to let me know.

Cheers

Anthony

Hi Everyone,

I was very lucky over Christmas as my Family all chipped in to purchase me a new Camera for my astrophotography.  I really wanted a Central DS CDS-600D camera and while I haven’t received it yet (these are a custom built unit to order so they take about 4 weeks to be completed) I am very excited to have it on it’s way here. This will be my first dedicated Astro camera so I am very hopeful this will lift my image quality to the next level.

While I could write up a hole blurb on these cameras, there is already a great deal of info on the web so will point you to those locations rather than repeat their details: Central DS, Cloudy Nights Review and some images taken with these cameras at AstroBin.

In a nutshell Central DS have 4 goals in mind with their designs and I think they have achieved all of these with the CDS-600D.

1. Good User Interface
2. Good Image Quality
3. Good Price
4. Good Design

While I have not used one of these cameras, I based my decision on wanting one from information in those sites above, relying on investigations on the web and of course a friend at Astrofest that purchased the CDS-1100D camera (she is very happy with hers). What I can say about my experience is that the purchasing process has been smooth and trouble free, I made the transaction via Credit Card/ Pay Pal and was promptly notified of my order, additionally Yun Lee has always responded to my email queries so all in all a good experience.

One thing I will comment on however is that when Ralph Laplanche was writing the Review at Cloudy Nights he states the High ISO Expansion is set to off by default, I had emailed Yun at Central DS to ensure this was enabled, he kindly replied that this is now standard in their build process for all new cameras.

Anyway enough blurb from me and some pictures, as soon as I get this and have a chance to point it at the stars I will let you know what I think.

Cheers

Anthony

Hi Everyone,

While there is still no official release of details for the EQ8 from Sky Watcher, I found an article from http://www.deltasky.pl/ referencing some new details about the EQ8 that I found very interesting and thought I would share. While Google translate does an OK job of converting Polish to English it still left for a bit of interpretation so I hope I have these details correct. The photos listed below show what the final product may look like and some more details about the mechanics of the mount head.

All the specs stated so far by most distributors appear to be true such as the Worm diameter and carrying capacity however it does look like some details appear to have been omitted or where unknown. As an example it looks like the Declination axis has a precision stepper motor tied direct to the Worm Shaft (or Direct Drive as stated in some circles), however it looks like the RA Axis is not as direct drive as we have been lead to believe with what looks like a 1:1 belt drive system between the Stepper motor and the Worm shaft. IMHO I don’t see this being a major issue but found it interesting nonetheless.

Of favourable note was the mention of the machining quality of the mount, as I mentioned in a previous post, I think Synta have really started to get their game on when it comes to the construction of their mounts, as always the proof is in the pudding but I think they have a good recipe to bring to the table.

Another detail I found was the presence of a SNAP port, this looks to be a 2.5 or 3.5 mm jack and was indicated as being for use with a Canon camera for shutter release control, who knows if this will be on the final product that ships? but either way I think this shows some degree of innovation by Synta on their mounts.

These images also show the sheer size of the mount in comparison to a HEQ5, this really is one heavy duty mount and I think is on the border of “portable”, also the polar scope arrangement is shown. I find this a little unsightly but that’s just my opinion and I suspect this arrangement was chosen to maintain structural rigidity in the mount base and RA Axis rather than a central mounted polar scope.

Lastly you can see the quality of the tripod, this does look to be “Heavy Duty” and I am sure will hold anything you throw at it.

I would like to thank Delta from www.deltasky.pl for sharing his findings on the EQ8, I hope this has shed a little light on the shrouds of secrecy over the EQ8 and it’s proclaimed release in March 2013.

       

I hope you enjoyed the article and please feel free to leave a comment.

Cheers

Anthony

Hi Everyone,

Just in case you hadn’t noticed I have had a change of domain name from thegrimshaws.id.au to astrophotography.id.au, I felt this was a better reflection of the purpose of my site and reflects me and my hobby to a tee. I hope you continue to enjoy my posts and pictures.

As an aside I have recently purchased an Astronomik CLS CCD filter for my set up to help me combat the light pollution in Brisbane suburban backyard, as soon as this arrives I will do some tests and let you know what I think. From what I have seen I am very excited to have this on the way.

As always please feel free to leave a comment.

Cheers

Anthony