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Finally, an M51 to go public with

Howard Ritter
 

Hey Astronuts, Lowbrows, and Buckeyes—

Forgive my astroimager-newbie enthusiasm for an ordinary image, but we finally had a run of fairly good nights here in the Tampa Bay area and I’ve been able to get about 4 hours of data on the Whirlpool. I know that’s entry-level integration time, but the limiting factor is how little imaging I can get done on any given night. I don’t like leaving my scope-on-a-dolly in the driveway unattended into the wee small hours, which may not matter anyway, since how long the secondary remains dew-free is limited by not being able to get a certain West Coast vendor to come through with my order for an accessories package for the CDK14 that includes a controller for the dew heater. When I get the controller, I’m going to drag a chaise to the garage doorway and nap there for peace of mind while I take advantage of M51 staying above 60º until the end of astronomical night.

Also, I’m still doing entry-level post-processing with Nebulosity4, Photoshop, GXT, and DeNoise and SharpenAI, but am about to take the plunge into the icy waters of PixInsight.

So with those caveats, here is my best M51 to date. PlaneWave CDK 14 on an Astro-Physics 1600GTO mount on a Berlebach wooden tripod on a JMI Wheeley Bar dolly, Bortle 7 light pollution, ASI2600MC camera at prime focus, no filter. 147 subs of 60, 120, and 180 seconds unguided, depending on how good PA was on the nights in question. There’s a lot more tidal spray to M51 than I was able to bring out, and I’m hoping more hours of data, as well as PI, will bring it out as well as get rid of the color noise and those curious concentric artefactual bands caused, I presume, by squeezing the data so hard.

—howard

2023Mar20-22 ASI uncal stack 147.jpg

Linwood Ferguson
 

On Thu, Mar 23, 2023 at 10:53 AM, Howard Ritter wrote:
So with those caveats, here is my best M51 to date. PlaneWave CDK 14 on an Astro-Physics 1600GTO mount on a Berlebach wooden tripod on a JMI Wheeley Bar dolly, Bortle 7 light pollution, ASI2600MC camera at prime focus, no filter. 147 subs of 60, 120, and 180 seconds unguided, depending on how good PA was on the nights in question.
So first.... wow.  4 hours.  Same bortle and similar skies as I have down south of you in Ft. Myers.  Just wow. 

4 Hours you say... 

Anyway... curious, is that the Berlebach Gravity?    Or did you put all that on a Planet? 

You need one of these, an optical rain alarm.  I set mine up near the telescope, and it wakes me up on the first drop of rain (or dew, or literally once a tree frog that squatted on top).  It's dragged me out a few nights when there was zero chance of rain and they were just wrong, wrong, wrong...

Unless your concern is more the 2 legged vermin, in which case this won't help.

Linwood
Howard Ritter
 

Hi, Linwood—

To take your last first, yes, it’s the bipedal vermin that I’m concerned about; we get virtually no unpredicted nighttime rain here. We live on a 1/4-mile cul-de-sac with 20 friendly and upright (and curious) neighbors, 1.5 miles off the main road, deep inside a no-through-traffic 55+ community, and residential crime is virtually unheard-of here. It’s not uncommon for me to be in the driveway for a couple of hours even before midnight and see no passing vehicles at all — “late” here is staying up to watch Hannity. So I’m not too concerned about napping from 2300 to 0100, for example, while the camera accumulates old photons (as well as too many emitted within the last msec). But I haven’t been able to bring myself to leave the equipment out all night while I’m sleeping in the opposite corner of the house. (Nor would common-sense SWMBO allow that without great misgivings.) And there’s the dew. So, when we get exceptional nights after the dew heater arrives, I’ll be doing the chaise nap in the garage doorway.

Four hours, yes. But I had to squeeze and stretch the data so hard that ugly artifacts started to appear. Hopefully more time, and using PI, will solve those problems.

—howard

On Mar 23, 2023, at 11:04 AM, ap@... wrote:

On Thu, Mar 23, 2023 at 10:53 AM, Howard Ritter wrote:
So with those caveats, here is my best M51 to date. PlaneWave CDK 14 on an Astro-Physics 1600GTO mount on a Berlebach wooden tripod on a JMI Wheeley Bar dolly, Bortle 7 light pollution, ASI2600MC camera at prime focus, no filter. 147 subs of 60, 120, and 180 seconds unguided, depending on how good PA was on the nights in question.
So first.... wow.  4 hours.  Same bortle and similar skies as I have down south of you in Ft. Myers.  Just wow. 

4 Hours you say... 

Anyway... curious, is that the Berlebach Gravity?    Or did you put all that on a Planet? 

You need one of these, an optical rain alarm.  I set mine up near the telescope, and it wakes me up on the first drop of rain (or dew, or literally once a tree frog that squatted on top).  It's dragged me out a few nights when there was zero chance of rain and they were just wrong, wrong, wrong...

Unless your concern is more the 2 legged vermin, in which case this won't help.

Linwood
Brian Kaine
 

Hi Howard,

That's a great result! I especially like the processing of the spiral arms, they seem to have
a three-dimensional aspect to them. And as for the color, I prefer the subdued look of
your image. I think that's something we've discussed before!

All the best,
Brian
Roland Christen
 

Very nice result. Congrats.

Rolando


-----Original Message-----
From: Howard Ritter via groups.io <howard.ritter@...>
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io; Lowbrow Astrophotography <lowbrow-aap@...>; CASGroups Mail <columbusastronomy@groups.io>
Sent: Thu, Mar 23, 2023 4:52 am
Subject: [ap-gto] Finally, an M51 to go public with

Hey Astronuts, Lowbrows, and Buckeyes—

Forgive my astroimager-newbie enthusiasm for an ordinary image, but we finally had a run of fairly good nights here in the Tampa Bay area and I’ve been able to get about 4 hours of data on the Whirlpool. I know that’s entry-level integration time, but the limiting factor is how little imaging I can get done on any given night. I don’t like leaving my scope-on-a-dolly in the driveway unattended into the wee small hours, which may not matter anyway, since how long the secondary remains dew-free is limited by not being able to get a certain West Coast vendor to come through with my order for an accessories package for the CDK14 that includes a controller for the dew heater. When I get the controller, I’m going to drag a chaise to the garage doorway and nap there for peace of mind while I take advantage of M51 staying above 60º until the end of astronomical night.

Also, I’m still doing entry-level post-processing with Nebulosity4, Photoshop, GXT, and DeNoise and SharpenAI, but am about to take the plunge into the icy waters of PixInsight.

So with those caveats, here is my best M51 to date. PlaneWave CDK 14 on an Astro-Physics 1600GTO mount on a Berlebach wooden tripod on a JMI Wheeley Bar dolly, Bortle 7 light pollution, ASI2600MC camera at prime focus, no filter. 147 subs of 60, 120, and 180 seconds unguided, depending on how good PA was on the nights in question. There’s a lot more tidal spray to M51 than I was able to bring out, and I’m hoping more hours of data, as well as PI, will bring it out as well as get rid of the color noise and those curious concentric artefactual bands caused, I presume, by squeezing the data so hard.

—howard








--
Roland Christen
Astro-Physics
Stuart
 

Beautiful job Howard!


On Thu, 23 Mar 2023 at 10:53, Howard Ritter via groups.io <howard.ritter=mac.com@groups.io> wrote:
Hey Astronuts, Lowbrows, and Buckeyes—

Forgive my astroimager-newbie enthusiasm for an ordinary image, but we finally had a run of fairly good nights here in the Tampa Bay area and I’ve been able to get about 4 hours of data on the Whirlpool. I know that’s entry-level integration time, but the limiting factor is how little imaging I can get done on any given night. I don’t like leaving my scope-on-a-dolly in the driveway unattended into the wee small hours, which may not matter anyway, since how long the secondary remains dew-free is limited by not being able to get a certain West Coast vendor to come through with my order for an accessories package for the CDK14 that includes a controller for the dew heater. When I get the controller, I’m going to drag a chaise to the garage doorway and nap there for peace of mind while I take advantage of M51 staying above 60º until the end of astronomical night.

Also, I’m still doing entry-level post-processing with Nebulosity4, Photoshop, GXT, and DeNoise and SharpenAI, but am about to take the plunge into the icy waters of PixInsight.

So with those caveats, here is my best M51 to date. PlaneWave CDK 14 on an Astro-Physics 1600GTO mount on a Berlebach wooden tripod on a JMI Wheeley Bar dolly, Bortle 7 light pollution, ASI2600MC camera at prime focus, no filter. 147 subs of 60, 120, and 180 seconds unguided, depending on how good PA was on the nights in question. There’s a lot more tidal spray to M51 than I was able to bring out, and I’m hoping more hours of data, as well as PI, will bring it out as well as get rid of the color noise and those curious concentric artefactual bands caused, I presume, by squeezing the data so hard.

—howard
Howard Ritter
 

Thanks, Roland and everyone else who commented. Your responses are very encouraging.

—howard

On Mar 23, 2023, at 4:22 PM, Roland Christen via groups.io <chris1011@...> wrote:

Very nice result. Congrats.

Rolando


-----Original Message-----
From: Howard Ritter via groups.io <howard.ritter@...>
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io; Lowbrow Astrophotography <lowbrow-aap@...>; CASGroups Mail <columbusastronomy@groups.io>
Sent: Thu, Mar 23, 2023 4:52 am
Subject: [ap-gto] Finally, an M51 to go public with

Hey Astronuts, Lowbrows, and Buckeyes—

Forgive my astroimager-newbie enthusiasm for an ordinary image, but we finally had a run of fairly good nights here in the Tampa Bay area and I’ve been able to get about 4 hours of data on the Whirlpool. I know that’s entry-level integration time, but the limiting factor is how little imaging I can get done on any given night. I don’t like leaving my scope-on-a-dolly in the driveway unattended into the wee small hours, which may not matter anyway, since how long the secondary remains dew-free is limited by not being able to get a certain West Coast vendor to come through with my order for an accessories package for the CDK14 that includes a controller for the dew heater. When I get the controller, I’m going to drag a chaise to the garage doorway and nap there for peace of mind while I take advantage of M51 staying above 60º until the end of astronomical night.

Also, I’m still doing entry-level post-processing with Nebulosity4, Photoshop, GXT, and DeNoise and SharpenAI, but am about to take the plunge into the icy waters of PixInsight.

So with those caveats, here is my best M51 to date. PlaneWave CDK 14 on an Astro-Physics 1600GTO mount on a Berlebach wooden tripod on a JMI Wheeley Bar dolly, Bortle 7 light pollution, ASI2600MC camera at prime focus, no filter. 147 subs of 60, 120, and 180 seconds unguided, depending on how good PA was on the nights in question. There’s a lot more tidal spray to M51 than I was able to bring out, and I’m hoping more hours of data, as well as PI, will bring it out as well as get rid of the color noise and those curious concentric artefactual bands caused, I presume, by squeezing the data so hard.

—howard








--
Roland Christen
Astro-Physics

Jeff B
 

Very nice and it looks a bit 3D to me.

Well done.

Jeff

On Thu, Mar 23, 2023 at 5:58 PM Howard Ritter via groups.io <howard.ritter=mac.com@groups.io> wrote:
Thanks, Roland and everyone else who commented. Your responses are very encouraging.

—howard

On Mar 23, 2023, at 4:22 PM, Roland Christen via groups.io <chris1011=aol.com@groups.io> wrote:

Very nice result. Congrats.

Rolando


-----Original Message-----
From: Howard Ritter via groups.io <howard.ritter=mac.com@groups.io>
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io; Lowbrow Astrophotography <lowbrow-aap@...>; CASGroups Mail <columbusastronomy@groups.io>
Sent: Thu, Mar 23, 2023 4:52 am
Subject: [ap-gto] Finally, an M51 to go public with

Hey Astronuts, Lowbrows, and Buckeyes—

Forgive my astroimager-newbie enthusiasm for an ordinary image, but we finally had a run of fairly good nights here in the Tampa Bay area and I’ve been able to get about 4 hours of data on the Whirlpool. I know that’s entry-level integration time, but the limiting factor is how little imaging I can get done on any given night. I don’t like leaving my scope-on-a-dolly in the driveway unattended into the wee small hours, which may not matter anyway, since how long the secondary remains dew-free is limited by not being able to get a certain West Coast vendor to come through with my order for an accessories package for the CDK14 that includes a controller for the dew heater. When I get the controller, I’m going to drag a chaise to the garage doorway and nap there for peace of mind while I take advantage of M51 staying above 60º until the end of astronomical night.

Also, I’m still doing entry-level post-processing with Nebulosity4, Photoshop, GXT, and DeNoise and SharpenAI, but am about to take the plunge into the icy waters of PixInsight.

So with those caveats, here is my best M51 to date. PlaneWave CDK 14 on an Astro-Physics 1600GTO mount on a Berlebach wooden tripod on a JMI Wheeley Bar dolly, Bortle 7 light pollution, ASI2600MC camera at prime focus, no filter. 147 subs of 60, 120, and 180 seconds unguided, depending on how good PA was on the nights in question. There’s a lot more tidal spray to M51 than I was able to bring out, and I’m hoping more hours of data, as well as PI, will bring it out as well as get rid of the color noise and those curious concentric artefactual bands caused, I presume, by squeezing the data so hard.

—howard








--
Roland Christen
Astro-Physics

Brian Valente
 

Howard - i want to add my congratulations. Wow, just 4 hours. well done! good detail

The CDK can be a beast to tame but it is an excellent instrument

Brian

On Thu, Mar 23, 2023 at 2:58 PM Howard Ritter via groups.io <howard.ritter=mac.com@groups.io> wrote:
Thanks, Roland and everyone else who commented. Your responses are very encouraging.

—howard

On Mar 23, 2023, at 4:22 PM, Roland Christen via groups.io <chris1011=aol.com@groups.io> wrote:

Very nice result. Congrats.

Rolando


-----Original Message-----
From: Howard Ritter via groups.io <howard.ritter=mac.com@groups.io>
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io; Lowbrow Astrophotography <lowbrow-aap@...>; CASGroups Mail <columbusastronomy@groups.io>
Sent: Thu, Mar 23, 2023 4:52 am
Subject: [ap-gto] Finally, an M51 to go public with

Hey Astronuts, Lowbrows, and Buckeyes—

Forgive my astroimager-newbie enthusiasm for an ordinary image, but we finally had a run of fairly good nights here in the Tampa Bay area and I’ve been able to get about 4 hours of data on the Whirlpool. I know that’s entry-level integration time, but the limiting factor is how little imaging I can get done on any given night. I don’t like leaving my scope-on-a-dolly in the driveway unattended into the wee small hours, which may not matter anyway, since how long the secondary remains dew-free is limited by not being able to get a certain West Coast vendor to come through with my order for an accessories package for the CDK14 that includes a controller for the dew heater. When I get the controller, I’m going to drag a chaise to the garage doorway and nap there for peace of mind while I take advantage of M51 staying above 60º until the end of astronomical night.

Also, I’m still doing entry-level post-processing with Nebulosity4, Photoshop, GXT, and DeNoise and SharpenAI, but am about to take the plunge into the icy waters of PixInsight.

So with those caveats, here is my best M51 to date. PlaneWave CDK 14 on an Astro-Physics 1600GTO mount on a Berlebach wooden tripod on a JMI Wheeley Bar dolly, Bortle 7 light pollution, ASI2600MC camera at prime focus, no filter. 147 subs of 60, 120, and 180 seconds unguided, depending on how good PA was on the nights in question. There’s a lot more tidal spray to M51 than I was able to bring out, and I’m hoping more hours of data, as well as PI, will bring it out as well as get rid of the color noise and those curious concentric artefactual bands caused, I presume, by squeezing the data so hard.

—howard








--
Roland Christen
Astro-Physics



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