Rosette using HaO3 and S2O3 filters on Pier 5

Richard,

Who'd have imagined a couple of years ago that results like this and others recently posted from this pier could be achieved with an OSC camera. That's a nice combination of the filters you used to produce a top class image.

I hope that the weather in your part of the country isn't giving you too much grief and between the wind and rain you've been able to make some use of your own setup. Have you made any changes to that since you joined Roboscopes. Also, did you fill up that 8tb drive you started off with? I have 2 of them but occasionally still need to cull some of the calibration data from completed jobs. You mentioned back then a couple of years ago that your computer had what was an acceptable 8gb of RAM, these days that's not a lot!  What with the cost of the astrophotography gear this is a darned expensive hobby. :( Hope all is well. 

Thanks for sharing this and others.

Cheers and CS, 

Ray 

Ray,

Yes very pleased with the result. Some people on Stargazers Lounge spotted some problems with corner stars that seem to arise from imperfect registration in WBPP. I haven't tracked down what is happening yet.

On the observatory, got very little use from Midsummer to now, but managed to complete a couple of images (attached). I have literally had 5-days imaging since June. So Roboscopes doing its job!

Not sure when I last reported on my rig, but currently using Esprit 120 mounted on a Mesu 200 with an ASI 533 MM Pro (I am pretty sure the camera is new since I last updated).

The other major change is that I have upgraded my Voyager installation to the Advanced version that has built-in scheduling software. So I am now able to run automatically all night without having to think about what target is where and how I should sequence the observatory. Liking it a lot. On the older system I never worked out how to make a session go back to where it was after an emergency suspend due to cloud or rain. It used to restart that part of the imaging session. Leaving it all to the scheduler is a great step forward.

By archiving old completed projects, and deleting calibration, registration etc, I am managing to stay within the 8TB. Computer has been upgraded to a 12th Gen i9 with 64GB RAM and a fast 2TB SSD, which has proved a boon with the Pier 5 datasets!

Have a good Xmas!

old_eyes

Have other users of Pier 5 seen the effect I describe in another post?

Something odd with the corners of subs from Pier 5 (roboscopes.com)

Richard, 

That's a shame about the recent weather you have been experiencing, particularly given the effort and expense you've obviously put in. Very frustrating.

I think that  Mesu mount when first announced was one of the first "more affordable mounts" to compete against the likes of Software Bisque and Astro Physics, and with an enormous load capacity. Good purchase. The results you attached really must satisfy you, they would me. 

My reason for 2 x 8tb disks is that when I archive a project I tend to retain some of the calibrated data and often that can increase the size to over 50gb, particularly if it's something Steve had submitted! :) That archive disk of mine is now over half full. My latest computer is similar to yours but a step lower down. A 12th gen i7 processor, just 32gb RAM but a 2tb ssd drive like yours. I'm sure that extra RAM would really help out. I too started out with 8gb and foolishly thought that would be sufficient for years to come. Then they brought out all those cmos cameras! I even went up to 16gb in between times, but when mosaics became more ambitious that was insufficient. This hobby really needs to come with a wealth warning. 

Nice hearing back from you, and I hope you too have a nice Christmas, maybe the odd clear night as well. Hope you get that minor star problem on this image resolved. 

Now here's a suggestion for you should you have a few spare hours. Remember that 4 panel mosaic of the Sadr region taken on pier 14 and those awful star shapes in the corners. Now that you're using Blur Xterminator which should sort the star shapes out, how about repeating it. :).

Blur Xterminator  1  -  Steve's sensor flattener  0

Cheers and CS, 

Ray 

There are a few earlier images I would like to revisit, both because of improved tools (StarX, BlurX, NoiseX, GHS, SPCC etc) and because of my very slowly improving skills. I can at least do a narrowband SHO image now without the whole thing being a lurid acid green. 

Yes the Sadr mosaic, and also the centre portion of the Orion mosaic (I never did conquer the outer segments).

Perhaps a project for the Christmas break (together with all the other projects I have planned!).

When I bought the new PC, I convinced myself that going for the maximum RAM made sense, and I haven't regretted it. WBPP processing of my stacks from the ASI 533 just zip past, but 259 full frame 35mm subs on the Lobster Claw still means going off and cooking the tea while it grinds through. I guess like Parkinson's Law, the amount and size of subs you process just expands until you almost lose the will to live!

Richard, Lol!

Totally agree about those full frame sensors. WBPP is currently strolling on my other slightly slower computer on a Job with 120 full frame subs. When measuring in WBPP, that is to say running Subframe selector it averaged 25 seconds per sub, that's 50 minutes alone. In the time it's likely to take to finish I reckon one could prepare and cook a proper Christmas meal.

I believe the Esprit 120 is f7 native, so I wonder if there is a focal reducer that you use given the relatively small (sensible) sensor size of the 533. That's seems a pretty good combination for many galaxies at 840mm maybe combined with using drizzle integration.

I guess I'll go off, prepare lunch, then check on my computer. 

Cheers from a very wet part of eastern England right now. 

I do have a focal reducer which would take the focal length down to 646mm from 840.

I haven't used it yet, as my first targets have been well suited to the 840mm native FL. I have also (inevitably) spent time sorting out focuser, flatfield and other issues.

If we get a run of good nights, I will definitely put it on, as well as setting up again my 200mm Canon lens QHY163C secondary combination.

I must confess I have thought about using a second PC just to grind through the preprocessing and stacking. I have an older machine available, but wonder if it will be too slow.

Using an older computer shouldn't be a problem, except for needing to transfer files to and from it. Once WBPP is running you can let it get on with it. An occasional check on progress or lack of is advisable. Several hundred full frame subs might be pushing things though. 

Bill Blanshan scripts work great with OSC narrowband images. I highly recommend them as the can save a lot of time. https://cosmicphotons.com/scripts/

Daniel