[extreme_torque]

Amazing amazing thread. I am looking at getting a beginner telescope for myself. I dont want it to be so beginner that I have to replace it in a couple of years time. I have shortlisted a Saxon 10inch Dobsonian. Do you think its a good choice? Thanks again for starting this amazing thread.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

Amazing amazing thread. I am looking at getting a beginner telescope for myself. I dont want it to be so beginner that I have to replace it in a couple of years time. I have shortlisted a Saxon 10inch Dobsonian. Do you think its a good choice? Thanks again for starting this amazing thread.

Thank you for the kind words. I am very glad that you are planning to get into this wonderful hobby.

Your approach is perfectly correct, getting a telescope that can keep you engaged for a few years without losing interest in the hobby.

I checked the specifications of the Saxon 10" dobsonian telescope. It looks very good. At a focal length of 1200mm and the 10mm eyepiece you should be able to see lots of objects like galaxies, clusters, nebulae and planets. Get a 2x or 3x barlow and you should be able to enjoy the view of Saturn rings and Jupiters gas clouds.

Wishing you all the best. Please share pictures of your telescope once you get it on hand.

[watsonjay]

A brilliant write up. The details are simply amazing. One can actually start astrophotography without too much hassle just by reading your write up. Now that the astrophotography bug has bitten me, I was wondering where I can source this setup ?
Cheers

Originally Posted by graaja

By middle of 2020, as I was playing around with planetary photography with the planetary camera, I had already made up my mind to pursue proper deep space astrophotography.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by watsonjay

A brilliant write up. The details are simply amazing. One can actually start astrophotography without too much hassle just by reading your write up. Now that the astrophotography bug has bitten me, I was wondering where I can source this setup ?
Cheers

Thank you for the kind words! Following are the various sources where you can get these equipment.

C-Sky India

Tejraj

Cosmeascopes

Goscientifics

[Scarlet_Rider]

Sad news. Renowned astrophysicist Thanu Padmanabhan passed away after suffering a heart attack at his residence in Pune on Friday, 17th September 2021.

May his soul rest in peace.

Source: https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/sc...le36513555.ece

[graaja]

Originally Posted by Scarlet_Rider

Sad news. Renowned astrophysicist Thanu Padmanabhan passed away after suffering a heart attack at his residence in Pune on Friday, 17th September 2021.

May his soul rest in peace.

Source: https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/sc...le36513555.ece

Sad news indeed! R.I.P!

[graaja]

First Astrophotography Session of 2022

After a 7 month break due to severe monsoon, got to re-start the astrophotography session yesterday. As I assembled all the gear after such a long time, I was expecting some glitches. But surprisingly I was able to get everything working within 30 minutes.

The setup up and running.



Decided to do a couple of targets. Andromeda galaxy has been in my wishlist for a long time. Decided to make it the first target of 2022. As Andromeda goes close to horizon quite early in the night, could gather just an hour's data.

After this, started a 4 hour data collection on the horsehead and flame nebulae and went to bed. The MiniPC did a windows update some time in the night and did a restart. So, in the morning, instead of 4 hours data on the horsehead nebula, had only about 80 minutes of data.

From this first session, have identified a couple of issues.

1. I have added a filter draw to the imaging chain. This will help in changing various filters easily. Because of this, the backfocus of the setup has been changed a little. Due to this, the stars in the edge of the frame are elongated. Will have to fine tune the back focus.
2. There has been a change in polar alignment - could be because of temperature changes and the pier settling in. Though the guiding setup is taking care of this shift in polar alignment, with an accurate polar alignment, the load on the guider will reduce. Need to fix this in the next session.

I plan to redo both the targets with 4 to 5 hours of data after fixing both the above issues. For now, I will close this update with the two images captured.

Andromeda Galaxy:

Andromeda galaxy also known as M31 is a galaxy that is 2.5 million light years away from earth and is the nearest galaxy to our Milky Way galaxy. It is 110,000 light years in radius. This galaxy was formed about 10 billion years before. It is on a collision course with our Milky Way and is expected to collide in 4-5 billion years.

In the same image, you can see another small galaxy (at 10'o clock to Andromeda) which is named M110. This galaxy is 2.6 million light years from earth and has a radius of 8,600 light years.

Exposure:
Lights: 30x 120 seconds
Darks: 25x 120 seconds



Horsehead and Flame Nebulae

The Horsehead Nebula (also known as Barnard 33) is a small dark nebula in the constellation Orion. The nebula is located just to the south of Alnitak, the easternmost star of Orion's Belt, and is part of the much larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. The horsehead nebula is approximately 1375 light years from earth.

The Flame Nebula, designated as NGC 2024 and Sh2-277, is an emission nebula in the constellation Orion. It is about 900 to 1,500 light-years away.

Exposure:
Lights: 40x 120 seconds
Darks: 25x 120 seconds




Equipment:
EQ6 R Pro mount
WO GT81 APO triplet
WO 50mm guide scope
ZWO ASI 2600 MC Pro
ZWO ASI 224 guide camera
Optolong L-Pro filter

Software:
N.I.N.A for capture
PixInsight for stacking and processing

[Miyata]

Originally Posted by graaja

First Astrophotography Session of 2022

That's some heavenly abodes from the heaven of Coimbatore! I would imagine many more companies will rush in there in the near future and spoil those views.

Great photos. Thanks for sharing.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by graaja

The MiniPC did a windows update some time in the night and did a restart.

You can disable this in Settings. Let the Updates Download and the Restart be delayed or done manually.

[/quote]The nebula is located just to the south of Alnitak, the easternmost star of Orion's Belt, and is part of the much larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex.[/quote]

Reminds me of the film Men in Black.
Truly amazing captures. Thanks for sharing

[Viju]

I just came across this thread. Despite checking TeamBHP on a daily basis, I have no clue how I missed this one! Wow, it's truly amazing to see what you are doing, graaja! And it is very inspiring for wanna be star gazers like me!

Subscribed and glued to this thread. Hope to do at least a bit of what you are doing, someday!

[graaja]

Originally Posted by Miyata

That's some heavenly abodes from the heaven of Coimbatore! I would imagine many more companies will rush in there in the near future and spoil those views.

Great photos. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you for the kind words. Yes. Light pollution is only getting higher day by day. But as the light pollution gets higher, filters are also getting better. I also have plans to switch to narrowband imaging using monochrome camera in the future. That will work even in the highest light polluted skies.

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

You can disable this in Settings. Let the Updates Download and the Restart be delayed or done manually.
Reminds me of the film Men in Black.
Truly amazing captures. Thanks for sharing

Thank you for the kind words! After learning it the hard way, I have already disabled automatic updates

[graaja]

Originally Posted by Viju

I just came across this thread. Despite checking TeamBHP on a daily basis, I have no clue how I missed this one! Wow, it's truly amazing to see what you are doing, graaja! And it is very inspiring for wanna be star gazers like me!

Subscribed and glued to this thread. Hope to do at least a bit of what you are doing, someday!

Thank you very much for the kind words. Wishing you all the best in achieving your goals in astrophotography and star gazing.

[maheshm619]

Originally Posted by graaja

Horsehead and Flame Nebulae

The Horsehead Nebula (also known as Barnard 33) is a small dark nebula in the constellation Orion.

This one was absolutely majestic . I went on to search more images and its simply beautiful.



credits : https://skyandtelescope.org/online-g...in-lrgbhalpha/

[satishv1987]

Brilliant captures @graaja. Looking forward to many more such photographs.

As a beginner, I am looking for a telescope to do some star gazing myself. I intend to pursue this as a hobby. My budget is <15K . Any recommendations ?

[VamshiV]

Wow, those are some beautiful pictures there. Looking forward for more pics.