Back in Business - Hopefully

Tonight was do or die. I'd had enough of my recurring blue screen of death issues out in the field and decided to fix it once and for all. I set up my scope in the back yard, close to my home wifi so that I could download any required software and drivers as needed. Also close to a nice supply of Guinness which helped!

After receiving two BSODs while trying driver re-installs, I decided to snag my wife's laptop and install everything there. It runs Windows 7 like my new machine, but has USB2.0 ports as opposed to mine which runs USB3.0. After another BSOD on my machine, everything had installed on the other laptop so I plugged my mount and Meade DSI camera into it and gave it a whirl.

Viola!

Ran perfectly. Saw the CGEM mount, saw the Meade DSI, calibrated just fine. I ran it again, unplugging and re-plugging everything back in. All good.

So, it looks like I'll be doing more dishes so I can use my wife's machine more often. I assume it has something to do with the USB port difference at this point.

Naturally, the wind is picking up and the clouds and rain are pulling in. I have a photo assignment next weekend so I I'll have to wait to get out and image something interesting. In any case, looks like I'm back in business!

M45

Under clear skies last night (and some gusting wind) I again wrestled with my autoguiding setup. My new laptop present me with a blue screen of death which I click on the "PHD Target" button within the PHD app. It sees the DSI guide camera and brings an image down, it connects to the scope. When I start to calibrate, the PHD app locks up and when I kill it, a BSOD ensues. Outstanding. Third time out and I tried uninstalling and re-installing everything. I'm convinced it's a hardware issue.

Anyway, in between BSODs and system restarts, I targeted M45. The image here is 22 minutes of unguided two-minute exposures @ ISO1250. Stacked in DSS but processed on my iPad using the Snapseed App, which I like a lot.

Close Call with my Meade DSI

A few weeks ago my DSI decided to go into what I thought was permanent hibernation. My laptop wouldn't recognize it, PHD Guiding wouldn't recognize it. 'Twas the end of autoguiding as I knew it and I had to scrounge up some cash for something new. Well, I resolved the issue today. Simply uninstalled the Meade DSI through Device Manager (which was, oddly enough, recognizing it), then performed a system restart. After it restarted I plugged int he DSI, used the Force and the laptop (and PHD) Guiding recognized it! So, when the conditions are right, it's back to some serious astrophotography!

M45 - Pleiades

Okay, so I have never really shot this cluster before. I'm quite happy with the result! The reflection nebula is clearly evident, and the stars within it are nicely focused. I could have done with a flat frame but will get one next time. As I said in my earlier post, the D7000 lets me focus very tightly now, and I think I can see the difference in the way that the detailed nebulosity has come out here.

Image Details:

• Imaging Scope: Astrotelescopes 80mm ED Refractor
• Imaging Camera: Nikon D7000
• Guiding Scope: William Optics 66mm Petzval Refractor
• Guiding Camera: Meade DSI-C
• Mount: Celestron CGEM
• Exposures: 12 * 3 minute lights, 5 * 3 minute darks
  
• ISO 800
• Aligned and Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
• Post-Processing in GIMP (contrast, saturation and unsharp mask)

Ahh, Gear!

Wonderful evening, tonight! Clear skies, cold temperatures, scope gear, a good mate and a bottle of Guinness! It doesn't get too much better than that. I took my astrophotography rig out tonight to test out the new D7000 body. I met my friend, Scott, out at an alternative dark sky site we'd found on the outskirts of Austin. I spent several hours out there, messing with the D7000 and taking some test shots. I'll post them on the blog here if they come out decently. For now, here's a shot of my new "office"! The D7000 on my 80mm ED refractor, with my Meade DSI guide camera on my William Optics 66mm refractor - all atop my Celestron CGEM which, as usual, behaved admirably tonight through PHD Guiding. Ahh, bliss!

The nifty thing about the D7000 for astro use is the live view with zoom. When I GOTO an object that I want to image, I can turn on "live view" mode, and then zoom into a star that exists in the field of view. Then, I can achieve very sharp, tight focus in preparation for light frame collection. It's wonderful, much better than trial and error!

While I am still processing the images, I can already see some nice, sharp images coming through...

M20 Triffid Nebula

Again, sticking around Sagittarius, I aimed for M20. It's an object that has eluded me based on both the lack of ability to get out and shoot it and the rubbish results that have occurred when I have been able to shoot it! I may be pushing it when shooting smaller objects with an 80mm scope, but this is my best M20 yet.

Image Details

• Imaging Scope: Astrotelescopes 80mm ED Refractor
• Imaging Camera: Nikon D40
• Guiding Scope: William Optics 66mm Petzval Refractor
• Guiding Camera: Meade DSI-C
• Mount: Celestron CGEM
• Exposures: 8 * 3 minute lights, 4 * 3 minute darks, 20 bias frames
  
• ISO 800
• Aligned and Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
• Post-Processing in GIMP (contrast, saturation and unsharp mask)
• Noise reduction in Neat Image

Wide Field View:

Autoguiding Here We Come...Hopefully...

I purchased a used Meade DSI (original) camera today. I have had one before when I attempted astrophotography with my Meade LX200 on a standard wedge. The inefficencies of the standard wedge made astrophotography a horrible experience and I sold it and the DSI I originally had in frustration. For the past few months I have been reading about how folks have been using the DSI as an auotguiding camera and started to regret my decision to get rid of the one I had those few years ago.

So, today I ordered one that I saw on Astromart. It has only been used a few times so seems to be in good shape. I'll need to get a longer USB cable as well as a more modern interface cable from my laptop to the LX200 (which uses a serial port for guiding/scope control). I am used to the camera itself so the learning curve shouldn't be too steep.

I am really hoping that this will make a difference with my astrophotos. The idea behind autoguiding is that you have the guiding camera on your guide scope, while you have your primary imaging camera (in my case the Nikon D40 DSLR) on your main imaging scope. The guide camera sends the image of a star field to your laptop, running guide software, which is in turn connected to and can drive your scope by sending movement commands to it. The guiding software sends corrective movement messages/commands to your telescope based upon the movement it detects from the guiding camera's field of view. In the meantime, you leave your imaging camera shutter open, taking your light frames while your scope essentially corrects itself using the guide camera and guide software. Awesome! This is really what I have been aiming for, having added the William Optics 66mm refractor to my 8" SCT some time ago to be used as a guide scope (see here).

Apparently the Meade Autostar software now has a guiding component but I am going to use the free PHD Guiding application. Lots of folks swear by it so hopefully it will work well for me too.

My near-term astro plans mostly revolve around preparing for the Messier Marathon at the end of the month. Still, I'll work on getting the guiding set up on the side and will then plan a trip to a dark sky site to try it out.