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Sensor Sensibility
United States
Приєднався 4 бер 2024
This channel explores the joys and challenges of astrophotography, including discussions of image formation, telescope/camera combinations, diffraction and seeing limits on camera resolution, equipment reviews, observing and processing tips, etc.
Is traveling to a dark site worth it?
In this video, we ask whether it's worth the time and expense to travel to a dark site for astrophotography, using an image taken of the Iris Nebula by our ZWO Seestar S50 and images taken of the Andromeda Galaxy and Rosette Nebula taken by our William Optics Cat 91 WIFD telescope and ZWO ASI 6200 MM Pro camera and filters.
Correction at 7:37 -- 15 mm is not less than a centimeter, but it is less than an inch, and that's definitely a small aperture by today's standards.
Our full-resolution images of the Andromeda Galaxy and the Rosette Nebula can be found on our Sensor Sensibility Astrobin gallery:
www.astrobin.com/users/SensorSensibility/
For information about our Seestar S50 equatorial mount, see: ua-cam.com/play/PLbjxJx_E7x9AS4UuqBsrQafULmiDRb5Dn.html
For information about our Cat 91 setup, see: ua-cam.com/play/PLbjxJx_E7x9DHPj-LW6lxDFzRPa5e8bmN.html.
Our equipment
Imaging Telescopes: William Optics Cat 91 WIFD, ZWO Seestar S50
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI6200 MM Pro
Mount: ZWO AM5 Mount
Filters: Antlia LRGB-V Pro series
Accessories: ZWO ASIAIR Plus
Software: Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight, Russell Croman Astrophotography NoiseXTerminator, Russell Croman Astrophotography StarXTerminator, Russell Croman Astrophotography BlurXTerminator
Guiding Scope: ZWO OAG-L Large Off-Axis Guider
Guiding Camera: ZWO 174MM Camera
Here's a link to our list of astrophotography targets:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Stcd71e3QXikdtYWaaVvXcQb1ZXWTqhsnVWqGOgMdog/
For Bortle information, see: www.lightpollutionmap.info/.
The graphic on the Bortle scale is courtesy of the European Southern Observatory, P. Horalek, and M. Wallner, and is available at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bortle_scale.
For information about Galileo's telescope, see: catalogue.museogalileo.it/object/GalileosTelescope_n01.html
The image of the spectrum of the Eta Carinae Nebula is courtesy
astrojolo.com/astrophotography/other/deep-sky-colors/
www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/nebulae/ngc3372.html.
The image of the spectrum of the sun is courtesy
www.wtamu.edu/~cbaird/sq/2013/07/03/what-is-the-color-of-the-sun/.
The image of Kenilworth Park is courtesy
www.anacostiaparkcommunity.org/kenilworth-park
Correction at 7:37 -- 15 mm is not less than a centimeter, but it is less than an inch, and that's definitely a small aperture by today's standards.
Our full-resolution images of the Andromeda Galaxy and the Rosette Nebula can be found on our Sensor Sensibility Astrobin gallery:
www.astrobin.com/users/SensorSensibility/
For information about our Seestar S50 equatorial mount, see: ua-cam.com/play/PLbjxJx_E7x9AS4UuqBsrQafULmiDRb5Dn.html
For information about our Cat 91 setup, see: ua-cam.com/play/PLbjxJx_E7x9DHPj-LW6lxDFzRPa5e8bmN.html.
Our equipment
Imaging Telescopes: William Optics Cat 91 WIFD, ZWO Seestar S50
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI6200 MM Pro
Mount: ZWO AM5 Mount
Filters: Antlia LRGB-V Pro series
Accessories: ZWO ASIAIR Plus
Software: Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight, Russell Croman Astrophotography NoiseXTerminator, Russell Croman Astrophotography StarXTerminator, Russell Croman Astrophotography BlurXTerminator
Guiding Scope: ZWO OAG-L Large Off-Axis Guider
Guiding Camera: ZWO 174MM Camera
Here's a link to our list of astrophotography targets:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Stcd71e3QXikdtYWaaVvXcQb1ZXWTqhsnVWqGOgMdog/
For Bortle information, see: www.lightpollutionmap.info/.
The graphic on the Bortle scale is courtesy of the European Southern Observatory, P. Horalek, and M. Wallner, and is available at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bortle_scale.
For information about Galileo's telescope, see: catalogue.museogalileo.it/object/GalileosTelescope_n01.html
The image of the spectrum of the Eta Carinae Nebula is courtesy
astrojolo.com/astrophotography/other/deep-sky-colors/
www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/nebulae/ngc3372.html.
The image of the spectrum of the sun is courtesy
www.wtamu.edu/~cbaird/sq/2013/07/03/what-is-the-color-of-the-sun/.
The image of Kenilworth Park is courtesy
www.anacostiaparkcommunity.org/kenilworth-park
Переглядів: 532
Відео
William Optics Cat 91 WIFD: First Light!
Переглядів 1,8 тис.21 день тому
This video review of the William Optics Cat 91 WIFD telescope shows first-light images taken through this scope paired with our ZWO ASI 6200 MM Pro camera. The images were taken of the Andromeda Galaxy and the Rosette Nebula under moonless Bortle 2 skies, with over 22 hours of integrated exposure time on each object. Equipment Used: 1. Imaging Telescope: William Optics Cat 91 WIFD 2. Imaging Ca...
Seestar S50 Equatorial Mount: Addendum
Переглядів 40828 днів тому
This video was posted originally on Jan. 25, 2024 on the Physics Demos UA-cam channel, and was moved to the Sensor Sensibility UA-cam channel on Dec. 14, 2024. It is the third of three videos about our equatorial mount for the Seestar S50. In this video, we describe three small improvements to our equatorial mount for the Seestar S50. All three save time and aggravation in using the mount, and ...
Seestar S50 Polar Alignment and Operation
Переглядів 1,7 тис.28 днів тому
This video was posted originally on Jan. 19, 2024 on the Physics Demos UA-cam channel, and was moved to the Sensor Sensibility UA-cam channel on Dec. 14, 2024. It is the second of three videos about our equatorial mount for the Seestar S50. In this video, my son Reynold, "King of the Dark," and I (Boyd Edwards) brave the elements to show how to polar align our equatorially mounted Seestar (ua-c...
Seestar S50 Equatorial Mount Assembly
Переглядів 2,6 тис.28 днів тому
This video was posted originally on Jan. 14, 2024 on the Physics Demos UA-cam channel, and was moved to the Sensor Sensibility UA-cam channel on Dec. 14, 2024. It is the first of three videos about our equatorial mount for the Seestar S50. This video describes how to convert an altitude-azimuth tripod into an equatorial mount for the Seestar S50 smart telescope. In a separate video (ua-cam.com/...
William Optics Cat 91 WIFD: Does it measure up?
Переглядів 4,4 тис.Місяць тому
In this video, we test star sizes and shapes in images taken through our William Optics Cat 91 WIFD telescope, and compare these with the Cat 71 WIFD telescope. The stars in Cat 91 aberration inspector images are small and round, like its advertised spot diagrams, even to the corners of a full-frame sensor. In contrast, the stars in Cat 71 aberration inspector images are large and distorted, li...
William Optics RedCat 91 WIFD: First Look
Переглядів 9 тис.Місяць тому
In this video, we unbox our William Optics Cat 91 WIFD telescope, discuss its specs, and use spot diagrams to illustrate its amazingly flat field. Its spots are smaller than the Cat 71 and the Takahashi FSQ-106EDX4, and are just barely larger than the Airy disc, meaning that the Cat 91 has effectively diffraction-limited optics. The associated short video can be found here: ua-cam.com/users/sho...
This is the Perfect astrograph!
Guys, love your review and was just looking for a telescope and this one seems to be the right fit for all I need ... I do have one question, on line it says "Astrophotography Only. This telescope is specifically designed for astrophotography, and its optical design does not support visual observation." While I of course want it primarily for pairing with astro camera, in order to peak interest of my little ones into astronomy I always like being able to mount an eye piece so they can observe craters on the moon, and a few planets here and there .... Can you (or someone here) confirm/debunk or ideally explain why this is not possible on this scope?
Thanks. I'm with you on the desire to show the sky to your little ones - some of my fondest memories are doing this with mine. I don't see why this scope couldn't be used for visual observing. If it's a flat field for astrophotography, it will be a flat field for visual. But I don't know how what hardware would be needed to use it for visual, and I don't know why WO would say that its optical design does not support visual observation. They should know. You might write to Karen Shen at karen@williamoptics.com, who has been helpful to us, to see if she can supply any background about why it couldn't be used for visual observation.
Great review! I enjoyed the comparison with the Cat 71. Surprising to see how blobby the Cat 71 stars are. You both have my kind of sense of humor. Happy new year and clear skies!
Thanks. We might have just gotten a bad Cat 71 unit, and other units are better. But it's what we had and we wanted to compare it with the Cat 91, which is pretty much perfect. I'm glad you appreciate our "dad" and "grandpa" jokes. And happy new year to you!
My garden points south (and is tiny) and my house is obviously in the north. My view of the Northern sky is literally my 'house' obscuring most of the sky. Any tips of what to do... can I do my best guess ?Thanks
If you want to observe objects in the northern sky, you'll need to find another location than your back yard. If you have a balcony on the north side of your house, you could use that.
The specifications are very ambitious... yet something is telling me Takahashi scopes will do just fine.
I thought you didn't need to polar align the seestar ❓
You don't need to polar align the Seestar. What polar alignment gives you is a field of view that does not rotate as the object moves across the sky, which improves tracking performance and simplifies post processing.
Can’t you just use PS Align pro app and lay the phone on that face an align with Polaris without even looking at the star ?
Yes.
This seems that Tak can pack their luggage.
history has shown us that trying to force something that is not native NEVER GOES WELL
Except when it does, like when the LM module was used to save the lives of the Apollo 13 astronauts (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13). I'm with Ed Harris's character in the movie Apollo 13: "I don't care what anything was designed to do. I care what it can do." (ua-cam.com/video/XLMDSjCzEx8/v-deo.html). We've taken dozens of beautiful images, free of field rotation and with high frame acceptance rates, using our Seestar equatorial mount, and we're happy to assume any risks of such use because the images are better and easier to process than images taken in native alt-az mode. Folks over at Smart Telescope Underworld (facebook.com/groups/373417055173095) have successfully used the Seestar for spectroscopy, for which it was not designed. People may use their Seestars for the purpose for which they are designed, or they may modify them to do whatever they want with them. Will some of these uses void the warranty? Probably. But folks who are willing to take such risks have the potential to get more out of their equipment, and to learn something in the process.
DO NOT BUY anything from William Optics, they are frauds. I purchased a telescope and they substituted a cheaper version of the scope and refused to give me a refund. Buyer beware!!!
More please on the S50 and using the EQ mode with it! How long of exposures has it improved the images?
EQ mode improves the frame acceptance rates adn eliminates field rotation, which improves the images.
Cool idea! Question coul you just have used a small level to get the S50 level and then adjust the left/right of the reflex site to be centered?
Possibly.
Why destroy your s50 you put tremendous strain on the inner mechanism doing this over time. Plus the fact it's struggling all the time to align.
Hundreds, maybe thousands, have mounted their Seestars equatorially, and I've not heard of anyone whose inner mechanism has been damaged.
This is next-level astroimaging! Can we have your permission to feature your videos on our website?
Of course!
Great job, you have a great telescope and great skills, love the details, I did not like a lot too much star reduction applied, some stars are important, well done
It's a gorgeous looking astrograph which should produce stunning images...and it looks like it's build like a tank. Having said that, I will share two less positive thoughts: 1. The 'dew shield' set up is strange. First, it looks a bit too short to effectively block all problematic sources of light, and since there is a gap between the front lens cell & the dewshield, a dew heater strip on the outside of the tube will be pretty ineffective. One may have to wrap a dew heater strip around the lens cell down in the dew shield, then feed that cable up the interior wall of the dew shield, then have it exit the dew shield & connect to the dew controller/ASIair/Pegasus power box/Primaluce Eagle. 2. Also, given the aperture, it's a shame that the RedCat 91 WIFD could not be designed to fit in airline carry-on luggage, like the Astro-Physics 92mm Stowaway & other similar OTAs.
...gave up watching after the first few bad jokes. Nice job
Wow, amazing scope and images guys, thanks for sharing!
Great report. I think you said you used Antlia 2.5nm narrowband filters. These are not available unmounted in 50mm, so did you experience any vignetting from the mounted 50mm filters?
That's right. There might be a tiny bit of vignetting from them, but nothing that flats cannot take out.
This is awesome. Subscribed!
Thanks!
Amazing - simply fantastic video and images. Congrats on an a great scope, setup and dark sky location.
Thanks!
Why are you polar aligning a Seestar S50 when it knows where it's at based on a compass alignment?
Yes, it does know where it is based on the horizontal calibration, but when you take images over a long period of time, the field of view rotates, so when you stack the images, the stacking process aligns all of the images but they don't all cover the same area and you get weird artifacts in the corners due to this field rotation. When you polar align, you don't get such artifacts from field rotation.
"So to resolve this problem" ..... Use a stubby screwdriver or replace the screws with thumbscrews🤷🏼♂️
Wow. that passed the test! Lovely images too :)
Thanks!
Mount the telescope on the car for a faster getaway. 😂. Thank you for the detailed analysis.
Great idea! And you're welcome.
Super helpful, please share your pix workflow in a future video, clear skies from bottle 4 in CO
When I purchased my home 20+ years in Central New Jersey, it was under Bortle 5 skies. Now with the expansive development, the sky has gotten much brighter and it is now in the Bortle 6 to 7 range. Now I need to convince the tax assessor that my property is no longer as desirable as it was 20 years ago and I should pay less taxes.
Good luck with that!!!
At what bortle number Sky would you recommend something like film or glass plate photography?
I don't know. I don't have experience with film or glass plate photography.
Ok hear me out. Why should I care about these aberrations (as long as they are not egregious) because blurX can easily take care of it? I can spend that extra money towards other things.
Yes, BlurX can fix star aberrations if they're not too egregious. We had some nasty star aberrations from our Cat 71 (maybe we got a bad unit) that caused us trouble in post processing even with BlurX and StarX, and we're interested in processing images that are as clean as possible from the start. I'm not so sure that BlurX can fix aberrations in nebulosity (that also come from imperfect optics) as well as it fixes aberrations in stars. Hence the 91, which we're happy with. But each astrophotographer will find their own sweet spot in the price/performance continuum, and it appears that folks can get round stars with a good triplet APO and BlurX.
Great stuff guys! Incredible imagery, the scope seems like a real winner.
Thanks. We're super excited about this scope.
This explains why i keep getting error when I tried to take Orion Nebula (after PA to Polaris). Didn’t understand how to fix this? I am in Northern Hemisphere.
Yeah. When you polar align the Seestar in the northern hemisphere, the Seestar thinks it is at the north pole, and therefore cannot see anything below the celestial equator, such as the Orion Nebula. ZWO, if you're listening, please fix this.
A contributor to the Smart Telescope Underworld Facebook group claims that you can use the Seestar to image the Orion Nebula from the northern hemisphere: ua-cam.com/video/tQRIVPq0CYU/v-deo.htmlsi=A8TkpiY4Cogwc9nA
Now we are waiting for a video explaining the steps required in Seestar app to PA 😊
Have you seen this video? ua-cam.com/video/QAOZNSuvx18/v-deo.html
@@SensorSensibilitywow … it’s already here. Will be watching it now Liked and subscribed to your channel 😊👍🏻
@@caspase888 Thanks.
Thanks a lot. Very helpful. Why do me need two finder scopes, can’t just one for polar alignment serve the purpose? Also, won’t the extra weight of seestar affect its performance?
With the latest Seestar app, you don't really need two finderscopes because you generally no longer need to sync to a guide star. In fact, you can get by without any, just sighting along the side of the Seestar to align to Polaris.
@@SensorSensibilitySo basically just roughly “pointing” Seestar to Polaris (using the wedge) would do the trick of polar alignment?
@@caspase888 Yes. The goal of polar alignment is to reduce field rotation and to improve tracking. The closer you are aligned to the pole, the less field rotation there will be, but a little bit of field rotation is generally acceptable and can be cropped out of an image. So, at our mid-northern latitude, polar alignment even within 2-3 degrees is better than no polar alignment.
We haven't found any problems with extra weight.
Perfect. Sounds great. Perhaps will get one finder to be used for PA.
Love It.... ❤❤❤❤
I really appreciate it!
I have no words to describe your rosetta nebula picture... wow!
Thanks so much. Yes, we're thrilled with the image, and so grateful for advances and innovations in hardware and software that make it possible to take photos that would have been impossible 20 years ago.
Amazing pictures! Following you on Astrobin now, see you there!
Nice
Great images! Well done! 👍
Thanks!
Correction at 7:37 -- 15 mm is not less than a centimeter, but it is less than an inch (which is what I meant to say), and that's definitely a small aperture by today's standards.
Happy to see these significant results. I am an average telescope user and I am happy with the 1-2 hour duration shots I am getting with the Cat 91. Having more than ten hours to image on a target is a luxury and I would like to see some of your "shorter" time results.
Wonderful ❤
Thanks.
Absolutely incredible! So excited to see what you guys can do with this scope!
Thanks!
Awesome data!
Glad you think so!
Można było wykręcić śrubę kontrującą to utopił śrubę w kleju. Geniusz!!!
Put a nut on thread
Set screw
At -1 I’m not sure how long the lithium batteries will last. This is a great tutorial. Thanks
Your wife is not going to like that mark on the ceiling! lol
Thanks for the review and being an early tester. I have a couple of questions for new users of the Cat 91. Does it come with, or is it possible, to use a m68 adapter for connecting larger diameter imaging trains? Also, what would be the maximum working distance between the m68 or m54 flange and the sensor plane? I’m trying to determine if my imaging train will work with this scope. I appreciate any feedback.
I don't know the answers to your questions, but Ren and I want to test the scope with a medium-format sensor and we'll need an adapter, so I plan to write to Karen Shen at William Optics (karen@williamoptics.com) to ask about this. You could certainly write to her with your question. She's been very helpful to us.
@@SensorSensibility Thanks for the reply. I will contact Karen. It’s curious to me that adapters and working distances are not commonly published specs, as it’s critical information for determining the suitability of different imaging trains. I look forward to any additional videos you guys publish. -Cheers
Nice hardware!
Yes!
Great video! I have been looking forward to a review, but I was shocked to see that you already had one since they have not even shipped yet! I am looking at purchasing one for myself soon.
You won't regret it.