honestly when you have the chance, I vote for you guys to try comet 46p Wirtanen, it peaks December 16 at a very bright magnitude and would make for a very unique episode
Galactic Hunter for sure! It's expected to reach magnitude 3 or 4 at its closest approach, but you can image it well before or after it. People have already taken some cool images of it!
@@BOBBERtheKID We just bought a deep cycle battery but are having trouble finding the best way to connect it to our mount, if we figure it out in the next couple days and the sky clears up, we'll be able to give the comet a shot!
I love the Polaris game too! My gf and i often play that or a similar game while stargazing with our naked eyes in her back yard. Recently i spotted Orion for the first time this season while we were enjoying the stars 30 miles south of Atlanta. Despite not having a truly dark sky, having lived in the city of Atlanta for years...i marvel at her view...the Pleiades, Andromeda, and several nebulae are visible with the naked eye from her place. It has awakened my desire to turn photography and astrophotography into a career.
It’s flexure between your guide scope and imaging scope. Basically as your mount moves slowly across the sky, the weight of the guide scope cause a very small amount of sag so when PhD moves the mount to compensate it comes off as drift in the imaging camera.
Hmmm, we're just confused because this is brand new, and we have imaged hundreds of time with the exact same setup without this particular issue. We're hoping the deep cycle battery will fix both problems, can't wait to give it a try and see if one of them persists.
Think about it. PHD keeps the guide star on the same exact pixels throughout the imagining session but yet you see drift in the images. That means something is moving and if you know your guiding is good then that means it’s probably flexing a slight bit. I deal with it too using the exact same way you mount your guidescope to the telescope.
Dave Rob very true. Its just the understanding that these telescopes as sturdy as they may feel aren’t static. When your talking arcseconds the slightest movement is easily seen in the images.
I would love to see a video on post processing for galaxies. I am just starting to do deep sky Astrophotography, so processing is pretty difficult for me right now. I have photoshop and know only the basic steps to edit an astrophoto. I love this channel because it is so informative and well done. Keep up the good work 😁👍🔭
I would suggest taking flat frames and adding them to your stacking process. That should take care of your artifact. If not, you may need to clean your optics.
@@GalacticHunter I'm guilty of skipping flats sometimes. I use a mono CMOS camera (Altair Hypercam 183M) work a filter wheel, so skipping them can be horrible for me.
Issue 2 could be a reflection in image train, the simplest way to identify the source is by rotating the camera 90 degrees then see if the artifact change
Plate solving has helped me heaps. Also, I’m building a DSLR cooler in time for summer. Can’t justify spending 900 on a dedicated astronomy camera when my DSLR was 300 bucks and the cooling will cost less than $100. Just purchased an Orion 8” Astrograph today, based on your review. Very excited! I frequently use my vehicle to power the scope, then a battery for the rest. Might solve your issue temporarily.
Enjoy watching your videos. I'm relatively new to 'scoping, and have attempted a few DSLR images. So far, it is a lot of "hurdles"; fix polar alignment, insure focus is accurate, compensate for Bortle 8 skies, provide focal reducer, and so forth. Still, it is a lot of fun, and when you get a good picture, it is a definite victory moment. My vote is M97, the Owl Nebula. Clear skies!
So if you polar align, balance properly, and power is consistent, I would check if the gears are wearing. Especially if you crossed the meridian while shooting. By now you got some mileage on the gears. I've seen people use the slight imbalance trick to keep the gears on the leading edge for less jitter, but looks like you gradually went off track so either polar issue, or slop in the gears.
The drifting is almost certain caused by differential flexure. The streak is most likely a reflection from the star eta Piscium. Do you block stray light entering the viewfinder? A cooled monochrome CCD camera will definitively help capturing.
An FYI on batteries. Non-lithium batteries like those in jump packs should read about 12.7V to be considered fully charged. You should invest in a good voltmeter and consider building a portable battery system with a good charger. There are plenty of DIY samples on sites around the web. Most jump packs sadly have very inexpensive charging systems which often cause premature failure as they do not cycle the batteries to their top voltage. And you should be familiar with what voltage any battery you use is reading at any specific time. That's why you'll see DIY boxes with digital readouts so you can tell when the discharge is getting low. For longevity of any non-lithium battery it should not be discharged regularly below 50% which is 12.2v. Our mounts can handle input voltage up to about 15v and run nominally on 12V 5amp which is the specs for most of the AC adapters. For battery use once voltage starts falling below 12V performance can start to fall off. This may or may not be what was occuring with your drift problem. If the new marine battery solves the problem that would be great, if it doesn't you may want to recheck your polar scope to ensure it's perfectly aligned to the mount. If it has gotten jostled you could be just a bit off of alignment. The streak you saw could be optically created by reflection of nearby bright star stray light. Consider putting a short light shield on the end of the tube to see if this eliminates the problem. It's also possible this is a light leak if you only see it intermittently in shots. Check all the connectors between the telescope and the camera. Great job BTW of persevering thru to get some images!
I had exactly the same issue yesterday, my camera was imaging at a temperature of 25 to 26° celsius, and yeah it was horrible, it was flooded in the noise, even with 100 of darks.. horrible result too, after 2 nights :(
Keep up the good work and for the power I would suggest a power generator very regular performance for me here in Quebec batteries with the super cold we have were a huge disappointment.
Another great episode guys!! Keep up the GREAT work...love following your channel. As to the drift issue...I would agree with Cory below...and add a few points. Flexure...look closely and tighten everything up. Mirror flop...but I don't see that as the prime suspect...also consider the temp change as the night went on. Your drift is not that bad imo...Temp changes in the desert can be substantial as you well know. watching the frame drift, seems like it was R/A axis.. may want to recheck the polar align. You guys keep it up!! It always brings a smile to my face the way you two interact...it's FUN to follow along!!
Thank you Kurt for this very nice and helpful comment! We just replaced our jump starter with a deep cycle battery so we'll see if that magically fixes everything on our next outing, if not, we'll have to try everything you guys said, fingers crossed.
Great video with all the effects added !! That takes a lot of work too, just like post processing. It was very informative and encouraging. As far as the stars jumping from shot to shot, it is partly due to inaccurate tracking, but to me it has helped because it is the same as dithering in post. But I have a Orion mount, among others and it too insisted on getting the full 12 volts. So when I'm out in the wild as you were, I use my car battery with an adapter and a heavy duty thick power cable to the mount. When I'm home, I use a 12 volt 5 amp power adapter plugged into house current. (the car battery has never gone dead or weak even after many hours of use) As for the streak in the images, I would guess it's something on the sensor of the camera. Hopefully it isn't permanent, such as a scratch or small crack. Sometimes you can take a shot of the blue sky during the day using a camera lens and zoom in on the finished picture to see if the mark is visible. Hope this helps. I vote for the 2 in 1 of m97 !!!
Thank you! Yes it is a lot of work, especially since we do all our videos in both English and French (we have two channels). We bought a deep cycle battery so we hope this will get rid of our power problems. As for the stars moving a bit, we were kinda glad we were able to crop it just a bit so we could take advantage of the dithering indeed :)
Hey, I have an Eq6r (similar to the atlas) and it had the same issue as your mount where it would lose power. Ended up being the power cord had an open circuit and the mount was brand new too. Picked up a new power cord and it was golden.
I'd be interested in seeing choice #3 on the planet. By the way, I enjoy your videos on astrophotography by far best on the net. You two work awesome together and are helpful with the info you share. Thanks a lot.
Hi there...i always love to watch you EP's....I believe you fixed the 2nd problem which is the "comet" thing on the pic...if not you can try to clean the lower pass filter using Mirror Lock Up on your DSLR....i hope the comet will go away....
I didn’t realise until now how similar your rig is to mine the only real difference is the mount I think. I have an f5 8” newt and a canon 7D mki. Quite similar
The artifact could be a reflection of some LED. I have had strange blue artifacts when imaging with an EdgeHD1100 and Hyperstar, and it turned out to be a reflection of a blue LED of the computer (an Odroid) on the cable that connects the computer to the CCD camera. Covering the LED or the opening in the dew shield through which the cable gets to the camera removed the artifact completely.
Try your mount at home with a mains adaptor, should tell you if its the power supply. The drift issue I used to get a lot but since I got a polemaster I rarely have that problem, also balance could be a factor.
Another excellent video from you guys, and a well deserved beautiful end result given the difficulty during capture! Look forwards to your next one, Clear skies P.s , Regarding your mount issues, it's probably voltage dropping too low from an old power pack, the eq6 (mine too) doesn't like anything less than about 11.5/12v+ otherwise it can cut out under a fast slew, i'd recommend a deep cycle marine/leisure battery as that worked for me! As to the mystery line, try rotating your camera a few degrees, if the line moves with the rotation then you know it's something dirt related usually, but I think it could possibly just be a diffraction effect/reflection from one of the nearby bright stars around m74 that look to be just out of your frame.
Thanks Lukomatico! Your trick about rotating the camera is very smart and simple! We have noticed this streak on a different image we did a few months back so it's definitely some dirt of sort. We'll try to figure out exactly what it is, thanks! As for the battery, we now have a deep cycle marine battery on the way :)
@@GalacticHunter Brilliant news! that should be problem solved for you I hope, and if you've seen the line in other photos then it's definitely dirt as you mention, best of luck cleaning! :) Luke
If there is dirt or hair on the camera lens or in the telescope optics that is causing anomalies in the images, flats and biases should subtract these from the processed image. Are you creating flats and biases in addition to dark frames?
i read your AZ/EQ-G GoTo Mount input power guide is using DC 11V (minimum) to DC 16V (maximum) , 12v is good, might drop over time. my AZ-EQ5 using voltage booster up to 16v 3Amps wich is way better on tracking n more smooth.
I vote for Owl Nebula! It looks very cool and misterious. I was not yet able to see it visually, probably one day I will as I did with Veil Nebula and OIII filter :)
Hey guys i have the same mount, bought it brand new 5 months ago and Im having power issues as well. The power cuts at about 45 degrees every time I do a meridian flip. Its extreamly frustrating to have to re-align and re-frame in the middle of the night...I feel your pain. Also have you adjusted your dither settings? It will help eliminate some of that noisy banding in the background. If your looking for a great spot to image try Sedona, AZ. Its fairly close to you and has the best skies. I was out there a few weeks ago and seeing conditions were amazing. Keep up the great work!.
Check the power plug if it gets loose from the power connector. I had a similar issue with my heq5 pro where the plug would disconnect at random since its springs got loose over time. I modded the mount with screw plug and i had no issues ever since. For the eq6 you can check as an example the plug from the az-eq6 and do the same thing
@@kostasastro thanks, and yup you were right. A slight wiggle of the plug killed or reset the power. I got an electrically taped temp solution until i can do a more permanent modification. Ill check it out for sure
Very good video as every times. With all your problems, you still do an interesting video, awesome work, Thank you ! What happened to the french version ? You have been striked ? (automatically due to your own english version ? songs ?) I hope you will find an easy way to send it in french without having to do it again :-)
Hey guys! Love your videos! I own the Canon 7D (mark I). Hot pixels is an issue with the 7d. Have you tried to reset the hot pixels? There is a process, if you search you will find how to reset. Great work!
probably flexure between the 2 scopes the focuser will move differently and also withing the rings not much you can do except use a oag as for the artifact could be a reflection in the train could be artifacts on the chip but I doubt it try using flats to see if it fixes it if not probable a internal reflection also in the first image you said was to hot looked like walking noise from not dithering enough you should do medium to large dithers with your focal length
also shorter exposures to help with the hot sensor you can make a cooler with a petlier cooler and a computer fan I made one for my asi294 but finally upgraded to the 1600 mm
Great video as always you two... I also use a DSLR for imaging and the noise is my second biggest problem to clouds, I however made a Peltier cooler a while back and this really helped keep the noise level way down, I could imagine if you made up one it would be of great help to you's as well... I brought all components online and for under 100 euro, so it is a cheaper way to cool a camera, during the winter the camera would be covered in white frost even though outside temps are only no more than -1 at the best of times... would be worth looking into. If i can find the photos of the device I will send them to you .... also I would say that streak may be a smear on your camera's sensors... you can clean this easily with a sensor cleaner... a few flats would also remove it along with anything else that should not be there... Note : also I would highly recommend capturing Wirtanen like Gabe Sewell as stated below. you will be amazed by it.... especially on the 16th December. As always clear ( Cool ) skies
Thanks for the info! We'll try our best to get a shot at Wirtanen, although we are going on our -late- honeymoon during that week so we'll see if that's possible!
Hello, Galactic Hunters: I am trying to become an astrophotographer, I have ordered an Orion XX16G, I have a DSLR, but learned I need $10000-20000 of equipment. Temperature here (Dhaka) ranges from 20-26 now to 18-24 in Jan rising again to hot in Mar- Apr. Could you please give me a list of all accessories needed and what problems I will face. Do I need a corrector for my primary mirror, how do I avoid heat fluctuations/cooling systems etc. You take breath-taking photographs Thank you.
Felicidades desde España por tu canal. Yo quiero empezar hacer astrofotografía de cielo profundo y quiero comprar un telescopio. Yo voy a ver tus vídeos para ver tu equipo. Saludos y gracias
You talk about being in a desert area with the heat plus exposures adding to the high temperatures thus more noise. What are the temperatures you are referring to and are in Las Vegas area or in Arizona. Bortle sky of 3 means you are a fair distance away from a large metropolitan area....
@@GalacticHunter Your site must be in the low desert. I know in places like Ely, Winnemucca, Carson City it gets quite chilly at night even in July. You are lucky to live in such an astrophotography friendly place! I will watch all your videos.
Je ne comprends pas ce qui ce passe avec l'épisode 11 en français, qui a été retiré à cause de droit d'auteur Red Bull....heureusement que je comprends bien l'anglais car je peux quand même le voir👷👌
Our biggest enemy.... The cheeky side of me instantly came up with "what, shutter shock, and/or mirror slap?" :P ... But yeah, heat is a really big thing for anyone not using a cooled camera. Or, if you're Canadian, uhm, well, the exact opposite of heat, the cold! (I say the cheeky side of me, since I've used a mirrorless camera for a while now, but like any piece of technology, everything has it's pros and cons). Sadly can't be of help with what could be causing that reddish streak, but I would lean more towards something on the sensor (or between sensor and mirror) than on the mirror itself, since the mirror is out of the way when you're imaging... That and it's consistent location. ...Wow, that's an insane amount of noise heat brought in, and even had banding because of the heat too o_O Keeping the coyote calls in at 5:50ish was a cute touch ^_^ I vote for choice #1, Messier 78!
Thanks White Wulfe! Heat is a big problem in Nevada and other hot states indeed. We haven't tried imaging from very cold locations yet but it must be challenging as well!
Hi, i am a relatively new subscriber at your channel and as a fellow astrophotographer with no permanent setup i can understand your disappointment with bad frames. Here are some tips that may help you in the future. 1. Power of the mount. Buy a deep cycle battery when you can, they are most suited for this type of job when it comes to duration. Also use regulated power supply since low voltage will affect the mount's performance (this applies to all of your astrogear), when you power your mount with unregulated power you may have noticed the mount's LED to blink, this is caused because the voltage drops below the mount's lower operating voltage and will cause issues with guiding. I would suggest either buying a power box, i have the pocket power box from Pegasus astro that has 12v regulated outputs, dew heater outputs and an output for a dslr, or buying a dc-dc converter i also have these www.amazon.co.uk/Converter-Voltage-Adjustable-Step-up-Circuit/dp/B06XWSV89D/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1535264817&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=eBoot+5+Pack+Boost+Converter+Module+XL6009&psc=1 and i have adjusted them to an output of 13.5v (the mount can handle 13.5v), thus eliminating the blinking LED and improving its performance. Also at some point i would suggest to change the mount's power plug (take a look at az-eq6's power plug) to a plug that can screw so that your mount won't disconnect, at my HEQ5 Pro the factory plug over the years would have bad connection to the cable so i installed a new plug that allows the power cable to be secure. 2. I suggest upgrading your mount's gears with the Rowan belt mod. It makes guiding a lot better, more accurate and a lot quieter. I cringed while i was listening to the bad mesh of you mount's gears (don't worry i had the same noise before i upgraded my mount) :). 3. I also upgraded my mount with an ADM dual saddle and a Losmandy dovetail bar for more stability and no flexure and a sturdier tripod, i got a Berlebach tripod and the mount is steady as a rock. If a new tripod is out of you budget i would suggest a better tripod spreader for the mount's tripod here is a suggestion, tpiastro.com/spreaders.htm The factory spreader that the tripod has does not offer much stability since it is very small. 4. For your artifact, it appears to be some sort of light, it may be a reflection from a nearby light source or a star or light leakage at your telescope tube. Here are some tests. Take some darks with your dslr with the lens cap on, no scope attached and see if that happens. Then take dark frames with the dslr attached to the scope in complete darkness and at very dim lighting. A similar thing has happened to me with the horse nebula where Alnitak would give me reflections at my OAG. Also a case of very bad reflections has happened with an adaptor that was glossy and ruined my image, so you may have to look at making your scope anti-reflective. Remember that flats eliminate artifacts which are usually round donuts from your camera sensor/filters not from your scope's optics. 5. When processing your image you can try to split your image into its LRGB components and process the L component in order to enhance the details and at the end combine the L with the RGB. I saw this method at Adam Block's videos for CCDStack so you can give it a try. 6. If you are going to buy a new camera and you want a colour camera you could look into the ZWO ASI cameras, they have pretty good performance. I hope that these tips may help you solve your problems and for the next target i vote for the owl nebula.
issue 2 could be the sensor of the dslr itself... try to take a darkframe and boost the exposure about +5 ev and the whites +100 - the result should show the sensor itself. i refer to peter zelinka's video... i'll add the link: ua-cam.com/video/KMsW9slSwzc/v-deo.html
Chris Reddy hi Chris, are you referring to a particular time in the video? We always try to make sure the music doesn’t get too low/high but what we hear on our computer during editing might be different on other devices. Thanks
@@GalacticHunter - the music raises and lowers during the video - when either of you are talking is lowers, but when there is a pause in talking, the volume raises and the deep, base organ music is just very distracting and annoying - that may be me, but I found it over-powered the video and became very unpleasant. For instance, at the 4 min mark.
honestly when you have the chance, I vote for you guys to try comet 46p Wirtanen, it peaks December 16 at a very bright magnitude and would make for a very unique episode
Definitely writing this down, thanks! We won't be in town during that week but that would indeed make for an awesome photo/video
Galactic Hunter for sure! It's expected to reach magnitude 3 or 4 at its closest approach, but you can image it well before or after it. People have already taken some cool images of it!
@@GalacticHunter Any luck? Non stop clouds for me.... :(
@@BOBBERtheKID We just bought a deep cycle battery but are having trouble finding the best way to connect it to our mount, if we figure it out in the next couple days and the sky clears up, we'll be able to give the comet a shot!
I love the Polaris game too! My gf and i often play that or a similar game while stargazing with our naked eyes in her back yard. Recently i spotted Orion for the first time this season while we were enjoying the stars 30 miles south of Atlanta. Despite not having a truly dark sky, having lived in the city of Atlanta for years...i marvel at her view...the Pleiades, Andromeda, and several nebulae are visible with the naked eye from her place. It has awakened my desire to turn photography and astrophotography into a career.
It’s flexure between your guide scope and imaging scope. Basically as your mount moves slowly across the sky, the weight of the guide scope cause a very small amount of sag so when PhD moves the mount to compensate it comes off as drift in the imaging camera.
They didn't have this problem before with the same setup.
Unless you are using OAG you are going to deal with this to a certain extent. It’s just one of the side affects of having a guide scope.
Hmmm, we're just confused because this is brand new, and we have imaged hundreds of time with the exact same setup without this particular issue. We're hoping the deep cycle battery will fix both problems, can't wait to give it a try and see if one of them persists.
Think about it. PHD keeps the guide star on the same exact pixels throughout the imagining session but yet you see drift in the images. That means something is moving and if you know your guiding is good then that means it’s probably flexing a slight bit. I deal with it too using the exact same way you mount your guidescope to the telescope.
Dave Rob very true. Its just the understanding that these telescopes as sturdy as they may feel aren’t static. When your talking arcseconds the slightest movement is easily seen in the images.
I love this couple. Its so cool to be so dedicated to this together! I wish you an eternity of love and happiness together!
I would love to see a video on post processing for galaxies. I am just starting to do deep sky Astrophotography, so processing is pretty difficult for me right now. I have photoshop and know only the basic steps to edit an astrophoto. I love this channel because it is so informative and well done. Keep up the good work 😁👍🔭
I love your honest approach sharing all the issues you experience, keep it up!
They are doing great work ☺
I would suggest taking flat frames and adding them to your stacking process. That should take care of your artifact. If not, you may need to clean your optics.
Agreed, shame on us for not taking flats!
@@GalacticHunter I'm guilty of skipping flats sometimes. I use a mono CMOS camera (Altair Hypercam 183M) work a filter wheel, so skipping them can be horrible for me.
Issue 2 could be a reflection in image train, the simplest way to identify the source is by rotating the camera 90 degrees then see if the artifact change
Another beautiful result!
Thank you!
Great episode 👍🏻 , vote for M78.
Thank you for another excellent episode. My choice for Episode 12 is the Owl Nebula and M108(?) as I love deep sky objects.
Thanks John! We will count your vote :)
Me too! Deep space imaging is fantastic ☺
I always look forward to your videos. They are always excellently made and interesting. Keep up the great work!
Thank you so much!
Wonderful episode!
Plate solving has helped me heaps.
Also, I’m building a DSLR cooler in time for summer. Can’t justify spending 900 on a dedicated astronomy camera when my DSLR was 300 bucks and the cooling will cost less than $100.
Just purchased an Orion 8” Astrograph today, based on your review. Very excited!
I frequently use my vehicle to power the scope, then a battery for the rest. Might solve your issue temporarily.
Enjoy watching your videos. I'm relatively new to 'scoping, and have attempted a few DSLR images. So far, it is a lot of "hurdles"; fix polar alignment, insure focus is accurate, compensate for Bortle 8 skies, provide focal reducer, and so forth. Still, it is a lot of fun, and when you get a good picture, it is a definite victory moment. My vote is M97, the Owl Nebula. Clear skies!
So if you polar align, balance properly, and power is consistent, I would check if the gears are wearing. Especially if you crossed the meridian while shooting. By now you got some mileage on the gears.
I've seen people use the slight imbalance trick to keep the gears on the leading edge for less jitter, but looks like you gradually went off track so either polar issue, or slop in the gears.
The drifting is almost certain caused by differential flexure. The streak is most likely a reflection from the star eta Piscium. Do you block stray light entering the viewfinder? A cooled monochrome CCD camera will definitively help capturing.
An FYI on batteries. Non-lithium batteries like those in jump packs should read about 12.7V to be considered fully charged. You should invest in a good voltmeter and consider building a portable battery system with a good charger. There are plenty of DIY samples on sites around the web.
Most jump packs sadly have very inexpensive charging systems which often cause premature failure as they do not cycle the batteries to their top voltage. And you should be familiar with what voltage any battery you use is reading at any specific time. That's why you'll see DIY boxes with digital readouts so you can tell when the discharge is getting low. For longevity of any non-lithium battery it should not be discharged regularly below 50% which is 12.2v.
Our mounts can handle input voltage up to about 15v and run nominally on 12V 5amp which is the specs for most of the AC adapters. For battery use once voltage starts falling below 12V performance can start to fall off. This may or may not be what was occuring with your drift problem.
If the new marine battery solves the problem that would be great, if it doesn't you may want to recheck your polar scope to ensure it's perfectly aligned to the mount. If it has gotten jostled you could be just a bit off of alignment.
The streak you saw could be optically created by reflection of nearby bright star stray light. Consider putting a short light shield on the end of the tube to see if this eliminates the problem. It's also possible this is a light leak if you only see it intermittently in shots. Check all the connectors between the telescope and the camera.
Great job BTW of persevering thru to get some images!
I would have to say m78 also another great vid . Keep it up easily my favourite channel much love guys and clear skies
Thank you Luke!
Great video guys! ☺ that's what Astronomy is all about....dedication & patience 👍:)
I had exactly the same issue yesterday, my camera was imaging at a temperature of 25 to 26° celsius, and yeah it was horrible, it was flooded in the noise, even with 100 of darks.. horrible result too, after 2 nights :(
That black scope seems like a really bad idea in a hot climate. I suggest keeping it wrapped in a white sheet during travel and set-up
Keep up the good work and for the power I would suggest a power generator very regular performance for me here in Quebec batteries with the super cold we have were a huge disappointment.
A Celestron power tank is needed 👍
Another great episode guys!! Keep up the GREAT work...love following your channel. As to the drift issue...I would agree with Cory below...and add a few points. Flexure...look closely and tighten everything up. Mirror flop...but I don't see that as the prime suspect...also consider the temp change as the night went on. Your drift is not that bad imo...Temp changes in the desert can be substantial as you well know. watching the frame drift, seems like it was R/A axis.. may want to recheck the polar align.
You guys keep it up!! It always brings a smile to my face the way you two interact...it's FUN to follow along!!
Thank you Kurt for this very nice and helpful comment! We just replaced our jump starter with a deep cycle battery so we'll see if that magically fixes everything on our next outing, if not, we'll have to try everything you guys said, fingers crossed.
Yes video on post processing I don’t have pixinsight but would love to see how you guys do it
Love your Videos so much 👍
Great video with all the effects added !! That takes a lot of work too, just like post processing.
It was very informative and encouraging.
As far as the stars jumping from shot to shot, it is partly due to inaccurate tracking, but to me it has helped because it is the same as dithering in post. But I have a Orion mount, among others and it too insisted on getting the full 12 volts. So when I'm out in the wild as you were, I use my car battery with an adapter and a heavy duty thick power cable to the mount. When I'm home, I use a 12 volt 5 amp power adapter plugged into house current. (the car battery has never gone dead or weak even after many hours of use)
As for the streak in the images, I would guess it's something on the sensor of the camera. Hopefully it isn't permanent, such as a scratch or small crack. Sometimes you can take a shot of the blue sky during the day using a camera lens and zoom in on the finished picture to see if the mark is visible.
Hope this helps.
I vote for the 2 in 1 of m97 !!!
Thank you! Yes it is a lot of work, especially since we do all our videos in both English and French (we have two channels). We bought a deep cycle battery so we hope this will get rid of our power problems. As for the stars moving a bit, we were kinda glad we were able to crop it just a bit so we could take advantage of the dithering indeed :)
Hey, I have an Eq6r (similar to the atlas) and it had the same issue as your mount where it would lose power. Ended up being the power cord had an open circuit and the mount was brand new too. Picked up a new power cord and it was golden.
Interesting... then maybe it's just the cord! We'll do a few more tests, thanks :)
I'd be interested in seeing choice #3 on the planet. By the way, I enjoy your videos on astrophotography by far best on the net. You two work awesome together and are helpful with the info you share. Thanks a lot.
Thank you so much!
cool you made it
Hi there...i always love to watch you EP's....I believe you fixed the 2nd problem which is the "comet" thing on the pic...if not you can try to clean the lower pass filter using Mirror Lock Up on your DSLR....i hope the comet will go away....
On the drift thing maybe loose bolts or maybe just maybe tripod slide fix is weights around legs
Lynx Astro makes really nice heavy duty silicone power cords btw, which is what i replaced mine with.
Just checked them out, those are much better than the one we have indeed, thanks!
I didn’t realise until now how similar your rig is to mine the only real difference is the mount I think. I have an f5 8” newt and a canon 7D mki. Quite similar
The artifact could be a reflection of some LED. I have had strange blue artifacts when imaging with an EdgeHD1100 and Hyperstar, and it turned out to be a reflection of a blue LED of the computer (an Odroid) on the cable that connects the computer to the CCD camera. Covering the LED or the opening in the dew shield through which the cable gets to the camera removed the artifact completely.
Try your mount at home with a mains adaptor, should tell you if its the power supply. The drift issue I used to get a lot but since I got a polemaster I rarely have that problem, also balance could be a factor.
Would love to see a processing video. I would probably be using different software, but the steps should be similar.
It would be nice ☺
Another excellent video from you guys, and a well deserved beautiful end result given the difficulty during capture! Look forwards to your next one,
Clear skies
P.s , Regarding your mount issues, it's probably voltage dropping too low from an old power pack, the eq6 (mine too) doesn't like anything less than about 11.5/12v+ otherwise it can cut out under a fast slew, i'd recommend a deep cycle marine/leisure battery as that worked for me!
As to the mystery line, try rotating your camera a few degrees, if the line moves with the rotation then you know it's something dirt related usually, but I think it could possibly just be a diffraction effect/reflection from one of the nearby bright stars around m74 that look to be just out of your frame.
Thanks Lukomatico! Your trick about rotating the camera is very smart and simple! We have noticed this streak on a different image we did a few months back so it's definitely some dirt of sort. We'll try to figure out exactly what it is, thanks! As for the battery, we now have a deep cycle marine battery on the way :)
@@GalacticHunter Brilliant news! that should be problem solved for you I hope, and if you've seen the line in other photos then it's definitely dirt as you mention, best of luck cleaning! :)
Luke
0:32 "Traveling through the Mojave almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter."
If there is dirt or hair on the camera lens or in the telescope optics that is causing anomalies in the images, flats and biases should subtract these from the processed image. Are you creating flats and biases in addition to dark frames?
We're doing Darks and Bias, but not flats, I guess it's time to add those!
Flats will likely help a lot.
Dust is always an issue! I clean everything when I get in from stargazing ready for next time. It's time consuming but worth it 👍
i read your AZ/EQ-G GoTo Mount input power guide is using DC 11V (minimum) to DC 16V (maximum) , 12v is good, might drop over time.
my AZ-EQ5 using voltage booster up to 16v 3Amps wich is way better on tracking n more smooth.
I vote for Owl Nebula! It looks very cool and misterious. I was not yet able to see it visually, probably one day I will as I did with Veil Nebula and OIII filter :)
We also haven't tried observing it with our eyepiece, curious to know if that tiny bowl will be visible with our scope :)
You two kick ass and I’m stoked to start deep space shooting
Hey guys i have the same mount, bought it brand new 5 months ago and Im having power issues as well. The power cuts at about 45 degrees every time I do a meridian flip. Its extreamly frustrating to have to re-align and re-frame in the middle of the night...I feel your pain. Also have you adjusted your dither settings? It will help eliminate some of that noisy banding in the background. If your looking for a great spot to image try Sedona, AZ. Its fairly close to you and has the best skies. I was out there a few weeks ago and seeing conditions were amazing. Keep up the great work!.
Check the power plug if it gets loose from the power connector. I had a similar issue with my heq5 pro where the plug would disconnect at random since its springs got loose over time. I modded the mount with screw plug and i had no issues ever since. For the eq6 you can check as an example the plug from the az-eq6 and do the same thing
@@kostasastro thanks, and yup you were right. A slight wiggle of the plug killed or reset the power. I got an electrically taped temp solution until i can do a more permanent modification. Ill check it out for sure
Very good video as every times. With all your problems, you still do an interesting video, awesome work, Thank you !
What happened to the french version ?
You have been striked ? (automatically due to your own english version ? songs ?) I hope you will find an easy way to send it in french without having to do it again :-)
Greetings from England ☺
Do you dither? The mistery light could be LED of your battery or computer making its way through camera viewfinder
Hey guys! Love your videos! I own the Canon 7D (mark I). Hot pixels is an issue with the 7d. Have you tried to reset the hot pixels? There is a process, if you search you will find how to reset.
Great work!
probably flexure between the 2 scopes
the focuser will move differently and also withing the rings
not much you can do except use a oag
as for the artifact could be a reflection in the train
could be artifacts on the chip but I doubt it try using flats to see if it fixes it if not probable a internal reflection
also in the first image you said was to hot looked like walking noise from not dithering enough
you should do medium to large dithers with your focal length
also shorter exposures to help with the hot sensor
you can make a cooler with a petlier cooler and a computer fan
I made one for my asi294 but finally
upgraded to the 1600 mm
Here! Catch!
Could the streak be a reflection from a nearby bright star? Or possibly stray light getting into the OTA?
A processing video would be awesome.
hi.. I would like choice #2 - Messier 97.. thx
WOW. As for your problems sorry i cant help, im still new at stargazing and still making mistakes . i hope you can solve it. good luck
Hi greetings from England ☺
wich target do you recommend with a 70-200mm lens?
You don’t use dithering in your image?
Yes coyotes are a serious concern. You should be with a group. They are attacking humans in greater frequency.
Great video as always you two... I also use a DSLR for imaging and the noise is my second biggest problem to clouds, I however made a Peltier cooler a while back and this really helped keep the noise level way down, I could imagine if you made up one it would be of great help to you's as well... I brought all components online and for under 100 euro, so it is a cheaper way to cool a camera, during the winter the camera would be covered in white frost even though outside temps are only no more than -1 at the best of times... would be worth looking into. If i can find the photos of the device I will send them to you .... also I would say that streak may be a smear on your camera's sensors... you can clean this easily with a sensor cleaner... a few flats would also remove it along with anything else that should not be there... Note : also I would highly recommend capturing Wirtanen like Gabe Sewell as stated below. you will be amazed by it.... especially on the 16th December.
As always clear ( Cool ) skies
Thanks for the info! We'll try our best to get a shot at Wirtanen, although we are going on our -late- honeymoon during that week so we'll see if that's possible!
Hello, Galactic Hunters: I am trying to become an astrophotographer, I have ordered an Orion XX16G, I have a DSLR, but learned I need $10000-20000 of equipment. Temperature here (Dhaka) ranges from 20-26 now to 18-24 in Jan rising again to hot in Mar- Apr. Could you please give me a list of all accessories needed and what problems I will face. Do I need a corrector for my primary mirror, how do I avoid heat fluctuations/cooling systems etc. You take breath-taking photographs Thank you.
Hi, what do you use for stacking or editing?
M78 is my vote
I love all deep space objects 👍
Are you using ASCOM/EqMod and PHD2?
Just PHD2 :)
I think it is in the camera. Nothing of the telescope optics will be in focus.
Felicidades desde España por tu canal. Yo quiero empezar hacer astrofotografía de cielo profundo y quiero comprar un telescopio. Yo voy a ver tus vídeos para ver tu equipo. Saludos y gracias
Y que tal le fue? Compró Ud. telescopio?
I can't understand why you've got so less subscribers
You talk about being in a desert area with the heat plus exposures adding to the high temperatures thus more noise. What are the temperatures you are referring to and are in Las Vegas area or in Arizona. Bortle sky of 3 means you are a fair distance away from a large metropolitan area....
About one hour and twenty minutes from Las Vegas. It gets very hot in Summer, even in the desert.
@@GalacticHunter Your site must be in the low desert. I know in places like Ely, Winnemucca, Carson City it gets quite chilly at night even in July. You are lucky to live in such an astrophotography friendly place! I will watch all your videos.
Je ne comprends pas ce qui ce passe avec l'épisode 11 en français, qui a été retiré à cause de droit d'auteur Red Bull....heureusement que je comprends bien l'anglais car je peux quand même le voir👷👌
Marc-André Brunet merci pour ton commentaire, on a maintenant réparé ça!
@@GalacticHunter merci Beaucoup !👌
Great Video Guys. Thank You! I vote Messier 97!
Agreed ☺
Choice 2 M97
The star problem you have might be down to the mount not tracking at sidereal rate properly.
Nice image eventually , good going guys :)
Your black points are clipped in The target you selected is very difficult you need At least 10-12 hrs of light frames
On this target..
Our biggest enemy.... The cheeky side of me instantly came up with "what, shutter shock, and/or mirror slap?" :P ... But yeah, heat is a really big thing for anyone not using a cooled camera. Or, if you're Canadian, uhm, well, the exact opposite of heat, the cold! (I say the cheeky side of me, since I've used a mirrorless camera for a while now, but like any piece of technology, everything has it's pros and cons).
Sadly can't be of help with what could be causing that reddish streak, but I would lean more towards something on the sensor (or between sensor and mirror) than on the mirror itself, since the mirror is out of the way when you're imaging... That and it's consistent location.
...Wow, that's an insane amount of noise heat brought in, and even had banding because of the heat too o_O
Keeping the coyote calls in at 5:50ish was a cute touch ^_^
I vote for choice #1, Messier 78!
Thanks White Wulfe! Heat is a big problem in Nevada and other hot states indeed. We haven't tried imaging from very cold locations yet but it must be challenging as well!
Hi, i am a relatively new subscriber at your channel and as a fellow astrophotographer with no permanent setup i can understand your disappointment with bad frames. Here are some tips that may help you in the future.
1. Power of the mount. Buy a deep cycle battery when you can, they are most suited for this type of job when it comes to duration. Also use regulated power supply since low voltage will affect the mount's performance (this applies to all of your astrogear), when you power your mount with unregulated power you may have noticed the mount's LED to blink, this is caused because the voltage drops below the mount's lower operating voltage and will cause issues with guiding. I would suggest either buying a power box, i have the pocket power box from Pegasus astro that has 12v regulated outputs, dew heater outputs and an output for a dslr, or buying a dc-dc converter i also have these www.amazon.co.uk/Converter-Voltage-Adjustable-Step-up-Circuit/dp/B06XWSV89D/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1535264817&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=eBoot+5+Pack+Boost+Converter+Module+XL6009&psc=1 and i have adjusted them to an output of 13.5v (the mount can handle 13.5v), thus eliminating the blinking LED and improving its performance. Also at some point i would suggest to change the mount's power plug (take a look at az-eq6's power plug) to a plug that can screw so that your mount won't disconnect, at my HEQ5 Pro the factory plug over the years would have bad connection to the cable so i installed a new plug that allows the power cable to be secure.
2. I suggest upgrading your mount's gears with the Rowan belt mod. It makes guiding a lot better, more accurate and a lot quieter. I cringed while i was listening to the bad mesh of you mount's gears (don't worry i had the same noise before i upgraded my mount) :).
3. I also upgraded my mount with an ADM dual saddle and a Losmandy dovetail bar for more stability and no flexure and a sturdier tripod, i got a Berlebach tripod and the mount is steady as a rock. If a new tripod is out of you budget i would suggest a better tripod spreader for the mount's tripod here is a suggestion, tpiastro.com/spreaders.htm The factory spreader that the tripod has does not offer much stability since it is very small.
4. For your artifact, it appears to be some sort of light, it may be a reflection from a nearby light source or a star or light leakage at your telescope tube. Here are some tests. Take some darks with your dslr with the lens cap on, no scope attached and see if that happens. Then take dark frames with the dslr attached to the scope in complete darkness and at very dim lighting. A similar thing has happened to me with the horse nebula where Alnitak would give me reflections at my OAG. Also a case of very bad reflections has happened with an adaptor that was glossy and ruined my image, so you may have to look at making your scope anti-reflective. Remember that flats eliminate artifacts which are usually round donuts from your camera sensor/filters not from your scope's optics.
5. When processing your image you can try to split your image into its LRGB components and process the L component in order to enhance the details and at the end combine the L with the RGB. I saw this method at Adam Block's videos for CCDStack so you can give it a try.
6. If you are going to buy a new camera and you want a colour camera you could look into the ZWO ASI cameras, they have pretty good performance.
I hope that these tips may help you solve your problems and for the next target i vote for the owl nebula.
Thank you so much for all those tips kostas! We'll definitely take a look at those links :)
Choice 3
A Celestron power tank is needed 👍
Wowwww
issue 2 could be the sensor of the dslr itself... try to take a darkframe and boost the exposure about +5 ev and the whites +100 - the result should show the sensor itself. i refer to peter zelinka's video... i'll add the link: ua-cam.com/video/KMsW9slSwzc/v-deo.html
Vote for mystery planet.
M78
do number 2
☺👍:)
Haha
Tone down the organ music - it is obnoxious and distracting.
Chris Reddy hi Chris, are you referring to a particular time in the video? We always try to make sure the music doesn’t get too low/high but what we hear on our computer during editing might be different on other devices. Thanks
@@GalacticHunter - the music raises and lowers during the video - when either of you are talking is lowers, but when there is a pause in talking, the volume raises and the deep, base organ music is just very distracting and annoying - that may be me, but I found it over-powered the video and became very unpleasant. For instance, at the 4 min mark.
Chris Reddy thank you, we will work on that for our future videos.