Electronically Assisted Astronomy (EAA) with a Wide Field Refractor
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- Опубліковано 8 вер 2024
- See how easy it is to do Electronically Assisted Astronomy with a wide field refractor which can capture large deep sky objects like the Andromeda Galaxy, Orion Nebula, Triangulum Galaxy and many more. You will see a demo of live stacked images of several DSOs with a SharpStar EDPH III 61mm refractor and a ASI585MC Pro color CMOS camera on a Skywatcher AZ GTi Alt-Az mount.
Here are links to the equipment I used in this video. Links are affiliate links which help to support my channel with no cost to you. Please consider using them for your purchases:
Telescope Sharpstar 61 EDPH III
High Point Scientific bit.ly/45hTVDA
Agena Astro bit.ly/3Q1XE47
Camera ASI585MC Pro Cooled Color Camera
High Point Scientific bit.ly/3S1qHnN
Agena Astro bit.ly/3IBHDxk
Mount Skywatcher AZ GTi Alt-Az Mount
High Point Scientific bit.ly/3Kaq75e
Agena Astro bit.ly/3MUql1m
Feyachi Reflex Sight amzn.to/3tiRNhT
+ SVBony Dovetail amzn.to/3LKzSqE
Talent Cell 12V 6.5Ah LiFePO4 Power Bank amzn.to/3ZFbAUI
Here are additional affiliate links in case you want to consider some alternative options:
High Point Scientific
Refractors
Apertura 60 bit.ly/3ZDnG0G
Williams Optics Zenith Star 61 bit.ly/48DBvQB
Cheaper Uncooled Cameras to Consider
ZWO 585MC Uncooled Color Camera bit.ly/41yQpDD
ZWO 533MC Uncooled Color Camera bit.ly/3L0ClNH
Mount
Skywatcher Star Adventurer GTi Equatorial Mount bit.ly/3XxpS6Y
Unity Finders
Celestron Star Pointer bit.ly/48FjLEw
Apertura Multi-Reticle Red Dot bit.ly/3tmFMYw
Williams Optics Red Dot Finder bit.ly/46w35h1
Agena Astro
Refractors
Williams Optics Zenith Star 61 bit.ly/3LPjjK7
Cheaper Uncooled Cameras to Consider
ZWO 585MC Uncooled Color Camera bit.ly/3BQxclX
ZWO 533MC Uncooled Color Camera bit.ly/3MRFr7C
Mount
Skywatcher Star Adventurer GTi Equatorial Mount ttps://bit.ly/3IFwpbh
Unity Finders
Celestron Star Pointer bit.ly/3RIcKN6
Williams Optics Red Dot Finder bit.ly/3ROiEN3
Agena Multi-Reflex bit.ly/3ROiJjP
As usual... Practical, straightforward, incredibly informative, no sensationalism, technically rich, and sensitive to a normal amateur needs and trade-offs. You cover all the angles I consider and I am sure others do so well. Perfect. Thanks again.
Great feedback. That is exactly what I am trying to achieve with these videos, although I always feel I should be doing better.
I am so happy that I found your channel. You got a new subscriber. I have been +11 years in astronomy and during this time I have been searching for a good quality EAA UA-cam channel without success until I found yours. Two thumbs up.
Thank you. If you can help to support the channel please use the links below my videos for your purchases whenever you can. You can use a link and then search around for any product on the vendor's site and I will still get credit. No worries if you cannot. But please keep watching and let your friends know about my channel.
Curtis, I use Sharpcap 4.1 What would help you centre your targets much quicker is if you install All Sky Plate solver download the databases and let Sharpcap sync and recentre your target. The bullseye icon next to the mount controls will appear if you install the skywatcher mount driver and the latest ASCOM package.
Good input. You are correct and I use a Plate Solve routine all the time but I did not want to touch on that in this simple video. Too much at once from my point of view. I will talk about it in a future video.
You can focus in Sharpcap without mask.
@@anata5127 Yes you can and I will show that in a future video. But this was not intended to be a Sharpcap tutorial and using a Bahtinov mask is a very simple approach for a beginner to understand and master.
Nice job. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing.
Nice video
EXTREMELY well done and clearly explained video about EAA.
I want to ask you a question about camera upgrade.
I have 1600MM-Pro with filters use for DSO imaging. In past I had ZWO 290MC for dedicated planetary imaging which I sold away to get mono for DSO. But since my sky got limited due to high rise buildings and poor weather it is difficult for me to complete LRGB sequence for given target in consecutive imaging nights. Since you mentioned about the performance of ASI 533 MC (uncooled) will be good enough for EAA can I use it further to acquire color data and pair it with my existing 1600MM-Pro L channel for higher quality output ? although both are different shape sensors so I have to match resolutions I guess.
What's your take on it?
Alternatively, I was also thinking of getting dedicated planetary cam ASI662 MC considering it's reviews.
Thank you, Curtis, for another inspiring video! I say "inspiring" because i have an old Celestron 102, f/4.9 I'm "inspired" to try EAA with. It can be mounted on an EQ or AltAz mount.
I have a ZWO asi224mc camera. Very small sensor.
Do i need a focal reducer if i just want to image straight through? If i can image straight through, how to calculate the spacers needed, if any?
Do you have a recommendation for a focal reducer for such a simple (old) telescope?
I'm just starting to try EAA, as i am a very old visual guy. Just trying to figure out how to use the simple camera i have in the various refractors I own. 102AZ f4.9, and 102GT f/10.
I'm watching ALL your EAA videos and have learned a tremendous amount already. You're a very fine Teacher!
Marv
Marv.
Thank you for your positive feedback, I really appreciate it. I don't see any immediate need for a focal reducer with you 102 since it is f/4.9 which will give you a fast system with a wide field of view. You will need that with the small sensor on the ASI224 but it certainly will work. Just do a good job of aligning the mount so that the object will be close to the field of view if not in it.
You may not need any spacers depending upon how much travel you have with that focuser. You might be able to get an idea by using a short focal length EP, 6-10mm and finding where you can focus with that. Then you will be close for the camera which will have a different focus point. Start with the moon so you have a big bright object. I would also make sure to have some sort of finder, a red dot finder will do fine, pre-aligned with the optical axis of the 102 so you know it should be aligned on the moon when you have the camera.
Good luck
Curtis
Thanks for your encouragement, Curtis. I took my 102 outside and sighted it in on a tall object a mile away. Finder is a 6x30 optical with crosshairs. I used a 20, 12 and 6mm to get the aim and focus spot on. I've used a 5 and even a 4mm when looking at the moon with this scope. At 6mm I should be close with some room to spare when focusing with the camera. My focusing mantra is "left is lower" with either my SCTs or refractors.
I dropped in the camera but couldn't get anything but a blown out white screen in SharpCap. Played with the settings a little. I'll try it on the moon and Jupiter tonight. May need a ND filter, too.
Thanks again!
Hi Curtis, thank you for this excellent video. I have been watching all your videos hoping to learn from. I am just starting with EAA. You mentioned about using 37.5 mm spacer. Can you please share the link where I can buy. Does each camera and scope combination needs a specific spacer lengths?
Thank you.
Sami.
I appreciate the feedback. If you look below the video and click where it says "more" you will find links to all of the spacers and adapters, etc I showed in the video. The link you want is the Blue Fireball 37.5mm spacer near the top of list which is available from Agena Astro. Please use my link if you want to help support my channel and future videos.
The spacing required depends upon the focal reducer used not the scope. It is the distance from the focal reducer to the chip in the camera. Each focal reducer will specify that spacing, but most focal reducers and field flatteners for refracting telescopes use a standard 55mm spacing. Since the chip in the camera is recessed you have to take that into account. The camera I used in the video, like many others, has the chip recessed by 17.5mm, so 55 - 17.5 = 37.5. In other words you need to add 37.5mm of spacing between the focal reducer and the camera to be at the ideal distance for the optimum image quality and focal reduction. In contrast, the spacing for a Celestron 6.3X focal reducer used on an SCT is 105mm and for a Celestron 7X focal reducer used on an Edge SCT is 146mm. You can watch the video I made 2 months ago on Back Focus Solutions On SE, Evolution or CPC Mounts to see the details on these two focal reducer back spacings. But, like I said, 55mm is pretty common for reducers for refractors. If you are not using a focal reducer or field flattener you might need a spacer so that you can focus the image on your camera's chip. That all depends upon the amount of focus travel of the focuser on your scope which varies considerably.
@@astronomytipsreviewswithcu740 Thank you Curtis. There is no link for Blue Fireball in the 'More' section below the video. If you repost it, I will follow the link and order via this link.
@@samimohammed1727 My mistake, I got confused with another of my videos. Here is the link, it is an affiliate link Blue Fireball 37.5mm Extension bit.ly/48tFsrl
Is the image on the screen depends on time of live stacking? Could it be as good as an in astrophotography in a while?
As more frames are added to the stack the image will improve greatly. The background sky will show less noise and the object will show more detail. If you use dark frame subtraction and flat frames while live stacking you will get an even better image. Live stacking can provide great images to share with other later but with all of the other post processing techniques used by astro imagers I would not say the live image will be as good.
does any kind of astro camera work with EAA or is it limited to some??
"Any kind" is quite a wide range. CMOS cameras like those from ZWO, QHY, Player One and many others are what I think most people use these days. But there are still CCD cameras that can be used for EAA such as the Lodestar X2C autoguider. Some still use video cameras like the Revolution Imager and some use DSLR or mirrorless cameras. I believe the best choice these days are the CMOS cameras in terms of price, capability and options. Take a look at the video I produced on the topic of cameras for EAA which you can find here ua-cam.com/video/oFueKEuELOc/v-deo.html And then go over to my web site to get even more information on how to choose a camera for your EAA setup www.californiaskys.com/blog/archives/01-2021
What model Power Bank. They have several.
This one, it is the only true 12V powerbank Talent Cell 12V 6.5Ah LiFePO4 Power Bank amzn.to/3PQLBoT