Author: Clearskypix

Only about Astrophotography!

Sept 7th 2022 – Narrowband Imaging of NGC7822

Objectives Capture 25 X 10 minutes exposures via OIII filter to produce a Narrowband image of NGC7822 The SII exposures are planned for the next clear night Ha exposures already captured Tasks Installed the narrow band filters/filter wheel in the SBIG camera and cleaned dust off – Done Perform a polar Alignment – Done Calibrate…
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September 1st, 2022 – Going after NGC7822

Objective Second night trying to capture NGC7822 in HaRGB. First night (Sept 27th, 2022) started perfect with 2.5h of exposure through Ha filter. The intention was to capture 5 hours of total exposure through the Ha, R, G and B filters. However, when the automated sequence performed the automatic focusing routine through the second filter…
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May 06, 2022 – Testing New Wide Field Setup

Objectives Test if modified (i.e. shortened OTA) ED80T CF can reach focus with Sharpstar 2.5″ Field Flattener If yes, capture images to measure FWHM, Eccentricity and imaging capability of this new wide field setup Tasks Mount Camera on field flattener + Moonlite focuser + ED80T CF and rotate accordingly Mount ED80T Setup on CGEM Connect…
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The Unknown Cause of a Desired Behaviour

Making beautiful astronomical images of deep sky objects like nebulas and galaxies is not easy. One of the challenge lies in being able to ensure the telescope is precisely following the movement of the sky caused by earth’s rotation.  First, one need a telescope mount that is of sufficient precision. Secondly, the mount needs to be properly…
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Celestron CGEM HyperTune®…complete!

It has been a long time since I’ve written on the blog. Quite busy with the family and other projects. In early august, I was able to complete the HyperTune of the Celestron CGEM. Re-greasing and re-assembly of the DEC axis went without a glitch. The videos from Ed Thomas at Deep Space Products are…
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Celestron CGEM HyperTune®…started

With the intention of improving the autoguiding performance (especially in RA) of my Celestron CGEM mount, I have initiated the process of “Hyper-Tuning” it. A few months ago, I purchased a partial kit from Ed Thomas at Deep Space Products to help the process. What I ordered was: – DVD step-by-step video on how to HyperTune® your mount…
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Elongated Stars – a very complex problem to solve

For those of you who have been following my blog, you know that have been experiencing difficulties with being able to capture images with nice round and tight stars (i.e. sharper images). There are many factors that can contribute to image quality. If one or more of these factors are present in your setup. You can end up…
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New CCD camera…new & old challenges.

On march 30th, 2013, after the acquisition of my new CCD camera (i.e. the SBIG ST-8300M, the filter wheel and filters), with the weather looking promising, I carefully planned an imaging session with the goal of capturing LRGB data of the Sunflower Galaxy (i.e. Messier 63). I used CCD Commander to automate the acquisition of the following frames: 20 X 6 minutes…
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I received the accessories for the SBIG ST-8300M

Today, I received the accessories I ordered earlier this week to finalize my new CCD camera setup. Here is what I received…  20mm T-Mount extension tube from Edmund.  Extra filter carousel for the FW5-8300 filter wheel with 5 installation o-rings and a set of 4 Baader LRGB 36mm unmounted filters from SBIG. I started by installing the filters in the…
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I bought an SBIG ST-8300M

After months of design, prototyping and modifications in order to transform my Canon 350D DSLR into a better astronomical instrument, I finally gave in and purchased a thermoelectrically cooled CCD imaging cameras (i.e. the SBIG ST-8300M). Here is the picture of the new toy… My modified Canon still work quite well but I felt it was time for me to step into the world of more…
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