New Equipment Update!
New equipment has arrived. These are not sponsored purchases and will be tested and commented on as such.
Cameras
A new guide camera from Touptek arrived this is the G3M662C. Unfortunately this camera did not play well with my original setup. INDI drivers were not working correctly for this camera, leading to a frustrating PHD2 experience. The drivers would not detect the camera at first so I decided to compile my own in Stellarmate. This got the camera to work, but only in streaming mode and I gave up. Luckily this was right as weather was changing and there were no clear skies anyways
Targets and Upcoming Plans
The Veil Nebula
The Veil Nebula is a beautiful target that has been visible for most of June through August. The Veil Nebula is relatively dim for me because it’s the remains of a supernova and is mostly super-heated gas. Since it was available for so long I decided to try to capture various aspects of it. I started with the Western Veil, NGC 6960, and moved to Eastern Veil, NGC 6995. After a few nights on those popular targets, I noticed there was much more to be seen within the whole complex of the Veil Nebula. So, I started taking pictures of a nebulous region, NGC 6974. This is close to the Pickering’s Triangle and gives a different perspective of this region.
August 7 2024 Astro session
I did note that I would try to analyze subframes in the last post, but I thought it was worth a shot to take some pictures. The target was NGC 6974, one of two luminous knots within the Veil Nebula. It was particularly tricky because of the scattered clouds in the evening. It started fine, with the polar alignment taking almost no time at all. Focusing with SVBony’s SV220 Ha+OIII filter was not challenging at all. Once I slewed to the target things got worse. There were scattered clouds hindering the guiding, so I waiting a bit until they passed. Once they had passed, I continued the guiding assistant in PHD2 and then realigned on NGC 6974 to start guiding. I had to interrupt the session while clouds came in, then started it again when they passed.
Repeat Astro session
Last night’s (August 06, 2024) session started fairly late. I had initially checked the weather and it showed clear skies. However, when I went outside at 9pm it was raining. Perfectly over my area, there was a rain cloud. At around 10:30pm, the rain was gone and the clouds started to drift away. After setting up, polar aligning and focusing, I was able to capture an additional 20 subframes with the Askar D2 filter.
August 5 2024 Astro session
Tonight’s session started around 9:30pm US Central time, under Bortle 9 skies. Polar alignment and focusing took a little extra time due to clouds and poor visibility. However, once completed the night cleared up a bit and alignment to my target went better. I ran the guiding calibration, although it was not in a recommended location for calibrating, then I ran the guiding assistant tool and applied the recommendations. My equipment was able to guide between 18 and 22 rms. After that, the imaging session began. I was able to capture 20 subframes before I was ready to pack up.
Equipment
Telescopes:
Orion StarBlast 4.5 EQ
ZWO FF65 Petzval
Mounts:
ZWO AM5
iOptron Skyguider Pro
Cameras:
Meade LPI-G Advanced
Touptek ATR2600C
Touptek G3M662C
Filters:
Optolong L-Pro
Askar D2
Other Gear:
Gemini EAF
ZWO EAF
ZWO EFW
So I'm Starting A Blog
I’ve decided to start a blog because I wanted a sort of journal to record where I’ve been. Maybe it can be useful to others so I’m deciding to make it public. As you may have guessed, the subject of the blog is my adventure into astrophotography.
Tonight we have clear skies, and I imagine I could find a target or two.
Who am I?
Amateur Astronomer
I began my astronomical journey in 2022 when I purchased my first telescope, driven simply by the desire to observe stars and the moon up close. What started as casual observation quickly evolved into a passion for astrophotography—capturing these celestial wonders to share with others. This hobby has become an ongoing adventure that continues to challenge and inspire me.
By day, my professional background is in Biomedical Informatics, a field that shares astronomy’s appreciation for data, patterns, and discovery.