Messier 53 - First shot with the Concrete Pier

Its's been a while since I last imaged a deep sky object as I have been busy constructing a concrete pier (ultimately an observatory).  Messier 53 is  a globular cluster about 58,000 light years from Earth and is in the Coma Berencies constellation.  This is my first attempt at using the concrete pier and was taken during the full moon.  Normally I would not shoot deep sky objects during such a phase, however, it was clear out and I really wanted to check the new concrete pier. The images came out better than I expected and I will add it to my catalog of Messier Objects with the ED80.

Cropped Image

Wide Field Image

Wide Field Image - Labelled

M53
Location: Monroe, CT
Date/Time: 5/19/16 11:50 pm
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, Backyard EOS
Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 600mm
f/7.5
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount
Autoguiding: QHY-5L-II-M attached to and Orion Short Tube 80mm
Exposure: 12 x 30 sec, 43 x 45 sec (~38 min)
ISO: 800
Post Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop, Lightroom

Equipment and Pier

Imaging Jupiter with and ED80 (80 mm)

I have been trying to get a higher quality image of Jupiter with my Orion ED80 80 mm refractor for quite a while now.  I have tried various setups this past year which I will describe but I believe I have found the optimal configuration (Figure 1).

The main difference between this image and other images I took with the ED80 over the past year was using an Explore Scientific 3X Barlow which is why I requested it for a Christmas present.  Another difference was recording in 5X Planetary mode in Backyard EOS (BYE) although I have other images with just that mode and they are not nearly as good.

For comparison, I have added some the other configurations that I took previously with the ED80.

Figure 1 - Barlow, BYE 5X, Rebel T3i

Jupiter
Location: Monroe, CT
Date/Time: 4/13/16 8:54 pm
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, 5X Planetary Mode
Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope
Barlow: Explore 3X
Focal Length: 600mm
f/7.5
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount
Autoguiding: none
Exposure: 1000 x 1/100s (jpeg/avi)
ISO: 800
Post Processing: PIPP, Registax, Photoshop, Lightroom


Figure 2 - BYE 5X, Rebel T3i

Jupiter
Location: Monroe, CT
Date/Time: 4/10/16 9:00 pm
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, 5X Planetary Mode
Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope
Barlow none
Focal Length: 600mm
f/7.5
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount
Autoguiding: none
Exposure: 1000 x 1/100s (jpeg/avi)
ISO: 800
Post Processing: PIPP, Registax, Photoshop, Lightroom

Figure 3 - BYE 5X, Rebel T3i

Jupiter
Location: Monroe, CT
Date/Time: 6/6/15
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, 5X Planetary Mode
Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope
Barlow none
Focal Length: 600mm
f/7.5
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount
Autoguiding: none
Exposure: NA
ISO: 800
Post Processing: Registax, Photoshop


Figure 4 - Orion StarShoot USB

Jupiter
Location: Monroe, CT
Date/Time: 4/18/15
Camera: Orion StarShoot USB
Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope
Barlow none
Focal Length: 600mm
f/7.5
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount
Autoguiding: none
Exposure: NA
ISO: NA
Post Processing: Registax, Picasa3

New Images for the Messier Quest

Testing out a new autoguider and obtaining new shots for my quest of imaging all 110 Messier objects with an ED80. My old autoguider was the Orion G3 Color Imaging camera. This did work but it took a while to go through the alignment process in PHD guiding and since I never used it for general imaging, I decided to sell that on Ebay and get a monochrome camera that was dedicated as an autoguider. I chose the QHY-5L-II-M, which is equivalent to the Orion Starshoot Autoguider Pro only less expensive. This camera aligns much quicker than the G3 ever did and I can use it for solar system objects and star clusters.

M15 and M52 were both visible from my front lawn for few hours the other night and I was able to get some pretty decent shots, although I had to set up a screen to block my new neighbors three flood lights that they installed. A bonus with M52 was the Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635) which I was not sure I would get with my Orion ED80. Since it came out better than I expected, I will revisit the Bubble sometime in the future.

M15 - Globular Cluster (33,600 LY, 100,000 stars)


M15 - Globular Cluster
Location: Monroe, CT
Date/Time: 11/3/15 9:27 pm
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, Backyard EOS
Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount
Autoguiding: QHY-5L-II-M attached to and Orion Short Tube 80mm
Focal Length: 600mm
f/7.5
Exposure: 9-60s, 9-90s (total exposure, 22.5 min)
ISO: 800
Post Processing: DSS, PS, Picasa3 (crop)

M52 - Open Cluster (~5,000 LY, ~193 stars)


M52 - Open Cluster
Location: Monroe, CT
Date/Time: 11/3/15 10:44 pm
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, Backyard EOS
Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount
Autoguiding: QHY-5L-II-M attached to and Orion Short Tube 80mm
Focal Length: 600mm
f/7.5
Exposure: 30-90s (total exposure, 45 min)
ISO: 800
Post Processing: DSS, PS, Picasa3 (crop)

NGC 7635 - Bubble Nebula (7,100-11,000 LY, emission nebula)


NGC 7635 - Bubble Nebula
Location: Monroe, CT
Date/Time: 11/3/15 10:44 pm
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, Backyard EOS
Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount
Autoguiding: QHY-5L-II-M attached to and Orion Short Tube 80mm
Focal Length: 600mm
f/7.5
Exposure: 30-90s (total exposure, 45 min)
ISO: 800
Post Processing: DSS, PS, Picasa3 (crop)

Using an Orion StarShoot G3 as an autoguider

Finally getting my autoguider setup to work.  I use PHD2 Guiding by Stark Labs to run the autoguider and mount.  I am assuming you already know how to use PHD2 Guiding,  I if not, I recommend Astrophotography P3: Guiding Your Telescope by Forest Tanaka.

My hardware consists of an Orion StarShoot G3 Deep Space Color Imaging camera connected to an Orion ShortTube 80mm telescope as my autoguider.  Other incidentals, I use an Orion ED80 refactor telescope, a Canon Rebel T3i (600D) camera, an Orion Sirius EQ-G mount, and Backyard EOS for camera control.  The G3 is not inherently designed for use as an autoguider and took some research, a few calls to Orion tech support, and lots of trials in order to get it work.

A few things to be aware of: 

1) The G3 requires a guide scope with a larger aperture than the 50 mm standard guidescope size on the StarShoot Autoguider (you also need to order a RJ12 cable to connect the G3 to the mount).  

2) The G3 Firmware driver has to be up to date, if not, contact Orion and they can help with that.  

3) When using PHD2 Guiding, the G3 is not a selection on the Camera icon, you must select ASCOM (Late) Camera and then the G3 appears as a selection. 

4) But wait, there’s more, you also must select On-camera under the Mount tab at the top of the page. The rest of the set up should be how you would normally set up PHD2 Guiding. If not, call Orion. 

Also, I am new to using most of the software.  With this in mind my original stacking, Image 3, was done off of jpeg files as DSS was not stacking the raw files correctly.  Later I discovered I had to convert the raw images using Digital Photo Professional (Canon software) to TIFF files and then stack them.  The images below are of M31 - Andromeda Galaxy (M32 and M110, satellite galaxies of Andromeda are also visible).

Results:

I pride myself on good polar alignment and tracking and Image 1 is a 100s exposure of Andromeda where I thought it was tracking well but obviously not as well as I thought.

Image 1

Image 2 is a 100s exposure of Andromeda after the autoguider tracking was synchronized using PHD2 Guiding.  This took approximately five minutes.

Image 2

Image 3 consists of six 100s exposures of Andromeda stacked using Deep Sky Stacker (DSS).

Image 3

Image 4 and Image 5 are after processing Image 3 using Photoshop.

Image 4

Image 5

Image 6 is after processing the six original raw images in DSS.  Prior to using DSS I had to convert the Canon specific raw images into TIFF format.  Apparently DSS has trouble converting certain Canon raw images.  Notice the galaxy is flipped when the raw images were stacked.  Final processing was done in Photoshop.

Image 6

Image Details:

Image 1

M31 - Andromeda

Location: Monroe, CT

Date/Time: 7/24/15 00:58 AM
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, Backyard EOS

Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope

Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount

Autoguiding: Orion Short Tube 80mm, Orion StarShoot G3

Focal Length: 600mm (lens)

f/7.5

Exposure: 1-100s (1m 40s total)
ISO: 1600

Post Processing: None

Image 2

M31 - Andromeda

Location: Monroe, CT

Date/Time: 7/24/15 01:12 AM
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, Backyard EOS

Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope

Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount

Autoguiding: Orion Short Tube 80mm, Orion StarShoot G3

Focal Length: 600mm (lens)

f/7.5

Exposure: 1-100s (1m 40s total)
ISO: 1600

Post Processing: None

Image 3

M31 - Andromeda

Location: Monroe, CT

Date/Time: 7/24/15 01:12 AM
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, Backyard EOS

Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope

Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount

Autoguiding: Orion Short Tube 80mm, Orion StarShoot G3

Focal Length: 600mm (lens)

f/7.5

Exposure: 6-100s (10m total)
ISO: 1600

Post Processing: DSS

Image 4

M31 - Andromeda

Location: Monroe, CT

Date/Time: 7/24/15 01:12 AM
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, Backyard EOS

Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope

Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount

Autoguiding: Orion Short Tube 80mm, Orion StarShoot G3

Focal Length: 600mm (lens)

f/7.5

Exposure: 6-100s (10m total)
ISO: 1600

Post Processing: DSS, Photoshop

Image 5

M31 - Andromeda

Location: Monroe, CT

Date/Time: 7/24/15 01:12 AM
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, Backyard EOS

Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope

Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount

Autoguiding: Orion Short Tube 80mm, Orion StarShoot G3

Focal Length: 600mm (lens)

f/7.5

Exposure: 6-100s (10m total)
ISO: 1600

Post Processing: DSS, Photoshop

Image 6

M31 - Andromeda

Location: Monroe, CT

Date/Time: 7/24/15 01:12 AM
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, Backyard EOS

Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope

Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount

Autoguiding: Orion Short Tube 80mm, Orion StarShoot G3

Focal Length: 600mm (lens)

f/7.5

Exposure: 6-100s (10m total)
ISO: 1600

Post Processing: DSS, Photoshop