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 * Home
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2024 SOLAR ECLIPSE (GATESVILLE, TX): A TALE OF TWO CORONAS

May 5, 2024 // by ecuador

2024 Total Solar Eclipse inc. HDR, 2 coronas



Watch this video on YouTube




After my 2017 Solar Eclipse experience, I had told myself that I would try to
catch all future totalities in the US or Europe and April 2024 was the next one.
I had chosen Texas a few months earlier because it statistically offered the
best chance of sunshine. As luck would have it, when time came, Texas was the
worst place to be, with high clouds covering the entire State and fast moving
mid/low clouds in most places. I started off from Austin in the morning having
marked 2 possible locations towards North and North East and when it was time to
make the choice while driving, the weather radar showed a ranch near Gatesville,
TX as having the best chance.
I set up my automated photography rig – I had my trusty Canon 800D, but I got a
new super portable SharpStar 61EDPH-III triplet for the occasion along with a
SkyWatcher AZ-GTe mount/tripod. A laptop running Eclipse Orchestrator was
programmed to take about 200 photos by itself (most in brackets covering from
1/4000s to 1/2s). I’d be enjoying totality with my own eyes and binoculars. All
I needed was for the clouds to not be in the way.
And they were not (completely) in the way; they sort of gave us a good opening
for the start of the total phase and then for a significant portion of it. It
was glorious, the dozen or so people around me were ecstatic (you can hear them
in the video above), and having had my previous experience under clear skies, it
was interesting to get something “new”, including an optical phenomenon called
“corona”. Yes, it’s the same name as the Sun’s atmosphere, but it’s an effect
caused by water droplets in the clouds refracting the light to produce a sort of
rainbow around the sun. So most of my photos have 2 different coronas visible!
Starting with the diamond ring shots:


DIAMOND RING / BAILY’S BEADS


(more →)



Categories: Astrophotography, Solar | Tags: eclipse, solar eclipse

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POLAR SCOPE ALIGN PRO V6.8 RELEASED FOR IOS!

April 16, 2024 // by ecuador

Alt-Az field rotation


WHAT’S NEW V6.8:

– Added Alt-Az Field Rotation calculator.
– Barlow/Reducer option added to 6 calculators (Eyepiece Magnification, Eyepiece
Projection Focal Length, FoV for Imaging System, Actual Size of Lunar View,
Eyepiece Field of View, Arcsec/px for Imaging System).
– Updated Sat24 and Clear Sky Chart locations for Xasteria Weather. (Pro)

More info on Polar Scope Align on the dedicated page.

Free Version

Pro Version

Pro Watch Bundle

(more →)



Categories: Software

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XASTERIA & XASTERIA PLUS 4.8 ASTRO WEATHER RELEASED!

April 11, 2024 // by ecuador

Xasteria in German.


WHAT’S NEW V4.8

– German translation added (by Uwe Spaniol).
– French & Greek translation improvements.
– Sat24.com updates.
– Clear Sky Charts locations update.


More info on the Xasteria page.

Xasteria Free

Xasteria Plus


(more →)



Categories: Software

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POLARIE AND STAR ADVENTURER DAYTIME ALIGNMENT SETUP

April 1, 2023 // by ecuador

Polar Scope Align‘s Daytime Alignment tool is easy to mount on traditional
equatorial mounts – just put the phone on the saddle (preferably with a dovetail
extension) and you are set. Users have even made 3D printed dovetail holders:



However, the way the Vixen Polarie, SkyWatcher Star Adventurer and other star
trackers are designed, there is no obvious way to mount the phone for Polar
alignment so that you can guarantee it is parallel to the RA axis, although it
could possibly be done with an attachment to the shoe mount, or even with an
L-bracket. Here are some ideas on which you can build on for the two of the most
popular trackers:


VIXEN POLARIE

Polar Scope Align Pro user Noriyoshi Hashimoto (橋本 憲良) kindly send me the
procedure he uses to get up to 60sec exposures on 200mm using an L-bracket:


STEP 1:

Level the tripod head, but setting the phone on top of it and using PS Align
pro’s Bubble Level tool:

(more →)



Categories: Uncategorized

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CHEAP PUSH-TO FOR YOUR DOBSONIAN WITH POLAR SCOPE ALIGN PRO

September 6, 2020 // by ecuador

Version 5.1 of Polar Scope Align Pro came out recently with a new feature
designed for manual mounts (mainly with Dobsonians in mind, but also for manual
alt/az or EQ): Attach your phone parallel to your mount, select a target and
Polar Scope Align Pro will help you push your manual mount towards the target.
Because phone compasses are very sensitive to local magnetic fields (like those
produced by metal mounts, telescope tubes), the app offers a “Hop To” function,
where you first find a bright star and center it so that the app can calibrate
to get to the desired object with good accuracy. Rob Pettengill helped me
develop the feature, testing it with his Questar and Dobsonian, so it is worth
reading his report on using the feature, with ideas about mounting it etc. Here
is the app mounted on his Questar:



Categories: Uncategorized

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CELESTRON, IOPTRON, LOSMANDY, ORION, SKY-WATCHER, VIXEN TELESCOPE MOUNT
COMPARISON TABLE.

July 13, 2020 // by ecuador

Update July 13 2020: :Long time coming update, apart from price updates, we have
the Celestron CGX and CGEM II replacing CGEM, new iOptron mounts GEM45, CEM40,
CEM70, Losmandy GM811G, SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro, EQM-35. Losmandy G11 & SkyWatcher
EQ8 are now on the mid/high-end mount page.

Price update Jan 9 2017: Some price updates. A few impressive price drops, the
CEM25 in the UK (£699 from £899), the Orion HDX110 ($3505 from $4499!) and CGEM
DX in the US ($1695 from $1999), otherwise mostly price increases in the UK, due
to the $1=£0.82 exchange rate.

Note Oct 3 2016: After over a decade of listing the HEQ5 as 15kg payload and the
EQ6 as 18kg img/25kg visual, Skywatcher has downgraded the capacities of these
mounts as 13.7 and 18.2 respectively. To me it looks like a marketing idea to
differentiate the more expensive AZ-EQ5 and AZ-EQ6, so I am keeping the listing
as it was, at least for now.

Update Sept 19 2016: I added the three smallest/least expensive mounts (SmartEQ,
EQ3, EQ5) just to be more complete, although they don’t really compete with the
rest in astrophotographic capabilities. Prices are updated, mostly the weaker GB
pound made some UK prices – especially Vixen – higher  (with the notable
exception of the CGEM DX which dropped dramatically). I added a separate price
graph for UK, it has an extra mount compared to the US graph, as the EQ3 Synscan
doesn’t seem to be sold in the USA (you can find it in Canada though).

There was a UK store that had a nice table with the basic specs of Sky-Watcher
and iOptron which I had found quite useful especially to see at a glance which
mount from a company was at the same category with what mount from the other.
That page is no longer online, so I thought I’d compile my own table and try to
include more and newer mounts. I’ll only include computerized EQ mounts from
comparable/high volume manufacturers (under $4000), so no expensive
Astro-Physics, Takahashi etc (but you can find all those and more mid-high end
mounts on this comparison table here).

The specs were mainly lifted from the manufacturer page, except the peak to peak
Periodic Error which is shown as a range (with before / after Periodic Error
Correction values) from various reports (this source was helpful, also this and
some of this – although may be less reliable – as well as numerous CN threads
with PEMPro, PHd2 etc graphs). Note peak-to-peak error is twice the +/- values
that are sometimes used and some extreme cases were not included. Also not
included are values of 1-2 arcsec reported for some mounts (iEQ45, G11) with
TDM. Payload normally means visual (apart from where noted) and sometimes I had
to choose a source (e.g. Skywatcher and Orion give a bit different spec for the
exact same mount). iOptron CEM mounts come in more expensive “EC” versions that
include encoders for better unguided performance, they are not included as they
only change pricing/PE and most other mounts do not include encoders. Prices are
typical US & UK prices with basic tripod included (unless noted).

Manufacturer / ModelPriceMount Head (kg)Payload (kg)Resolution
(arcsec)ObjectsPolar ScopeGPSPE/PEC (arcsec)Prede-cessorCelestron
AVX$899/£7797.714N/A40000-130/8CG-5Celestron CGEM
II$1649/£149918.218.2N/A40000-1CGEMCelestron
CGX$2299/£214519.418N/A40000-110iOptron SmartEQ Pro+$499/£3852.8
50.5150000Yes230-60SmartEQiOptron CEM25P$898/£7254.7
120.14150000Yes2Yes<20ZEQ25iOptron iEQ30 Pro $1198/£12856.8
140.14358000Yes2Yes16/5iEQ30iOptron CEM40 $1998/£1690
7.2180.08358000Yes5Yes<14iOptron GEM45 $2098/£1849
7.2200.08358000Yes5Yes<14iEQ45iOptron CEM60$2398/£2299*
12.3270.06359000Yes5Yes8-16/1.5iOptron
CEM70$2548/£2349*13.6320.07359000Yes5Yes<7Losmandy GM8
G$2495/£29889.516***N/A40000-313-20/8Losmandy GM811G$2895/£339012.2
22.7***0.1440000-3SkyWatcher EQ3 Pro Synscan (Orion AstroView
Pro)-/£3994.25.5?42000-4>80SkyWatcher EQM35
Pro$725/£5494.4100.28142900Yes60EQ3SkyWatcher EQ5 Pro Synscan (Orion SkyView
Pro)$699/£5696.29.10.28842000-4>60SkyWatcher AZ EQ5-GT (Orion Sirius
Pro)$1299/£10297.7150.2542000-416-40/?SkyWatcher HEQ5 Pro (Orion
Sirius)$1099/£78910150.14442000Yes220-50/6-7SkyWatcher AZ EQ6-GT (Orion Atlas
Pro)$1999/£139915.425**0.14442900Yes225-30/8SkyWatcher EQ6/NEQ6 Pro (Orion
Atlas)$1399/£10491625**0.14442900Yes220-50/6-7SkyWatcher EQ6-R (Orion Atlas
II)$1599/£119917.320***0.1442900Yes212-30/5-7EQ6Vixen SX2
(+SB10****)$2199/£2048712***N/A270000-3?/?Vixen
SXD2$2659/£22709.215***N/A270000Yes227/?Vixen
SXP$2999/£29991116***N/A270000Yes2?/?

*Does not include tripod.
**Orion rates these at 18kg, Sky-Watcher at 18kg imaging / 25kg visual, so we
use the specifically “visual” number.
***Value is for imaging load, so probably more modest than the rest.
****The SX2 comes with the Star Book One as standard. The Star Book Ten that
provides goto is added to the price to match the list’s minimum spec.
Polar Scope Notes:
1. Optional non-illuminated available.
2. Illuminated Polar scope comes standard.
3. Optional illuminated available.
4. Optional non-illuminated available that attaches externally.
5. Electronic (iPolar – requires computer) included.

Let’s make some charts. We’ll start with the Payload vs Mount weight:

A y = x/2 line is drawn and there are actually several mounts below it, most
from iOptron (plus the new small SkyWatcher mount), meaning they can lift more
than twice their weight. The Celestron mounts are rather disappointing, although
the new version of the CGEM, finally claims to “lift” at least as much at it
weights, although Celestron may be a bit modest about their payload spec. Note
that the EQ6-R is not disappointing, as its “photo”
payload is listed versus “visual” for most others.
(more →)



Categories: Mounts | Tags: celestron, ioptron, losmandy, mounts, orion,
skywatcher, vixen

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MID-HIGH END ($3-15K) TELESCOPE MOUNT COMPARISON TABLE

June 30, 2020 // by ecuador

 * UPDATE 2020-06-30: I guess it was time for an update, the main changes are
   the Mesu Mount 200 MKII (instead of the original), the Gemini E.fric instead
   of the G53F, the Astro-Physics Mach2GTO instead of the Mach1 and the
   Celestron CGX-L instead of the CGE Pro. The iOptron CEM120 and SkyWatcher EQ8
   were added to the mix, as they were closer to this tier. Several price
   updates too.

I while ago I made a comparison table for mass-production mounts under $5k and
some nice charts with its data. Since I was recently looking at the mid/high end
mount category, which is even less straightforward, I thought it would be
interesting if I made a similar table. So, this time nicer small mounts like
Takahashi and Astro-physics are included, along with observatory-grade mounts up
to $15k and 100kg capacity. There’s a Celestron, a Meade, a SkyWatcher and an
iOptron thrown in because they didn’t fit the other table, but otherwise this
listing contains superior quality mounts and thus things like mount capacity are
not comparable the other table, as high end manufacturers tend to be very
conservative with their numbers, quoting “realistic” imaging loads. As before,
the specs were mainly lifted from the manufacturer page, except the peak to peak
Periodic Error which is shown as a range (and also before / after PE Correction
values separated by a “/”) from various reports (this source was helpful also
this and numerous CN threads).

The table will not tell you which mount to buy obviously, but it should be
useful to see at a quick glance what kind of competition there is in your
desired category. The prices are current at the posting of this article, but
don’t expect me to keep up with price changes, I will only update if the table
becomes outdated overall.

Also, prices in this list are often just an indication, as they may exclude
significant shipping costs/duty/tax – although I tried to find a price from a US
or UK/EU seller where possible.



Manufacturer / ModelPriceMount Head (kg)Payload (kg)Hand-controllerPolar ScopePE
(arcsec) / PE w. PECPEC10 Micron GM1000 HPS$9196/£728519.525YesNo1Yes10 Micron
GM2000 HPS II$13969/£112003050YesNo1YesAstro-Physics
Mach2GTO$8940/£997017.734YesOptional0.25YesAstro-Physics
1100GTO$7970/£886224.550YesOptional<7/1-2YesAstro-Physics
1600GTO$10870/£1210052100YesOptional<5/1-2YesAvalon M-Zero$4183/£32387.58YesYes,
illum***NoAvalon Linear$5470/£427012.520YesYes, illum***NoAvalon
M-Uno$6759/£528014.920YesYes, illum***NoCelestron CGX-L$3599/£35552434YesOpt,
external?/4YesFornax 52$4748/£39803550OptOptional16/<1*TDMFornax
100$6740/£59705080OptOptional16/<1*TDMFornax
150/100$9797/£909870100OptOptional12/<1*TDMGemini
E.fric$3722/£32811830OptionalOptional?NoLosmandy
G11G$3395/£356316.327YesOptional3.5-10/<1YesLosmandy HGM
Titan$5995/£68003445YesOpt, external7-14/2YesMeade
LX850$6579/£69652542YesNo8-16/3-7YesMesu-Mount 200
MKII$5290/£514024.1**100YesOpt, external4.6/-NoParamount
MyT$5995/£65501523NoNo4-7/<1YesParamount
MX+$8995/£101002345NoOptional4-7/<1YesTakahashi EM-11
Temma-2Z$3350/£359079YesYes, illum7-20/-NoTakahashi EM-200
Temma-2Z$5210/£54251518YesYes, illum10/-NoTakahashi EM-400
Temma-2Z$9150/£957027.735YesYes, illum10/-NoTakahashi EM-500
Temma-2Z$13020/£147774545YesYes, illum7/-NoVixen AXD2 (Atlux
Deluxe)$7999/£71002530YesYes, illum?YesiOptron CEM120$3999/£32502652YesOpt,
electronic<7****YesSkyWatcher EQ8-R$4080/£299925.850YesOpt, externalYes



* Fornax mounts don’t offer PEC, they do suggest you optionally purchase the TDM
encoder system.
** The Mesu Mount 200 MKII head is technically 16kg, but the detachable 5kg
wedge and 2.5kg counterweight bar were included for comparison with the other
mounts that have them as part of the head.
*** The Avalon mounts by design have a very high (reportedly even over 50-60″
p-p), but very slow PE (with no PEC possibility), so cannot be used for unguided
AP at any significant focal ratio. Their slow PE is very easy to guide, so they
are popular mounts for guided AP.
**** The CEM120 also comes in two more expensive encoder versions (EC/EC2) which
specify PE <0.15″ RMS.

So, as in the mass produced mount comparison, we start with the mount head
weight vs payload capacity graph:


(more →)



Categories: Mounts | Tags: 10 Micron, Astro-Physics, Avalon, Bisque, celestron,
Fornax, Gemini, losmandy, Meade, Mesu, mounts, Takahashi

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3D-PRINTABLE IPHONE X DOVETAIL HOLDER!

October 1, 2018 // by ecuador

An industrious Polar Scope Align Pro user, Zach Hartman, shared with me photos
of the iPhone X dovetail (standard “Vixen” style) holder he made to use with the
app’s daytime alignment tool, which follows my suggestion of extending the phone
away from the saddle to reduce effects on the magnetometers:



He also uploaded his design to Thingiverse, so that anyone can download it and
print it:



Pretty cool, and hopefully helpful for people who are trying day alignment.



Categories: DIY

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POLAR SCOPE ALIGN V4.0: NEW WATCH EXTENSION

June 18, 2018 // by ecuador

Major release, especially for Apple Watch users, featuring a new Watch extension
taking advantage of . A quick preview:

New Watch Features:
– Moon Phase view added to the first screen, moon/sun rise/set times on second
screen.
– New (third) screen with the Xasteria weather report.
– Reticle zoom slider.
– Ability to switch mode (Polar Alignment, Bubble Level, Day Alignment, Moon
Phase) from the watch.
– Day/night mode switch on the watch.
– Watch type is now automatically detected (manual setting removed)
– Better refresh rate for Bubble level and Day alignment.



Categories: Software

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BEST ASTRONOMY APPS FOR IOS (IPHONE & IPAD)

June 2, 2018 // by ecuador

I will try to list a few of my favorite astronomy apps for iOS. Caveat: I will
have to start with a couple of my own apps, since by definition (being designed
by myself, exactly as I wanted them), as far as I am concerned they are the best
at what they do, so I cannot objectively rank them among others. Hopefully you
will forgive that little bias. In any case, this is not a definitive list, I may
add (or remove) apps as new apps or new versions come out.


POLAR SCOPE ALIGN

Current price: FREE (Basic), $1.99 (Pro), $3.99 (Pro Watch)

Thousands of users turn to Polar Scope Align for their polar alignment needs,
and with good reason – it supports probably every polar scope used in the field
including ones from iOptron, Astro-Physics, Takahashi, Orion, Celestron, Meade,
Vixen, Astrotrac, Losmandy, Kenko, Avalon, even early 80’s designs like the
Tuthill, or finders like the Telrad. Basically, if you have a polar scope that
is not supported, contact me and with some help (e.g. images), I will add it.
What’s more, for many of these polar scopes, especially the less precise ones,
if you read the in-app instructions you will discover that Polar Scope Align
offers you an alternative method of aligning with them to improve their
precision.

And all the functionality for polar alignment with all those polar scopes is
included in the free version. But there are also the Pro and Pro Watch versions
which add tools that I like to use for my astrophotography session: From weather
and bubble level to calculators and a Deep Space Object database. The latter is
not actually a very well known feature of the app, as it is not very related to
polar alignment, but it is probably the feature I use the most in an
astrophotography session. Take a look at the video below for a lesser known Deep
Space Object database feature that I use often.

Polar Scope Align Pro (PS Align): Finding astro targets by pointing to the sky.




Watch this video on YouTube



Read more about Polar Scope Align.



Free Version





Pro Version





Pro Watch Version







SKYSAFARI 6

Current price: FREE (Basic), $14.99 (Plus), $39.99 (Pro)

Most people consider SkySafari to be the best astronomy app overall and, well,
they are probably right. It starts out as an excellent planetarium-type program
in its Basic (currently free) version, and continues on to be a space-simulator
and telescope control software in the Plus/Pro versions. The only gripe I’ve
heard about this app is that you have to pay to get a new major version,
although it is in any case worth the functionality you pay for at the time, even
if it means they might make a better version in the future that you can’t
upgrade to.

So, the Basic version does the base planetarium-type stuff that a few other
(sometimes free) apps mostly do as well, although it is a solid implementation
and easy UI which makes it rank towards the top of this category. If it is free,
it is a no brainer. However, the most popular version of SkySafari is probably
the “Plus” version. It adds a bigger object database, observation planning
tools, object visibility graphs, space-simulator abilities and telescope
control. Most amateur astronomers won’t need anything more, but there is also a
more expensive “Pro” version which adds the ability to get extensive object
databases (like PGC galaxies).



SkySafari Basic





SkySafari Plus





SkySafari Pro





(more →)



Categories: Software

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DAYTIME POLAR ALIGNMENT IPAD SETUP

February 7, 2018 // by ecuador

Michel Moreau, a user of Polar Scope Align in France sent me his very elaborate
iPad daytime polar alignment setup a while ago, but I never got around to post
it, so here it goes now:

  

I have an older iPad which does not have a good magnetometer, but he tells me he
is happy with his setup (and it looks cool too!) and he kindly shared his plans
for both a 9.7″ and a 10.5″ iPad Pro (descriptions in French only – sorry) which
you can download here. Thanks Michel!



Categories: Uncategorized

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2017 TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE @ MADISONVILLE, TN

August 31, 2017 // by ecuador

About 25 years ago as a kid I had looked up future total eclipses and had marked
the 2017 eclipse as the one I would see. I’d be old enough to travel when I
please, it would be summer and it would be at a location that’s easy to go to (I
visit the US regularly). As it often happens, I wasn’t really going to honor my
childhood plans, I had a rather busy summer, until, about a month before the
eclipse I suddenly said, hey, why the hell not? I called up my cousin in
Baltimore, asked him if he was up for an eclipse road trip to somewhere around
Tennessee/North Carolina, and, as they say, the rest is history (images enlarge
when you click them):



8-frame HDR composite, Canon 550D /w Equinox 80ED




THE LOCATION

I tried to stay at Knoxville, but ended up in nearby Pigeon Forge due to trying
to book too late. The plan was to look at the forecast and head to one of a few
sites I had looked up, the closest being Madisonville, TN and alternatives like
Hiawassee GA or TN beyond Nashville. As luck would have it, Madisonville had the
best forecast and we headed there (2m 38s totality). The town had arranged a big
party at Kefauver park, about 5 miles from the town center. We, along with about
200 people ended up at Not-Kefauver-park, a smaller park in the center of the
town, having only read the big letters “Kefauver park” on a helpful sign at the
smaller park (that apparently went on explaining how to actually get to Kefauver
park – the town had even set up buses to take you there). To our defense the
town’s online advertisement said “Houston Park”, so that’s what we had tried to
locate on our GPS. Well, the weather was great, our toilets did not have long
lines and I met some very nice people, so I can’t complain!




THE SETUP

I had brought with me from the UK my trusty Canon 550D, the Equinox 80D – my
most portable OTA, and a Skywatcher Star Adventurer I had picked up just for the
trip, which sat on a heavy duty tripod I borrowed from my uncle. Daytime
alignment with Polar Scope Align Pro was of course a breeze and gave excellent
tracking. In the above image you can see some weird bubble wrap which was a
last-minute modification once I realized I had with me the wider Baader
Astrosolar ND5.0 film mount (from my Evostar 80ED). I also had an ND3.8 Baader
photo film which went to my cousin’s Nikon 300mm lens, and an Acuter Innova
10×42 pair of binoculars with Thousand Oaks filters. The plan was to have the
camera on the telescope controlled by my laptop running Eclipse Orchestrator, so
that it takes the exposures I had programmed (about 100 around totality) while I
enjoyed the eclipse. I had the only telescope in the park and, being my usual
helpful self, I had it set up for viewing so that people can enjoy the partial
phases (quite some sunspot activity), so I only switched it to the camera quite
late as can be seen from this sequence that starts with the first partial phase
I was able to take:




SINGLE SHOTS

This is the first exposure attempting to capture the diamond ring, getting a lot
of glare with a longish exposure:



Shorter exposure:



Bailey’s beads:



Near midpoint:



(more →)



Categories: Solar | Tags: equinox 80 ed, solar eclipse, Sun

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DAYTIME POLAR ALIGNMENT (FOR THE 2017 SOLAR ECLIPSE OF COURSE!)

August 14, 2017 // by ecuador

If you are going to try and capture the solar eclipse with an equatorial mount,
you are probably concerned about how you are going to do the polar alignment
(unless you are lucky enough to be able to set up the previous night).

Sky & Telescope seems to have popularized a method which uses a planetarium-type
app in your smartphone in order to see where your polar scope points. The setup
for an equatorial mount looks a bit like this:



There is some slight problem with this setup… IT DOESN’T ACTUALLY WORK! At least
not as described…

I don’t know what kind of magical phone Sky & Telescope used, however when I
approach a metallic object with any of my phones, the magnetometer goes wild. In
the above image (similar setup to the popular article) it was off by 5-10
degrees. If I put it flat on a metal surface like the images I saw with a wedge
mount, it would probably go much more. So, to use this method you have to take
your phone away from anything metal. Something like that though, would probably
be easier with a different method altogether… Enter the latest tool I made for
my Polar Scope Align Pro app:
(more →)



Categories: Software, Solar | Tags: solar eclipse

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LUNAR MOSAIC IN UV, L, IR WITH AN ALTAIR GPCAM2 IMX224

April 9, 2017 // by ecuador

I had my first imaging session with my new Altair GPCAM2 IMX224 last Friday –
until then I had only used it for guiding. Since I was going for the moon with a
small sensor, I would have to do a mosaic, even with the relatively wide field
Skywatcher 130PDS. But I thought I’d go even further, getting a set with the
camera’s standard UV/IR filter, a set with a 630nm IR-pass and a set with a
Venus U. Combining them R=IR, G=L, B=UV gave this interesting lunar rendering:



It is not a “true” UV/L/IR, in the sense that the GPCAM2 has a color sensor, so
even with its UV/IR filter removed it can only record the very near-UV spectrum
(realistically only down to around 380nm or so), so for a bit more of UV you
need both a newtonian reflector with no barlows/reducers etc, and an unfiltered
mono sensor that is a bit UV-sensitive (a Sony/Kodak usually is, an Aptina is
not).

It is worth giving a quick description of the two main techniques involved in
producing images like the above: Lunar mosaics, and RGB/Channel compositing.


(MORE →)



Categories: Astrophotography, Lunar

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REVIEW: FROM THE ZEQ25 TO THE IOPTRON CEM25P

January 29, 2017 // by ecuador

If you have read my review for the iOptron ZEQ25, you might remember that I was
very happy with the mount. You might also remember I had mentioned there was an
updated version called the CEM25, which was the same mechanically, but had
updated electronics & stepper instead of servo motors. Well, a month ago I gave
in and ordered the CEM25 from the UK distributor, Altair Astro. What I received
though, was this:



Enter the CEM25 update, unannounced at the time I received it, the CEM25P. Apart
from the “P” in the logo, you can tell it apart from the CEM25 by the bolt
handles which don’t have the central white dot.
(more →)



Categories: Mounts, Review | Tags: cem25p, ioptron

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