Astrophotography Using "RAW" files, Still from My Backyard.

So far all the images on this blog are "SOOC" Straight out of camera jpeg files.
I've decided it's time to start using "Raw" files for my Astrophotography.

More to follow.

This is my first output.

Eta Carina and Nebulae

Radius: 230 Light Years

Distance: 8000 Light Years

Scope: Meade ETX 125

Imager: Fuji XT1 at Prime Focus

Mount: SkyWatcher EQ5 RA motor Drive

Stack of 28 x 25 sec asa 6400 Raw "subs"
3-3-2018

Converted to tif files, stacked with Hugin tools and 
post processed with "Rawtherapee"
All in 16bit, converted to an 8 bit jpg for Blog upload.

Tarantula Nebula

Distance: 160,000 Light years

 Meade ETX 125

Imager: Fuji XT1 at Prime Focus

Mount: SkyWatcher EQ5 RA motor Drive

Stack of 17 x 25 sec asa 6400 Raw "subs"
5-3-2018

Converted to tif files, stacked with Hugin tools and 
post processed with "Rawtherapee"
All in 16bit, converted to an 8 bit jpg for Blog upload.

Large Magellanic Cloud

Imager: Fuji XT1 
Lens: Takumar 300mm f4 at f5.6

Mount: SkyWatcher EQ5 RA motor Drive

Stack of 14 x 20 sec asa 3200 Raw "subs"
7-3-2018

M42 Orion Nebula

Imager: Fuji XT1 
Lens: Takumar 300mm f4 at f5.6

Mount: SkyWatcher EQ5 RA motor Drive

Stack of 18 x 30 sec asa 6400 Raw "subs"
Cropped
13-3-2018

Large Magellanic Cloud

Imager: Fuji XT1 
Lens: Takumar 200mm f4 at f5.6

Mount: SkyWatcher EQ5 RA motor Drive

Stack of 14 x 30 sec asa 3200 Raw "subs"
7-3-2018

Astrophotography. Bright, Victoria, Australia "Dark Sky"

Just a few shots from "Bright" Victoria.

Bright is a 19th century gold mining town in the Alpine region of Victoria Australia.
Today it focuses on Wine Making, Produce, outdoor activities in the summer and winter.

It's a long way from city lights, so the skies are nice and dark.
Dark Skies mean a lot less post processing, to remove "Light Polution" and better imaging quality in general.

Eta Carina Region
Imaging: Fuji XT1. Fuji XC 16-50 at 50mm
15 secs f5.6 Stack of 11 shots
Piggy Backed on EQ5 Mount

"The Jewel Box"
ETX 125. Fuji XT1

Eta Carina and Keyhole Nebular
 Scope: ETX 125
 Imager: Fuji XT1

Large Magellanic Cloud
Fuji XT1 XC16-50mm Zoom at 50mm
Piggy Backed on EQ5 Mount
Cropped.

Omega Centauri
 ETX 125
 Fuji XT1

Astrophotography: Melbourne, Australia, My Back Yard. Meade ETX125 Skywatcher EQ5 Mount

Having "BlownUp" my ETX125's fork mount meant that it has sat in the corner for far too long. It's a nice scope and deserves to be used, time to buy an Equatorial mount and start doing just that.
After much deliberation I decide on an EQ5 with single axis (RA) motor drive on a steel tripod.

I had already "De-Forked" my little ETX, so it was now ready for some "Scope Rings"
I ended using a generic dovetail as the main mounting, this needed some new holes to be drilled and the holes countersunk.
You can also see in this picture that I've mounted an "Arca Swiss" type camera mount to the top dovetail, this will facilitate some wide field photography.

The scope with the mounting hardware weighs in at 4.7Kg, well below the mounts max load rating of 9Kg.

Here is what it looks like.

I've added an extra accessory tray.

These are the closest fitting "Tube Rings" I could get, you can see the packing required to clamp the tube.
I've made a little laser pointer holder from some PVC pipe, I've also modded this to run from my regulated supply. It gets connected only when needed so the cable is out of the way. It "draws" 330 milliamp, so batteries wouldn't last long.

Using a cut down generic dovetail allows me to balance the scope. This can't be done with the supplied mounting dovetail, as the position is fixed, and I can't slide the tube forward any more than it is.

This picture shows the re-positioned finder dovetail.
I machined some brass and aluminium to make a double holder. The laser and Red Dot make a great combo.
Currently I have to remove the finders to do any wide field work, like most things I do, this may change...... and already has.

You can see the latest camera adapter here. It's made from a Meade Diagonal some PVC
pipe and an "M42 to Fuji X" adapter.


If you look closely at the focus knob you will notice a simple improvement, a couple of
 "o-rings" wrapped around it makes it much easier to adjust.




The first picture here was taken the night I put it together.

 Not bad and quite inspiring. 
The first three images have been cropped
slightly to remove some "vignetting" in each corner caused by the 1.25" tube on the original camera adapter.

ETA Carina and Nebular.

15sec. 25600asa. f15. Stack of 11 jpg images.

Scope: Meade ETX 125
Imager: Fuji XT1 at Prime Focus

Mount: SkyWatcher EQ5 RA motor Drive

Melbourne Australia 2-7-2017
 Close Polar Alignment.(not close enough)

"The Jewel Box"  "Kappa Crucis Cluster" or NGC 4755

Scope: Meade ETX125. 

Imager: Fuji XT1 at Prime Focus

Mount: SkyWatcher EQ5 RA motor Drive

 1900mm. 10 sec. 6400asa Stack of 5 "'sooc" jpegs

 Rough Polar Alignment

Omega Centauri. NGC 5139  
15800 Light Years from Earth.
 Diameter approx 150 Light years 
12-7-2017 
Scope: Meade ETX 125
Imager: Fuji XT1 at Prime Focus
Mount: SkyWatcher EQ5 RA motor Drive
 6.5sec, 12800asa, stack of 7 pics

Moon
 ETX125 Fuji XT1 At Prime Focus. 
Camera now mounted on rear photo port
using a home made adapter.

Omega Centauri is a "Globular Cluster"

approx 150 light years away

14-8-2017

Scope: Meade ETX 125

Imager: Fuji XT1 at Prime Focus

Mount: SkyWatcher EQ5 RA motor Drive

 6.5sec, 25600asa, stack of 18 pics

Un-cropped 

Same details as the next image, but on the 27th

Eta Carina and Nebulae.

 No cropping needed as there is no vignetting through the rear port

with my new adapter.
26-2-2018

Scope: Meade ETX 125

Imager: Fuji XT1 at Prime Focus

Mount: SkyWatcher EQ5 RA motor Drive

Stack of 23 x 30 sec asa 25000 "subs"

Orion Nebular

4th Jan 2018

Scope: Meade ETX 125

Imager: Fuji XT1 at Prime Focus

Mount: SkyWatcher EQ5 RA motor Drive
Stack of Twenty 13sec asa 25600 exposures
Stacked on Mac using "Hugin" tools
Processed in "GIMP"

M42 and "Running Man Nebula" 4th & 9th Jan 2018

Scope: Meade ETX 125

Imager: Fuji XT1 at Prime Focus

Mount: SkyWatcher EQ5 RA motor Drive
Stack of Twenty 13sec asa 25600 exposures
Stacked on Mac using "Hugin" tools
Processed in "GIMP"
Composite of two Pictures.

Alnitak & Horse Head Nebular

Scope: Meade ETX 125

Imager: Fuji XT1 at Prime Focus

Mount: SkyWatcher EQ5 RA motor Drive
Stack of 12, 25sec asa 25600 exposures
Stacked on Mac using "Hugin" tools
Processed in "GIMP"

Alnitak and Flame Nebular

Scope: Meade ETX 125

Imager: Fuji XT1 at Prime Focus

Mount: SkyWatcher EQ5 RA motor Drive

Blood Moon 31-1-2018

Scope: Meade ETX 125

Imager: Fuji XT1 at Prime Focus

Mount: SkyWatcher EQ5 RA motor Drive
Single jpg ASA1600 Exp 1.5 sec

Tarantular Nebular. LMC

160,000 light years away
26-2-2018
Scope: Meade ETX 125

Imager: Fuji XT1 at Prime Focus

Mount: SkyWatcher EQ5 RA motor Drive
Stack of 16, 25sec asa 25600 exposures
Stacked on Mac using "Hugin" tools
Processed in "GIMP"

Meade ETX125 and Fujifilm XT1 and Orion Nebular M42 & Moon

My ETX125 has been sitting idle for quite a while as I've been exploring the world of camera only Wide Field Astro.

I thought it was time to have a go with my new camera. With its very sensitive sensor the long focal length of the ETX may not be as much of a problem, so off to the shed to make an adapter.
The following Pic is taken from our Backyard in Melbourne Australia, never gets very dark where we live. I'm pretty happy with the result.
This is stack of three images, no cropping, the ETX has a narrow field of view.
I'm finding with the Fuji camera that reducing noise by stacking, whilst helpful, is not as important as it used to be with my old camera. A good single image with some "curve", "contrast" and "wavelet denoise" works well, all done with "GIMP"

I tried some more imaging on the following two nights, with poor results due to periodic error.
I must have just been using the good part of my drives "worm" this night. Gives me something to think about... A new mount maybe.

Meade ETX 125.
 Fuji XT1 at Prime Focus.
 25sec. f15. asa25600 stack of three images

Moon
Meade ETX 125 Fuji XT1 At Prime Focus un-cropped

Some Diff Post Processing. Straight out of Camera jpg

Jupiter 24 Jul 2008

Jupiter Meade ETX 125 Logitech WebCam

This is my best image as far as detail goes.


This is some information on my Setup as it stands today.

Meade ETX 125 Premier edition

26mm Meade Eyepiece
15mm Bintel Eyepiece
2.5 Bintel Barlow
Meade rear port "up righting" prism
Logitech CCD based web cam, with home made adapter.
Home made "parfocal" adapter. Made from plastic fittings from Bunning’s, and some lathe work.
Home made power box which holds a 12v Gel Cell battery and various power leads.
This hangs on hooks in the center of the tripod.
I also have a USB to Serial adapter strapped to the tripod.
Two 5 meter USB leads to connect my scope to my laptop.
From my laptop I run "wxAstroCapture" software which is fantastic, supports modified webcams, guiding etc.
I use a little program I wrote in "Gambas" to drive the Scope. I process the AVI file in Registax, and various image programs.

I set this up so I can sit in the warmth of our living room, while my poor ETX is in the cold.

For the Jupiter Pic.

I set the tripod and mount to polar position and mode, when you do this it starts tracking immediately.
Point it south, (must do this better in future)
I'm basically switching between visual and webcam using the scopes "Flip mirror" this is why I need the parfocal adapter.
line up image and focus on the visual side, this allows me to then check my alignment.
I then run inside to find Jupiter smack bang in the center of my laptops capture window, Ha Ha, with practice it gets easier.
Once I see it in my capture window I alternate between keeping it in the field of view and adjusting exposure etc.
When I’m happy I start recording my AVI.

Before all of this I have of course been practising and adjusting my adapter in the back garden to check it's all ok.
Because of the flip mirror system you need to know how the two line up (it's not perfectly at 45 deg), depending on how I have it setup I need to place (Jupiter in this case) above or below center. it lines up perfectly in the horizontal plane.

I really like the ETX, as it's portable, quick to setup, great images for a small size, and cute.