ShahGazer Rambling about Astrophotography, Coding and Clouds

The weather seems surprisingly clear this morning. So, I did not waste anytime and quickly setup my HEQ5. Using the Skywatcher Equinox and Toucam Pro, I stacked about 353 frames worth of video using Registax. I cannot get much resolution or magnification when using with the Canon 300D. Much of the fault is me not buying a proper barlow for this scope. No effort to do any visual observation.. too hot!

Here are some photos with new friends during the brief stint at Coona and Wiruna.

Back in May 2009, I attended the South Pacific Star Party at Wiruna, Ilford and the Ozsky Star Party at Coonabarabran. That was actually the first time I visited Australia. It was truly a memorable trip. Despite being there for just under a week, 3 nights of planned stargazing, and only 2 nights of clear sky, that was enough for me to start planning for another trip next year! So here are some of the wide angle photos of the Milky Way I took using un-mod Canon 300D with the standard 18mm-55mm kit lens at the Ozsky Star Party in Coona. No tracking, just on a flimsy camera tripod.

Responding to a post at Mallincam Yahoo Group, this is another photo taken using Mallincam Hyper Color with the Skywatcher 80ED Equinox. Taken on the same date as my previous post but somehow I didn't post it up! Keep in mind, the sky was awful, blanket with haze and only 2nd magnitudes stars were visible. Object: M22 Telescope: Skywatcher 80mm ED Equinox Mount: HEQ5 Pro Camera: Mallincam Hyper Color Exposure: 6 sec integration x 47 = 4.7 mins Software: EQMOD, VirtualDub Stacked & Post-Processing: Registax, Photoshop CS3 Ignore the dust bunnies! :-)

The moon was pretty much basking its light in Scorpio last night. But the sky was somewhat clear from clouds. So, I decided to do some DSLR astrophotography on the moon (left). Equipment is Canon 300D and Skywatcher Equinox 80 ED. Both tracking on HEQ5-Pro mount. Then, thin clouds came and went around the southern part of the sky. But the temptation of doing DSLR on Deep-Sky seems to be too good to be true. So, here are some of the objects taken last night. M22. 26 X 20 sec subs.

Now I'm feeling guilty for not updating for almost 3 months! Bummer. Well, I should know better than to jump into the bandwagon of bloggerworld! It's festive season again. Everybody has gone back to their home town. This year is going to be a rather different kind of Raya. Mum passed away while I was in China for the Total Solar Eclipse trip. A day after the eclipse to be exact. May Allah's blessed her soul. Al-Fatihah. The internet tonight is blazing fast! So I took some opportunity to browse through Bob Denny's ACP video tutorials. I find the system to be extremerly well-thought. Kudos to you Bob! The weather wasn't coorperating for the past week. I was hoping to get a glimpse of the 16-hour old moon this evening, but decided not to go all the trouble driving down to Teluk Kemang, especially when everyone is going out from KL as well. Got a few projects I had in mind. I will probably jot down some bits and pieces here, once in a while. So stay tune.

In the recent hazy situation here in Kuala Lumpur, I decided to braved to warm night to do some Mallincam imaging with the SW 80ED. Using EQMOD to control my HEQ5-Pro mount, I focused on the familiar bright objects in Scorpio and Sagittarius. The sky condition is not perfect. I did not see any clouds, but the haze was pretty thick. I can barely see 2nd magnitude stars with the naked eye! Not a very encouraging sight for the faint hearted. Nevertheless, I did managed to get a few shots. Check it out. Object: M8 Telescope: Skywatcher 80mm ED Equinox Mount: HEQ5 Pro Camera: Mallincam Hyper Color Exposure: 6 sec integration x 50 = 5 mins Software: EQMOD, VirtualDub Post-Processing: Registax, Photoshop CS3 Object: M17, Omega Nebula Telescope: Skywatcher 80mm ED Equinox Mount: HEQ5 Pro Camera: Mallincam Hyper Color Exposure: 6 sec integration x 100 = 10 mins Software: EQMOD, VirtualDub Post-Processing: Registax, Photoshop CS3 It's not a picture perfect photo , but I guess this would sho...

Browsing through the iceinspace forum just now, and found a post leading to this very very good website. HEQ5 strip down guide! ! Yea!

The sky was exceptional tonight. Yesterday I was too exhausted to setup after a call from fellow amateur, Pak Aziz, asking me if I was actually out, up and observing. After managed to catch a -3 magnitude ISS passing low over the southern horizon, silently gliding over Crux, I setup the mount and Equinox. Planning just to photograph the moon, I did not bother to hook up with EQMOD (just yet). Then all hell breaks loose! The 2-star alignment was in progress. Pointing to Procyon... OK. Then slewing to Spica (which was very near the Moon), and that's when I noticed the mount started to creaked! Holding on the mount, I can feel it vibrates and seems to struggle moving the RA axis. No problem with the Dec axis. I was thinking probably the I did not balance the scope enough. So, shutting down and re-balance the scope, and slew again. And again it creaks, and this time it started to shudder pretty hard! Bummer! Ok. Troubleshooting time. I removed the counterweight and the Equinox, leaving...

Objective: Finalize all connection software and hardware between each component is running smoothly. 1. Connection HEQ5 to Skymap Pro 8 Connect RJ45-serial cable from HEQ5 handpad to Serial-to-USB converter to Laptop Identify COM Port number (under My Computer>Manage>Hardware etc) In Skymap, under Telescope>Configure, select ASCOM Driver then Configure In the list, select Celestron Scope Driver, then Properties Under Scope Type, select NexStar 5i Serial Port = whatever COM Port number assigned by Windows Track Mode = Eq N Site = Current location Scope = not paying attention for this one yet. OK>OK>OK Under Skymap, select Telescope>Open Connection “Your Wish is My Command”!!

2 nights back, the sky was exceptionally clear. I couldn’t resist setting up my equipments to try out some simple shots using Mallincam Hyper Color through Equinox. I did a rough (simply using the 50mm eyepiece to ‘center’ the alignment stars). Too lazy to beef up the magnification. Well, as it turns out… the GoTo is well off from to the side of the FOV. Hooked up with Skymap Pro 8, did some ‘Sync’ with several stars, and it still refused to re-align properly. Where does the fault lies? The Mount? Software? I couldn’t pin point exactly, but I suspected it must be the initial alignment which I did it roughly. But why doesn’t it re-align after I sync it back to the actual position via Skymap? Doesn’t happen when I used my Meade’s LX90 Autostar.. hmmm.. further study required. Still, I did managed to get some quick and dirty shots on Omega Centauri. Sky condition here was never perfect. SE sky was bathed with glow from Damansara Perdana maybe? But I was really impressed with th...

This is my new scope, Skywatcher 80mm Equinox. The photo show the scope on my newly bought HEQ5 Pro mount, which was also recently bought from Dr. Rowi. He used it only once and offered a really good price which I simply cannot resists burning my pocket! It has been almost 8 years since I upgraded any of my telescopes, and it seems to be a good time to do one as everyone else is doing so! And as usual, the weather was overcast for days later. Only after coming back to Kuala Lumpur,did I managed to test with my Mallincam Hyper Color , and with a sigh of relieve, I can reach focus with it. Now for serious studying before the China eclipse trip in July! Note: Dr.Rowi bought the mount from CK Lim of Perseids Telescopes and Binoculars in Penang, and I got the 80ED from him as well. Good service and you should try contacting him for other goodies he had.

This is my personal log while scrutinizing the world of observational astronomy and gadgetries . Not intending to be a teaching blog, cause I'm still learning myself, but I hope this will serve some kind of guides, tips and perhaps reminder for myself in the future when I want to return back and exploring the endless configurations and settings. And most important, I want to re-ignite the passion back into myself, doing things that I love, and simply have fun doing it. Please feel free to comments and throw in ideas for the rest of us to explore.