20251212 A short but hopefully longer observation session

The forecast is no good, but the worst case is not raining.  

So I pulled out my bigger rig to test out my new Antlia Quad Band filter.  Also, I am testing my new wiring, basically connect the EAF and guider cam to the main cam.  It works out well.

However, my new power cable was not working.  I ended up using my old wire first.  I have to turn off cooling to make it works.

The main camera was pointing at the Soul Nebula IC1848, taking 5 minutes exposures.

I am somehow confused, the image came out seems something else that I could not identify.

I used Siril to process the image, I did background extraction, Cosmic Clarity, VeraLux Hypermetric Stretch, and Abberation Remover:

Antlia Quad Band seems generating halo around brighter stars?

And then I switch to the Lobster Claw Nebula SH2-157 in order to avoid meridian flip since I will have a meeting soon. 

After the meeting, I turned the main setup to M1 in the hope to capture some more detail.

(I was trying to clean up my asiair mini but I really clean it up, lost all other images, sad to find)

After setting up the big rig, I pulled out also my S30.  The Ghost of the Cassiopeia IC63 will be the target of the night.  Over two hours of exposures are accumulated.

Then I switch to M42 for some more mosaic:

Cloud did roll in to ruin some of the shots, but it's still a night worth setting the stuff up.

The bigger ipad is monitoring the S30 while the smaller ipad is monitoring the ASIAir running the bigger rig:

An image of the bigger setup before dark:

20251211 Cygnus Loop - Short Observation Session

This is again a short session, the break between clouds after Storm Bram cleared.

I got around 40 minutes of data, and it was a mosaic!

Very respectable result given this short exposure time.

I will use my Canon 200mm f2.8 with the ASI533mc Pro to do it when the sky turns better.

Images taken by Seestar S30 so far...

Got it around twenty days ago, I would use it whenever the sky was clear.

These were what I got, straight from the Seestar, meaning stacked, stitched or cropped, processed and color tuned by the Seestar.  

20251208 Short Session - M15 (45 minutes) + M35 with NGC2158 + IC 434/B33 Horsehead Nebula with NGC 2024 Flame Nebula

Before Storm Bram came, it has a small break of clouds tonight from 8:00pm, maybe for one or two hours.

It has been raining all days, even worse for the upcoming days.

So, it's the time for S30 again.  The sky was not entirely clear but something could be done especially it involves virtually zero effort in setting things up.

First up is M15, a small globular cluster:

Next is a open cluster M35, with a smaller one NGC 2158 next to it:

Finally, the sky was even clearer after the anticipated clear period, so I moved to the horsehead B33 and the flame nebula NGC 2024, around one hour of exposure:

Again, the best telescope is the one that you can use the most.

 

Equipment downsizing

This is a forever topic.

You have limited time.

The amount of clear skies are limited too.

Money and resources are limited.

I shall briefly try the 8" SCT for deep sky imaging with a f6.3 reducer.  If it works out, let say up to 2-3 minutes of guided imaging, maybe it worths to keep it.  Along with planet observation and imaging, three purpose should be good enough.

Or else I might sell it the SCT.

The Solarmax filter is to be evaluated further when summer comes.

Downsizing could mean a smaller mount.

I have reorganised the cables of my mount again.  The guidescope and the motorised focuser will go to the deep sky imager instead of going to the controller box. 

This is just cleaner.

And then the free ports could be used to power dew heaters.

--

I found that my ancient ipad mini can still run asiair, so it's good to use it as the front end.  

It's a pity that it cannot run seestar.

20251203 Short Observation Session M27

The forecast is bad, but I still pulled out the S30 again.  

Zero setup time virtually.  I have a rain sensor outside, so tearing down is quick and simple as well.

The best telescope is the one that you can use most, the S30 is definitely a winner.

Planetary Nebula should be good target, as long as star clusters.

AI really saves a lot of time on planning, I set M27 the Dumbbell Nebula as the target.

With only a few minutes of stacking, colors are shown.  Below is around 1 hour of exposure:

Some more targets for this season: M57 the Ring Nebula, NGC 7293 the Helix Nebula, NGC 6543 The Cat's Eye Nebula.  

Let me try them out one by one.

20251202 Short Observation Session with only S30

Comet 2025 K1 Atlas 30s exposure for 2 hrs

NGC7789 20s exposure stacked for 1 hr, exposure lowered due to field rotation

C17 and C18 20s exposure stacked for 30 minutes

No edit, direct output.