Welcome to my astrophotography channel your GOTO Channel for everything Astrophotography, from tutorials on how to image the night sky to repairs and modifications to your astro equipment.
Astrophotography is a complexed hobby and can put some people off this beautiful hobby but I've put together some inspirational videos for you to learn the art of taking Incredible pictures of the night sky.
I am a complete gear head so this hobby keeps me very happy. I love a mod or two especially if it improves things or is a more affordable solution. I share what I know from simple things like cable management and making a dew shield all the way up to building my own roll off roof observatory. I always answer questions as best I can so please feel free to reach out. You can support the channel by subscribing and liking/commenting on videos. If you want to support the channel further you can join the channels membership and receive exclusive content or check out my Patreon link.
The discounted price only just changed from a few hours ago. Its a great tripod but that price is way too high. They often offer huge discounts so check back if its something you are interested in
The mirror cell has a cut out to go around the tube seam, it can only go in one way. The front section is just for aesthetics it doesn't do anything so doesn't need the tape either.
I see your point with the five rigs Glen, Ive just bought a new mount (SW Wave100i) so I can run four, its never been great where I live for clear nights but it seems to be getting worse so I figure the best thing is to image as much as possible in the relatively short time we have available here in the UK. Great image of the shark by the way.
Its definitely a way to go especially if you ha e them all on the same target. If I had the money I’d love a triple scope rig. One on Ha - Oiii and Sii. That would save some time
Great video and thanks for sharing your amazing setup! I noticed you have a ZWO OAG-L on the ASI294MM Pro rig. I recently bought a second-hand ZWO OAG-L for my 294MM + 36 mm filterwheel only to find that it is not really supported by ZWO... But you seem to have it up and running. What is your image train on the setup? I am thinking spacers etc :)
Hi and thank you for your kind comments. The OAG-L is a bit strange in fitment. My image train is made up of 294mm with a very slim simple rotator that TS optics use to sell but you could just go straight into filter wheel. OAG-L bolted directly to scope side of filterwheel. Bolted to that a camera tilt plate and then a spacer with the Baader MPCC mkIII coma corrector. It took a bit of working out but can be done, on my Newtonian anyways, not sure about to a refractor
Hi Glenn, 5 Rigs (scopes/cameras)? Holy Moly. I tried 3 rigs one night and vowed to never try that again. The post-processing time was insane with 3, I can't imagine what 5 would do to one's sanity. Non-the-less, outstanding final images. The new puppy is SO CUTE! I've been washed out here with clouds and rain for several weeks now. Clear Skies, Glenn.
It was ambitious Pat and luckily went ok. I know what you mean by data but not going to complain as it better to have too much than not enough. The puppy is lovely, she is super cute, thank you. Sorry to hear your weather is poor, fingers crossed for a change soon. Clear skies mate
Thank you Logan. I was pleased to be able to grab both the Dark nebula targets in the frame. I am so enjoying them Logan, it makes a work of difference. Clear skies mate
Damn Glenn, that image has depth to it! Well done. Good work on keeping all those rigs going too. Question : I'm getting a 130PDS. What was the integration time on that scope for the shark nebula? Definitely one I want to shoot. Also please dedicate Harper's next treat as from me! She's a cutie! Also also, RU-vid didn't notify me of this again. Just came up in my feed 18 hours later and I'm on YT several times a day.
Cracking little rig that is Glenn love the fov of the dark shark, hopefully I'll get to try it at Kelling Heath using the 60ED, also love the new edition to the family she's a little cutie. Clear skies
Thanks Tich. You may see that rig a little closer at Kelling as I am hoping to go if only for a few nights. It is a really nice fov and very sharp, lovely scope and camera combo.
It's a great image Glen, in fact your early attempt was amazing to👍, I like the extra FOV from the Altair scope, I've tried targets with dark nebulosity near home but good old light polluted Portsmouth kills it 😂 you may detect an absence of stars where dark dust bits are, but that's about it..Your CEM26 mount sounds good, maybe a model ide like to consider getting in the near future. Incidentally I retro fitted an ioptron gotonova drive system to an old Celestron mount a few years back, it turned out pretty good for it's time. It's funny I've just been looking at galaxy stats, one of my favorites imaged this year is the Crocs eye M94 @15M L/Y with 40Billion stars, it's surprising how much data I squeezed from the central core using the 585MC camera on a 62 ED, it allowed me to crop close without losing much definition, it also picked out the darker outer ring region to. A cold feeling came over me this afternoon when reading stats on the Pinwheel galaxy M101 @ 21 million L/Y, with a staggering 1trillion stars !!! It, I get moments like this just looking at spiral arms of other galaxies thinking of all those other civilisations like ours, it suddenly made me feel very small and alone, especially as M101 is literally in our backyard !! With all the problems humanity has, we really need to make good use of our time here, or it'll be a sad waste of our moment in space.. Oh yeah my son has a new dog, a crazy cocker spaniel, we often look after, its just bloody mad and runs around our walls !!!
Thank you so much Tom. Light pollution really does effect capture of dark nebula, when I was in Southend (bortle 6/7) it was just a no go. The little ioptron mount is lovely and works great, I think if I was looking now I'd opt for one of their harmonic models though. Even lighter, totally silent and can carry a heavier payload. It always fascinates me when you really think about what we are looking at, the sheer number of stars is mind blowing and how can there not be other life forms out there? I think there is. Lets hope they are looking after their bit of space a bit better than us. It saddens me how much junk we have chucked up there and the likes of Elon launching more and more. I have known a couple of hyper cocker spaniel's, they can be a right handful and need lots of exercise. The Cavalier King Charles fortunately are very docile and spend a lot of time asleep and just like to cuddle up. They are lovely dogs, ours get very spoilt. Clear skies Tom
Excellent video Glenn! My wife spotted your new addition to the family and grabbed her attention straight away😊. I love the framing, including the Rotten Fish too. Great image! I have quite a few nights of the Dark Shark in the can from earlier on in the year but haven’t got around to processing it yet. Will do soon. Did all 5 rigs behave?
Hi Kevan, At the moment Harper follows me everywhere so it was hard not to feature her in a video. Look forward to seeing your image, did you use mono or osc? Surprisingly all 5 rigs worked, jaw on the floor moment. That doesn't often happen, normally something plays up. Clear skies mate
@@Astrobloke Harper is going to steal the scene every time methinks 😉 I used mono because I don’t have an OSC camera. I know…..OSC produces better dark nebulae images 😣. Let’s see what I process and have a Mono vs OSC dance off 🕺. Each sub of 5 minutes was pretty empty, so you may have won before the music starts 😂.
Nice video Glenn, so if you do not make it in astrophotography, you can perform in circuses running 5 -6 scopes simultaneously :-) Joke's aside, wonderful shots of a challenging target. The issue with bandshift you experienced earlier is pretty important, as I think more and more of us, are looking at fast scopes, to counter the the challenges with few clear skies nights 👍
HI and thank you for watching and commenting. I was very happy with the final result, I like the challenge of dark nebula. I think you are totally right about moving to faster scopes so we can actually collect enough data with the limited time we get. Some filters cope with it a lot better than others. F3.6 is the fastest scope I have and not sure going faster is for me, was tempted by RASA's but they come with lots of issues too and are not cheap.Luckily Altair's 3nm filters work great at this speed and will hopefully be sharing the results sooon.
Thank you so much Tony your support means a lot. Its good to get good use out of iy all, its a shame when its sitting doing nothing. Weather has been such a challenge but the observatory means I can image every time its clear.
Definitely bonkers Glenn🤪 5 rigs is crazy mate! Excellent video, very informative, and super dark shark! Looking forward to our colab mate, I’m still collecting HOO data, when ever I get a clear sky! Might take 6 months to get enough!🤣🤣 CS
Hello mate, we are both bonkers thats for sure...lol. Can't believe they all worked. I am still grabbing The WR134 data every opportunity. We need to have a tot up of what we have soon. Clear skies mate
Brilliant video Glen, 5 rigs😂, I have two but because I have to strip them down each time, getting focused etc, I find it a real pain and miss out on imaging time, lovely ima8.
Thank you Bill. They all behaved or it could have been a hair losing painful night. I hear you though and having the Observatory all set up sometimes makes me lazy to set up a rig, PA, focus etc etc. Always worth it if the weather stays good and you get a good night of data. Clear skies
Great video Glen, wow 5 rigs, I struggle to cope with 1..😂, that’s a Fantastic image and something I have never imaged, and need to give it a go..clear skies…👍🏻
Hi Stuart and thank you mate. It was ambitious to say the least but I got away with it. " rigs in the Obsy helps. Its a lovely target, whats your bortle scale ?
@@Astrobloke your welcome, I’m bortle 6 -7 but we are hoping to move to Somerset next year to be nearer our daughter, as we are retired now, so maybe the skies will be a bit better there…👍🏻
Just found this video. Amazing idea! Didn't realised just how much inflation has affected things. That roof is now £700. A 40% increase in price in just 3 years..
As always, great video. So much useful information on all your rigs! And of course, lovely images! Still in Xante, but clear skies are messed up with so much light from hotels etc.!!
Thanks Jeremy. The milkyway image I took on the beach in Kefalonia shows zante’s light dome, shame as the sky is a beautiful clear spectacle without the light pollution. I wonder if they realise what they are missing?
As always, great video. So much useful information on all your rigs! And of course, lovely images! Still in Xante, but clear skies are messed up with so much light from hotels etc.!!
As always, great video. So much useful information on all your rigs! And of course, lovely images! Still in Xante, but clear skies are messed up with so much light from hotels etc.!!
As always, great video. So much useful information on all your rigs! And of course, lovely images! Still in Xante, but clear skies are messed up with so much light from hotels etc.!!
As always Glenn, a lovely video!! I'm in Xante for a week, reminiscing on my last holiday before my wife passed away in 2021. The skies are really clear here, but I have no equipment apart from my phone! Going to try taking some pics tonight, guess I'll leave the phone on a table, pointing as close to North as I can get and take a long video! Is that the best I can do??
Thank you Jeremy. I hope you are having a lovely time mate and having some good memories. There are apps you can download for your phone, I have an iphone with nightcap app on it. Has startrail and other settings. you can get some good images with a phone with a little patience. good luck mate and happy hols.
