Could it be true?
Could it be true? Will I have some clear skies for imaging this week? It looks like it may be so!
According to the weather forecast I am going to have my first stretch of clear skies (maybe with some clouds Wednesday) in 6 months. I am super excited for that and will be pulling out all the stops (gear) for getting some imaging in. I plan to put out all 3 scopes this week at the same time. That means 3 setups, 3 PAs, 3 imaging plans, and 3 sets of calibration frames I need to do each night and in the morning. It will be tedious, but totally worth it.
I do plan to shoot the Cygnus wall this week, which is a target I have not had a chance to do yet, however, most people shoot it early in their journey. It’s super popular and now it’s my turn. This will also be the first time I get to image with the replacement main element for my Radian (RIP Raptor) 61 after the big clusterbomb the community put up about it twice since it’s release. For those of you that do not know, Sharpstar had some issues with coatings on several scopes (including the Radian) leading to samples with significant chromatic aberration. Mine was fairly mild, but still warranted a replacement from OPT/Radian, which they were great to do for me with little to no prompting. It took a bit longer to get the Radian replacement than the EDPHII standard element from Sharpstar, but that is to be expected.
It was super interesting how much backlash there was to the Radian while Sharpstar got a pat on the back for the EDPHII warranty replacement considering in both instances it was a manufacturing defect, not Radian’s fault. Not going to go into it too much, but lots of disinformation and flack flowing their way, including to one of the most well known imagers on YouTube. It is to be expected when you’re the big dog and folks are jealous of that. This included some really misleading “analysis” from other YouTubers that pretty much amounts to clickbait and confirmation bias (on the Internet? you don’t say!). There was even one instance where someone used ASTAP to show sensor tilt between 2 scopes, alluding to the Radian 61 having [more tilt and that’s bad] based on said. At the end of the day a lot goes into that, including issues with the images themselves and not much of it has to do with the optics. In 2 images from my sample the estimated tilt varied significantly between images 3 minutes apart, probably to do with guiding and the analysis of the software itself….anyway…. fun stuff. Don’t believe everything, investigate it yourself.
I’ve also pushed a new photo this week from data I acquired from TelescopeLive. Since it had been so long since I had processed a deep space photo, I decided to give that service a try considering there’s some really great objects I love and want to add to my collection that I just cannot image from here. I just am not facing the right way :) My opinion is still fairly mixed on presenting images you did not capture yourself. That said, the processing is where the real art comes in even though data collection on your own is definitely a skill that needs mastered. I enjoyed working with that data and I have to admit, the cost/benefit analysis of getting that really clean data from high end optics at those pricepoints is attractive. Nice AP gear is pretty pricey including all the upkeep and it can lead to significant frustration and hardship, especially for those of us that may have a disability or limitation with moving all that gear around.
Will I sell all my stuff and continue to process remote images? Not at all. The gear and technical part is really fun for me, but again, I see why these services are becoming quite attractive to folks.
That’s about it for this week, I hope everyone has a wonderful week ahead of them and I look forward to seeing some nice data of my own coming in the door… until then, clear skies folks.
-M
