Building a “Super” Wide-Field Imaging Rig.

Super Sizing my Field of View ...

I have been thinking about and planning my next Astrophotography acquisition for many months. At the end of last year, I made the decision build a “super” wide-field imaging rig. The initial purchase for this project was the telescope, an Askar FMA180 Pro. In addition to the telescope, I also purchased the Askar EAF kit for the FMA180 Pro, Player One Ceres-C Guide Camera, and SvBony 30 mm f/4 Guide Scope. I purchased both items from Astroworld Telescopes around the holidays. Astroworld is a new retailer for astronomy related equipment with a strong focus on astrophotography gear. The company was started around NEAF 2023 by Daniel Higgins. Dan is an astrophotographer himself and in my opinion, he truly provides excellent customer service. The plan is to pair Askar FMA180 Pro with my ZWO  ASI2600MC Pro (APS-C) One Shot Color (OSC) camera. Wait!!! Let me back up for a minute and get into why I'm heading down this path.

Why Build a “Super” Wide-Field Rig:

My current primary imaging rig is already somewhat wide-field. I use an Explore Scientific Essential Series ED80 Triplet Refractor with my ZWO ASI2600MC Pro camera. This telescope has an aperture of 80 mm, a focal length of 480 mm, and is f/6.  It is an entry level scope as far as quality goes, it has served me well but long-term plan is to upgrade and use this for visual observer. The 80 mm refractor will make a nice compliment to my 8" Dobsonian. 

This 80 mm refactor has been perfect for many targets (Orion Nebula, Western Veil Nebula, Eastern Veil Nebula, and many others. The next piece of equipment in my collection that has a wider-field of view (FOV) is my 50 mm lens (the Nifty Fifty) for my DSLR. This is quite a gap and has proven to be a limitation, especially when bright comets with long tails are visible, as was the case this past October. Additionally, I live in Western New York (WNY), not far from Buffalo, NY. The weather here is persistently cloudy, primarily due to our position relative to Lake Erie. Also, I'm very active in our local astronomy club's (Buffalo Astronomical Association) outreach activities, which results in losing some nights to outreach events. Factoring in life's other obligations, I get about one night of imaging a month (on average). This creates a real obstacle for going after mosaics to capture larger objects (entire Cygnus Loop, Heart & Soul nebulae together, etc...). 

I was looking for telescopes/camera lenses in the 135 mm to 200 mm focal length range. I narrowed my choices down to the Rokinon 135 mm lens and the Askar FMA180 pro. An astronomy pal has let me use his Askar FRA600 telescope while he recovers from shoulder surgery. I'm really impressed with the quality of the optics and the overall quality of the scope. Feedback on the Askar FMA180 pro from other members of my local club and members of the AstroworldTV Discord community helped me come to the decision to go with the Askar. I want to be clear; feedback was positive on the Rokinon lens was positive too. Overall, the Askar won out in my brain. The combination of the Askar FMA180 Pro and the APS-C sized sensor of my ZWO ASI2600MC Pro camera will give me a FOV of about 7.5 degrees by 5 degrees. Here are a few screenshots from the website Telescopius.com Telescope Simulator tool showing how some popular objects will be framed with this setup.

Equipment Needed for the Build:

The Telescope: Askar FMA180 Pro. 

• An apochromatic sextuplet refractor 
• 40 mm aperture
• 180 mm Focal Length
• f/4.5 Focal Ratio
• New Purchase (Astroworld Telescopes)

Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro

• APS-C sensor (IMX 571)
• color
• 3.76 um pixels
• integrated USB 2.0 Hub
• USB 3.0
• Shared with existing rig

Guide Camera: Player One Ceres-C

• IMX 224
• Color (a mono camera would be more sensitive, color is fine for this rig)
• 3.75 um pixels
• New Purchase (Astroworld Telescopes)

Guide Scope: SvBony 30 mm f/4 Guide Scope

• 30 mm aperture
• 120 mm Focal length
• f/4
• Helical Focuser
• New Purchase (Astroworld Telescopes)

Other Items/Accessories:

• Askar EAF Kit for the FMA180 Pro (New Purchase - Astroworld Telescopes)
• ZWO EAF (shared with existing rig)
• Pegasus Astro Powerbox Advance (shared with existing rig)
• ZWO Filter holder (shared with existing rig)
• Dew Strips 
• Losmandy Style Rail to mount everything on 

Future Items:

• Apache Case
• Dedicated Pegasus Astro pocket Powerbox Advanced
• Mini PC

Build Status and Next Steps:

The rig is pretty much ready to go. I need to attach the Pegasus Powerbox (currently on my main imaging rig). I will share my imaging camera and the powerbox between the two rigs until I can afford to buy another powerbox (1st priority) and camera. I haven't had first light yet. That probably won't happen until late May / Early June. We are currently in galaxy season, as I write this in mid-April of 2025. I will use the FRA600 or our astronomy club's Celeston 14" Edge HD to image if any opportunities arise. They will be better suited for galaxies and my friend's shoulder will heal and he will want the FRA600 back. Looking forward to a super wide-field take on Nebula Season this year!

Clear Skies!
Ernie

Aurora March 21st from the BMO

 An unexpected surprise ...

Friday night March 21^st was intended to be one of our club’s Messier Marathon nights. Due to the forecast for clouds after 11 pm and poor sky conditions, the organizers decided to postpone. Although I disagreed with this call, as a person responsible for multiple astronomy related events per year, I respect the difficulty in making this call. Our club’s observatory director and I decided to head out to the observatory anyway. Our plan was to work on correcting sensor tilt with a new camera that is intended to be used with our Tele Vue NP101is. Imagine the telescope presents an image to the sensor in the form of a circle. If the plane of this circle is not aligned with the plane of the sensor, stars will be elongated in parts of the resulting image. Since the skies weren’t great, it was good use of the time to perform this tedious work. One of the participants of the Messier Marathon decided to come out anyway and visually observed for a few hours.

After successfully improving the sensor tilt of the telescope/camera system, I checked my phone and saw reports of Aurora in our area. It was a little before 11 pm. We went outside and faint Aurora were indeed detectable (by camera only). The display would ebb and flow, ultimately, we decided to pack it in and head home for the evening (it was a very long and tiring week). This is a single photo from my iPhone. The iPhone was mounted on a fixed tripod. My red headlamp illuminated the Sky Shed Pod and the Main Observatory structure. No additional processing, other than what processing the phone automatically performs, was done to the image.

Aurora captured from the BMO on 3/21/2025. iPhone on a tripod.

Image Details:

Capture Date: 3/21/2025

Location: North Java, NY (Beaver Meadow Observatory)

Telescope: N/A

Camera: iPhone 13 pro

Filter: N/A

Mount: Tripod

Exposure: 7.5 sec @ ISO 1250 26 mm f/1.5

Software: N/A

Clear Skies!

Ernie

March 14, 2025 Lunar Eclipse

 I know, I know, it has been a while ...

It has been several months since I've posted. The weather this winter has been horrible. Hopefully, things seem to be improving here in March. Fingers crossed!

The night of Thursday March 13th into the early morning of Friday March 14th (Pi Day) was a total lunar Eclipse visible in the Americas. Fortunately (and surprisingly too) it was clear. Unfortunately, it was also a work night, and I didn't want to ask for the day off. I decided to put together a simple setup and just try to capture the total portion of the eclipse. When I got home from work Thursday, I set up my Explore Scientific ED80 Triplet Refractor on a fixed tripod with a large pan and tilt mount. I connected my canon t6i Ha modified DSLR to the scope and set everything outside (batteries were inside in the warmth of the house). I set my alarm for 2:30 AM and went to sleep after finishing a work meeting with colleagues from another country. My alarm went off, I got dressed and went outside. Moved my setup to the drive so I wasn't shooting over the house. Found the Moon, got focus, and took about 20 or 30 shots at various settings. The skies were really clear and the Moon, now completely in the Earth's umbra, was noticeably reddish in color, much more so than the last lunar Eclipse I was able to witness back in May of 2022. Feeling confident I captured "good enough" photos, I brought everything inside and tried to get back to sleep (no easy task after being in the cold crisp air for a little over a half an hour).

This is the result. I brought the photo into PixInsight and did do some BlurXTerminator to tighten up the stars and Noise Reduction. I had to keep exposure times short since I wasn't tracking. Taking longer exposures would have brought out more stars, and I could have made a nice composite. However, since I wasn't tracking, the stars would have been elongated. Overall, I'm satisfied. I would have been great to capture the whole eclipse using my imaging setup, but that wasn't possible for me this time. 

March 14, 2025, Lunar Eclipse from Eden, NY

Image Details:

Capture Date: 3/14/2025

Location: Eden, NY

Telescope: Explore Scientific Essential Series ED80 Triplet Refractor

Camera: Canon T6i (Ha Mod)

Filter: N/A

Mount: Pan & Tilt Mount on a tripod (no tracking)

Exposure: 0.5 sec @ ISO 1600

Software: PixInsight

Clear Skies!

Ernie

Video - My Year (2024) in Astrophotography - Part 2

Happy New Year!!!

Hard to believe another trip around the Sun is almost coming to an end. Here's a little video of my astrophotography from 2024. This video is part 2 of 2. Wishing you and yours all the best for 2025!!!

Clear Skies!

Ernie

Click on the Square in the Bottom Right of the Window Below to View the Video Full Screen

Blog Posts Corresponding to Images in the Video:

M8, M20, and friends from across the street

A Smoky Sea Horse Nebula

A Tiptoe Through the Tulip Nebula

The Cocoon Nebula from the BMO

M16 from the BMO (No Blog post for this one)

NGC 281 - The Pac-Man Nebula

NGC 7331, The Deerlick Group from the Beaver Meadow Observatory (BMO)

October 2024: An Amazing Month for Astronomy - Part 2 (Comet C/2023 A3)

NGC 7635 - The Bubble Nebula - from The BMO

Video - My Year (2024) in Astrophotography - Part 1

It's that time of year again ...

Hard to believe another trip around the Sun is almost coming to an end. Here's a little video of my astrophotography from 2024. This video is part 1 of 2. Wishing you and yours all the best for the holidays! Here's to 2025!!!

Clear Skies!

Ernie

Click on the Square in the Bottom Right of the Window Below to View the Video Full Screen

Blog Posts Corresponding to Images in the Video:

A Tale of Two Supernova ... Part 1

A Tale of Two Supernova ... Part 2

M45 - The Pleiades

NGC 2237 - The Rosette Nebula (Skull Orientation)

M104 from the Beaver Meadow Observatory (BMO)

The Needle Galaxy (NGC 4565) from the Beaver Meadow Observatory (BMO)

First Light with the New Camera at the Beaver Meadow Observatory 

M51 from the BMO

NGC 7635 - The Bubble Nebula - from The BMO

 Bubblicious ...

Thursday November 7th & Tuesday November 12th were our club's (Buffalo Astronomical Association) imaging group (The Tuesday Night Imagers) imaging sessions at our club's dark sky observatory, The Beaver Meadow Observatory (BMO). Our club's Observatory Director and Tuesday Night ringleader ran the Celestron 14" Edge HD while another member ran the Tele Vue NP101is with his personal camera attached. I joined via Zoom. Of the two nights, the 12th had better seeing/transparency. The 7th was also plagued with software issues. They were not able to connect to the Pegasus Astro ultimate Power Box after a windows update. After several updates and reboots, the situation was resolved. 

I have (and continue) to take PixInsight classes from Masters of PixInsight. Their most recent Photons to Photos class was on processing Bubble Nebula data from a Celestron 14" Edge. The timing was perfect. I picked up a few techniques that were ultimately used to process this image. Here is the result.

NGC 7635 - The Bubble Nebula from 10/7 & 10/12 at the BMO.

Processing:

All pre and post processing was performed in PixInsight. Pre-Processing: Our club's Observatory Director pre-processed the images in PixInsight (WBPP) and sent me the Master Light image. Linear Post Processing: Background extraction was performed with Auto DBE Script from Seti Astro followed by BXT (correct only). SPCC was used for Color Calibration followed by a full application of BXT. The Stars were removed using StarXT. Starless Linear: Noise was reduced with NXT. The image was made non-linear with HT. Starless Non-linear Post Processing: The CreateHDRImage script was used to compress the Bubble and bright surrounding nebula (a mask was created and used by the script). Narrowband Normalization (Mode 1) was used to create the SHO or Hubble Palette look. Saturation and intensity were increased with CT. Sharpness was improved with ImageBlend script using a High Pass Filter. LHE was applied at 2 Kernel sizes. Additionally, Unsharp mask was applied. Finally, the DarkStructureEnhance script was applied (0.2). Stars Linear: The Stars image was made non-linear with Seti Astro's Star Stretch script. Stars Non-Linear: Saturation was increased with CT. Starless: Intensity, and contrast were adjusted with various applications of CT. The Stars and Starless images were combined with Pixel Math to produce the final image. 

What is it?

NGC 7635 is also known as Sharpless 162, Caldwell 11, and The Bubble Nebula. It is an H II region emission nebula in the constellation of Cassiopeia. The Stellar Wind from a young, massive, and hot central star has created the bubble by blasting it out of the glowing gas against the denser material in the surrounding molecular cloud.

Annotated image of NGC 7635 - The Bubble Nebula.

How Big is it?

NGC 7635 has a size of 15.0 x 8.0 arcminutes (1 degree is 60 arcminutes) on the night sky. It is about 6.1 light years in diameter (similar in size to our Milky Way Galaxy).

How Far is it?

NGC 7635 is located about 11,000 light-years (ly) from Earth.

How to find it?

The NGC 7635 is located about halfway between Cassiopeia and Cepheus, very close to the Open Star cluster Messier 52 (M52).  Dark skies, large aperture, and a nebula filter are helpful in viewing this group.

Finder Chart for NGC 7635, The Bubble Nebula.

Image Details:

Capture Date: 11/7/2024 & 11/12/2024

Location: North Java, NY (Buffalo Astronomical Association's Beaver Meadow Observatory)

Telescope: Celestron 14" Edge HD w/0.7x Reducer

Camera: OGMA AP26CC

Filter: Antlia Alp-T

Mount: Astro Physics AP1200 Mount

Exposure: 11/7: 9 exposures at 600 sec / Gain 100 / Offset 100 / -10° C each for a total exposure of 1.5 hours. 11/12: 22 exposures at 600 sec / Gain 100 / Offset 100 / -10° C each for a total exposure of 3.67 hours. The total combined integration time is 5.167 hours.

Software: NINA, PHD2, and PixInsight

Clear Skies!

Ernie

October 2024: An Amazing Month for Astronomy - Part 2

Chasing Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)

Saturday 10/12/2024 - Lakeview, NY

Chasing comets is so much fun. My first experience trying to capture one photographically was Comet Neowise in July of 2020. I was pretty new to astrophotography, so my results were ok, but it was so much fun. Was waiting for a chance for a bright comet now that my skills have improved. The Astronomy community has been excited for Comet C/2023 A (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) almost as soon as it was discovered. Even though predictions for this comet indicated it could be a good one, we all take them with a grain of salt. Comets are like cats; they both have tails and they do what they want. 

Saturday 10/12 would be the first chance for me to catch the comet in the evening sky, as the comet had traveled around the Sun and became an evening object on Friday 10/11. The weather was poor on Friday, but Saturday was clear all day with clouds coming in at twilight. Would the clouds stay away long enough to get a peak at the comet? Next problem, where to observe? I have a fairly decent western horizon if I go to the farm across the street from my house. Looking at planetarium apps, it was close. My son-in-law's parents have a home on Lake Erie. In fact, their backyard is on a cliff above Lake Erie. They were gracious and allowed me to set up my DSLR and tripod in their yard. I also had my binoculars and my son-in-law's father also had a pair of binoculars. We were treated to a beautiful sunset, but there was a heavy bank of clouds on the horizon. I was afraid the comet would be behind the clouds. 

Spoiler alert, my expectation of where the comet would be, specifically how high above the horizon, was significantly off. My expectation of when the comet would be visible was off as well. Their neighbor came outside and asked if we could see anything. We told him we couldn't see anything, so he went back inside to attend to his parental duties. Just as was about to give up, we noticed Venus. It was much higher and further South than I expected. Arcturus became visible as well. The comet was roughly between Venus and Arcturus in azimuth, and it was close to Venus' altitude. We renewed the search, and their neighbor returned. We took turns looking through the binoculars. I kept snapping photos with my camera in hopes the comet would appear to the camera sensor before our eyes could detect it. Lots of false alarms, wispy clouds, jet contrails, but no comet. My son-in-law's mother told us she was seeing something and to her it felt like the comet. We thought it was another airplane contrail. She was pretty adamant; I pointed the camera based on her description relative to the clouds near the horizon. Took a photo at 7:33 pm, there it was!!!

We took turns looking through the binoculars and I kept taking pictures. The comet got brighter, and you could make it out naked eye. We watched it go behind clouds, then reemerge. We lost it to the dense cloud bank on the horizon around 8:07 PM. I was shooting with my Ha modified Canon T6i, fixed tripod, Canon 50 mm lens (The Nifty Fifty), and an intervalometer (used as a shutter release). I was taking pictures at different settings, bracketing exposures, to ensure I captured the comet. 

Here's my best shot of the evening:

Saturday 10/12/204 from Lake View, NY at 7:53 PM. 2.5 sec exposure at f/2.8 and ISO 1600. Processed in Adobe Lightroom Classic and NoiseXTerminator in PixInsight.

Monday 10/14/2024 - Eden, NY

It was very cloudy on Monday 10/14 so there was no expectation of seeing the comet. I had to pick up something from the grocery store and noticed significant breaks in the clouds, especially to the west. After returning home, I ran across the street and snapped a photo with my iPhone. Could definitely make out the comet. Went back home and grabbed the tripod with the iPhone adapter and set up to see if i capture the comet despite the clouds. The comet was visible to the naked eye, and I moved around to try and capture a pleasing composition. Here's my favorite shot from that evening. Cool note: The Planetary Society reposted my photo on their Instagram!

Monday 10/14/2024 from Eden, NY at 7:57 PM. iPhone on a tripod. 

Wednesday 10/16/2024 - Eden, NY

Similar to Monday, patchy clouds and a bright Moon impacting the images and the visual observation. Set up across the street but in a slightly different location. Here are a couple of iPhone shots. 

Wednesday 10/16/2024 from Eden, NY at 7:46 PM. iPhone on a tripod.

Wednesday 10/16/2024 from Eden, NY at 7:46 PM. iPhone on a tripod at 3X Zoom.

Thursday 10/17/2024 - Eden, NY

The skies were clear on Thursday night, but the transparency was not good. The Moon was full and definitely had an impact once it rose above the trees. I had difficulty seeing the comet naked eye, no trouble with binoculars (10x50). I had two imaging set ups going. The first set up was my Ha Modified Canon T6i with Canon 50 mm lens on the iOptron Sky Guider Pro. The other setup was an iPhone on a tripod.

Thursday 10/17/2024 from Eden, NY at 8:35 pm. Ha modified Canon T6i, iOptron Sky Guider Pro, Canon 50 mm lens (Nifty Fifty), and an intervalometer. 5 sec exposure, f/2.8 at ISO 800. Edited in adobe Lightroom classic, Photoshop, and PixInsight.

Thursday 10/17/2024 from Eden, NY at 8:23 pm. iPhone on a Tripod. Edited in Photoshop.

Friday 10/18/2024 - Eden, NY 

No photos (yet) from Friday night. 
Our observatory director came over to my house to observe/image the comet. I had the same set up as Thursday night. Conditions were better. Comet was more visible with the naked eye. The nearly Full Moon definitely impacted views and imaging.  

Saturday 10/19/2024 - North Java, NY

Our local astronomy club, the Buffalo Astronomical Association (BAA), has our dark sky observatory on the grounds of the Buffalo Audubon Society's (BAS) Beaver Meadow Nature Center. We call our observatory the Beaver Meadow Observatory (BMO). The BAS asked us to open the observatory on 10/19 to support their Trick-or-Treat Hike event. We had several members show up with their scopes and we had the Celestron 14" Edge HD with the club's camera. We put my ZWO ASI2600MC pro on the club's Tele Vue NP101is (w/0.8 reducer). Both scopes ride on the Astro Physics AP1200 mount. Another member of our club's imaging subgroup put his dedicated astronomy camera on his 85 mm lens. We mounted this onto the NP101/14" Edge setup. 

The event was from 4 pm to 9 pm so we shared views of the Sun early in the event and then switched to Comet, Saturn, and other Deep Sky Objects. We also have a member (he's one of the hosts of the 7th Magnitude podcast) that gives star/constellation tours with a laser pointer. This was a family-oriented event. Lots of families, with kids (and adults) dressed up in great Halloween costumes. The Comet was the ... STAR ... of the evening. We helped visitors find the comet and helped a few that brought their own camera set ups. People were able to find the comet using their phones, but some were able to see it naked eye (just barely). We had computer monitors and TV screens in the observatory control room displaying the images we were capturing of the comet. This worked out great, as large groups were able to cycle into the control to get a view and ask questions. One of our members did not bring her scope with her so she used my 8' Dob to share views of Saturn. Saturn's rings are almost edge on. It was a great night and the weather was perfect!

I was able to process the data from the NP101 with my camera (see image below). Still working on the data from the 14" Edge HD. I tagged Tele Vue when posting the image of the comet with the NP101 and my camera on social media. They reposted my post on X (formerly Twitter). That really made my day!!

Saturday 10/19 from the BMO. This is a picture of the monitor connected to the NP101is with my camera. This is a single exposure with NINA's unlinked screen stretch applied.

Saturday 10/19/2024 from the BMO at 7:41 PM. Handheld iPhone shot from outside the observatory. 

Saturday 10/19/2024 from the BMO at 8:02 PM. Handheld iPhone shot from inside the observatory (from behind the telescopes). The NP101is is the smaller telescope mounted on top of the 14" EdgeHD.

Saturday 10/19/2024 from the BMO at 9;04 PM. Handheld iPhone shot from outside the observatory. look carefully at the sky, note the Big Dipper skimming the trees.

Saturday 10/19/2024 from the BMO. Tele Vue NP101is telescope w/0.8x Reducer, my ZWO ASI2600MC Pro, and Astro Physics AP1200 mount. 112 exposures at 15 sec each, -10 degrees C, gain 100, & Offset 50. Processed in PixInsight.

I tagged Tele Vue when sharing the image of the Comet on social media. They reposted my post to X (formerly Twitter). How cool is that!!!!

Saturday 10/26/2024 - Eden, NY

The forecast called for skies to clear around 8pm on Saturday 10/26. We had family over for dinner. I snuck out around 7 pm and set up my Ha Modified Canon T6i on the iOptron Sky guider pro. I also had the tripod with iPhone adapter. I captured images with DSLR using both the Canon 50 mm lens (Nifty Fifty) and the Rokinon 14" mm Lens. The comet was near the Milky Way core. I'm not really pleased with how the DSLR shots turned out. Here's an iPhone shot processed in Snapseed.

Saturday 10/26/2024 from Eden, NY 8:14 PM. iPhone on a tripod. Processed in Snapseed on my iPhone.

So that's probably it for now ...

The comet is getting dimmer and there are other targets I'll want to capture with the limited clear skies we get. Now that it gets darker earlier, we might go after the comet at the observatory at the beginning of an imaging session. We'll see. Chasing this comet was so much fun!! So many great experiences! Can't wat for the next one. 

Clear Skies!

Ernie