First Light with the Askar FMA180 Pro

 It was a good night to shake down a new setup ...

The forecast for Saturday night 5/10 was for intermittent clouds early on and clear skies after midnight. this forecast, coupled with the fact that there was a very bright 96% illuminated Moon up almost the entire night, made it easy to decide to shake down my Askar FMA180 Pro (click here to view a post about building this rig). The goal was to get everything working, an imaging would be a bonus. 

The process started well before dark. It began when the Askar FRA600 (on loan from a friend) was removed from the mount. I took the Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox Advance off the Askar FRA600 rings and installed it on the Losmandy Dovetail Rail that the Askar FMA180 Pro was installed on. I have three gutter spikes in the ground where I set up my mount for imaging. The mount was leveled, then the Askar FMA180 Pro rig was installed on the mount and connected all the cables (performing some cable management to tame the mess of cables). I connected everything to my laptop and verified that all the devices could connect to NINA, adjusting COM port settings as required. The telescope was then slewed to point at the tree line across the street so the Guide Scope and the Imaging Scope could be roughly focused. I also created the PHD2 profile for this setup and took darks for the guide camera. The mount was parked and covered with a tarp. 

At dusk, I came back out and uncovered the scope. The first order of business was to properly focus the Guide Scope. I used SharpCap to do this. Once focused, the mount was polar aligned. SharpCap was used for this too. The Guide Camera was disconnected from SharpCap and was reconnected to PHD2. Using the Calibration Assistant Tool, the mount was slewed to 0 declination and about 5 degrees from the Meridian. After calibration was completed, I ran the Guiding Assistant for 15 minutes and applied the recommended changes to the guiding settings. The Imaging Scope was focused by eye. I worked on multiple autofocus runs in NINA to optimize the autofocus settings. After getting the autofocus set up, I verified plate solving worked. So far so good. Dodged a few clouds here and there but everything progressed smoothly. So now what?

I started to search for imaging targets that would be a good fit for this wide field rig. The best option was IC 1396, The Elephant Trunk Nebula. I have imaged this target before with my 80 mm Refractor at 480 mm of focal length (click here to view the previous result for IC 1396). Unfortunately, this target did not clear the tree line until about 1:30 AM. Since this was the first weekend with nice weather this spring, we did a lot of yard work during the day and I did not want to stay up all night. Then it hit me, maybe this was the time to finally try the (Advanced) Sequencer in NINA. I had already download templates from Patriot Astro, but never had a need to try this functionality out. I modified the OSC template for my setup and did a quick test. It worked perfectly. I loaded in a Sequence to image IC1396 starting at 1:30 AM until about 4:45 AM.  Again, it worked perfectly! I woke up the next morning and the scope was parked, the camera warmed, and 55 subs were saved to the laptop's hard drive. I was worried the subs would be of poor quality due to the 96% illuminated Moon but was pleasantly surprised after processing the image. Having said that, if the opportunity presents itself to add more exposure time to this, I will! 

Here's the resulting image :

IC 1396 - The Elephant Trunk Nebula - first light with the Askar FMA180 Pro.

Processing:

All pre and post processing was performed in PixInsight. Pre-Processing: All subs were visually inspected with Blink and subs with issues were removed. All light Frames, Flats, Darks and Dark flats were loaded into WBPP. Linear Post Processing: Background extraction was performed with GraXpert 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. Linear Stars: The stars were made non-linear with Seti Astro's Star Stretch Script.

Non-linear Post Processing: Starless: The Narrowband normalization Process was used to get the "SHO" look. Color, intensity, and contrast were adjusted with various applications of CT. Saturation was increased with CT. The Image blend Script was used to sharpen the image with a High Pass Filter. LHE was applied at 2 Kernel sizes an the Unsharp mask was applied. The DSE script was used to enhance dark nebula regions. Stars: Saturation was increased with CT. SCNR was applied and the Correct Magenta Stars Script was used to help with stars captured with a dual narrowband filter. CT was used to adjust contrast one last time. Final: The Stars and Starless images were combined with Pixel Math to produce the final image. 

What is it?

IC 1396 is a region of ionized interstellar gas and dust that contains smaller regions of concentrated gas and dust that appear as dark knots or globules in visible light images. The gas in the entire region is being ionized by the bright star HD 206267 in the center of the image. The Elephant Trunk Nebula is one of those concentrations of gas and dust. It can be seen rising from the bottom of the image. These areas of concentrated gas and dust, including The Elephant Trunk, are star forming regions. Young stars within The Elephant Trunk were discovered in 2003 using infrared telescopes.

An annotated image of IC1396

How Big is it?

IC1396 has a size of 170 x 140 arcminutes (1 degree is 60 arcminutes) on the night sky and is about 100 light years across.

How Far is it?

IC 1396 is located about 2,400 light-years (ly) in the Constellation Cepheus.

How to find it?

The constellation Cepheus is located near the bright signpost constellation Cassiopeia. Cepheus is a circumpolar constellation for observers at mid-northern latitudes and above. This means the constellation never sets. It is visible all night, appearing to circle the north celestial pole currently located near the North star, Polaris. to me, this constellation looks like a house with a disproportionately large roof. IC 1396 is indicated in the chart by the red rectangle just off what would be the ground floor of the house. 

Finder Chart for IC1396

Image Details:

Capture Date: 5/11//2025

Location: Eden, NY

Telescope: Askar FMA180 Pro

Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro

Filter: Optolong L-eXtreme

Mount: Sky-Watcher USA EQ6-R Pro

Exposure: 55 exposures at 180 sec / Gain 100 / Offset 50 / -10°C each for a total exposure of almost 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Software: NINA, SharpCap Pro, PHD2, and PixInsight

Clear Skies!

Ernie

M82 from the BMO - Group Capture / Group Process

 Some processing fun on a very soggy Astronomy Day ...

Saturday May 5th was Astronomy Day. Our club had a busy day scheduled. We were going to open the observatory from 12 to 5 pm for Solar Observing and various other activities. A small group was leading a group of local Girl Scouts through a badge workshop. Finally, we had our monthly Public Night event. Mother Nature had other plans. We canceled the 12 to 5 pm Astronomy Day event due to persistent rain all day. We did use the time to clean and organize the observatory. The Girl Scout badge workshop went on as planned (just no observing) and we never cancel Public Night. We had one visitor, and I think that person was a friend of a member. 

One of the members of our club's imaging special interest group (The Tuesday Night Imagers) had collected data on M82 on Sunday 4/27 with our club's telescopes. She collected data with both the Celeston 14" Edge HD and the Tele Vue NP101is. Collecting data with only a UV/IR filter and some data with a Dual Narrowband filter. I copied the data from the 14" telescope to my portable hard drive and transferred it to my laptop. I had joined via Zoom and a few other members participated, but had to leave early. I fired up PixInsight and started processing it. I connected my laptop to one of our large screen TV's and we worked on the data as a group. I drove but many of the choices made during the processing came from the other members that participated. In particular one of our members who is an experienced astrophotographer and a meteorite hunter/collector. It was a lot of fun, and the resulting image is undoubtedly different from what I would have come up without their input. Here's the resulting image. 

M82 from the BMO on 4/27/2025 - Group process

Processing:

I'm going to keep this pretty high level. too much time has elapsed for me to accurately describe all the steps we used. Basically, data from both the UV/IR Cut filter and the Dual Narrowband filter was loaded into WBPP with all calibration frames and pre-processed. This resulted in two master light frames that were registered to one another. Both master lights were processed up through making them non-linear. We then split a clone of the Dual Narrowband data into separate channels (R, G, & B). We treated the R channel as Ha and added it to the UV/IR data. We also fully processed the unsplit Dual Narrowband data. Ultimately, we blended both images together with the image blend script. 

What is it?

Messier 82 (M82) is also known as The Cigar Galaxy. M82 is an example of a peculiar galaxy. It is also a starburst galaxy. It had a relatively recent (astronomically speaking) encounter with its neighbor, M81. M82 has been disturbed as a result of this encounter. We can see this in the dust lanes and heavy star formation.  

An annotated image of M82

How Big is it?

M82 has a size of 11.2 x 4.3 arcminutes (1 degree is 60 arcminutes) on the night sky. It is about 40,200 light years in diameter.

How Far is it?

M82 is located about 12 million light-years (ly) from Earth.

How to find it?

M82 is a popular target or visual astronomers and astrophotographers. For visual observation, larger aperture, a night with no moon, and dark skies always help for galaxies. I would recommend a low power (wide field if view) eyepiece. With my 24 mm Tele Vue Panoptic and my 8" f/6 Dob, I can get both M81 & M82 in the same field of view. Ust eh following steps to find M82 (and M81):

1. Find the Big Dipper.
2. find the Bowl Stars Phecda & Dubhe (Note: Phecda is the Star where M109 is indicated in the finder chart below)
3. Draw an imaginary line from Phecda to Dubhe
4. Extend the line through Dubhe roughly the same distance as the Phecda/Dubhe line
5. M81 & M82 should be in your eyepiece or an optical finder scope

Finder Chart for M82

Image Details:

Capture Date: 04/27/2025

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

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

Camera: OGMA AP26CC

Filter: OGMA 2" UV/IR Cut & Antlia 5 nm Alp-T Dual Narrowband

Mount: Astro Physics AP1200 Mount

Exposure: UV/IR Cut: 18 exposures at 300 sec / Gain 100 / Offset 100 / -10° C each for a total exposure of 1 hour 30 minutes. Alp-T: 10 exposures at 600 sec / Gain 100 / Offset 100 / -10° C each for a total exposure of 1 hour 40 minutes. Combined: 3 hours 10 minutes

Software: NINA, PHD2, and PixInsight

Clear Skies!

Ernie

M109 captured on 4/23/2025 from the BMO

 Another clear night ...

The forecast for Wednesday April 23rd was promising. Therefore, our club's observatory directory decided Wednesday would be our imaging special interest group's session for the week that night. I could not attend as I had work meetings that night. However, I was able to join the group via Zoom and contribute to the night's imaging efforts while still attending to my work commitments. T skies were not the best but clear enough to image. With no Moon until four in the morning, we decided to go after a broadband target like a galaxy. I wanted to go after M64, The Black Eye Galaxy. Another member of the group suggested M109, a Barred Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major. They made a better case than I did, and the group decided on M109. I'm glad they did. It is a very beautiful target.

After solving the usual array of issues that come with operating the observatory so infrequently, we began imaging at 9:24 PM and imaged until 10:54 PM. We captured data with both the NP101is and ZWO ASI2600MC-Pro system and the Celestron 14" Edge HD w/0.7x Reducer and the OGMA AP26CC system. I only worked on the data from the 14" telescope. With the combination of the 14" telescope and the OGMA AP26CC camera, we have settled on 300 sec subs for broadband imaging with the UV/IR cut filter, assuming sky conditions allow for it. If the Moon were up, we would most likely have to reduce exposure time. This target is framed very well with this telescope/camera combination. Here's the resulting processed image:

M109 from the BMO on 4/23/2025.

Processing:

All pre and post processing was performed in PixInsight. Pre-Processing: All light Frames, Flats, Darks and Dark flats were loaded into WBPP. After processing the resulting Master Light Frames, Satellite trails were visible. I blinked the individual subs and found 3 of the 16 subs had very bright satellite trails. I opened the 3 raw frames with the trails and used Seti Astro's Blemish Blaster script to remove the trails. The trails were reduced in intensity but could still be seen. I saved the 3 frames and then re-ran WBPP with more aggressive settings for rejection (reducing the High sigma in Winsorized Sigma Clipping from 3 to 2 and enabling Large Scale Pixel Rejection at a sigma of 2).  Linear Post Processing: Background extraction was performed with GraXpert 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: Saturation and intensity were increased with CT. Exponential Transformation was used to increase intensity. The Create HDR Image script was used to compress the core of the galaxies (mask was used). The Image Blend script was used (with high pass filter) to increase sharpness. LHE was applied at two different kernel radii and Unsharp Mask was applied (lightly). 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?

Messier 109 (M109) is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major. Scientists believe our galaxy, The Milky Way, is a barred spiral galaxy. 

An annotated version of the M109 image.

How Big is it?

M109 has a size of 7.5 x 4.4 arcminutes (1 degree is 60 arcminutes) on the night sky. It is about 177,000 light years in diameter.

How Far is it?

M109 is located about 81 million light-years (ly) from Earth.

How to find it?

M109 is located in the constellation Ursa Major as shown by the small red square in the Finder Chart below. The galaxy is located about 40' southeast of Phecda, one of the bowl stars in the big dipper asterism. Dark skies and large aperture are helpful in viewing this galaxy.

Finder chart for M109.

Image Details:

Capture Date: 04/23/2025

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

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

Camera: OGMA AP26CC

Filter: OGMA 2" UV/IR Cut

Mount: Astro Physics AP1200 Mount

Exposure: 16 exposures at 300 sec / Gain 100 / Offset 100 / -10° C each for a total exposure of 1 hour 20 minutes.

Software: NINA, PHD2, and PixInsight

Clear Skies!

Ernie