Comments for Modern Astronomy

Comment on SkyWatcher 9×50 Straight Through Finder by Igor Uchansky

Igor Uchansky — Sat, 29 Jul 2023 08:47:22 +0000

Good scope finder, helps to see faint stars/planets that are invisible to unaided eye, good combination with Red dot finder

Comment on SkyWatcher 9×50 Finder to C Adapter by Igor Uchansky

Igor Uchansky — Sat, 29 Jul 2023 08:41:04 +0000

Thanks, connects well the Skywatcher 9 x 50 scope-finder with ZWO ASI120mm mini camera

Comment on Chroma H-Alpha 3nm Filter by adamjeffers

adamjeffers — Tue, 22 Nov 2022 13:29:35 +0000

Well packaged by Bern at Modern Astronomy and delivered safely by RM SD. Chroma packaging itself nicely put together itself with a large outer cardboard box and a small plastic filter case, with the filter in a soft labelled sleeve. The filter was packaged with a certificate showing the individual test, and each filter has an inscription along the rim.

I bought the 36mm unmounted version and fitted this to an empty 2″ filter holder using a 3d printed adapter. Using a 36mm filter was cheaper than the 2″ version – and the ideal size to be used with the new Sony IMX571 APS-C sized sensor (minimal vignetting at F4.65 in my case). I decided on the 3nm because I wanted the tightest passband possible to use on moonlit nights – the majority of the clear nights here seem to fall around the full moon.

I use this filter on a 105mm refractor with a 0.75x Riccardi reducer. The Chroma Ha filter produces absolutely no evidence of a halo or weird reflections, even on the brightest of stars. I have tried with other brands of Ha filters, and they all produce haloes of varying sizes and brightnesses, along with reflections. The stars are also pinpoint in size, making it incredibly easy to remove them in star-removal software, and produce mesmerising star-free regions of dust and gas.

I imaged NGC2264 with this filter less than 90 degrees from an 83% moon and I was unable to detect a gradient in the sub frames – it is literally that good at isolating Ha emissions in the presence of moonlight.

I have since bought the Chroma 3nm Oiii and 3nm Sii filters These filters are a significant investment but what they do is produce high quality raw data that is so much easier to process with high contrast features.

Comment on QHY5III462C Camera and Expansion Kit by Adrian Gray

Adrian Gray — Sun, 03 Jul 2022 16:06:49 +0000

I was pleased with the very fast delivery. I bought this camera for both planetary and guiding. Until the planets appear at a more reasonable hour of the night, this review is only for guiding. In PHD2 with my TS 80mm guider/finder scope on my SW 200pds, this camera is superb, it’s sensitivity means there is always a number of stars available for guiding and I regularly get a total RMS of around 0.4-0.9″. I can’t wait to try this out on the planets, so I will return and continue the review soon.

Comment on QHY600 Mono Full Frame Cooled CMOS Camera by Jan Bielanski

Jan Bielanski — Sat, 12 Sep 2020 23:36:51 +0000

I bought the QHY600 Mono PH version two months ago, so I have time for deeper tests. A the beginning I commission to manufacture connector between telescope and camera. I had also some problems INDI driver (but I fixed that problem). During last two month I had taken images of M31 , NGC7023 and many single frames of other objects with different camera settings. Advantages of camera:
– read modes (allow to more flexible gain setting)
– IMX455 K Grade sensor and 16-bit A/D
– strong and well made camera design
– good Linux support
Disadvantages:
– some problem with video mode on Linux and INDI
– during short exposition camera become hot quicker
I had earlier following QHY cameras: QHY10 / QHY168C / QHY247C. In my opinion the QHY600 is the best camera. I’m using it with TS APO 130mm, for this setup camera allow to:
– maximum usage of telescope capabilities – telescope works near angular resolution border
I don’t regret buying of this camera.
– give huge field of view 3×2 degrees
– join two worlds – on one image I have huge panorama with a wealth of details

Comment on Chroma OIII 3nm Filter by Jonathan Bennink

Jonathan Bennink — Mon, 10 Aug 2020 23:16:54 +0000

The Oiii 3nm is the reason I started looking into upgrades from my 7nm ZWO filters. The 7nm you can only use during no moon and at bortle 5 or less. This 3nm version made by Chroma is a different product entirely. What a joy to use, and now I can image during half moon or less and under light polution. No sign of internal reflections, even on mag 1 or 2 stars. Incredible. My rig is 5000 pound,, so yeah, these filter hurt a bit, but compared to the rest it’s ok. It only hurts once!

Comment on Chroma SII 3nm Filter by Jonathan Bennink

Jonathan Bennink — Mon, 10 Aug 2020 23:06:56 +0000

Fantastic filters, the absolute best out there. I got hooked on narrowband with my ZWO filters that came with my ASI1600MM, but these are in a league of their own. I upgraded to the 3nm Chroma set because I want to image during any moon and under Bortle 5 class skies and the results are breathtaking. With the Ha and Sii you can image during a full moon and with Oiii it’s best to wait for 60 % or less, depending on where your target is. NO internal reflections and nicely packaged with a good report and an extremely high transmission. If you spend 1500 pound on a scope + 1500 on a mount + 1500 on a camera, why use cheap filters?

Comment on Chroma H-Alpha 3nm Filter by Jonathan Bennink

Jonathan Bennink — Mon, 10 Aug 2020 23:05:38 +0000

Comment on Baader Fringe Killer Filter by Mike hawtin

Mike hawtin — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 14:44:03 +0000

This filter does an excellent job of cleaning up the blue halos on images shot using a semi-apo scope. If exposures are not increased to compensate for the rejected part of the spectrum then a simple blue channel noise reduction action is all that is necessary prior to RGB combination to allow the Blue to be stretched along with the Red and Green without breaking down. Use the link to access further info and example images.
[URL=http://astrob.in/227118/C/]Baader Fringe Killer filter trial[/URL]

Comment on Astronomik IR Pro (742nm) Filter by Ian

Ian — Wed, 07 Oct 2015 11:18:07 +0000

I use this filter for imaging the moon. I find it helps to steady the seeing which benefits focusing and the final image.