Who is imaging in the UK right now and how do you do it? - Forums

I've struggled to do any imaging recently as I have only had one 3 hour clear window at the beginning of the month and a couple of hours a few days ago.

Who has been imaging in the UK recently and how do you manage it?

I don't have a permanent setup, so I have a couple of hours getting my stuff outside, cooled down, polar aligned and checked out before imaging, followed by an hour of warming it up and getting it back inside each night.

Any ideas would be welcome (permanent observatory or not).

I do. Though to be honest not as much as other months. 4 nights so far in November which is a gastly month for imaging in Britain. Always has been as far as I remember. My rigs are outside in the back-garden under cover so once it clears and stays that way I am up and running in 1/2 hour tops.

Hi Andy,

I feel your pain, the clear hours are very precious. My advice, as Andrea says, is to get a Telegizmos cover for your setup so you don't have to PA at the beginning of each session. I leave my whole rig out under cover as long as the forecast isn't too horrendous. I sometimes take the scope off and just leave the mount out under the cover.

I can be up and running on a target within 20 mins although last night the wind played havoc and a USB cable disconnected and ruined the session before the clouds rolled in.

CS,

Andy

Before I broke down and went remote due to weather-induced frustration, I used to image from my backyard back in Finland, when I lived there.

To reach a good compromise in terms of convenience and speed of setup/tear down, I had a permanently mounted steel pier, resting on a slab of cement, with my mount on. The mount was of course polar aligned at all times. Everything was covered by a dedicated weather-proof cover when not in use.

I kept my optics in the adjacent garden shed, so it didn't need to acclimate.

When the sky cleared, all I had to do is put the scope (with the camera already attached to it) on the mount and connect all cables. It didn't take more than 10 minutes or so. Then I went inside to remote control everything from the comfort of the house.

I’m imaging from the North west which has more than its fair share of bad weather but everything that’s been said is good advice. I’ve been through similar permutations over the years with partial permanent setups like Salvatore, even carrying out my 14” reflector to the pier at one time! Eventually though permanent is the way to go, I have a simple roll off shed and can be imaging in 15 minutes or less. Another very significant help is to automate with software such as NINA which means I can image for 10h in the winter as long as the forecast is good 😊 and still get a good nights sleep.

I'm imaging from Yorkshire, not been good at all recently but have managed a couple of quick images of brighter targets. As mentioned above I think having your mount setup either permanently or at least for a few days at a time is key otherwise you loose too much time setting up / polar aligning. If there is a chance of clear sky and its dry I'll set it all up and balanced during the day and cover it up so that should it clear it only takes 15 mins or so to start imaging. I keep my scope inside but its usually out cooling down well before it might be needed.

I image from cloudy Lincolnshire. The key for me is to watch the weather forecasts for hints, Sat24 for better hints and to look out of the window. I am permanently setup under a cover and can be up and running in a couple of minutes. I have targets already setup in Voyager so it’s as simple matter of turning on the power and leaving Voyager to do its stuff. If I’m sure it won’t rain overnight, I leave it running.

There isn't such a thing as to be sure it won't rain. A least here in Lincoln(shire). I have been rained out (several times) when everything was clear and nice just half an hour before. Dead laptop. Not doing that again.

By the way Meteociel is a very useful satellite website showing cloud cover at different wavelengths plus an archive facility, also helps you improve your French ☺️

andrea tasselli:
There isn't such a thing as to be sure it won't rain. A least here in Lincoln(shire). I have been rained out (several times) when everything was clear and nice just half an hour before. Dead laptop. Not doing that again.

I've been caught out a couple of times but find this app quite useful to have running on my phone. Not perfect but should hopefully give a heads up if rain is within X miles of your location.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/rain-alarm-pro-weather-radar/id400259071

Here in cold damp cloudy Staffordshire, I've managed 3 nights in November of between 3 and 5 hours. I always put my rig away each time.

I carry it out during the last of the daylight, level the mount and point it north using a compass. As soon as PHD2 can see the odd star in the south, I do a drift align which takes about 5 minutes (I don't have to reposition the tripod now I've got the hang of this method). I never bother to calibrate DEC - I just need to get the mount level. Guiding is usually around 0.8 to 1.5 arc secs which is more than adequate for a 400mm FL scope. The longest part of setting up is framing the subject nicely in the image. (I don't do plate solving yet)

Warming the camera is the biggest pain especially when the temperature is sub zero and I want to get to bed. It warms up OK to about 5 degrees and then takes for ever, so I usually call it quits after 15 mins.

andrea tasselli:
There isn't such a thing as to be sure it won't rain. A least here in Lincoln(shire). I have been rained out (several times) when everything was clear and nice just half an hour before. Dead laptop. Not doing that again.

I take your point but I must have done 50 or so all night sessions over the last 5 years and have never been caught out. At this time of year you can get 11 hours of data so its a risk/reward thing.

Murky Sheffield here. I carry my mount out and leave it in place if I'm sure that Apple Weather / BBC Weather and Clear outside apps tell me there is a very small percentage of rain, I'm waiting to get caught out!

NINA's three star polar alignment as soon as stars can be imaged, if I am not being too fussy (within an arc minute on both axis) takes me about 15 minutes. I've usually prepared an imaging routine using NINA's Advanced Sequencer but I usually want to make use of the Framing Assistance so I'll manually grab and manually rotate. Centre and Update the target and press Start in the sequencer.

All told about 30 minutes setup.

I'm imaging from Hertfordshire.
Last year I've decided to double my data power gathering and made a double rig.
This has changed my imaging significantly. Two hours clear skies window turned into four

As I'm forced to do SHO only and I need a lot data this decision has been great.
Just finish and uploaded my latest project. I've collected 36hrs of data

Not in the UK, but here in Amsterdam weather patterns are similar. Had maybe 2 nights in the last 2 months I could image something. Have setup time down to 25 minutes now and can PA during dusk so be ready to image as soon as astronomical darkness sets in. Have 3 markers on my roof terrace so I can place my tripier as close to PA as possible so that routine only takes 10 minutes. Have also accepted that I just have to sit inside next to the window to observe the scope and pull it inside in case of rain. If the various apps predict clear skies also prep the capture sequence in the afternoon for the targets i want to capture.

The dream is a garden with permanent roll of roof observatory, but that will take time

CS
Sean

Hi Andy.

I'm on the south coast and I've not really had the opportunity to image since the start of November.

I do have a permanent pier so I'm not opposed to leaving kit out under a decent cover (telegizmos again) but currently everything is back indoors for safety of nothing else.

I'm in semi-rural Staffs. I rarely seem to get more than 4-6 hrs of imaging done every couple of weeks, due to the weather. It's so frustrating - it can take several weeks for me to get enough data to get a half decent image - and that's using an OSC camera. I can't imagine how many weeks it would take trying to shoot a single object through 4 different filters! I do have a permanent set up in a rolling roof observatory with warm room (would recommend highly) so I can be imaging in the time it takes to cool the camera - and I can quickly close the roof over if rain threatens - which it often does. Although I do leave it running unattended for several hours at a time, I'm paranoid about checking the weather & I'd never risk going to bed & leaving it running unattended all night. I have been caught out once when clouds rolled in so quickly it was raining on my telescope within seconds of PHD pinging to tell me it had the lost guidestar half way through a 4-minute sub. Fortunately I was in the warm room so all I had to do was roll the roof over, so no major damage done, just a few raindrops on the objective lens.

Because of the limited time available I have 'piggy backed' a wide field refractor on top of my larger scope to increase my capacity. I tend to take widefield view and deeper views of the same region simultaneously. I have other telescopes I can move about but to be honest it's so easy using the observatory I can't ever be bothered to set them up these days.

Matt Dugas:
I'm in semi-rural Staffs. I rarely seem to get more than 4-6 hrs of imaging done every couple of weeks, due to the weather. It's so frustrating - it can take several weeks for me to get enough data to get a half decent image - and that's using an OSC camera. I can't imagine how many weeks it would take trying to shoot a single object through 4 different filters! I do have a permanent set up in a rolling roof observatory with warm room (would recommend highly) so I can be imaging in the time it takes to cool the camera - and I can quickly close the roof over if rain threatens - which it often does. Although I do leave it running unattended for several hours at a time, I'm paranoid about checking the weather & I'd never risk going to bed & leaving it running unattended all night. I have been caught out once when clouds rolled in so quickly it was raining on my telescope within seconds of PHD pinging to tell me it had the lost guidestar half way through a 4-minute sub. Fortunately I was in the warm room so all I had to do was roll the roof over, so no major damage done, just a few raindrops on the objective lens.

Because of the limited time available I have 'piggy backed' a wide field refractor on top of my larger scope to increase my capacity. I tend to take widefield view and deeper views of the same region simultaneously. I have other telescopes I can move about but to be honest it's so easy using the observatory I can't ever be bothered to set them up these days.

Hi Matt,

I'm currently looking at getting a ROR observatory and wondered if you built yours or if you got a prebuilt one like Home Observatory UK? I'm down in Devon and constantly battling with the elements as you are and this seems the best way forward.

Clear skies,

Andy

Hi Andy

Having neither the skill nor confidence to build an observatory for myself, I looked hard at various commercial options and in the end chose Outsideology to design & build one for me. I've been really happy with them, & I love the finished product.

https://outsideology.rcom/

The website's not been updated for a while but they are still building observatories.

Whatever you get in the end, I don't think you'll regret it. Having a permanent set up which is ready to go in minutes and doesn't need dismantling when the clouds roll in as soon as you start observing is just fantastic. After years of procrastinating mine was finally built in Nov 2018 - I should have done it years ago.

Matt

I used to live in Devon. I miss the darker skies there!

Matt Dugas:
Hi Andy

Having neither the skill nor confidence to build an observatory for myself, I looked hard at various commercial options and in the end chose Outsideology to design & build one for me. I've been really happy with them, & I love the finished product.

https://outsideology.rcom/

The website's not been updated for a while but they are still building observatories.

Whatever you get in the end, I don't think you'll regret it. Having a permanent set up which is ready to go in minutes and doesn't need dismantling when the clouds roll in as soon as you start observing is just fantastic. After years of procrastinating mine was finally built in Nov 2018 - I should have done it years ago.

Matt

I used to live in Devon. I miss the darker skies there!

Hi Matt,

I'm the same, no good at DIY (just ask the wife 😁) so this is definitely the way to go. I'll check them out, just got to dismantle the greenhouse and I've got a ready made concrete slab.

I'm on the western edge of Dartmoor near Tavistock so my skies are Bortle 3/4, the only real light pollution from Tavi in the south.

Thanks again for the recommendation.

CS,

Andy

Observatory wouldn't work for me because I have to keep moving the location of the scope in the back garden to avoid different blocking houses or trees in different directions. Nevertheless I have managed to at least get a couple of images from surburban Berkshire in the UK this last month or so although conditions have been terrible. My main learning has been 1) to get very practiced at getting out and setting everything up quickly 2) a big plastic sheet to faciltate set up and early polar alignment in between rain showers and 3) I use a CMOS camera, a fast scope, relatively short exposures and have Sharpcap capture set up to filter on FWHM and brightness so as to keep capture running and make the best of the gaps between incoming clouds. It works – but it's turned astrophotography into something of an extreme sport recently. TimH

I feel your pain and frustration. I live a little west of Chicago and during the winter months we experience a lot of cloudiness from the temperature inversion which puts a constant cloud cover overhead. I've gone months without seeing the night sky. Lately, when it does become clear enough to image, the winds are howling over 30 kmh. There have been targets that I've wanted to image only to have them inaccessible and I completely miss them for a season so I have to wait until the next year. I have to take copious notes when I'm imaging because I can get real rusty from not doing any hands-on astronomy for months at a time. Often as long as five months. When the skies do clear, I'm often unprepared about what I even want to image. I've just learned to lower my expectations. I used to think about putting up an observatory, but with the clouds, I'm not sure if it would be worth the money. Whenever there are decent conditions, I jump on the opportunity with my portable setup which creates enough excitement to keep me going. I used to set up for short two-hour windows, but found it not to be very fruitful, often the conditions aren't that great.

All that said, I'm curious how a permanent setup would help in sketchy conditions? I'd like to hear about it. Good luck.

Hi Tom. Mid-West weather extremes certainly seriously trump anything we ever get see here on our wet windy island.! I used to work on corn/ soybean in a past life and so got out that way a fair bit.

You are surely right that being set up for mobility is a good strategy and also that being well prepared is important to make best use of fleeting opportunities. My best images (and the only good galaxy shots) have been from dark site holiday locations Easy for me to say though- it's just a hundred miles from here to the Welsh mountains or to Norfolk and the East coast - a lot of our terrain and weather variation tends to run down an E/W divide - whereas for you it must be quite some journey to get somewhere out from under those inversions? Tim

I live among the corn and soybean fields in a bortle 4 area, which many folks would be very happy to have for their imaging. A year ago a suburban club even had a star party close by. With a stroke of divine intervention, they got the one clear night of the month.

Needless to say, the weather doesn't cooperate too often. To get away from it would be many hundreds of miles. Spring and late summer seem to be the best times around here because the summer air is kind of thick and you often get a lot of airglow plus there's not many hours of darkness.

Occasionally, there's a cold and clear winter night worth imaging. Those can be real special nights. The only drawback is, my scope tends to pinch the stars from the tube compression on the objective.

If I had at least two or three good nights every month to image, I'd put up a more permanent setup to save time, at least a pier.

I often wonder why I got into this?…he asks himself while waiting for his new camera to arrive.

Andy Wray:
I've struggled to do any imaging recently as I have only had one 3 hour clear window at the beginning of the month and a couple of hours a few days ago.

Who has been imaging in the UK recently and how do you manage it?

I don't have a permanent setup, so I have a couple of hours getting my stuff outside, cooled down, polar aligned and checked out before imaging, followed by an hour of warming it up and getting it back inside each night.

Any ideas would be welcome (permanent observatory or not).

I'm in Oxfordshire so prob not much better weather than you.

But the key is - leave your rig set up the whole time and get a Telegizmos cover. It's a game changer! I have about £10k worth and I leave it set up 24/7. It just needs a quick check on polar alignment from time to time (but it's rarely more than a minute or two out). You get way more use out of your equipment because if you see the sky clear up you just whip the cover off and you can be imaging in ten mins. Then if it clouds over, you pop the cover back on and go and watch a movie.

Seriously, it makes a massive difference!