I'm still alive

It's been a long time since I've made any kind of serious attempt at imaging. The weather has been horrible since...well, it seems like forever now. And even when it has been good I've not been able to get out with the telescope for one reason or another.

Well, the forces of nature, time, and fortune came together the other day and I dragged everything out to the ObservaRory and captured a few images.

My primary mission was to test some new software and a tablet for controlling the camera.

The goal was to see if it was practical to reduce the amount of equipment taken into the field. Overall it was a success.

First, the images:

Messier 45, the Pleiades; ST80 w/Baader CB on Vixen SP; Canon EOS Rebel T3; 15x180

Caldwell 49, the Rosette Nebula; ST80 w/Baader CB on Vixen SP; Canon EOS Rebel T3; 17x180

Now on to the technical details.

The tablet was a Samsung Galaxy Tab E, and the software was DSLR Controller. DSLR Controller is similar to Canon's EOS Utility in that it provides nearly total control over the camera. It is not as feature-rich as Backyard EOS (which is specifically designed for astroimaging), but it has the advantage of working on Android tablets and phones. DSLR Controller supports a wide variety of Canon cameras.

In short, I like the combination of the tablet and DSLR Controller. The software was easy to use once I got the hang of how to set up a time lapse session. Focusing and centering the targets was made much easier by being able to hold the tablet while adjusting the scope. Making adjustments while using the laptop has always been difficult for me because the laptop is mostly confined to sitting on a table.

Once I got the imaging sequences set up and running the whole process was fairly painless. However, the software did crash on me a few times while I was setting up. I have not yet been able to ascertain the cause.

The software also left the camera display on, despite the fact that I turned it off on the camera's control panel. Between that and the live view mode that DSLR Controller uses by default, the camera battery ran out much sooner than usual. When I get a chance I will see if there are options to turn these features off.

I wasn't able to take any darks or flats for the images above due to the battery issue. But other than that I'm mostly happy with the results. I'm glad to have finally gotten a chance to do some imaging again. Hopefully there will be more opportunities in the near future.