​Some Deep Sky Objects have a wide range of detail, but present a challenge.  For example, you can see the Trapezium stars in the core of the Orion Nebula if you use a short exposure.  To see the fine edge detail you need to use longer exposures, but that “blows out” the core and you can no longer distinguish the Trapezium.  This can be overcome using a High Dynamic Range technique by capturing several images of varying exposure and post process them later to combine them and produce a final image with a good range of detail.  It would be nice to see this in real time though.

I tried something interesting last night that is somewhat like a Live High Dynamic Range (LHDR) averaging technique.  I was using my Celestron 8” with Hyperstar with the DS10c aimed at the Orion Nebula. The 3/4 moon was rising so I was also using a Baader Planetarium Moon and Skyglow filter.  The key settings I used that remained constant were: 1 second exposure (video mode), histogram 65-255 and sharpen at 100. I did not use binning. I started with gain at 4 and turned on planet averaging with align. After it output 12 frames I moved the gain slider up to 40 and let it continue averaging.  After it averaged 12 more frames I moved the gain slider up to 80 and let it continue.  Looking at the screen after it averaged 12 more frames I decided to let it just continue averaging at gain 80.  After it had averaged 19 more frames I captured the final averaged image.  I took snap images each time I changed the gain so I could show how the image “developed”. No post processing was done on any of these images of M42.

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Gain of 4, 1 second, histogram 65-255, 12 averaged frames using live stacking.

On the right is a cropped version of an image capture using gain of 4, 1 second, histogram 65-255, and frame averaging without using this LHDR technique.  You can see the outer fine detail, but the core is overexposed and you cannot distinguish the Trapezium like you can in the LHDR image on the left.
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The Miloslick software for the Xtreme/Xterminator cameras has a HDR mode for objects like the Orion Nebula that can automatically vary the exposure time over several frames combining them in real time to produce a nice detail in the image viewed on the screen.  I could have varied the exposure time instead of the gain during average stacking in video mode in the MallinCamSky application, but chose to vary the gain because I could get a much wider dynamic range in a short period of time by just varying the gain of the DS10c and leaving the exposure time at 1 second. I had to make the changes by hand during averaging with MallnCamSky, but it worked!
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Video Astronomy fills the area between visual observing through an eyepiece and impressive images produced by Astrophotography.  Each of these three areas are important, and each fulfill the needs of Amateur Astronomers in different ways.  To me, Video Astronomy extends the visual observing experience to a new level allowing you to see things from your backyard well beyond what you can see through an eyepiece. It is different from Astrophotography since you are not trying to produce picture perfect images – you are simply looking to see what you can see.  You can experience the thrill of finding and seeing several galaxies, clusters and other deep sky objects in a single evening.   
​

 In November 2015 I had my MallinCam Xtreme (X2) upgraded with a new XT828 sensor in a sealed CCD chamber containing Argon gas plus other additions that effectively converted it to an MC Xterminator.   Recently I had the new electronics and Aerogel Insulation added like is in the Xterminator-II.  The Aerogel simplifies setup since it eliminates the need to use cooling fans. The first upgrade which added the XT828 sensor greatly increased the sensitivity, and the latest upgrade increased it even more.   What this all means is you can see Deep Sky Objects from your light polluted back yard using the shortest exposures for real time video observing than with any other camera. 

I typically use 3-15 sec exposure update intervals (and occasionally 20-30 seconds) with no filter. I use the Miloslick Mallincam Control application to control the camera settings, perform real time processing adjustments and view the image on my laptop.  All images shown here are screen captures with no further post processing or touch up.  My laptop has a really good LCD screen and displays the live images well, but the web images will give you a good feel of what a viewing session can be like.  

​I had my first chance to use my XT-828-II with the recent electronics and Aerogel upgrade a couple of nights ago.  I was using my Celestron 8" on a CG-5 mount with a MFR-5 on my XT-828-II.  I used one 5mm spacer in the middle of the MFR-5 which makes this a F/4.1 setup.  I was eager to try out a target with stars to see how the new electronics affected them, so I chose M103.  Its Visual Magnitude is 7.4 and it is 7200 light years away.  The stars definitely are a more natural round shape. I left the APC H&V set to 0.  This image of M103 was at 3 seconds. 
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Last night I had fun looking at a lot of Deep Sky Objects - 18 objects in about a 2.5 hour viewing session. The temperature was around 68 degrees and the sky quality meter showed 19.04 at the beginning and got a little better to 19.45 at the end. This is in my backyard with streetlights in the neighborhood and a city to the South. These are not dark skies! 
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I started with the Orion Nebula, M42, at 3 seconds.  Its Visual Magnitude is 4.0 and it is 1400 light years away.
​

Even at this low setting, the core was fairly bright. With the new electronics, some of the brighter stars have a slightly darker center, but that does not bother me at all, and I like seeing the much more natural look of the rounder stars.  Even with the core being so bright, this effect allows you to see the Trapezium stars within the core.
​
I then tried the nearby Flame Nebula, NCG 2024, at 10 seconds.  Its Visual Magnitude is 10.0 and it is 820 light years away.
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Can you see the two “death rays” coming out of the Flame at the lower left?  My telescope was pointed to the South over the city, so I surmised they may be lasers pointed at the sky. This is the first time I have ever seen this.  I came back to the Flame an hour later and observed the two “rays” in the same position relative to the Flame, even though it was now lower in the sky, so they are tracking with the Earth’s rotation.  Perhaps they are lasers being used for astronomy purposes.
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Here is M1, the Crab Nebula, at 5 second updates using 3 stacked frames. Its Visual Magnitude is 8.39 and it is 6200 light years away.
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Below is M100 using 6 second updates stacking 4 frames. Its Visual Magnitude is 9.31 and it is 52 Million light years away.
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Here I saw M108 using 10 second updates stacking 4 frames. Its Visual Magnitude is 10.03 and it is 32 Million light years away.
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Next up was an open cluster, M37, at 5 second update intervals.  Its Visual Magnitude is 5.59 and it is 4500 light years away.
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At the lower center of the next image is a spiral galaxy, M61, at 10 second exposure.  Its Visual Magnitude is 9.63 and it is 40 Million light years away.
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Here is a galaxy, M60, at 15 second exposure & averaging 6 frames.  Its Visual Magnitude is 8.81 and it is 56 Million light years away. Its faint companion is NGC 4647 at Magnitude 10.93. There is also a galaxy at the upper right, NGC 4667, at Magnitude 11.11.
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Here is another spiral galaxy, M66.  I used 10 second exposure updates.  Its Visual Magnitude is 9.00 and it is 37 Million light years away.
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I like using the SkySafari Ap to pick a target on my iPhone and slew my telescope to it.  I noticed that M65 was nearby in the sky and used SkySafari to slew from M66 to M65.   Here is M65, at 10 second updates with 3 stacked frames.  Its Visual Magnitude is 9.22 and it is 42 Million light years away.
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I decided it was time to move my viewing session inside, so I ran a USB extension cable from the telescope through the garage into my living room. I also moved my MS Surface laptop from outside to inside and used its Windows 10 Project function to view my targets on my 55” TV.  I continued to control the camera on the telescope from the Laptop over the USB extension cable and slew the mount from my iPhone while inside.
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Next up was M88, Visual Magnitude 9.51 and 36 Million light years away.  These are 8 second updates using 4 stacked frames.
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Here is another spiral galaxy, M90, at 15 second updates with 2 stacked frames.  Its Visual Magnitude is 9.46 and it is 39 Million light years away.
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Here is an interesting shaped spiral galaxy, M95, at 15 second updates with 3 averaged frames.  Its Visual Magnitude is 9.77 and it is 32 Million light years away.
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Nearby in the night sky is M96, also at 15 second updates with 3 averaged frames.  Its Visual Magnitude is 9.22 and it is 32 Million light years away.
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The lower elliptical galaxy in the image below is M105.  I used 15 second updates averaging 3 frames. Its Visual Magnitude is 9.27 and is 37 Million light years away. You can also see NGC 3371 up and to the center, which is 31 Million light years out.  Faintly near the top is NGC 3373 at 12.03 magnitude and 63 Million light years away.
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M97 is a fun Planetary Nebula, called the Owl Nebula. It is at 10 second updates with 5 averaged frames.  Its Visual Magnitude is 9.8 and it is 1700 light years away.
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Back to spiral galaxies we see M98, at 10 second updates with 3 averaged frames.  Its Visual Magnitude is 10.01 and it is 41 Million light years away.
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Last but not least, a little further over is M99, the Coma Pinwheel Galaxy. I used 10 second updates averaging 5 frames. Its Visual Magnitude is 9.82 and it is 42 Million light years away.
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So there you have it, 18 Deep Sky Objects in a 2.5 hour Video Astronomy viewing session, including the time taken in the middle to move from outside to inside.
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1/24/2017 Update
A new version of the MiloSlick software is about to be released that combines the best of the last two releases.  The original Histogram function is now used as the default Histogram function. The live Histogram is always shown just below the tabs on the left like in the last release.  The Frame and Image tabs have been combined into the Image tab, with the exception that the Histogram sliders are now always available beneath the Histogram itself.  Here is a screen shot of the new layout.​

The latest software always shows the real-time histogram at the top so you can see the effects on the graph of changing the camera settings, video settings, frame stacking functions and the histogram controls. You see the graph of the image contents shift left/right and stretch/shrink in real time as you adjust any of these settings.
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I have prepared a few video clips that illustrate using some of these features. These clips were all taken on the same night from my backyard.  I live just north of a city, so SkyGlow is an issue.  However,  I have found that I can use the MiloSlick software with the Xterminator without any filters. I also did not apply any dark frame subtraction during these video clips (that is a topic for another day).   I use my F10 8” Celestron telescope on a CG-5 Equatorial Mount, with a Celestron F6.3 focal reducer on the back of the telescope.  I also use a 0.5x focal reducer on the nosepiece of the Xterminator so that my setup operates at F4.4.
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The key to using the MiloSlick functions is to adjust the tab settings in order from left to right, beginning with the settings that affect the camera and finishing with the settings that affect the final output image. The first video clip shows my typical camera settings and how to adjust the Video controls. The Pinwheel Galaxy is the target object using a 10 second exposure.

youtu.be/NIkBwSHs3Sc

The second video clip goes into detail on how to adjust the final output image using the new histogram controls.

youtu.be/uXuQ7fBYIyU
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The third video clip shows how to use the image stacking feature.

youtu.be/j8RGeXjNCgI
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​I then switched to the Sculptor Galaxy which was very low on the horizon as you can see from this picture of the telescope.
​​

It was pointed directly above the city which is South of my backyard location.  This fourth video clip demonstrates how stacking of 5 second exposures can be useful when the target is in a significant Sky Glow area and still maintain a black background.

youtu.be/QJlzVubmbsk

The final video clip uses the Crab Nebula to show how you can stack 20 second exposures and adjust the histogram to best view the detail with a black background without using filters.

youtu.be/25gmLUujyGk

​Here is an image capture of the Crab Nebula displayed on my screen.​​​​

But all good things must come to an end, and we headed homeward the next day.
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Last night was a good clear night (for my location) so I decided to give my XT-828 another try. I am VERY pleased with the results!
 
Due to the cold weather, I did all my “viewing” from inside by the fire!  I rolled my CG-5 mount and C8 telescope out to my marked place on my driveway and did a basic polar align using my polar scope.  The XT-828 was already in place with a focal reducer and Lumicon Deep Sky Filter. I turned on the mount and started a Star Sense Auto Align.  While it was aligning I unrolled my active USB cable connected to my powered hub at the telescope, routed it through the garage into my den next to the fireplace.   When I went back outside the Auto Align had finished.  The time from beginning to roll out the telescope  to Auto Align completion was less than 15 minutes.  Then using the hand controller I slewed to Capella, put my Bahtinov focus mask on the end of the telescope and adjusted the focus using a display at the scope.  I removed the focus mask and returned inside for my viewing session.

I used the MiloSlick MallinCam Control software to control the camera, view and adjust the image in real time and capture screen images.  Using the MiloSlick control software, I turned on the MallinCam color bars and adjusted the video capture brightness until the black bar turns from light gray to black (48).  I then adjusted the contrast until the white bar is a nice white color (87).  I set the XT-828 cooling to -20c (I use fans on my XT-828) and put it in hyper mode.  Gain is set to zero (yes, gain=0)! During the 3 minute startup wait, I went back outside and put a dark cloth over the end of the telescope.  I came back in and set the exposure to 20 seconds and let it process a few images, and then used the MiloSlick software to capture a 20 second dark frame and saved it.  I went out and removed the dark cloth and came back in to being my viewing session.

Below are untouched screen grabs of what I saw on my laptop inside (and you will see that something was generating faint noise interference lines that I need to track down and eliminate).  The only real time processing used was MiloSlick’s histogram and dark frame subtraction.  I used 20 second exposure time all evening.  So these are the actual images I saw on my screen, updated in near real time every 20 seconds.


M1 - Crab Nebula (Magnitude 8.4):

NGC 891 – Galaxy (Magnitude 9.9):

NCG 1514 Planetary Nebula (Magnitude 10.9):

NGC 2024 - Flame Nebula (Magnitude 10.0):

IC 434 - Horsehead Nebula (Magnitude 7.3):

M33 – Pinwheel Galaxy (Magnitude 5.7 – was low in the sky near street light area):

Although it was a clear night, I do not live in a dark sky area. As I have said before, I live near a city with notable sky glow to the south, and I am in a neighborhood with street lights.  My house blocks direct light from hitting my telescope, but if I walk 10 steps down my driveway from the telescope, here is what I see.

Street Light (Magnitude Very Bright):

It is amazing what you can see with Video Astronomy under these conditions! 

For more information on the XT-828, see my December 12/22/2015 post "MallinCam X2 camera upgrade to XT-828".

As I indicated in my previous post on 9/30/2015, I had a great time at ECVAR in VA this year.  While there, I rediscovered how great it was to “view” deep sky objects with my Mallincam X2 deluxe camera. MallinCam has a newer analog video camera called the XTerminator, and offers upgrades to some of the MallinCam cameras to have their electronics and other components upgraded to features similar to the XTerminator, including a sealed sensor chamber.  So I sent my X2 in for an upgrade, and decided to include upgrading the sensor to the EXview HAD.  It was upgraded and returned to me quickly (about 3 weeks, including shipping to and from Canada!).  I was very fortunate to get a special upgrade to the ICX828 EXview HAD II sensor and electronics (which is the same sensor used in the XTerminator).  So my upgraded camera is now called an XT-828, and essentially functions the same as the XTerminator camera !!

As soon as the weather cleared, I used the XTerminator setting in the MiloSlick MallinCam Control software to try out my newly upgraded camera.  The moon was half full and I live near a city, so I was eager to see how it did under these conditions. Here is an image of the Orion Nebula at 3 sec using a Celestron 8” and the MFR-5 reducer with a Lumicon Deep Sky Filter - this is at about F/5. AGC is set to off! The only thing I adjusted was Miloslick's real time histogram settings.  This is a live screen capture with no post processing of the screen that updates every 3 seconds.

Here is the Ring Nebula using 10 seconds.

And this is an image capture of the Bode Nebula.

This chip is definitely more sensitive than my prior one.  I covered the end of the telescope and used Miloslick to check for hot pixels - there were none!  (I had cooling set to -5c).


I also really like having the sealed chamber that is filled with High Grade Industrial/Medical Grade Argon.  Here is an image showing the glass in front of the sensor in the new sealed chamber .

 
This sealed chamber has already been helpful.  One time after I changed reducers on the XT-828 and was refocusing, I noticed an odd object in the out of focus image. 

 
A particle had dropped into the XT-828 while changing out reducers.  Since the chamber was sealed, the particle was resting on the chamber glass - not the sensor itself.  All I had to do is remove the reducer, use a bulb to blow the particle off, reattach the reducer and finish focusing.  In addition to keeping the sensor dust free, the sealed chamber also protects from dew and moisture forming on the sensor.  Since the sealed chamber comes somewhat close to the camera opening, I use a 5mm spacer between the camera and reducer to make sure the reducer does not come into contact with the glass chamber when screwing it in.
 

There is also a switch on the back of the camera that can turn on an Amp Glow Reduction (AGR) circuit to help reduce amp glow. This is especially useful when viewing the video output of the camera directly on a monitor when you need to reduce the background glow.  If you are using a computer and the MiloSlick software, you can leave the AGR circuit off which keeps the sensor sensitivity at maximum and just use the real time MiloSlick histogram and/or dark frame feature to reduce the background glow.  To turn the AGR on, slide the switch on the back to the right.  Since I use a computer most of the time I leave it to the left so AGR is off.

The MallinCam HCHP, VSS, Xtreme and X2 cameras can all be upgraded.  Here is a link describing what is included in the upgrade.

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/mallincam/conversations/messages/61601

My X2 did not need the copper cooling upgrade since it already has that feature. I already had the cooling fans as well. You may not need to use cooling fans if you run the camera at -5C and the outside temperature is below 80F.  If you want to use the -20C setting or the temperature is above 80F you will need the fans.

The camera draws more power than the X2 did so I also purchased the New 5 Amps Fully Regulated Switching power supply with 5 outputs and the 25 foot MALLINCAM 75 Ohms 100% Shielded Video Cable with 18 Gauge DC wire.


Over the next several days I continued to work with various settings and focal reducers.  For these I added the Celestron f/6.3 Focal Reducer & Corrector to the back of my Celestron C8.

Here is another image of the Orion Nebula using the combination of the Celestron f/6.3 Reducer and the B portion (the part nearest the camera) of the MFR-5 screwed into the 5mm spacer on the XT-828. I have Advanced Pixel Control set to zero (Horiz & Vert) and video capture device sharpness set to zero to produce better star images. This is a 10 second exposure.
 

On a different note, I have a SkyRaider AGc on my 50mm finder scope, and one night I decided to capture its much wider field of view of the Orion Nebula using a 10 second exposure.
 

Just below the Orion Nebula in this image you can see several geosynchronous satellites that appear as short horizontal lines due to the 10 second image capture.  The satellites are fixed in position above the earth, but appear as lines because the mount is tracking the earth's movement.

Now back to some more XT-828 images.

Here is the Crab Nebula at 20 seconds and gamma of 0.45.  I did use MiloSlick’s Histogram real time adjustment and Dark Frame features, but no stacking.
 

Here is the Flame Nebula using similar settings.  (Unfortunately I picked up a slight circular reflection in the image).
 

And I could even see the Horsehead Nebula using just 20 seconds  … with Gain = 0, AGR off,  no stacking, Miloslick real time histogram adjustments and using only the Lumicon Deep Sky Filter (I plan on trying an H-Beta filter sometime).
 

And all this from my backyard, near a city, in a neighborhood with street lights (and Christmas lights)!

I have to say a note of thanks to MallinCam for making a great product to begin with (the X2), and then being willing to provide upgrades that make it even better!!!

Having packed up two of my telescopes, my wife and I embarked on a two day drive pulling our camper to Cool Breeze campground in Virginia.  The end of the second leg of the drive took us a little longer than expected...our GPS took us the "scenic route" over a mountain.  Great scenery, but late arrival! 

We arrived at the campground for ECVAR late Tuesday afternoon, and we proceeded to settle in for a week of video astronomy!

Tuesday night

Later as it got dark, we stepped outside, looked up and were amazed at what we saw.  The Milky Way was painted from one end of the sky to the other!  I was able to set up my portable mount (after midnight) and try out my Remote Focus Mask and Dark Mask using the following equipment:

• SkyProdigy Mount with AutoAlign built in
• Celestron 5" telescope
• MallinCam Micro-Super
• MallinCam MFR-5 with 5mm spacer
• JMI Motofocus with PCFC for remote focusing
• Remote Focus Mask (prototype)
• Powered Hub at scope with single USB cable to MS Surface Pro 2
• MiloSlick for video, MMEC for controlling the Super and Starry Night to control the mount

I turned on the mount and started an AutoAlign while getting my laptop powered up.  I then slewed to Vega, entered the command to close the Focus Mask over the end of the dew shield, and clicked on the focus setting on my MMEC app.  Then I remotely adjusted the focus until the mid-line was between the X of the other two diffraction patterns.

Then a thought occurred to me ... whether it might be useful to have a dark frame image at x1024 for the Super.  So I got my felt pouch and put it over the focus mask, entered the command to close the Mask over the end of the dew shield, and waited for the image to appear.  Here are pics of the Remote Dark Mask open and closed over the end of the dew shield.

Now with no light entering the telescope, the next image I saw was dark.  I mean really dark.  The Micro Super has virtually no amp glow!  And to my surprise I did not see any hot pixels either (camera pixels that are stuck on and look like small stars)!  It was about 50 degrees outside at this time.  I even used the MiloSlick software to scan the image for hot pixels and it did not find any.   This just reinforced my opinion that the MallinCam Micro is a great entry level video astronomy camera, especially the Micro-Super!

I also felt good about how the Remote Focus Mask and Remote Dark Mask concept actually worked in the field.  But by this time it was way past my bedtime and I had to defer its further testing to another night. 

Thursday and Friday nights


Unfortunately Wednesday night at ECVAR had some clouds, but Thursday and Friday evenings were great and made up for it.  On Thursday I had my main telescope set up with the following equipment:

• Celestron CG-5 Equatorial Mount
• Celestron 8” Telescope
• JMI Motofocus with PCFC for remote focusing
• NexGen MAXfield 0.33X Telecompressor
• MallinCam X2 Deluxe with Class 0 sensor
• StarSense AutoAlign accessory
• Celestron GPS accessory
• MallinCam Micro-EX on Orion 50mm finder scope
• Powered Hub at scope with single USB cable to MS Surface Pro 2
• MiloSlick for video and X2 control, MMEC for Micro Control and Starry Night to control the mount

 

The NexGen Focal reducer essentially converts my C8 F10 telescope to F3.3.  The single USB cable from the powered hub at the telescope enables me to operate underneath a nearby canopy, or using an active USB extension cable I can move inside for warmer viewing.

Here are some of the screen grabs of the near real time images I saw on my screen. Keep in mind these are "live" views at 10-20 second update intervals with no stacking or post processing.

M27 Dumbbell Planetary Nebula

M57 Ring Nebula

NGC6946 Fireworks Galaxy

M92 Globular Cluster in Hercules

M103  (Can you see the "Micro dipper")

NGC891 Edge-on Spiral Galaxy

M33 Pinwheel Galaxy

NGC 6888 Crescent Nebula

NGC6992 Veil nebula

Thursday and Friday nights at ECVAR were the best skies I have ever been under for Video Astronomy!

Later Friday night  I also tried out the SkyRaider DSc with a MFR-3 focal reducer and 5mm spacer on my Celestron 5" with my SkyProdigy Alt-Az mount.

After using my Remote Focus Mask to achieve a good focus, I placed the black felt pouch over the mask to convert it to a Remote Dark Mask.  I typed my close command on my laptop to move the Remote Dark Mask over the end of the dew shield, and captured three (quality=3) 60 second dark exposures as suggested by Chris A (even though my planned viewing exposures were 15-20 seconds).  Chris has found that these initial set of dark exposures typically are good for the evening, unless the temperature changes drastically over 5 degrees or you go over 2 hours of viewing.  If new darks are needed later, I can just type the command to close the Remote Dark Mask and take a new set.  I left the histogram and other settings at their default values for the dark capture process.

I then typed the open command on my laptop to remove the Remote Dark Mask from the end of the dew shield for normal viewing. I enabled the Dark Field Correction for viewing all images and adjusted the real time histogram as needed for each target.

Here are some image grabs (no stacking or post processing) using the MC DSc on my smaller 5” Celestron.

M27 Dumbbell

M57 Ring Nebula

NGC 891 Galaxy

M33 Pinwheel

NGC 6992 Veil

NGC6888 Crescent