GRAS Revisited!

[Tachyon]

I have decided to stop investing in Astrophotographic equipment. The reason is that I am too lazy to do the set-ups, and most of my AP equipment is either unused or underused.

As such, I have gone back to GRAS (previously RASO). I was surprised at the improvements made in the 1-2 years since I last used it! It is now much easier, and auto-guiding is much simpler!

To give you an idea, this is the log of actual run of a single shot which I took of the Horsehead Nebula. Note the steps needed to take a photo, which is fully automated:

01:58:57 This plan has 1 live target(s), 1 images
01:58:57 There are 5.0 min. of actual imaging time
01:58:57 Image file set-numbers start with 1
01:58:57 Pointing exposures:
01:58:57 Exposure Interval = 20
01:58:57 Min brightness = 0
01:58:57 Sigma = 3
01:58:57 Cat max mag = 18
01:58:57 Final exposures:
01:58:57 (plate solving is disabled)
01:58:57 Starting run for plan last-plan-from-web.txt...
01:58:57 ==== Starting target IC434 ====
01:58:57 ;
01:58:57 ; Single target color series plan by XXX, created Sat, 24 Jan 2009 01:58:51 UTC
01:58:57 ;
01:58:57 Start slew to Focusing Zone.....
01:59:02 (wait for slew to complete)
01:59:19 (slew complete)
01:59:19 Do requested auto-focus...
01:59:20 (using Clear filter for auto-focus)
01:59:22 Search 5 deg-square area for suitable target stars
01:59:24 250 mag 6-9 catalog stars found.
01:59:24 Found mag 6.0 star, nothing within 82 arcsec.
01:59:24 Using star at mag 6.0, exposure 1 sec. Slew to star.
01:59:24 Start slew to AutoFocus...
01:59:30 (wait for slew to complete)
01:59:31 (slew complete)
01:59:31 Starting Autofocus...
01:59:31
01:59:31 System: G4_Epsilon250
01:59:31 ** Beginning Focus run **
01:59:31 LS: -0.061743 RS: 0.061737 PID: 3.94 NFHFD: 10
01:59:32 Move direction: Out
01:59:32 Filter number = 3
01:59:32 Current position = 1066
01:59:32 Focus Start: 850
01:59:35 Exposing Central Region = 35% of CCD width
01:59:40 Target star found at X = 737, Y = 391
01:59:40 Focus exposures will be 1.00 sec
01:59:44 Position , HFD , Mean Best Focus , X , Y , Flux
01:59:44 850 , 13.15 , 0 , 738 , 392 , 551363
01:59:48 901 , 10.37 , 0 , 739 , 396 , 557225
01:59:48 On correct side of focus
01:59:48 At Near Focus
01:59:48 Position , HFD , Mean Best Focus , X , Y , Flux
01:59:48 901 , 10.37 , 1067 , 739 , 396 , 557225
01:59:52 901 , 9.94 , 1063 , 739 , 396 , 480785
01:59:55 901 , 10.18 , 1064 , 739 , 396 , 548462
01:59:58 901 , 10.18 , 1064 , 739 , 396 , 607421
02:00:02 901 , 9.72 , 1062 , 739 , 396 , 627839
02:00:02 Best Focus is: 1062
02:00:07 1062 , 3.06 , 1062 , 739 , 396 , 602390
02:00:08 Focusing Completed
02:00:08 Focus time = 37 sec
02:00:10 FocusMax auto-focus successful!
02:00:10 HFD = 3.06
02:00:10 Focus position = 1062
02:00:10 Slewing back to original position...
02:00:10 Start slew to AF return...
02:00:15 (wait for slew to complete)
02:00:16 (slew complete)
02:00:16 Autofocus finished.
02:00:16 Start slew to IC434...
02:00:20 (wait for slew to complete)
02:00:41 (slew complete)
02:00:41 (request plan-start pointing update)
02:00:41 Ready for IC434 (# 1 of 1 in set 1)
02:00:41 Doing auto-center...
02:00:41 (using Clear filter for pointing exposure)
02:00:41 (taking 20 sec. exposure, Clear filter, binning = 2)
02:01:06 (start image download...)
02:01:14 Calibrating image...
02:01:15 FITS File Saved
02:01:16 Saved FITS Header Keys
02:01:17 Plate-solve pointing image.
02:01:18 190 image stars found
02:01:18 Trying to plate solve last exposure...
02:01:19 Plate Solved! 56 stars matched.
02:01:19 Average residual is 0.92 arcsec.
02:01:19 Pointing error is 3.206 arcmin @ angle 181.61
02:01:19 True focal length is 84.2 cm.
02:01:19 True image center (J2000): 05h 40m 59.5s -02° 30' 12.31"
02:01:19 Imager sky position angle is 359.5 deg.
02:01:19 Internal guider, always re-slew
02:01:19 Re-slew to target.
02:01:19 Start slew to IC434...
02:01:24 (wait for slew to complete)
02:01:25 (slew complete)
02:01:25 Target is now centered.
02:01:25 Using Clear filter for imaging
02:01:25 (long exp(s) or requested, no orbital tracking, trying to autoguide)
02:01:26 (flushing autoguider)
02:01:33 (exposing autoguider for 15 seconds)
02:01:50 [guider] Star at [220, 171] ADU=64458
02:01:50 [guider] BackGndADU = 2772 StarADU = 64458 Star SNR = 23
02:01:50 (guide star new estimiated SNR=7.8 X=220 Y=171)
02:02:36 (autoguiding at 5.00 sec.)
02:02:36 Imaging to G4-andrewsoh-IC434-E-300-C-10-X1-Clear-001-UT020236
02:02:36 (taking 300 sec. exposure, Clear filter, binning = 1)
02:07:56 (start image download...)
02:08:08 FITS File Saved
02:08:09 Saved FITS Header Keys
02:08:13 Calibrated FITS Image
02:08:15 Saved Calibrated FITS Image
02:08:15 Calibrated Image FITS Keys Updated
02:08:17 (Creating Preview Image)
02:08:17 Removed Old Preview Image
02:08:18 Resized Image
02:08:21 DDP Preview Image
02:08:21 Saved Preview Image
02:08:27 (Finished Preview Image)
02:08:27 Preview image created
02:08:30 Image file ZIP-compressed
02:08:30 (autoguider stopped)
02:08:30 (turning tracking off for safety)
02:08:31 End of run.
02:08:31 The previous script has finished.
02:08:31
02:08:31 ---> No Script is Running <---
ACP console log closed 24-Jan-2009 02:08:31 UTC

The image is HERE - only anti-blooming, screen stretch and resizing done to convert from FITS to JPG.

[Tachyon]

NGC2070 using the GRAS scope in Australia: Click here!

Total exposure time:

L: 6x30s, 3x300s
R: 6x30s, 3x300s
G: 6x30s
B: 6x30s, 3x300s

(Due to a technical problem with the scope, I had to switch over to Photometric filters for the long exposures, hence I could not complete the green series)