I picked up a new telescope for my Birthday, the SVBONY SV555 Astrophotography Telescope. The SVBONY SV555 is an F/4.5 widefield APO lens with a 54mm aperture and a 243mm focal length. I ordered it while we were down on Ocracoke Island for vacation and it was delivered the day after we got back. I also picked up the SVBONY SV241 Pro Power Management Box and to keep from having to move the EAF between my SV503 and the new SV555 I picked up another ZWO EAF.
I mounted the new EAF (the SV555 includes the bracket, gear, and belt you need to mount up the EAF). I moved the ZWO ASI 294 Camera and the SV165 guide scope with the OSSAG from the SV503 to the SV555. I gathered the required cables to wire everything neatly into the new SVBONY SV241 Pro Power Management Box. Once I hade everything wired up I set up a new profile in NINA for the new scope and tested out all the connectivity options. Pretty handy to be able to control power from NINA. I am still waiting the cable to power the mount, but once I have that I should be able to connect everything with a single power cable and one USB3 cable connecting to the mini-PC. Look for another post with a bit more details on the SV241 Pro and setting it up in NINA soon.
Set up 0 and max steps on the EAF. I shot a few different dark runs and just messed around with NINA’s flats wizard, just making sure all works as expected. While I had things set up in the office I also updated all the software, drivers, NINA plugins, and such. Once I had everything cabled up, updated, and working like I wanted I moved the setup from my office to the back driveway hoping for a clear sky to get a peak at a few stars.
First light!
There were a lot of clouds. Just after dark I was able to get pretty good focus and an OK polar alignment, but clouds filled the sky and I almost called it a night. A little after 10 PM the sky cleared up a bit so I slewed the scope over to the Veil Nebula the supernova remnant in Cygnus. I also fired up a Night Skies Network session to share the first light through the new scope.
I installed a new Live Stack Plugin available for NINA, so tried that out. Had no idea what I was doing and I am pretty sure I don’t have it optimally configured, but I was able to live stack the sequence as it was being captured.
I am going to tinker with the NINA live stack settings a bit – like adding a master dark for calibration. Really cool that there is an option to live stack in NINA.
| Primary (Imaging) | Secondary (Guiding) |
|---|---|
| Scope: SVBONY SV555 Astrophotography Telescope, 54mm f/4.5 (243mm Focal Length) Reducer/Flattener: None Filter: ZWO Duo Band 2″ Filter Camera: ZWO ASI294 MC Pro, Cooled to 0 C Focuser: ZWO EAF Mount: Sky Watcher EQ6-R Pro |
Scope: SVBONY SV165 Guide Scope – 30mm, F/4 (120mm Focal length) Camera: Orion Star Shooter Autoguider (OSSAG) |
| Telescope Control, Image Acquisition, and Image Processing Software | |
|
Power: SVBONY SV241 Pro Power Management Box Equipment Control and Imaging Software: NINA/PHD2/ASCOM on a Mini-PC Processing Software: PixInsight |
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I was able to capture 30 minutes of the Veil Nebula, 10 x 180 second exposures at 121 gain/30 offset, before more clouds moved. Stacked using WBPP in PixInsight calibrating the lights with the darks I captured when the scope was set up in the office. Then I ran Kstevica’s Lazy Stretch against the stacked image.
Great field of view containing the entire Cygnus Loop including the Western Veil (NGC 6960 – bottom), the Eastern Veil (NGC 6992, NGC 6995, and IC 1340 – top), Pickering’s Triangle, NGC 6974, NGC 6979, and the Southeastern knot.
Pretty nice for just 30 minutes of data with passing clouds. A nice flat field into every corner… stars look nice and round all the way to the corners and good color. Can’t wait to get a full night of capturing light through this scope.
Looking forward to the next clear night…
