Fordracer1
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 12/05/04
Posts: 830
Loc: Springfield, MO
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I have really been having fun recently with my new Hyperstar set up. So far I have just been shooting in Alt-Az mode playing around to learn the setup. I plan on getting serious here shortly. The combination of B. mask, Live view and Hyperstar make everything about imaging easier. Focus is quick and easy, extremely short exposures can produce good results (at least on fairly bright objects), the F2 ratio and focal length are very forgiving. Quite a change from my usual 2-4 hours of 10 minute subs. Here are some pics:
First the rig - a Nexstar 11 Carbon Fiber GPS with Hyperstar:
These were all taken with the above NS11/Canon 40D combo in Alt/Az mode processed with Images Plus using only a quick DDP and in some cases a slight boost to color, brightness, or both. No tweaking in Photoshop at all.
M42 from last Friday (9/25/9) 20x35sec Total exposure 11min 40sec low on horizon.
Need some short (a couple of seconds) exposures to layer mask over the seriously burned out core.
M8 and M20 (poorly framed) from a couple of weeks ago 20x35sec 11min 40sec total
M45 Pleaides last Friday (9/25/9) 20x35sec 11min 40sec Total exposure
M31 from last Saturday (9/26/9) with the 1st Quarter Moon high in the sky!! I was surprised this turned out so well. 20x35sec 11min 40sec total
NGC1499 (poorly framed) 30x35sec 17min 30sec Total exposure
IC5070 Pelican Nebula (some field rotation issues) 30x35sec 17min 30sec Total exposure
I can even get Hydrogen Alpha images in 90-120 seconds with a 6nm filter!!
I really love my Hyperstar! I am going to mount it on my EQ in the observatory in the next few days so I can do ultra long 2-3 minute exposures! (at least if the chip doesn't saturate before that!!)
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John Moody
Losmandy G-11
Orion 8" Newt w/Moonlite CR1 motofocus
Baader MPCC
NS11 GPS Starbright Carbon Fiber
Orion 120ST
Meade 5000 80/480 Triplet APO
WO .8 Reducer
15X70 & 25X100 SkyMasters
Modded Canon 40D
Stiletto IV Pro
WO Binoviewer
http://panthercreekastro.mysite.com
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Fordracer1
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 12/05/04
Posts: 830
Loc: Springfield, MO
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Forgot to say that I just added a Hyperstar gallery to my website. Here is the link:
Hyperstar Gallery
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John Moody
Losmandy G-11
Orion 8" Newt w/Moonlite CR1 motofocus
Baader MPCC
NS11 GPS Starbright Carbon Fiber
Orion 120ST
Meade 5000 80/480 Triplet APO
WO .8 Reducer
15X70 & 25X100 SkyMasters
Modded Canon 40D
Stiletto IV Pro
WO Binoviewer
http://panthercreekastro.mysite.com
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Skyshooter
member
Reged: 04/07/08
Posts: 48
Loc: S. Utah, U.S.A.
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Dang, gotta love the short exposure times! Great images. Your gonna enjoy that setup!
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C8 SCT, f/6.3 reducer, WO ZS66SD
Losmandy GM8, SSAG, Canon XS (stock)
Toshiba NB205 (field computer)
DSS, PS Elements 7, Bahtinov Mask
Plethora of eyepieces and lots of patience !
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Fordracer1
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 12/05/04
Posts: 830
Loc: Springfield, MO
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Skyshooter - I am having a blast with this thing! It is really amazing to see objects in 35 second raw subs that I would normally need several minute subs for.
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John Moody
Losmandy G-11
Orion 8" Newt w/Moonlite CR1 motofocus
Baader MPCC
NS11 GPS Starbright Carbon Fiber
Orion 120ST
Meade 5000 80/480 Triplet APO
WO .8 Reducer
15X70 & 25X100 SkyMasters
Modded Canon 40D
Stiletto IV Pro
WO Binoviewer
http://panthercreekastro.mysite.com
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Samir Kharusi
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 06/14/05
Posts: 989
Loc: Oman
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It really is a bit strange that there is still reluctance to adopt the Hyperstar by every owner of a C11 or C14. The C8 is too small for a DSLR. I find it truly a disruptive optical breakthrough, outperforming many an APO costing far more. Your alt-az captures are pushing the envelope even further. Well done.
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Bored? Peruse my website:
http://www.samirkharusi.net/
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guyroch
sage
Reged: 01/22/08
Posts: 255
Loc: Ottawa, Canada
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M42 looks awesome. Hard to beat a fast F2. Glad you're having a blast, I've always aksed myself how much light is blocked by having the camera mounted upfront. Apparently it does not have a negative impact given the fast f2. Thanks for sharing.
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Skywatcher 750mm 6" Reflector f/5
Celestron CG5-GT mount
Orion ST80 + SSAG autoguider + PHD
Canon 40D (unmod) + TC-80N3 remote timer
Astronomik CLS clip filter
Orion SkyGlow light polution filter
Orion AccuFocus + homemade Bahtinov mask
Bushnell 8x42 h2o® Waterproof Binoculars
Sky Atlas 2000.0 Field Version (Laminated)
Plenty of patience and a wife that doesn’t quite understand my love for clear skies, but let’s me go out anyway ~ thanks honey bunny 
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Samir Kharusi
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 06/14/05
Posts: 989
Loc: Oman
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One of the smaller DSLRs, eg the 1000D, 450D, 500D cover even less of the aperture than the 40D used here. Some people are very fussy and do not wish to see any spikes at all. To do this you cut a paper donut mask for the SCT that makes the shadow of the camera totally circular. Using an internal battery and a cable such as a TC-80N3 cuddled up against the DSLR means that there are no cables at all coming from the camera and nil diffraction spikes. With a 500D the total (circular) obstruction is then 6" diameter and that leaves 67 sq inches clear aperture. That is 4.9x what an FSQ106 has. I.e. you still capture photons at 4.9x the rate that a high end, premium APO costing a lot more can, and with much shorter subs. With some care in collimation and tracking, the image field in a crop DSLR is exquisite. Recall that C11s on-axis are diffraction limited and the Hyperstar really does give a very flat image field. I'd say close to perfect with the C14 I use. A C14 Hyperstar captures photons at 4.6x the rate a 150mm APO does...
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Bored? Peruse my website:
http://www.samirkharusi.net/
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Mobius1
professor emeritus
Reged: 08/28/05
Posts: 700
Loc: Madison, WI / Gurnee, IL
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You're tempting me to take the plunge as well : ) I just don't know what I would end up doing for galaxies, that FOV is absolutely huge!
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Martin
William Optics 66SD
Orion 100ED
Orion 120-ST EQ
PST-Ha
Celestron CGE 1100
Canon Rebel XSI with Astronomik filters
DSI-IIC
Homemade spectroscope in progress...
Yerkes Observatory Volunteer
(24" Cass on weekends)
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JPGriffin
member
Reged: 05/13/09
Posts: 37
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I have almost the exact same set up, except replace the 40D with a 20Da.
Here is a sample of what I accomplished with 30 second subs and alt-az tracking.
Edited by JPGriffin (09/29/09 01:31 AM)
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Nils_Lars
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/04/08
Posts: 3459
Loc: Santa Cruz Mountains , CA
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Amazing 30 sec shots , I cant believe what you guys are doing with that set up.
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Erik
Orion Atlas Self Hypertuned (EQMOD)
Orion ED 80
Williams Optics VII reducer
Celestron 8" SCT
Orion Starshoot Autoguider
PHD guide
Canon 400D Hap Griffin Mod w/Baader filter
Astronomik clip-in LP filter and 12nm Ha
Stilleto CVF and Bahtinov mask
Tamron 75-300mm&28-80mm lenses
NexImage webcam
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31986095@N05/
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Tonk
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/19/04
Posts: 4358
Loc: Leeds, UK, 54N
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Cool results - I'm becoming convinced.
Would this set up work for a meade 10" LX200? or is thr 10" apperture too restricted for a DSLR?
PS - don't forget to flip your images - they are all mirror reversed
PPS - your M42 image missed capturing comet 217P Linear by about 6 arc min - just off top left corner of the image shame 
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Televue 85, GM-8/Gemini, Canon 40D (unmodded), Canon 450D (modded w/Astronomiks clip-ins - UV/IR, OWB)
Coronado SM60/BF10, Baader Herschel Wedge
Leeds Sky Clock Ripon Sky Clock
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Stardaug
professor emeritus
Reged: 08/03/08
Posts: 531
Loc: Ontario, Canada
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Wow! Outstanding images for just 11 minutes worth. I had been contemplating a hyperstar but decided against it due to having an 8in CPC. I figured the obstruction would be to great with my Canon 350XT in front. Still, is tempting. Beats spending hours and hours on an object. Although the results hours of photon collecting through a hyperstar might be interesting.
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"Keep looking up!"
Shawn / Ontario, Canada
Celestron CPC800 SCT w/XLT & GPS // Skywatcher Equinox 80ED F6.25 500mm APO // Canon Rebel 350XT unmodded // Milburn EQ Wedge (a Meade model modified to fit my CPC)
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Samir Kharusi
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 06/14/05
Posts: 989
Loc: Oman
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This is where things can go awry. Many people see the Hyperstar as a quickie imaging system. Yes, but it can also be a superb, deep imaging system. Celestron should provide one as a gift to the likes of Gendler or Hallas and get a huge boost in advert cred. Like for SBIG, "One picture is worth a thousand words..." The Hyperstar at f1.9 or f2.0 affords you very short subs, around 30 to 60 sec each even at the darkest sites. But because it is on large diameter OTAs one is also tempted to cut on integration time. For the best images, do not! Three to 5 hours integration on a C11 Hyperstar is equivalent to 15+hours using a 4" APO. And that's do-able in a single session. Now we are talking of seriously deep imaging that has so far been the reserve of only a handful of top imagers with remotely-operated observatories.
Remote galaxies: simply crop! On typical current DSLRs your Hyperstar is sampling at 2 arc-sec per pixel or less. Crop down to 1200x800 pixels and most of the popular galaxies can be framed quite nicely on a one-megapixel frame. Just stick to the usual discipline; dark site, exquisite tracking, ample integration time, plenty of darks, flats and bias. But because it is such a fantastic system we can also get quite sloppy, at a light polluted site, and still get satisfying images that are well out of reach of premium APOs. Try using alt-az tracking on an APO...
I wish I could play with my C14 Hyperstar at a dark site in the mountains, just 2 hours' drive away, but laziness is a killer for most hobbies 
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Bored? Peruse my website:
http://www.samirkharusi.net/
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Fordracer1
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 12/05/04
Posts: 830
Loc: Springfield, MO
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Thanks for the comments guys! I have been playing around in Alt-Az mode and taking the setup to club star parties which I don't usually get to attend and it is fun to be able to image more objects per night than usual - I usually get 1. However Samir is right - there is no reason not to go deep with a Hyperstar as well. Most of the reason I have been using it on the forks is that my observatory PC and G11 drive controller board got zapped by lightning the week before I picked up the NS11. Now that I have both items reapired I am hoping this week or this weekend to get the OTA de-forked and on my EQ in the observatory. Once I do that I will start shooting my usual routine of 4 hours or so per object. It will also allow me to do more Hydrogen Alpha shots. I can get OK HA images at 90 seconds, but in Alt-Az only certain areas of the sky will allow that without too much field rotation. I am hoping once I get the thing EQ mounted to get some HA RGB images and some deeper, smoother, less noisy images. I will also be paying more attention to framing and so on as I have always had to do with my smaller FOV 8" newt. Also I will probably try some mosaics of some areas with lots of interesting objects in them.
As Samir said you can certainly crop to get smaller objects like distant galaxies. Just look at JP's Eagle above. Having shot this same object I can tell you that is a pretty tight crop from a much larger FOV. Also don't forget that you can still shoot at the scopes native focal length and also at F6.3 with a reducer. Of course the usual issues of a better mount, guiding, etc will crop back up but still it makes this setup pretty versatile. 2800mm F10, 1764mm F6.3 and 560mm F2. Pretty hard to beat from a single scope!
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John Moody
Losmandy G-11
Orion 8" Newt w/Moonlite CR1 motofocus
Baader MPCC
NS11 GPS Starbright Carbon Fiber
Orion 120ST
Meade 5000 80/480 Triplet APO
WO .8 Reducer
15X70 & 25X100 SkyMasters
Modded Canon 40D
Stiletto IV Pro
WO Binoviewer
http://panthercreekastro.mysite.com
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Alex Post
sage
Reged: 09/24/08
Posts: 454
Loc: Iowa, USA
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Oh my goodness. Seeing is believing. DSLR with a Hyperstar... Has anyone tried 8" scopes yet in a similar configuration?
Thank you John for inspiration.
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Bino: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, WO Binoviewer
Scope: Celestron NexStar 8SE, Stellarvue 9x50 Finder
EP: Hyperion 8mm 13mm 2x21mm(bino), 14/28mm FTRs, StellarVue 23mm with Rigel Pulse Guide
Misc: William Optics 2" Dielectric, DewBuster, Celestron f/6.3 FLR, Canon 300D and XSi, JMI Motofocus, Hutech IDAS LPS 2"
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JPGriffin
member
Reged: 05/13/09
Posts: 37
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I couldn't agree more with Samir's post. I have had this set up for a little less than 2 months and I am still in the phase of learning tight collimation and focusing. Being able to get some really nice pictures with 10 minutes of imaging time is a nice way to keep the motivation going! But I am itching to go deeper to see what this baby can do.
My next task is learning solid polar alignment. I should be ready to take some really deep pictures once the sky conditions get better here in sunny, humid central Florida.
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QueueCT
super member
Reged: 06/25/08
Posts: 100
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Alex--
I don't believe that the 8" Hyperstar will accept a DSLR.
John
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DHB001
super member
Reged: 07/07/09
Posts: 145
Loc: The Netherlands
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Impressive results, John! Opens a world of new opportunities. I should think that mosaics of large areas like Orion's belt and sword would be nice projects to tackle with such a fast and relatively widefield setup. 
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Regards,
Boy
C6 SCT @ AS-GT mount
SW 70/500 guide scope
Canon Rebel XS / EOS 1000D, self modded
Astronomik CLS EOS clip filter
Orion SSAG, PHD guide
Bahtinov focusing mask
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guyroch
sage
Reged: 01/22/08
Posts: 255
Loc: Ottawa, Canada
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Okay, all of you have been praising John all along but I think it's time to hear the truth once and for all. 
If you all think that the hyperstar is the way to go and that this thread is enough to make you a believer then... 
... you are right, I'm from the believer camp too 
Awesome results John! Looks darn promising. Thanks for sharing. 
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Skywatcher 750mm 6" Reflector f/5
Celestron CG5-GT mount
Orion ST80 + SSAG autoguider + PHD
Canon 40D (unmod) + TC-80N3 remote timer
Astronomik CLS clip filter
Orion SkyGlow light polution filter
Orion AccuFocus + homemade Bahtinov mask
Bushnell 8x42 h2o® Waterproof Binoculars
Sky Atlas 2000.0 Field Version (Laminated)
Plenty of patience and a wife that doesn’t quite understand my love for clear skies, but let’s me go out anyway ~ thanks honey bunny
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Fordracer1
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 12/05/04
Posts: 830
Loc: Springfield, MO
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Again thanks for the kind words everybody! If you have been doing "conventional" astrophotography with "slow" F4/F5/F6.3/F7.5 or similar scopes you will really be blown away by a Hyperstar system. In Alt-Az mode the setup is pretty portable, setup is quick, no polar alignment necessary, no guiding, etc. Even with the short exposures dictated by Alt-Az and with only 10-15 minutes total exposure you can get decent data. I don't have more than 5-10 minutes processing time on any of the images seen here. It is mostly just DDP in Images Plus and in a couple of cases a color and/or brightness increase also in IP.
The two drawbacks to the system are:
1) It is a bit expensive if you don't already have a compatible SCT although if you count the cost of a quality EQ mount, guidescope, autoguider, etc it is darn reasonable.
2) You will need a TREMENDOUS amount of disk space to process your images! At last month's club star party I shot 312 subs and I only imaged until just after midnight and that was in between looking through other people's scopes and talking about Hyperstar!! I am pretty sure once I get this thing on my EQ mount in the observatory and start shooting 4 hours or more per object I am going to have to buy a large drive and dedicate it just to processing!
I can definitely say that if you already have a C11 or C14 and you image that you would be crazy not to buy a Hyperstar. I also think that for someone starting out in imaging Hyperstar makes it pretty easy compared to most other imaging setups. Also now that the Edge HD scopes are out the market for used Fastar compatible Celestrons should be pretty good for those looking to buy one.
If the weather cooperates I plan on posting some images shot with the NS11 on my EQ and with a few hours total exposure in the near future to show just what this puppy can do!
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John Moody
Losmandy G-11
Orion 8" Newt w/Moonlite CR1 motofocus
Baader MPCC
NS11 GPS Starbright Carbon Fiber
Orion 120ST
Meade 5000 80/480 Triplet APO
WO .8 Reducer
15X70 & 25X100 SkyMasters
Modded Canon 40D
Stiletto IV Pro
WO Binoviewer
http://panthercreekastro.mysite.com
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