12 replies to this topic

[racunniff]

I'm sure I'm not the only person to attempt this. Feel free to add to the post, regardless of which smart scope you use!

 

Arguably, it is cheating, since we are using the telescope to automagically find and image each object. But there is still a lot of manual effort involved, since local circumstances (trees, clouds, etc.) will require you to adjust your schedule on the fly. I started with the schedule at https://www.messier-...ssier-marathon/, allocated 3 minutes per object (to allow for a 3-hour break at midnight) and adjusted as needed. My adjusted schedule is at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13wv0y3jeXpS2cxoY4p5cuA1Zykqhtx0W/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=105375012512636970462&rtpof=true&sd=true - I calculated rise/set times and az/alt at my scheduled times to help with scope placement as well as schedule tweaking. I did a lot of tweaking around due south since there was a large tree that direction - I did not stick strictly to the schedule.

 

This is with a Celestron Origin. The exposures vary widely because of networking glitches, trying to keep up with the schedule, etc. I did manage to get a 2-hour break in the middle to get a little shut-eye. Images with an asterisk '*' were partially or almost completely obscured by trees / dusk / dawn / etc.

 

300 PPI poster is at https://photos.app.g...vCfvxSkb1S4BWt7

 

Edited by racunniff, 27 March 2025 - 11:27 AM.

[WillR]

That's kind of a cool idea. I know from my latitude and location, a complete visually observed marathon is impossible. Nice job!

[RyanSem]

Alright this is awesome, and the photos are actually incredible too. Well done!

[TOMDEY]

Sure --- you could entirely automate it and just relax in a chair reading a book... just getting up when the buzzer invites you back to the eyepiece. I've considered doing that to define and then immediately win the award for a complete Messier Marathon comprising the least time at the eyepiece. My guess I could achieve that in something less than an adjudicated/witnessed/certified 30 total minutes at the eyepiece --- possibly as little as 15 minutes.    Tom

 

But... now that I've solved the challenge --- I grow weary --- and go on to something else.     Tom, the theoretical winner

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[rob1986]

We could use more tickertape parades

[racunniff]

Sure --- you could entirely automate it and just relax in a chair reading a book... just getting up when the buzzer invites you back to the eyepiece. I've considered doing that to define and then immediately win the award for a complete Messier Marathon comprising the least time at the eyepiece. My guess I could achieve that in something less than an adjudicated/witnessed/certified 30 total minutes at the eyepiece --- possibly as little as 15 minutes.    Tom

 

But... now that I've solved the challenge --- I grow weary --- and go on to something else.     Tom, the theoretical winner

 

As I said, it is arguably cheating. But it was a lot more than "just getting up when the buzzer invites you back". There was a lot of planning involved - see my spreadsheet here which I spent a couple of weeks of free time creating and refining - and dynamic adjustments on the fly when it became clear objects near the horizon would be obscured by trees - so moving observing times around to avoid those obstructions.

 

Also, the state of the technology is not actually anywhere close to "relax in a chair reading a book" - I had to babysit it to make sure it was imaging properly, that it was not suffering from cord wrap, and that the image was of acceptable quality to move along to the next one. Maybe someday you'll be able to tell your telescope, "Telescope, image all the Messier objects the night of March 26 and give me the assembled collage in the morning" but today is not that day :-)

 

Finally, if people are not fond of computer-controlled mounts and imaging (nothing wrong with being in favor of the classic plywood ATM build, I've built two), I think this is probably the wrong subtopic for them...

[TOMDEY]

I don't think its cheating --- just optimizing. I'm not minimizing your laudable effort and accomplishment. It's a very interesting topic! I was involved in satellite imaging for decades... where the task was to continuously gobble up as much quality imagery as possible and immediately pass it on to the people who needed it. That was a delightful nightmare... routine but stressful. There's lots of material and discussion within the geodesy and space exploration community available on the web... couple of other's tutorial thumbnails from one of the sites here, to get the flavour of the discussions. My participation was mostly as a mathematician, but also the optical imaging systems themselves, and of course the GPS coordination in that context.    Tom

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[racunniff]

I don't think its cheating --- just optimizing. I'm not minimizing your laudable effort and accomplishment. It's a very interesting topic! I was involved in satellite imaging for decades... where the task was to continuously gobble up as much quality imagery as possible and immediately pass it on to the people who needed it. That was a delightful nightmare... routine but stressful. There's lots of material and discussion within the geodesy and space exploration community available on the web... couple of other's tutorial thumbnails from one of the sites here, to get the flavour of the discussions. My participation was mostly as a mathematician, but also the optical imaging systems themselves, and of course the GPS coordination in that context.    Tom

Very cool! I had some very early exposure to satellite imaging planning when I interned at JPL in 1983 - I wrote some FORTRAN to produce plots of valid observing times and downlink times for an orbiting observatory. Had to avoid the Earth, Moon, and Sun, if I recall correctly, and it could not downlink to TDRSS at the same time it was imaging...

[TOMDEY]

Very cool! I had some very early exposure to satellite imaging planning when I interned at JPL in 1983 - I wrote some FORTRAN to produce plots of valid observing times and downlink times for an orbiting observatory. Had to avoid the Earth, Moon, and Sun, if I recall correctly, and it could not downlink to TDRSS at the same time it was imaging...

Yes! - love that stuff. I did some very very early Fortran graphics development way back when. I fondly recall that this one single data plot took overnight to run the one single plot. The derivation and code were my own vector-space math, and the machine was the IBM 370 Mainframe. Back then (1970's ?) nearly all of the engineers and scientists wrote their own algorithms and code. The punch cards had lots of other uses in the labs.

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[jkelly]

Last night, I did a practice session with the Seestar S50 running ALP in EQ mode.

I did about 65 before weather shut us down. (2:00 a.m.)

I did some manually, some from a running schedule and then some manual pickups as needed.

Lots of fun.

 

I ran 3 min exposures, which turned out to be about 2.5 minutes per target after dithering etc.

Going forward I will lesson the time on some targets and add to other targets.

I'll only shoot one sub when multiple targets are contained in the same view.

And I will change the order of some targets to allow time for their rise from the east.

 

Here is a pdf of the unprocessed S50 jpg images.

 

https://drive.google...iew?usp=sharing

 

Jeff

[racunniff]

Last night, I did a practice session with the Seestar S50 running ALP in EQ mode.

I did about 65 before weather shut us down. (2:00 a.m.)

I did some manually, some from a running schedule and then some manual pickups as needed.

Lots of fun.

 

I ran 3 min exposures, which turned out to be about 2.5 minutes per target after dithering etc.

Going forward I will lesson the time on some targets and add to other targets.

I'll only shoot one sub when multiple targets are contained in the same view.

And I will change the order of some targets to allow time for their rise from the east.

 

Here is a pdf of the unprocessed S50 jpg images.

 

https://drive.google...iew?usp=sharing

 

Jeff

Nice! Yes, I forgot to mention, you can gain a bit of time by imaging, e.g., M65 and M66 in the same frame. I did this a few times. I got very lucky with the weather!

[jkelly]

I hope to finish the list tonight. Starting 3:30 a.m.
Then get ready for April.

[jkelly]

Stuck at 105 till the new moon.