EAA Double Star Challenge - Level 30

[Xio1996]

Hi Everyone,

First of all, thank you for creating this great challenge. The first observing session was really fun and I managed to get through a number of objects. Well, enough for the Level 30 award, I hope

I decided to kick things off with the binocular list. My scope is a CPC-800 currently operating at F6, with a Player One Ares-C PRO camera and SharpCap. I recreated the binocular list in AstroPlanner, and started the fun at 20:00 UTC. It was a bit of overkill, but I used 5 seconds subs and aimed for around 2 minutes total exposure on each object. With the colour boosted in SharpCap and using the Weiner Deconvolution enhancement the stars colours came through. There was some cloud that started to interfere with play towards the end of the session. The last observation was at 23:12 UTC. I had managed to observe 39 objects. A long the way I used Stelle Doppie to explore some of the star systems I was observing.

Please find the nights observing log and images on my OneDrive as a pdf file (27 MB).

EAA Double Star Challenge (Binocular List) 39 Objects

Many thanks again for an enjoyable observing challenge, and still loads more objects to explore

Have fun.

Pete

[messier 111]

congratulations on this start of the challenge, thx Pete .

[Bigzmey]

Great progress Pete! Love your images and presentation style. Kudos on using Stelle Doppie. Many doubles on the challenge lists have additional components which we don't require to observe for the challenge, just to keep it simple. However, they are certainly fun to pursue.

[Xio1996]

Great progress Pete! Love your images and presentation style. Kudos on using Stelle Doppie. Many doubles on the challenge lists have additional components which we don't require to observe for the challenge, just to keep it simple. However, they are certainly fun to pursue.

Thank you.

Stelle Doppie is an amazing site, packed with visualisations of the WDS data. I really enjoyed exploring the star systems I was viewing.

I also found CdC and TheSky (Gaia DR3 catalogues) very useful for identifying members. My favourite planetarium, Stellarium, struggled with some of the secondary stars. However, it does have a Missing Stars plugin that perhaps the missing stars can be added. It also has DSS and HIP survey overlays, so the stars were there! AstroPlanner was awesome as it has the current WDS catalogue and can show orbital data just like Stelle Doppie. The pdf of my observations was an AstroPlanner report.

Thank you for a great challenge and observing fun.

Pete

[Graeme1858]

That's an excellent start to the EAA Double Star Challenge, your report was a pleasure to read, you have set the bar very high! Congratulations.

Are the colour enhancements and Weiner Deconvolution enhancement functions of SharpCap that are applied during live stacking or a post processing thing?

I've just subscribed to your YouTube page.

[Xio1996]

That's an excellent start to the EAA Double Star Challenge, your report was a pleasure to read, you have set the bar very high! Congratulations.

Are the colour enhancements and Weiner Deconvolution enhancement functions of SharpCap that are applied during live stacking or a post processing thing?

I've just subscribed to your YouTube page.

Hi Graeme,

Thank you for your kind comment and subscribing. You're going to find much better entertainment on Netflix than on my YouTube channel

Yes, the Weiner Deconvolution and colour balancing/saturation controls are SharpCap's built-in enhancements in Live Stacking.

The enhancement tab in SharpCap Live Stacking has a few noise reduction and sharpening filters.

The SharpCap Histogram tab has the three colour balance sliders (R,G,B) to the right, followed by the slider that controls colour saturation.

The rules of this challenge was no post-processing and hence all the images are direct from SharpCap. I don't usually perform any post-processing on my captured images, as I still think of myself as a visual astronomer. I also don't save the individual sub-frames, unless I want to try out a new SharpCap feature or technique in the cold light of day, with SharpCap's Folder Camera. All pretty lazy stuff, but I like enjoying the view "live" from the comfort of my office

Some communities tie themselves in knots trying to define EAA. TSS allows its members to express themselves through whatever workflow provides them with the enjoyment to carry out their hobby of astronomy. I love the different ways the technology is being used to observe the universe.

Have fun

Pete

[Bigzmey]

Congratulations Pete! You are our first TSS Double Star EAA Challenge 30 winner. Can't wait to see your next round!

We have recently launched a few new challenges and a bit behind on the bling. Rest assured you will receive it when ready.

[kt4hx]

Well done Pete. I am happy to see you take up the challenge and begin your march toward the top award.