Astrophotography in my SkyShed POD - Behind the scenes

[@amydixoncox5000]

Noob to this set up but it looks amazing! May I ask what I should budget to duplicate your set up including the sky pod, equipment and presentation etc?

[@JethroXP]

Thank you! Rather than trying to duplicate what I did, because I made choices that made sense for me, my budget, sky conditions, etc. I'd recommend starting small, pick something like Planetary or DSO and just learn that. Chances are what you think you need now will evolve once you have some experience and learn more about your own preferences.

[@christophercharles9645]

It's great to see your set up and the process of a night's shoot. Great image of the Sunflower Galaxy & Horsehead Nebula, I'll have to go see more on Astrobin. Thanks for sharing!

[@AZ4Runner]

Very Nice Setup! Loved seeing the whole process from start to finish! So much envolved in this video. was a good representation what we go through as Astrophotographers. clear skies!

[@CaseyDoesIt]

Lol when I saw the washington weather forcast and big rock observatory it kind of freaked me out as I ive off of Big rock Rd lol. I guess this means Ill have to build my own setup like this

[@woody5109]

Clearly you know your stuff, brilliant execution and work flow, clear sky’s

[@nigel992]

Most edifying and enjoyable, thanks Jason!

[@JethroXP]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@tullyfisher]

Very cool your "Big Rock Observatory" and the twin setup! - Great video Jason! I would be very interested to see a more detailed (7longer) version of your editing process. - Awesome final images! cs

[@nocturneastro2539]

Hey buddy, nice behind the scenes video! I am very very very envious of your yard! Clear skies and beautiful pictures!

[@AstroCreation]

Great video! Thank you for sharing!

[@kafakoparan]

You are a PRO!

[@MrDirtyRod]

Very cool.

[@lukomatico]

Lovely setup there James! - Looks like brilliant fun to use and really does the business too!! :-D Clear skies man!

[@Diocrew]

Awesome setup!!!

[@emilywilson4021]

So cool to see the whole set up!!! Thanks for doing this 👍🏻👍🏻🌌🪐🌠

[@AstroEverett]

Jesus bud.....that is one hell of a rig! I love the video.

[@TheBiggRiggz]

Dude, that setup is badass! Nicely done

[@simonpepper5053]

Incredible! That is dream rig you got there 🙌

[@Rob_1472]

That Sunflower looked very good. Would love to see a start to finish galaxy processing video

[@SkyShedPODTeam]

Great Video Jason! Very informative. CS!

[@Arcteek]

Great job!

[@DSOImager]

Very nice setup Jason! Great shot of M63 at the end. :)

[@ErikGoff]

Awesome ! i am a beginner and i hope to learn , so i subscribed :)

[@ChristianProulx]

Wow, a lot of money you invest in your equipment. Very nice video about your setup. In French we’ll say félicitations (congratulations).

[@GarnettLeary]

Cool

[@neiltonks]

Love the idea of a dome, but at 6ft 4 and some mobility issues, I'd struggle getting in and out.

[@JethroXP]

You might be better off with a roll-off roof observatory. check these out: skyshed.com/

[@levenslovato7215]

Hi Jason, really cool setup BTW. Question, why is it the Hubble can not take a good photo of Pluto but capture galaxies 13 billion light years away. Just curious...

[@JethroXP]

Thanks! It's because Pluto is so small (it's 1/3 smaller than the Earth's moon) while galaxies are massive structures, often times over 100,000 light-years in diameter. So even though most galaxies area millions of light-years away their size makes them easily detectible even by small ground based telescopes like mine.

[@gomanastro]

nice job on this!

[@JethroXP]

Thanks! It's been over a year in the making.

[@astrodream45]

looks like a very complicated process, in the future I really want to learn as well

[@JethroXP]

I suppose it is, I spent over a year of trial-and-error, scouring KZbin, and reading several books before I was really confident in what I was doing.

[@astrodream45]

@@JethroXP Is it possible to take astrophotos of the planets of galaxies, etc. using a telescope with the goto function? for example Sigeta SkyTouch 90 GoTo or others

[@JethroXP]

@@astrodream45 The only planets we can directly observe are those in our own solar system. Planets outside our solar systems are far too small to be seen even by the Hubble. That telescope is Maksutov-Cassegrain, which are ideal for observing planets due to it's ability to produce sharp, high contrast images.

[@josefernandoarenasrebolled5895]

Gracias por mostrar su equipo es hermoso ,su mini gran observatorio me da ideas para hacer uno en madera.valparaiso51

[@russellmckenzie9265]

I have the same pod and have the pat table. love your idea of metal channels. is it possible to send detail shots of how you have yours done and attached.

[@JethroXP]

Actually, they are pressure treated 4x4 topped with slabs of UHMW plastic, which is known for its low coefficient of friction, meaning stuff slides easily on it. You can see some detailed photos in my flickr album here: www.flickr.com/photos/191087031@N03/albums/72177720295675896 And I should credit Michael Weasner of the Cassiopeia Observatory for the idea. This is his page: www.weasner.com/co/Reports/2020/07/PZT/index.html

[@russellmckenzie9265]

thanks for the fast reply. I love your setup. I have yet to do anything with my pod yet other than build a pier and deck and run power and cat5 to it. Then health

[@JonnyBravo0311]

One of the first times I've seen an Avalon mount in a setup. Very nice resulting images. I'd love to put up a permanent pier, but pretty sure my wife would object rather strongly to such a thing in the middle of our driveway LOL.

[@JethroXP]

No back yard? I got my wife onboard by including her in the color choice for the dome ;-)

[@JonnyBravo0311]

@@JethroXP ROFL... honey, you can pick white, white or white. What's your favorite? Unfortunately, my backyard, which would be an ideal place to put something, is almost entirely blocked by tree cover. I've got virtually no sky visibility at all. Even if I somehow managed to convince her to let me take down all of our trees, I'm pretty much certain the neighbors might complain when I started taking down their trees, too. So, I'm relegated to setting up at the end of my driveway. Maybe I can convince her to let me install a permanent pier where the mailbox is... then just swap the mailbox for the mount when I want to image. Hmmm.... :D

[@WesBuddy12345]

That is one expensive telescope you got their🤩👌😅

[@SKYST0RY]

Are you having any problems with rain leakage?

[@PNWeBike]

None. I filled the seams with Lexal and for really bad weather I put the cover on it.

[@Oscaro9928]

Is the 2600mc a good match for the rasa? Or do you have to crop the images?

[@JethroXP]

It's a perfect match, no cropping needed. Here is an example of one of my images www.astrobin.com/jgmpxl/B/

[@snoriverrc3842]

How is the Starlink satellite system effecting viewing? Thousands of satellites cant be helpful. Out here in the middle of the valley it feels like I get so much light pollution from Redmond that it never really gets dark, and I have to catch anything I want to see with my little 5 inch telescope in the eastern half of the sky.

[@JethroXP]

I definitely see them, but the stacking software does a good job eliminating them. With enough images, the software learns what is noise and what is signal. If it's there on every image it's probably signal, but if it's moving in different positions across multiple images it gets subtracted as noise. I also use light pollution filters that block wavelengths of light commonly used in streetlights. Are you doing astrophotography or visual observation?

[@Chris_NGC6188Ara]

Nice setup and captures dude. BtW, If you want, I can send you my plans for my DIY backyard intergalatic laser gun to remove those pesky man made satellites, just drop me a line.

[@JethroXP]

Lol, thanks! So far Sigma clipping is doing a good job removing them ;-)

[@jerryharpe3760]

Is that the 8 foot SkyShed?

[@JethroXP]

It is, the XL3 (which has three bays). The deck surface is 12x12 for reference. I have a 12-inch concrete pier in the middle.

[@TheBiggRiggz]

I didn't even know these were a thing.

[@ejeckk]

How do you ensure man made satellites stay out of your captures?

[@JethroXP]

The stacking process does that with a method called Sigma Clipping. it compares multiple photos from the same session, and assumes anything on all (or most) photos is signal, while things that appear only on a few or are in different positions on a few, must be transient noise like a satellite or plane. The signal is kept and the noise is subtracted from the final image.

[@wimnelissen6230]

A little bit small and tricky i guess