Forums

And make sure you do an Auto Focus at the same time.

I'm still getting to grips with my new EQ5 Goto mount (I've had a few alignment issues) but I was out last night just after midnight and it all seemed to come together. As usual, user error was to blame. I had my Skymax 127 attached. It was a little hazy here so I started off with Algeiba as I use this to check the conditions. I was able to split it easily with the SG15mm (100x) but as the magnification increased, so the haze intervened. Algeiba was the first double I ever observed so it's always been my go to check that everything with working as it should. The moon was next. I'm still learning my lunar geography so I tend to enjoy the bigger picture view rather than looking for specifics. I can gaze for ages at the varying landscapes and last night the best eyepieces were my SW 25mm (60x) and the SG15mm. I was trying out a Svbony 7-21mm zoom that I picked up from Amazon Warehouse but the conditions weren't good enough for the 7mm (214x). On to the DSOs. My list included M51, M53, M13, M64 and M94. Although I barely make out M51 with my 25mm ep, I could see that it was nicely centred to I attached my Fuji XE3 camera with the T mount and took some 30 and 60 second exposures. I could just make out the spiral arms but there was a lot of light pollution. I couldn't visually spot any of the others but 30 second exposure showed all bar M13, of which there was no sign. None of the images are good enough to include here. Finally, on to M81, which turned out to be hidden by the neighbour's fir tree! Finally I took a look at Mizar and was easily able to split it with the SW32 (47x), 25mm and with the 7-21mm zoom although by now, haze or high cloud was making conditions considerably worse than when I started, so after about 90 minutes it was time to pack away. As with all my recent observing session, I was joined for a few minutes by a fox. She's a regular visitor and is used to me being near although she won't approach me. I'm usually aware she's there by the noise she makes coming through the hedge and, if I've put out food, by the sound of her chewing.

It’s a little bit more involved than just stretching and then merging. The mosaic ‘panels’ are merged while they are in their ‘linear’ (pre-stretched) state using Astro Pixel Processor. In terms of a workflow, I do the following:- integrate panel 1 (narrowband) integrate panel 2 (narrowband) integrate panel 1 & 2 as mosaic (narrowband) process (stretch and process) narrowband mosaic.    integrate panel 1 (broadband) integrate panel 2 (broadband) integrate panel 1 & 2 as mosaic (broadband) process (stretch and process) broadband mosaic.  register narrowband and broadband mosaics against each other (in APP) save registered mosaics (NB and BB) strip stars from NB Mosaic and save starless BB image   strip stars from BB Mosaic and save Stars from BB image merge Stars from BB image with Starless NB Mosaic    

I'm no expert either, although I have shot the moon and planets. I have an older ZWO ASI290MC with 2.9um pixels which did an OK job. I think my problems were normally related to seeing...  having the perfect set up for planetary is all very well, but if the seeing is crap, then it's hard to get any sort of result! My F/10 wasn't quite enough either, and my barlow was too powerful (made it F/22.5). I think a rule of thumb is to aim for a focal ratio of 5x your pixel size. So with the 2.9 - about F/15. So your F/13 sounds pretty good.  I think the 585 is more expensive because the sensor size is  larger? That might be good for moon work, but won't give you anything on the planets. That's the problem with having one set up for lunar and planetary, the size difference is massive (unless you just want to do ultra close-ups of the moon). I've tended to use my larger sensor ASI294MC Pro for moon pics and compromised on resolution.  Must admit, I like the look of that 2um pixel camera - might work well with my 8 Edge HD at F/10. But then again, that seeing....    

That’s much better (in my opinion), gives me more time to enjoy what’s going on! 👍