Small m45

[glowingturnip]

i may be wrong, but looks like the collimation is way off there ?  I think you can see the secondary mirror of your scope to the right of that central star

[Rudeviewer]

Yup I found it to be wayyy out.   I was wondering why I had star halos everytime.  My wife helped me make an artificial star with a led flashlight and a piece of cardboard.  Found it was so far I could not believe it.  So I think my new pics should be pretty nice if the weather ever permits lol.  Thank you for confirming what I thought was the culprit. 

[Rudeviewer]

The only other thought I had was the DLSR being to close to my focal reducer for the SCT.

[glowingturnip]

yet more expense I know, but I use one of these laser collimators - makes it an absolute doddle, you can collimate in seconds every time out

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/hotech-collimation-tools/hotech-sca-laser-collimator.html

[Rudeviewer]

I am in so deep I gotta keep boots nearby lol. 

I've seen them for around 70 usd, just been waiting for my new scope to arrive in a two weeks or so.  The artificial star was super easy to make just needed quite the distance to make it work properly.  Gotta order some bob's knobs too for both scopes.

[Rudeviewer]

6 images various lengths, 8 minutes of data at 1600 ISO

Wind was blowing in between 15-20mph once I got all aligned but I gave er a go.

[glowingturnip]

very nice !

[Rudeviewer]

Id have to say for the small amount of data I got I think this is the best picture I have produced thus far.  No darks still....i tried letting the camera do the noise reduction and it wasn't that noticeable so next time ill try em. 

The new scope has proven itself already!  I can't wait to do some guided subs now.  Haven't had enough time to bust out the laptop lately and weather stinks, but its on the up and up.. 

This was with my Celestron Advanced VX mount and 203mm Orion Newt f/4.9

[Rudeviewer]

My trial ran out in pixinsight so I had to process using only Photoshop cs2.  I'm used to pixinsight doing most of processing so using PS was interesting