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Hi Jonny, I think for 30 minutes it's a really good picture regarding grain/noise, that would simply decrease with more integration time of course! To my eye I do see quite a bit of excess green noise in the image, that's probably making it a bit more noticeable - depending on your processing software there's different ways to deal with it but it's never really a difficult task Cheers!

This is an Urban Myth! All the suppliers who manufactured Petzval designed refractors ( TV, Takahashi, Williams Optics) have all replied in print that their refractors are 100% safe to use with a Herschel Wedge. I use a TV Genesis (100/500 Petzval design) with a Herschel wedge of all my white light imaging. Never had any issue in the past ten years.

Love my esprit 120ed pro bought second hand and it had been fitted with a moonlite focuser!

Work continues with #800grit: Aiming at #1000 then #1500 to prepare a pitch lap and check if we have something that resambles a sphere.

Hi Mike, Welcome to the star gazers lounge! I did not recognize you with the hat ! The meridian flip was completely automated by the ASI air. My first attempt to do all of this in my own homegrown raspberry pi was not very successful and took a lot of effort on my part to figure out the software rather than focusing on Astrophotography. The ASIAIR made it easy in comparison. We can talk on zoom if you like and I can give you more details! small correction, not my rig. It belongs to Bush School!

Good stuff. Glad you got it sorted and I was able to help. Let the fun begin.

Hi Alex ICE is the winner!! I have finally got around to trying ICE and I have to admit I like it! It has done a much better job of creating similar shaped lunar mosaic images from my individual RGB Data and I have just about aligned them in Photoshop to create an image I would be happy with! This is a relief as the imaging session took me about 3 hours and I started it at 11pm and I was at work the next day after 5 hours sleep so it's nice to see something for my sacrifice! ICE is definitely the way forward for me, and I will post my image when I am finished with it.

i have it sitting beside me. oh well. figures. starting to figure out forums just suck and arent my thing. also figured out neither are computers, cameras, or telescopes. getting rid of all this junk

Dru, fantastic first imagining! Tracking on M81 & M82 without fine alignment look really good for first attempt. Your gear now exceeds mine! Did the ASIAIR PRO control the meridian flip? I've thought about upgrading from my Canon T3 to one of the ZWO cameras and guiders, but there are so many choices to select from. I've also considered other astro controllers, but the PRO's price point with your testimony on it managed the image session and how the guider performed will probably sway me to get the PRO.

Outstanding, well done.

Good work John. You did well with that haul of galaxies. I was hoping to get my first look at the whole Leo, Virgo region of galaxies last night but was too cloudy. Well done!

How To Center Spot A Primary - Primers and Tutorials - Stargazers Lounge Dave

Thanks. Neil

Televue Ethos 6mm & 10mm - For Sale / Swap - Stargazers Lounge Dave

First attempt at this data. Again, really clean so thank you FLO and IKI. I did have a slight issue with the Ha in that I couldn't get rid of a gradient that's faintly present in the image. Things to work on next is trying to not destroy the star colour but I'm happy with the rest Good luck everyone!

Welcome to the lounge

Hi Folks I havea 130 newt that doesn't have a centre mark on the mirror to allow collimation. How can i either mark the mirror, or collimate it without marking the centre? Regards Tim

It tends to lower the temps about 7 degrees or so when imaging continually. That's enough to half dark current but it's nothing like as good as set point cooling.

I updated my link to the 37mm version.

With the focal length of your scope it needs to be at least 10metres away to work correctly.

I finished off this session by putting the Ethos 21mm in the 120mm refractor and having a wander around the galactic playground that lies between Denebola and Vindemeatrix (Epsilon Virginis) and in particular the famous Markarian's Chain of galaxies. I must have picked up a dozen or more fuzzy spots, ovals and patches just in a small patch of sky here. I was pleasantly surprised how many of "the chain" were visible in the 12cm aperture. Hopefully I'll get another similar night soon so that I can get my 12 inch dob in amongst these. You literally fall over galaxies at every turn here and i

If the chap has lost it, you have options to get a replacement. John's link is for the 25mm version - but my 8" dob has a 35mm one. Perhaps the 10" is different? In any case, it looks like a long waiting list for these. In the meantime, you could use a more standard 2" extender, like this one: https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/bresser-35mm-extension.html#SID=627

I have. It's 7x in my 4" apo and has a 11° apparent field. The field looks like it is way off down a tube. But, the true field is only 1.5° in that scope with the 100mm.. Since my 24mm APM yields a 2.2° field at 30x, I see no value in the Vixen eyepiece as a replacement for a finder scope. In contrast, my 8x50 finder provides a 6° field, about 4x wider than the Vixen eyepiece. It's not as wide as a typical finder scope in an 80mm scope with a 480mm focal length (2.3°) This is one of those, "You made what?" products.

Loft

I didn't get the box but I'll be on to the old boy tomorrow! He said there was some other bits and pieces in his lift so I'm guessing that's where it's at. Many thanks to everyone who helped with this especially John