Astroscot2

That's a wonderful M31 and I would be pleased with it.  Similar story to mine and others on the forum who have moved from mono to OSC. I think with the UK weather and weeks between imaging, OSC helps with motivation knowing you have something even with a short imaging time. I was out for a few hours during the week on M31 with the 2600MC, not processed yet but looks promising. 

Mark

Andy  why not look at using an OAG?

There are a number of variable stars in M27, could be one of them?

I should have a QHY polemaster this week as I want to refine the polar alignment on my main mount.  I also have the Skyguider Pro and I'm unable to locate any adapter's to afix the polemaster to it, I know ioptron have the ipolar camera but that requires removal of the polar scope.

Mark 

55 minutes ago, Icesheet said:

I just had a glance at your profile. My mother in law lives in Neilston! I can now definitely sympathise with your weather woes 😆🌧

Aye the weather's brutal here... 

1 hour ago, Icesheet said:

Great image and just imagine what you’ll be able to pull out with more integration time and no moon!

Your story mirrors mine. So many unfinished mono images due to incomplete data sets and a lot of frustration and loss of motivation. I have recently had first light with my 2600MC and now hoping I have more to show for my effort!

Good luck with the camera!

Thank you.  Yes really excited for the next clear night..     look forward to seeing your images, clear skies.. Mark

Hello, thanks for the comments,  all I did was a few curve adjustments and levels. The image was through the Lextreme filter which is a duo narrowband HA and Oiii.

I took the plunge at an OSC camera as to be honest I had lost a lot of motivation on finishing any project due to the weather, free time, and restricted area of sky from my back garden, I also found I was quite unhappy

with any broadband imaging from my location and the amount of effort involved on getting a decent image.  So buying this camera was a step towards getting a final image and having data I can work on.

Last night all went well with kit and software, this was only a trial and with the full moon I was not expecting much, seeing the subs downloading I was not greatly impressed but I must say im genuinely surprised whats hidden in the data.

This is only 1 hour 12 x 5 mins through the little spacecat 51,  Darks, flats and darkflat calibrated.   LExtreme filter.

Not the best image but a good test and im excited about the possibilities 😉

Mark

Lovely image, starting to see some of the outer shell showing too.

Youtube is saturated with astrophotography channels,  if you look around you will find some good grounded imagers looking to share information,  I followed a few during lockdown which kept me sane however it starts to become a business for some of them and the pressure to put out regular videos becomes obvious with unboxings and kit reviews that they never use.  I stopped watching channels that ask the viewers outright for money, why anyone with spare cash would give it to a youtuber rather than a good cause is beyond me, crosses a line for me, though plenty of viewers seem to get suckered in.  Lots  of other other channels out there, have a look around.

Who needs cooling 😉 Great image, so much going on in that area of sky. 

I must have been 7 or 8 when I first started looking at the stars,  I used to borrow a book every week from the school library called " lightning and Thunder",  the teacher asked me to try another book for a change and I picked up the Ladybird book "The night sky", the page with the picture of the meteors above the church must have flicked a switch and I became so curious about the sky, Leslie Peltiers book "Guidepost to the stars" also struck a nerve with me , I kept log books of my observations with binoculars tracking down most of the messier objects and followed suns spots by projection every lunchtime.  I joined the an astronomical society early teens and was encouraged to observe with the large scope in the dome and was given a scope on loan,  With the arrival of Halley's comet I received a Zenit B camera for my birthday and thats where the fascination with astrophotography began.  And it progressed from there with a break in my late teens and early 20s where I discovered other interests ;-), Ive been lucky to observe aurora storms, total eclipse of the sun and view the southern sky from the Namib desert to name a few.  Safe to say astronomy is a part of me 😉

Mark

That's a great image, and not even an hours with of data,  can I ask if you used a LP filter?

A lovely natural looking image,  can I ask what field flattener you used with the newtonian

A few essentials from Devon 🙂

Hello all,

I was wondering whether any Mesu 200 owners were able to use their mount in conjunction with the ZWO Asiair?  I'm assuming the Asi won't be able to take control without sitech software running the controller in the background?

The orion CT tubes are very thin, only 2mm if I recall, I had to insert an Inner ring to strengthen the tube around the focuser and invest in longer dovetails as the scope hade so much flex, fror viewing the original tube without modification was fine.

As it was quite clear and a school night I stuck the 360 camera on the shed roof and let it record all night, Star-lapse mode seems to work well from dark locations, not so from my back garden and the heavy LP. Sky not dark at all.

Captured 4 meteors on the recording, 1 would have been quite a sight.

Mark

As it was quite clear and a school night I stuck the 360 camera on the shed roof and let it record all night, Star-lapse mode seems to work well from dark locations, not so from my back garden and the heavy LP. Sky not dark at all.

Captured 4 meteors on the recording, 1 would have been quite a sight.

Mark

I finally managed to get these binoculars under the stars,  I would say they are sharp out to 80% from the center, I find myself looking at the center of the view anyway and moving my head rather than scanning the FOV.  No blackouts or any obvious CA on the brighter stars and very comfortable to hold for long periods.   I also felt the FOV was less restrictive than the Hawke 8x42 APO and provided a more enjoyable viewing experience, Think I will be holding onto these....

First light was Nova R Ophuchi.. a first for me.

Nice Job Luke, I had the Insta 360 camera running on the observatory roof last night, will check tonight if ive captured anything, always hopeful for a fireball 😉

Have I done the right thing?

For the past few weeks I've not managed to keep on top of Space X progress, what a shock to see booster 4 with Sn20 stacked on the launch table  today!  Incredible progress in just 2 weeks. Amazing 

30 minutes ago, almcl said:

Think there are several, but does this one help?  You need to translate the 100% illuminated circle figure (on the specs tab) to whichever APS-C sized sensor dimensions  you're using, but otherwise it seems to work

https://stellafane.org/tm/newt-web/newt-web.html

 

Thank you

Hello all.

Im looking at building a small astrograph, 6" F4 ,  my aim is to buy the component parts rather than make them myself,  regarding the optics does anyone know of a method or program that can calculate the secondary mirror size requirement to fully illuminate an APS-C size sensor?

thanks