OK Apricot

First to mind for general stuff would be Cuiv the Lazy Geek. Very passionate and intelligent man and knows his stuff. Another for me would be James Lamb after I've watched a few videos on OAG - Thorough from start to finish. For wide field stuff I can't think of a better channel than Nico Carver's Nebula Photos.

I'm assuming the trouble comes from the focuser having to support the extra weight. I use the ASIAIR Plus so PA is done using the main camera. Also the C14 is but a dream. It would more realistically be an 8 or 925 😏

Ah OK, thanks chaps. The ZWO one is 8x8mm and the image circle from the Sharpstar reducer is 44mm. I image with the 533 so 11x11mm and guide with the 120MM mini - visualising it, I should be able to drop the prism fairly deep into the optical path without obstructing the imaging sensor, and I guess be more spoilt for choice for stars? It leaves me questioning the 80ED reducer - can't find much on image circle on that one, but again with the smallish sensor of the 533 in probably going to be alright, right?

I would say your improvement was down to the equipment but not nearly experienced enough to back it up with confidence! I feel like it would be simple enough finding common focus between the two cameras in daylight like you say, just the thought of potentially having to rotate everything to find a guide star puts me off. I have the 61EDPH II so the focuser and reducer have a rotator built in, but with a setup like this Reducer>OAG>Filter drawer>imaging camera I can't see how I'd rotate the OAG independent of the imaging camera. The C14 comment was a bit tongue in cheek - not in my lifetime 😂

I'm thinking of swapping to an OAG setup instead of a guide scope. Obviously lighter but seemingly more difficult to get going initially? Is it a PITA to swap between scopes? Would like to use on both my Sharpstar and 80ED, and part of my thinking is to get used to OAG for when the time comes to get a C14 👀. What about rotation? I may have to rotate the OAG to get a suitable guide star but then that might throw off my framing when it rotates the main camera with it. What were your experiences going from a scope to OAG? Its either this or a small 30mm jobby I think.

Evening all, Mrs Apricot and I are going back to Vegas in October, and this time I'd like to make the most of the skies nearby out there. We plan to hire a car, something rugged if we can like a Rav4 or similar so that we can drive out of town. We have booked it specifically around New Moon, temperatures will be comfotable, light pollution very low, and looking at Stellarium shows I'm spoilt for choice for targets. I'm planning on taking the mini rig - Sharpstar 61EDPH II, ASI533MC-Pro, Evoguide 50ED, ASI120MM-Mini, ZWO EAF and ASIAIR Plus. This will all fit into a carry on and I'm hoping to get priority boarding to cement a spot for my kit. Power wise, I'm still looking into it bearing in mind the airline limit of 100WH. I believe items like this also need to be carry on so size is a consideration. I have a plan B where I can power everything from a small inverter using the hire car battery. I digress... The mount needs to be portable and have goto, capable of 5min frames etc. So far I have two candidates - the Star Adventurer GTI and the AZ GTI. The SA GTi looks more purpose built for AP ready to go out of the box? The AZ looks like it would need some money spent on it and some modification to get it in the same ballpark, but there's no doubt it can produce results. Are there any other mounts out there that might fit the bill? Don't really want to spend more than £500 if I can help it, second hand market is an option if need be. So, what are your thoughts? Cheers 🙏

I recently had first light of my 61EDPH II with the California Nebula, and thought I'd have another crack at this target to do it some comparative justice to the 80ED. I absolutely love the Pleiades, one of my favourites! This is 60x180s with Darks, Flats and Dark Flats. 2" ZWO IR cut filter, ASI533MC-Pro, EQ6-R Pro, Evoguide 50ED/ASI120MM-Mini, ZWO EAF and ASIAIR Plus controlling the whole thing. Bortle 5-6, patches of thin high cloud, noticeably breezy but guiding absolutely fine at 0.6", probably not something I could've done with the 80ED. I've spent 7 hours to get to this point since getting home from work today 😂. I started with a normal stacking routine in DSS, sent it into PS and got to work. I wasn't really very happy with what I'd ended up with, with stars taking on that blocky shape, StarXT leaving things behind, so scrapped it and started again. This time I'd drizzled it x2 and followed a similar but more restrained approach - Much happier with the star shapes. Some curves, some masked curves, some RC Astro, some colour adjustments, some more RC Astro, a little more restraint and I have a result . I'm aware that the 61EDPH II definitely does not correct the blues very well, but at it's price point for a fast triplet, and considering the fact I may have exaggerated things during post processing, I'm going to bank this one as a successful capture from start to finish. Cheers! Edit - now I see it on my phone I'm not as enthused... I so need a new laptop 😭

I have neither the money nor the minerals to explore the idea of Pix yet 😅. I use DSS and Photoshop which I'm starting to get comfortable with, a consistent workflow and all that. It's on the cards for future though for an easier imitation hubble palette from OSC.

Thank you! @Richard_ it doesn't take much zooming before you see the stars take on a more blocky form. It would indeed take my 9MP image and make it 36MP, probably too much for my current laptop to handle 😂. That said I should be getting a new more powerful one soon.

I bought this lovely little scope from @Stu1smartcookie before christmas and this is the first real opportunity to image properly - I'd otherwise been out for a few tens of minutes since getting a filter drawer and 2" filters, testing for tilt, backspacing etc. All looks very well overall. I believe there is a degree of CA visible using IR cut, but I can take that. What a pukka little thing . 31x300s with darks, flats and dark flats. Tried to restrain myself during processing as I feel like I've recently been asking too much of the data that I gather. Sampling at 2.89"/pixel I could've probably drizzled this, no? Thanks for looking!

Got this beautiful Sharpstar 61EDPH II a couple weeks ago from a member of SGL. Finally got the reducer flattener today along with a number of other accessories, and got it fitted to the mount. Took it outside to test it all, so far so good. Love it 😍

I'm not a fan of the moon but had to give you a like for a funny post 😁. Visual stopped doing anything for me since taking up AP, but I must admit, I do regret, a little, selling the 127 Mak and eyepieces - it gave superb views of the moon.

Is this because of using a duo band filter? The master flat looked pretty uniform so I'm a bit confused here. Gradients I can for the most part deal with in post, but it would be nice to lessen the burden with some quality calibration frames. What should I do differently to get a more uniform result?

Absolutely this. That word infuriates me. How self important of a person to designate themselves that way, and think they have some sort of say in your life. They're sellouts and nothing more. I don't feel like any channel out there is any of the above really, closest thing to it being videos that have been sponsored... I don't like that, but meh I can handle it. My favourites are Trevor Jones (my Mrs calls him backyard Trev) Cuiv and Dylan Odonnell, though he's been very quiet 😒.

OK, so a short description of the stacking process - Uploaded 58 lights, master dark (20 of, couple months old), 30 flats (3.2s) and 30 dark flats. Kappa-sigma clipping of lights, median kappa-sigma for F/DF. These are just default settings, I've not played with these. Stacked 57 out of 58 light frames and went into photoshop. I wasn't quite sure how to respond to you saying to slightly overblow the image, so all I've done here is use levels and stretch until it's looking overblown. Whether or not it's helpful is another matter 😂. I've uploaded both the linear and overblown files. Hopefully they're of some use? I feel like the masterflat is telling me all is well and my flats are doing what they're supposed to be, but I just wanted to check with you more experienced folk. If anything else is needed, please let me know! Here is a single flat with histogram: Here is the masterflat: Overblown.tif Linear.tif

With just the flat/dark flat frames or everything (lights etc) as well?

OK so tonight's session has just finished. I took 30 flats and dark flats instead of 20 that I usually do. I completely forgot to take a screenshot so I will post up what they look like tomorrow. Do you need me to post just a single flat frame? Or do you need a master flat? Dark flat? Both stacked?

I'm not young to even pretend to have understood the above but I appreciate the time taken, thanks chaps. I'm going to try and make some sense of this. In the mean time, I will post up some flats on this thread that I will take tonight (if it's clear). A single flat and a master flat right? I just want to be sure I'm not making my images worse by applying bad calibration frames. Thanks once again 🙂

Hi ladies and gents, While not specifically reading our watching videos about flats, I've heard there may be an ideal exposure length, especially for cameras such as the ASI294MC-Pro. Is this true? The ASIAIR Plus will calculate the appropriate exposure length for flats depending on the light source, for me some of them being 0.8s, others closer to 10s. Is this going to produce usable flats or should I pay more attention to the histogram? Since I started applying flats to my stacks, I feel like my background of space turns out a lighter shade of black. It is most likely my processing but it could be anything. Please could I have a little theory behind this? It looks to be clear for a few hours tonight so useful testing time. Edit - I use a white screen on an ipad and a white t-shirt. Cheers!

Just my 2p... My work van was broken into just over a year ago. It had deadlocks, alarm, power tools in the back were even chained up and padlocked, and it was just outside my back gate. It was parked underneath a street light just off a main road. Those ***** even wheeled my black bin across my gate to block it. After that experience I've accepted that in the current social/criminal agenda, someone is always watching, someone always wants what you've got without earning it, and the police are not police any more. I wouldn't even dream of leaving my rig out unattended now, not even in a more secluded location. I wouldn't build an obsy either, draws too much attention. My solution was to get it in my head that if it's a clear night, I'm not getting any sleep! I will come home from work and try to have a few hours kip then go through the night. To avoid sitting in the freezing cold for hours, casting light onto my kit from indoors, disturbing the Mrs etc I bought a security camera. Nights imaging at home now go something like this... ... So I can keep eyes on at all times from all angles but remain relatively comfortable and quiet.

Went and got it myself... Thanks again @Stu1smartcookie, its a gorgeous little scope 😍

Another bash at some reflective stuff! This was taken over two nights finishing 16-12-22. Really getting to grips with the whole astrophotography thing :). The two nights where this data was captured had an approx 60%(?) moon rising around 2200 and 2300 each night respectively, giving me the opportunity of 4-5hrs to capture some good broadband data. Temperatures down this way have been really quite notable recently, hitting -10°C on the coldest night, and I believe this has been partly responsible for the less-than-good guiding as the grease thickens to a putty! That said, the cold weather has really put that classic feel on, with decent seeing and transparency and a beautiful frosty scope in the morning. This is 94x180s with Darks, Flats and Dark flats with a UV/IR filter. Skywatcher 80ED with dedicated 0.85x reducer/flattener, ASI533MC-Pro at -10°C, gain 101, EQ6-R Pro mounted, Evoguide 50ED/ASI120MM-Mini guiding, ZWO EAF focussing, ASIAIR Plus controlling, stacked in DSS and processed in photoshop. I started in PS with a gentle curve stretch then threshold to sample colours for the black and white points, balanced the colours then did another gentle stretch before running StarXterminator. With each layer separated I focused on the starless image bringing out the dust as best I can and boosted the blues slightly. I applied huge orange/blue saturation to the stars only image to try to get those thick colours I see out there, alas I've a ways to go yet! I blended the two images together at 90% opacity and ran GradientXterminator and NoiseXterminator (which I've only just started a trial with, love it!). Final tweaks with camera raw filter to sharpen slightly and boost vibrance a tiny bit and here we are . I absolutely LOVE dusty targets - Think I need a wide field scope and large sensor 😂

I feel like I want to second this. Most of my sessions, since taking up the hobby in the summer, have seen guiding to be very respectable, as low as 0.26" and averaging 0.4" when balance and cabling is managed properly. The last couple nights have hit -10°C and toward midnight having been out for several hours the guiding starts to suffer. I was thinking maybe the balance had changed, counterweight sliding down the shaft etc, so when re balancing the first thing I noticed was how "sticky" the clutches were which made me think grease. Couple that with thermal contraction and I guess there's your 1.1" accuracy 🤷

Cold one last night ladies and gents ❄️. Parked the rig to disassemble and bring inside and took a snap. The majority of the night cooling was at 2-3% for -10°C, with the chip reaching -10.3°C with zero cooling between 4-5am 😂. So cold the dew straps started to frost!

Goodness me, sorry this has happened mate! It looks in a sorry state ☹️. Hopefully it comes back as good as before and you're back imaging with the fast bucket in no time 🤞