toxic

and if you use photoshop you can get a free set of plugins from google called NIK collection they are very good i used it on your image as well as HLVG as andy r said.

beautiful

just an example of what you can see after capture i am not good with maths.
the 10s Quattro is fitted with the Sky-Watcher f4 Aplanatic Coma Corrector
and the 200 pds F5 was fitted with the sky-watcher 0.9x coma corrector.
so more or less the same f ratio and tube length, so you would think they would perform very similarly but in real world they do not.
2 sample pics un edited just converted from fits to jpeg for posting.
image 1 in  ---- Quattro 10s ---120 seconds atik 383L+m.
image 2 in  ------- image 200pds 300 seconds atik 383L+m
all other kit is the same

hi BigPaddy  

when balancing you need to have the weighted end heavier while travelling up, and and lighter when travelling down so as to get rid of any back lash hope this helps but to be honest with you 600mm fl is asking a lot for the S A well most mounts really unguided to shoot at that F L then you need a guide scope and guide camera.

now then that's a corker

28 minutes ago, alacant said:

Hi

Mmm. Look at what 22 minutes with a big reflector can do. You'd be all night with a refractor to get anywhere near. Unless it was a 10" refractor of course;)

Cheers

thanks alacant  and even at 10 inch i struggle to finish an image up here in cloudy Darlington but i am still amazed at what you can get from your own back garden even with limited sky and weather that's why i keep going hopefully i can add to the image before it disappears for another year.

On 16/08/2020 at 17:52, Northernlight said:

thanks all,  I really  appreciate the feedback.

Chris / Nigel, many thanks for sharing your images.  Whilst I really like idea of the  slightly longer Focal Length and larger optics of the 12",  I think  i'll probably go for the 10" 

I like the idea of the tube baffles on the 10" and also Telescope Austria sell a very hig end focuser that is a direct replacement for the SW stock focuser, i.e. no drilling holes. The focuser is called the  OctoPlus508N but they only have tube base plates supporting up to 10" so that would rule out the 12"

Teleskop Austria also sell primary mirror baffle, which help to greatly reduce the diffraction spikes, but again these are limited to 10"

So everything is pointing towards the 10"

the primary mirror baffle is just a ring that covers the mirror clips to stop the dark spikes it will do nothing for the diffraction spikes caused by your secondary mirror supports and i have not found any thing wrong with the 10s quattro focuser so no need to spend unless you find a problem.

i went for the 10 inch Quattro because the 12 inch didn't come with baffles and it would help cut down the light incursion down the tube and help in better contrast as i live where there is lots of street lights i haven't had much chance to complete an image due to other issues (and cloud)  but it  it is a very good scope when combined with the SW Aplanatic  CC.

setup consists of SW AZ EQ6GT - SW QUATTRO 10S - SW APLANATIC CC - ATIK 383L+ MONO - EFW2 with 36mm unmounted LRGB HA OIII S2 FILTERS all in a home made dome.

only 1 sample image to date it is 11 x 120 second HA total = 22 minutes  stacked in dss and converted for posting.

hope this is some help.

2 hours ago, mdstuart said:

Now known as the Han galaxy cluster or Han1

isn't Han1 = to Han solo

22 hours ago, Kluson said:

That's a great point. I will use my micro  four thirds set up for our normal domestic photography so it would indeed make good sense to use a dedicated astro camera. I was a little put off by the complexity as a beginner, however I intend to attend some society meetings etc  ( Once we can) and build up some knowledge. Your point is a good one and may well be the way forward.

 

All the best

D

just as-or more importantly what mount do you have to track or guide with as it wont matter to much what camera you use if it wont stay on target, i have found in hindsight that mount - camera - scope in that order. but it depends on what you want to do deep sky or widefield or planetary but dont let this put you off as any camera that has the ability to take long exposures and a lense on a cheap mount will do to start.

3 hours ago, Kluson said:

Hi Chris

Thanks, I have other Cameras, I was just trying to decide whether it would be worth using it or putting in it's box and leave it in the loft. It's a shame as it is in such nice condition. My wife often likes to use it so maybe I'll give it to her., I went to Olympus micro Four thirds to reduce the weight and bulk of large DSLR. I think the OMD may be useful. I think a Canon 750D in reasonable condition would be good to then have converted for Astro use.  Thanks for the tip. What was the exposure on the picture above?

 

Clear Skies

D

i use a the atik 383L mono now for most astro stuff ,but i still use the eos 200d non moded for widefield your micro fourthirds would be best for smaller deep sky objects or planets and the 750d for more wider shots dependent on the scope used.

you should be ok with the 0.9 version if your scope is F5 or slower but F4 and you will struggle to get a flat field i have a SW 200pds with the 0.9 cc and it was fine but it is no good on my SW 250 Quattro i had to get the SW aplanatic cc hope this helps.

i had an eos 10D back in 2011 it was what i had to start with here is a single exposure from it in 2012 no processing at all strait from the camera and at the time i didn't shoot in raw it was just jpeg i didn't know any better  that's one of the reasons i joined SGL hope this helps but if you all ready have it then use it.

lovely job Gina 

very nice indeed Carol

beautiful capture and processing Tom 

2 hours ago, Erling G-P said:

Holy cow, they're stunning!

Is there a setting in DSS for stacking subs of varying exposure, so that the longer ones doesn't blow out the core in the case of M13?

sorry i dont know if there is but i stack them separately in DSS but use the lowest score (right click on it and select reference file )as a reference file then each exposure stack is lined up ready to blend in in photoshop  jus make shure you untick the reference file so it wont stack it but will still use it as a ref file.

who ever thought we would get 3 clear nights on the trot without a moon ??

managed these 2 

apart from the terrible gradient (led street lights gave a blue glow) they didn't turn out to bad.

M13 consists of lumin 30 - 60 - 120 - 180 - and 300 second subs 10 of each to not blow out the core  and RGB are 120 seconds each with 20 for each chanel.

M51  consists of 25 x 300 seconds of L  and 30 x 120 seconds of RGB each chanell

 stacked in deep sky stacker and processed in photoshop

thanks for looking and all cc welcome

hope some one can help 

how can i put the field of view into astrotortilla from the field of view calculator in the picture ,i can find the the appropriate part to input the fov but cannot find anything any where near my fov in the astrometry part thanks in advance.

On 25/02/2020 at 11:11, carastro said:

Whoops, well it happens to us all.  Thanks for sharing.

1) Imaging with the Bahtinov mask on.

2) After spending ages (as a newbie) polar aligning the mount and 2 star aligning and finding the target, I trip over the mount cable and disconnect it and have to start all over again.

3) Trying to focus the guide camera and after several minutes of not being able to see anything, realise I still have the lens cap on.

4) Spent ages trying to polar align and wondering why I can't find a star realise I have forgotten to let down the counter weight shaft which was obscuring the view.

5. Did a whole evenings imaging only to realise I forgot to switch on the cooling. 

Learning to image is beset with evenings like this.

Carole 

oh i have done every one of them and more than once. i can see the funny side now but not so much at the time, and it dosnt end there i still do it and hows this one i did a whole session of rgb and forgot the give the files ther respective R-G-B NAMES  GRRRR that took some sorting out lol.

6 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

Great job!  The Atik 383 is performing admirably on that 10" scope

thanks Tooth its a great camera i did think i was going to need a new one but it was my power supply so its a new psu instead few

2 hours ago, maw lod qan said:

The Orion Nebula is a beautiful sight.

I know the first image I made of it, no comparison to your incredible image, still made me smile. 

thank you 

any image we take is amazing as the object  shares its light with every camera pointed in its direction now you cant get fairer than that 😀

Orion nebula 24th Feb 32 minutes total exposure - 8 minutes each channel -LRGB 30 second per exposure and 30 flats and 30 darks stacked in DSS and combined in Photoshop.

i think i have a bit of tilt at the top 2 corners i hope its the last  job to sort out.

Atik 383l+M - Quattro 10s - azeq6 - efw2 

i would be well happy with that image well done indeed

very nice indeed Carol