Gina

Can see a few stars here but need a rest...

Decided to knock it on the head and play records instead. Relax.

I've used those grub screws in the past. Unfortunately, my Atik EFW2 is dead as a result of the USB connection breaking. I tried to repair it but seems a broken USB connection is not the only problem.

Might get some clear sky tonight but I don't think I shall be ready to do any imaging as I'm still working on the power distribution box and may not get it done in time. As usual these days, it's taking longer than expected. Anyway, an early night wouldn't be such a bad thing!

Good luck Dave. To you and anyone else still "playing" I'll say goodnight.

That's it - all closed down tidily and roof closed. Finished for tonight.

Clouded up now so I'm packing it in for tonight. Anyway, I've done what I set out to do - find target in KStars and slew to it, for several different targets. Another time I shall see if I can solve for Polaris and set the mount Park position to it. Then any slewing from KStars will go to the exact place. Accuracy is not too much of a problem with this wide angle lens but for longer focal length lenses or telescopes it will be important. Though if I can get live plate solving to work that will cover it.

Zoomed in. This target is a lot fainter than the NAN and this 60s exposure will want increasing. Also, this is far too wide a view for this target.

On target IC1396 though slightly off due to the mount park position not pointing exactly at Polaris. As expected it's near the NAN in Cygnus as seen in this image.

This shows the FOV. The Eagle Nebula is tiny in comparison.

IC1396 Eagle Nebula and friends - Ha 60s T=-25C. Cropped and stretched in GIMP.

IC1396 Eagle Nebula Ha 30s T=-25C Cropped.

IC1396 Eagle Nebula Ha 30s T=-25C

Cloud.

10s exposure Ha full frame.

There is a bit of tree in the corner of the M16 full field which seems about right as M16 is quite low to the south.

Set up for imaging and been playing with KStars. It seems to be slewing to target. Tried IC1396 and M16 (Eagle Nebula) now just waiting for dark, hoping the sky stays clear, to see if I'm on target.

I'm on the Proms too.

Think I shall do some testing tonight rather than going for an imaging run. I think I should have enough to make a colour image of Cygnus in Hubble Pallet when I feel like conquering PixInsight again. I need to familiarise myself with KStars (and Ekos etc.) so I'm going to try using KStars to slew to a designated target (such as IC1396 in Cepheus, next door to Cygnus). I used to do this with CdC and AstroTortilla in Windoze so it will be interesting to see how easy (or not) it is with KStars.

Lots of blue sky here too, with a scattering of small clouds.

I did wonder if if might be possible to do it by taking a 5nm Ha image and subtracting a 3nm Ha image since the 5nm includes the NII wavelength and the 3nm doesn't (well not much). I haven't tried it though. You would need a dual imaging rig with everything matched bar the filters and the images taken at the same time. I don't think I would want to shell out on a 3nm Astrodon filter - I think there are probably better things to spend the money on (if I had it).

Sunday is looking good here but Sunday is way in the future in terms of the rate things change.

That's interesting. I've never tried imaging in Nitrogen.

CO is showing a couple of hours of clear dark sky tonight followed by partly cloudy so reasonably promising. Looks like I got about 12 reasonable SII subs last night and possibly some from earlier.

All closed up and shut down. Not too bad - about 15 180s SII subs to play with. Should get the power distribution box finished tomorrow. May try some image processing too. Off to bed now - goodnight to anyone still up.