Gina

It's calibration. Don't know why yet. I probably did something wrong. I've saved the image as TIFF and transferred it to Photoshop where I applied levels and Noel's Action - "Enhance DSO and Reduce Stars". Just a relatively quick post process. Cropped the bad edges off. Saved in PNG format and transferred back to main desktop. I'll read some more of the PixInsight book soon and see if I can manage better post processing. Also, I want to capture some RGB to colour the stars and add the Ha to the red. I think that will need masks to separate the stars.

Processed Simeis 147 Ha in BPP then auto-stretched and cleaned up the background with DBE. Screenshot of PixInsight edited in GIMP with levels.

Clear sky gone!

Partly clear sky tonight Weather forecast was for solid cloud!

I use M42 Pentax SLR lenses. The 45mm lens is for a Pentax 6x7 medium format camera but the others are M42.

I'm certainly enjoying playing with the ASI1600 imaging rig and capturing data again after a 2 year "sabbatical" and a brand new camera - something different t That ZWO adapter is on a longish delivery but is designed precisely for the job It will also allow me to use Canon lenses. I shall try the standard 18-55mm zoom though it has a rather small aperture but the 28mm Takumar is f3.5 same as the 18mm setting of the EOS zoom lens. And 18mm gives a nice wide FOV

Thanks Huw But yes, C mount would be too small I think.

Found this ZWO EOS Lens Adapter for EFW Mini & ASI1600 Zoom £36Regular Price: £39 Available - Delivery 10-20 working days. Ask a Question Add To Wishlist Send To Friend Model: zwo_t2-efw-eos_asi1600 Part Number: ZWO-T2-EFW-EOS Brand: ZWO

This is more complicated than I thought I think it's "doable" - I have lots of bits from my defunct DSLR debayering project, including the lens attachment rings. I guess I shall have to glue one of these onto a T2 adapter of some sort. Later... Won't work - it'll make the optical path too long. I would have to put the lens to EOS adapter in the lathe and part off the bayonet part. Unless anyone else has any ideas...

Connecting a DSLR to a scope is common and uses "T rings" but it seems connecting a DSLR lens to an astro camera has never been done

Been looking at using the 45mm medium format lens. Have adapter from that to Canon EF and I was sure I had a Canon EF to T2 adapter but I can't find it now Been on ebay looking to buy another as I was sure these are easy enough to get but can't find any - only the other way round - connecting T" lens/scope to Canon camera. Was I mistaken?? Seems possible I'll try FLO. Later... Nothing - Evidently I was mistaken!! DRAT!!!

Very interesting So much easier these days with stepper motors but interesting to see what they used to do with DC motors and encoders. I have a goto mount on my DIY books but whether I actually get round to doing it remains to be seen

Also been thinking about where this thread is going following Mapstar's post. I think some posts have rather gone off track. At present I'm concentrating on the ASI1600MM-Cool camera, ZWO filter wheel and various camera lenses. I'm still not sure about multiple imaging rigs - I think I have enough to do with the ZWO rig. I also have a number of other projects on the books and I can't do everything. Reluctantly I feel I have to just ditch certain projects and prioritise. I guess there comes a time when one has to face reality and realise that as you get older you can't do as much as in the past

I need to sort out which DSOs I have captured and with which filters plus the imaging parameters. Then go on to sort out which ones I want to capture in the future.

Downloaded the overnight Ha subs and after using Blink to turf out the duffs I have 143 120s lights or 286m = 3hr 46m of integration time. That should add nicely to the 98 previous ones giving a total of 241 subs or just over 4 hours Not a lot compared with what I've previously captured with CCD mono cameras but I'm hopeful.

Changed my mind and decided that more Ha data on Simeis 147 would be more useful and would produce a lot more data and I would really like to produce a cracking version of this. Later I might grab some RGB data to colour the stars using masks to make the Ha red and the stars natural colour. It will be later because the weather forecast is for cloud and rain for the next week Now capturing the 120s g600 darks.

Decided on the Heart and Soul in SII 120s subs with g600. Should be able to get about 4hr before they go below the observatory roof. Can't remember if I captured SII before but pretty sure not at g600 so this data should be better if I did. Data faint but there in histogram stretched version.

Not really sure what to do with the rest of the night. If it wasn't for needing a meridian flip I could set something up and leave it running while I go to bed. Unless I can find something to the west of the meridian already.

When I have the 45mm lens on the rig I can capture the IC405/410 and Simeis 147 in the same frame plus a few other DSOs as well. As in this screenshot but the frame moved upwards (to the south).

A single sub 120s OIII of IC405/410 auto-stretched in PI and further stretched in GIMP. Actually, I think IC410 - the Tadpoles - would be better done on it's own with a narrower FOV - say 400mm rather than 135mm making it 3x bigger but would still be rather small. At least this view can be combined with the Ha to make a colour image.

10m and virtually white-out!!! I'm giving up on that. Going over to the Tadpoles...

6m OIII sub auto-stretched in PI the captured from screen and histogram stretched in GIMP to the Nth degree and still I can't see anything resembling the OIII nebulosity seen in that other image (taken with an SBIG camera).

Can't see any nebulosity... Trying 6m...

Captured a couple of 120s OIII subs and auto-stretched one in PI but can't see anything of the DSO. Now trying 240s.

It would appear that I have 98 120s Ha subs of Simeis 147 of which 62 were used with wrong darks to give the interim result posted above. I now have 50 odd more subs tonight so I reckon I now have 150 plus subs of 120s making a total of 300m = 5 hours. The 62 processed before make up about half what I now have and that was a reasonable result so I think perhaps I have enough Ha subs and should try OIII.