Gina

In fact Takumar 105mm lens with full aperture of f2.8.

Collected more data on this target giving a total of 6h 10m re-processed in PixInsight. This shows a definite improvement IMO.

A dedicated astro camera is going to be better than a DSLR.

I see no reason not to put the sachets between the thermal insulation and the camera body. I did it the other way round - thermal insulation directly round the camera and the sachets just placed in the outer casing with the Raspberry Pi.

Great stuff Neil

WOW!!! That is some DEEP hole!!

I thought that was it. Yes, that's what I've found needed cleaning.

I bought 10g bags of colour-change desiccant like these.

Note that the camera casing is not sealed - it behaves like a sieve with plenty of atmospheric access. In my all sky camera, I desiccate the whole volume around the camera and have found this dries the air inside the camera adequately in that I can run the camera 20 degrees below zero and get no condensation on the sensor. Indeed any condensation will occur on the case in preference as that is colder, I use bags of desiccant that changes colour when exhausted. It also stops any condensation on the inside of the dome but a dew heater is still needed to stop dew on the outside.

3D printer? If you have one and it's big enough.

Don't get the National Geographic channel here.

Nothing different really except that we've actually had viable imaging weather for quite a lot of nights. Now the available astro dark is tending towards zero unfortunately, so a last blast for the season possibly.

I'm using an ASI120MC-S camera for guiding but not OAG as yet - a 200mm f3.5 lens. I'm getting under 1" (arcsec) RMS error using the Ekos guide system. This is the cheapest ZWO camera AFAIK.

My ZWO cameras have a glass plate glued over the actual sensor. Then there's the screw-on camera front. I have only removed the camera front and then cleaned the glass cover of the sensor. Are you saying you have removed the sensor cover glass, exposing the sensor itself and its myriad fine gold wires?

I use an ASI178 with Peltier TEC cooling in my all sky camera, with water cooling. I can get the camera temperature down to -20° but I use substantial thermal insulation of the camera body. Water cooling is significantly more efficient at removing heat from the hot side of the TEC. I could only get to around freezing with air cooling though that was in warmer weather.

That's what I do - works a treat.

That's good enough.

I bought AstroArt 5 some years ago but could never get the hang of it. Then I bought a second hand tower system that had PS on it and learned to use that. When that machine died and I bought another I bought PixInsight, which I've been using ever since. Very powerful software and dedicated to astro processing.

I agree that this is a great image. Sorry I can't suggest any improvement.

Yes, it was a good first scope for the price. I captured my first image of Saturn with it and a webcam. Nothing great but it was wonderful to me and never to be forgotten. I bought the version with a motor drive but wasn't very impressed with that so made my own. Good luck with it and have a great time.

Excellent image Geof - well done. Beats my attempts of the past. This is my favourite galaxy and feel inclined to have another go at it.

That was my first scope 😀

Result!!

Welcome Back Andrew.

Yes, I've found that. A big STL file doesn't necessarily mean a long printing time. And the reverse can be the case too. Some of my all night prints haven't been enormous STL files.