WolfieGlos

Attempted to capture an image of 12p/Pons-Brooks with the 585mc tonight with some early evening clear skies, but the clouds put a stop to it after about 20 minutes 😒 Still, it did leave the sky with a spectacular Moon bow captured below on the 77D. The line to the right that coincides tangentially with the bow (and another one at the bottom just visible), makes it look like the beam of light calling for Batman 😂 Aimed up now to get some views on the Moon, almost the only thing left visible so might as well make the most of it.

Personally, I always used the liveview on the back of the camera with a bahtinov mask, zoom in 10x and adjust the focus to suit on a very bright star. Then connect the cable to the camera and use Nina to control the imaging session. Now I use an EAF, which takes longer, but is a bit more accurate and useful if focus changes mid session (ie due to temperatures).

Decided to have a re-process of this one, despite my initial post relating to the colour, I think I prefer this version. Exact same data, with some star reduction this time too.

Quite easy, referring to my post in the other topic….Starfield 102 😁

What a shot! I really like the version 1, gives a sense of scale but the third version is a great one too. If it was me, I wouldn't be able to choose between them...

First entry into this one, decided to reprocess the image and went for an "OSC Hubble Palette" version of the recent NGC2264 image that I posted in the imaging section. Channels split, and recombined in Siril as LRGB, using channels RRRG. Starfield 102 + Canon 800D (modded) on HEQ5. 200 x 300s frames at ISO-400 with Optolong l'enhance filter. Possibly the only DSLR entry so far ?

Only two; Starfield 102 ED Skywatcher Evostar 72ED And I'll probably be selling the 72ED since it's just sat collecting dust. I seem to be one of a kind here 🤣

I would second this, but then I would definitely recommend..... ......this over the SW 72ED any day. Faster, wide field, and much more forgiving on your mount (which you haven't stated). Assuming a simple star tracker like the Star Adventurer, the SY135 at f/2 will be more than capable. The 72ED would, however, need a guided setup. And also suffers from tilt with bad copies.

Wow, even with a 2x barlow I get half of that FL with my rig 🤣 Very impressive.

This is one of those images that I will have to try and finish next year now. As a constellation, it is now well and truely out of sight for me in this season now. Captured in some of my sessions prior to Orion becoming visible for my recent image of M78, M77 presented an opportunity on some of of those sessions but was generally obscured by cloud or trees. And constant bad weather. I was nearly not going to post this, but I did manage to get something for 5 hours of data. Although I've titled it M77, I framed this galaxy off to the bottom corner and chose to frame NGC 1055 centrally. NGC1073 off to the bottom left is an interesting looking barred spiral which could certainly use some additional exposure time. The extra exposure would also help to bring out the ring around M77, which is surprisingly bright but I'm unable to bring it out of the noise. NGC1032 even shows a dustlane, which I'm quite surprised I've picked up for it's small size at this focal length. All in all, I'm fairly happy with the result; just hampered by the lack of total time. Canon 800Da + Starfield 102. 113x120s + 55x90s (05:08:30). Stacked and processed in Siril, with Topaz Denoise.

Wow, that's a serious bit of kit. Lucky you for having access to something like that Goran! Is the image cropped at all?

Really nice, like the contrast and nice detail in the core too. Well done 👍 For my effort earlier this year, I had about 15 hours for all the dust from my area at f5.6, and it needed more if I’m being critical of my effort.

Wow that is a good deal. And mono too? Wow. Thanks for the heads up 👍

There is Astro De Noise PY, which is a standalone software and free. It can leave images a bit “plasticky”, so I usually dial the settings back a tad.

No need to apologise Lee, if anything it’s good that the information is here for anyone else with similar issues. I was surprised how quickly it all blew up 😆 Sorry if that came across in a negative tone mate, that wasn’t the intention at all 👍

Wow, what a fascinating image and looks great zoomed in too - so many galaxies! That tail almost looks like a guitar....the guitar galaxy maybe?

Oh? That's good to know and is a lot cheaper than the F2 extreme. What's the F2 extreme for then?

Thanks @geeklee / @Elp / @Adreneline . Seem to have stirred quite a discussion, and not about my image sadly ...... 😆 Yep, this was entirely my fault. Although I didn't realise it was 44mm backfocus for the SY135, I interpreted the 17.5mm stated on the Altair lens holder's website as being from the back of the lens holder. So camera (6.5mm) and spacer (11mm) gives the 17.5mm. I have just measured the setup (scale rule...can't find the calipers currently...), and it measures 37.5mm from the lens connection to the front flange of the camera, so in theory 44mm to the sensor. Spot on. So how that puts the focus ring "L" indicator so far out is now confusing me. My lens is a brand new copy, so unless they've changed it, I can only put it down to the filter effect of 0.5mm or so. I do have some spacers somewhere to try that out. Although I don't have an adapter for it, I could try to mount it on my SA2i for some testing next time I get clear skies (at least a week away by the forecast). At the very least I could use it with the DSLR. Yeah it's pretty neat. Incredibly it comes with a dovetail that has hole spacings that match the holes in the top of the SF102's tube rings; something that I cannot find ANYWHERE. Short of drilling a hole in a dovetail that is. However, if the BF is correct, I am wondering too if the single lens connection isn't quite strong enough and perhaps the lens has drooped slightly. If it was in tube rings like this neat solution I could rule that out, and also utilise the filter drawer, with an EAF connection too in due course. In fact it also has a 1/4" mounting for the SA2i.....oh the money pit opens again!!!

That's some dedication and wow, 24 hours and the spiral arms are still that faint? I'd be disheartened and also call it a night (day?) Maybe one to return to at various times to pick up more data in the future, or a collab with others.

Really nice image Oskari, great colour and detail in there. Reminds me a bit of M33.

Thank you Richard Yes, it's an astro modded camera - I've just updated the OP to say that. 44mm? Right, so my "L" is quite a distance from the focus point, but it was perfectly in focus with a bahtinov mask on a very bright star in the middle of the frame before slewing. The lens is held in one of these purchased second hand (the 17.5mm version), with the 585mc connected with the 11mm spacer that comes with it - making 17.5mm.

Nicely done Elp. I might give this one a go if it’s still visible when we next have clear skies.

Thanks Lee, appreciated 🙂 The first image I split the channels and combined with pixel math, adding a slight twist to the colours so it wasn’t “fire service” red. I don’t usually do this, but I actually quite liked it. The blue was the hardest part, I had to overly saturate blues to bring it out. That Samyang is a beast of a lens! If I can figure out the filter and tilt/backfocus it’ll be superb. I think I need something like an optolong lextreme f2, rather than the Askar colour magic? - which I didn’t buy for this lens by the way. I was hoping to coregister the data with what I collected from the Starfield but Siril didn’t like it, assume the focal lengths and pixel scales are too different.

Finally, I have managed to produce an image this year after the awful weather. I initially started this in broadband capturing 3 hours of data, but then with the Moon period and clear skies, I decided to capture data with the l'enhance filter and have persevered this week with several nights of clear skies. In the end, I have captured 16 hours of data for this one, including 3 hours under a Full Moon. In the framing I wanted to pick up NGC2261, Hubbles Variable Nebula which makes an appearance in the lower left. Stars were processed separately, applying SCNR, and then after Inverting the colours, a further run of SCNR and inverting back again, a saturation boost and it's able to bring out oranges and blues in the stars for a broadband-ish colour to the stars. Not perfect by any means, but some additional colour other than the boring "white" of narrowband I think works well here 🙂 Usual Starfield 102 + Canon 800D (modded) on HEQ5. 200 x 300s frames at ISO-400. Comments welcome as always And as an added bonus, last week I picked up a Samyang 135 f2 lens, and sat it atop my scope for one of the sessions. I was blown away at the amount of nebulosity this picked up in 3 hours! Not the best of framing, but being sat on top of the scope...it kind of is what it is. Imaged with my 585mc at F/2 and an Askar Ha/OIII filter, this is a quick edit with no noise reduction. There are horrible halos with this filter, so I will need to investigate something else. Not sure if it is suffering with tilt or backfocus here, but aside from that, really impressive lens.

Same, I priced up a 533mm pro with RGB filters and a filter wheel (no narrowband...even more expensive) and it's about the same as a 2600mc pro. Either case it's a big purchase, and not until later in the year for me, so I can defer until then Good luck with the processing...like you say, lots more cloudy nights to come! Although this week has been good our way for the first time in months.