JonHigh

Awesome. Thanks so much for your help! Really is very much appreciated! I feel like a newbie all over again!! 😂

Thanks for the detailed info. To be honest I thought it was something I may have inadvertently done to it! - I will check the back focusing spacers just in case which is an easy thing to do. However it's the collimation I don't know at all. I will get a cheshire to start with so at least I can bring it to where it should be. This was one reason why I didn't go for an RC scope and got a my Triplet some time ago now. Was thinking about selling it and getting a Newt as a replacement but I'm not so sure now. Maybe my brother should take it back but not before I have played! 🤣 Thanks again PS. Aha yes there is a central dot. Right I get it now! 🙄

Oh I see. I'm so used to my triplet, Oh the fun of newts 😂 ! I will have to check with my brother as he set it up initially so I am assuming he has set it up correctly. I will check if the distance is correct maybe an extension spacer was left off? So birdlike stars is a collimation issue? What is a backwards coma? Starting to wonder if I should just stick to my frac! Sorry for going on - Just want to understand. 👍

Thanks for the fast and sound replies! So I was going in the right direction of it being well out of collimation. Is this a Primary / secondary or both mirrors out? Yes, indeed a coma corrector was in place but I didn't think it could present an issue as long as a corrector was used? Maybe a better one is needed? This is a totally new scope to me so I'm a bit like a fish out of water! I'll have to sort this out and get it back up and running when clear again. Also need to sort out the tilt!! Birdlike Stars... If it turns out to be astigmatic is that the end of the scope?

Hi All. I hope you can advise on this. I borrowed my brother's Newtonian (SW 150PDS) to have a look if it was something worth getting as I have only ever used refractor's and Mak's. I took this 2 min sub and saved an auto stretch version in ASIFITS viewer to ask someone more knowledgable what this is? Im guessing it's a collimation issue (primary or secondary?) or is there something wrong with it optically? I first thought it was out of focus (Used a mask) although it was saying it was focused!? I assumed if it was out of focus I would get donuts rather than odd shapes? Please help.

Had a little play with this image on a bit of downtime plus the weather has been awful so...

Brian May would be pleased to see all that dust! Really excellent reprocessing. I must look into getting PI and these plug ins at some point!

That’s a great image. I had to zoom in as it didn’t look real. Very Eskimo looking! 👍🏻

Hi Alan. That's some light reading I will be doing. I love to be educated and gain (excuse the pun) knowledge especially in this hobby that I enjoy maybe too much! So thanks again for your time. I will have a look at the exposure times next time it's clear, whenever that will be. I do have a Pro Licence for SharpCap that I mainly use for PA. I recently did a Sensor Analysis which, to be honest put me on this road in the first place. But come out the other side with more understanding, so was definitely worth it! 👍 Indeed, I will check out the Smart Histogram function now I have done the SA. I live in Bortle 5/6 which is why I have never ventured further than 3 min subs for the very reason you gave. The camera side I get instinctively. Re the RedCat. Sounds like you had an awful time with it but pleased the distributor was good enough to help you! Yes agreed, I actually deleted it from this post and started it on a new one as there seemed to be an issue reinserting it as I decided to reprocessed it again.. Many thanks for your comment. 😇

Hi All, Finally got to reprocess the Soul Nebula over the weekend. I think I have tamed the noise levels in the high gain setting I used...

Alan. Thank you so very much for your time and patience. I think it has now gelled. It seems an absolute mine field, but an enjoyable learning curve especially with good people like yourself shedding light on things clearly and thoughtfully. I thought I had an understanding of sensors and how they worked but never realised how different manufacturers use different scales to describe the same thing. Almost like using imperial and metric units I guess! Either way thanks again 👍. Being an ex-pro photographer with an understanding I assume as the gain levels have risen, I take it that the exposures would need to decrease or should I continue with 3 mins subs for example? On a side note from looking at your impressive equipment list, I noticed you have WO RedCat-51. I was considering it as a possible next purchase as the Evoguide 50 I repurposed has got me into wide field captures.

So the auto switch over from LCG TO HCG on the Zwo is at 100 where it’s done manually on the Altair. So I thought I was right in using a gain value of 300 and switching it into HGC mode. As it’s a rough equivalent value? Better to use 100 in HCG which brings it up to 300 in brightness/sensitivity at a lower read noise level? Sorry about this.

Thanks again for your time Alan. Crazy. I don’t understand why the scale values are different from various manufacturers and aren’t just standardized across the board! Oh well. I use APT for image capture rather than Altair’s own software. I loaded that software up for the first time and indeed it starts at 100 (ZWO 0). Also checked APT and confirms that too, it reverts to 100 if I enter a value <100. So I’ve been using the camera at its base line. Or in ZWO terms Gain 0 in LCH mode all this time.

Hi Alan. Okay thanks for that. I think I have worked it out in my head now 🙄. Looking at the graphs and of my Sensor Analysis from SharpCap, it’s seems best to have it set at 100 using HCG mode. I will give it a try next time out and hopefully I get a better result?! Let’s face it, either way it will not be as noisy as the shot from last night!

Hi Alan. Thank you very much for your info and help. Really do appreciate it. Ah. That explains why I have a noisy image. So I was using a Gain value of 900! Blast. APT has a manual switch over for the conversion modes. So would I be right in saying that LCG at 300 is equivalent to 100 HCG. If so then the later should give better read noise results but a loss in Dynamic range and well depth? I found the graphs for the 26c and have attached them. thanks again