Lucas M

Just booked my place, I'll be there for the duration 👍

C49 The Rosette Nebula Captured over 2 nights in January under Bortle 5 skies in Lytham St Anne's on the UK's north west coast RedCat51 ASI533MC Pro OSC camera Star Adventurer GTI Mount Optolong L-Extreme Ha_Oiii dual narrowband filter (7nm per channel) 150 x 300 seconds - 12.5 hours total integration + calibration frames Stacked using Sirilic Processed in Photoshop

Home and unpacked, thanks again for a great week and introduction to star parties in general. Lots of data to process and back to work tomorrow, so don't expect processed images to be posted any time soon 🤣 Here is one last time-lapse taken on the last night, thought I would try and get the mount tracking the sky in the video, I'm fairly happy with the result although focus in an issue as this lens has a hyperfocal distance of about 24m so no way to get the mount and the sky in focus together, so I went for almost in focus mount, slightly blury sky... looks ok though... even caught the meridian flip 👍 P2122282 MP4.mp4

Great night last night and a great few days in general, really enjoyed my first star party and meeting everyone, thanks for making me feel so welcome. Another time-lapse from last night's viewing, this is straight out of the camera but needs a little work as it's a bit dark for my liking. Also some quick autostacks/stretches of M44 and M33 taken last night, both need stacking/processing properly but very encouraging straight of of the little red box 🤪 Also got some good time on the Orion Nebula as well as Horse head/flame, I'll post final images of everything when all the processing is done. Thanks again all 👍 P2111708 MP4.mp4

The wind and the rain have definitely settled in now, unfortunately the cloud never cleared up last night with pretty constant high cloud and intermittent lower clouds too so couldn't get anything through the scope. Did manage to get a semi decent time-lapse covering from 8:30pm - 6:20am which just servers to highlight the cloud really 🤣 Also a nice image of the last glow of daylight For those interested the time-lapse details are: Olympus OM-D EM10ii mirrorless M4/3 25mm f1.7, ISO 800, 30 second exposures, 1 second interval, 15fps P2082051 15.0.mp4

Well on my way, should arrive around 13:30

I'll still be there... packing the car up now as due to a last minute work trip my route will be Blackpool -> Glasgow -> Stockholm -> Glasgow -> Drumroamin camp site! I'm almost glad the weather looks bad on the first night so at least I can get some sleep 🤣

LOL Thanks, probably not something I need to worry about with my little RedCat51 then 🤣

Its my first time going to a star camp (and my first time camping in a little over 20 years...) to show my naivety... what is a "utility tent" and why does one need one??

Its my first star camp too, really looking forward to meeting everyone. Its the first time I'll have been camping in over 20 years... nothing I've jumping in at the deep end. Not long now 👍

Cheers Geoff, That's a little disappointing, and a missed opportunity in my opinion, but maybe it will come in time. Ta. Lucas

Hi All, All of the images I've seen out of the dwarf 2 have been widefield DSOs using the telephoto lens... is it possible to use the Dwarf's widefield lens in the astro mode for taking stacked, really wide milky way shots or for star trail pics? and has anyone tried the timelapse function. My main rig is a widefield set up based around a redcat51 but im really interested in the Dwarf 2 for super portability and the potential for whole sky type images using the wide lens. Any thoughts? Ta.

M42 The Orion Nebula First time attempting this target as it's been below the horizon constantly since I started in the hobby earlier this year. I'm really please with how this has come out. I know the core and a couple of the stars are blown out, and it is the first time I have ended up with halos around some stats causes by the L-Extreme filter... but actually I love the effect that both those things give. this image gives me vibes of a wormhole entrance or portal to another dimension so the sci-fi nerd in me is very happy. When I next image this target I will go with shorter exposures to try and get more detail in the core, take some full colour stars and then blend them all together. RedCat 51 (250mm) ZWO 533MC Pro (-10°C) Optolong L-Extreme Ha/Oiii filter ZWO EAF ZWO ASIair mini Star Adventurer GTi SVBony 30mm guide scope + ZWO 120MM mini guide cam 116 x 300 seconds (9hrs 40mins) Lights Dithered every 2 subs 30 each darks, flats, bias Stacking in Siril (drizzle) Processed in Photoshop North West England - Bortle 5 Feedback positive or negative very welcome

Something I both love and hate about this hobby is the freedom of processing and getting to make your own decision on what looks good/what makes a good image. The engineer in me wants the images to look as realistic and true colour as possible, the painter in me loves the ability to play with the processing until an image "speaks" to me. This image is IC 1805 the Heart Nebula, just over 6 hours of data (dithered and drizzled) +darks, flats & biases, taken at 250mm (redcat 51) using a 533MC Pro and an Optolong L-Extreme dual narrowband filter. The 4 images are the exact same stack, processed in Siril and photoshop to give some drastically different results. To me all are equally valid, all are equally beautiful and all brought the painter in me joy while creating them, while at the same time frustrating the engineer in me because I have no idea which (if any) is the truest representation of the object.

Thanks very much, that's really helpful! I've book for the whole time so will be arriving on the Tuesday. Really looking forward to it

Hi all, never having been to this (or any other) star party before, I'm trying to figure out some of the practicalities and was hoping anyone that's been before could shed some light on a couple of things for me... At this campsite do you park at your tent pitch or in a separate car park? Do we set up our scopes next to our tent pitches, or is there a separate "observation field" where everyone sets up their gear? Thanks 👍

Managed to squeeze another one in! Caldewll 27/NGC6888 The Crescent Nebula. First time shooting this target and first time trying some more fancy processing techniques. I was aware this target (and some others I want to play with) had quite strong blue/green emissions in the Oiii and Hb range and I wanted to really try and pick them up so I added an Hb+Oiii filter to my rig to add to the Ha+Oiii I already had. I took about twice as much Ha+Oiii data as Hb+Oiii because the Ha is still the main emission from this target. For processing I removed the stars from each set of data after stacking (first time I've done that as too!), processed the starless images separately, then combined the two processed images and added the star back in from the Ha+Oiii data and did some final processing on the combined image...in hindsight I wish I had taken 30 minutes or so of stars with just a UV/IR cut filter to get better colour on them. I am please with the final image but think I could get more of the blue/green with a bit more practice. Imaging done Monday 16th October, Ansdell (Bortle 5), UK, Northwest Coast William Optics RedCat 51 ZWO ASI 533MC PRo (gain 101, cooled to -10°C ZWO EFW with: Optolong L-Extreme Ha+Oiii filter - 60 x 300 second subs (5 hours) Antlia Hb+Oiii filter - 27 x 300 second subs (2hrs 15mins) SVBONY 30mm guide scope ZWO ASI120mm mini guide cam ZWO EAF ASIair mini Star Adventurer GTI 30 each darks/bias 30 each flats per filter Dithered every 2 frames Stacked in Siril (drizzle) Processed with Siril, Photoshop and Graxpert

IC1805 the Heart Nebula Taken over 2 nights mid-late August. Now the 5th target I have attempted, I am very comfortable with equipment set up/acquiring the various subframes, calibration frames etc. Being a mechanical engineer by education and profession understanding the "mechanics" of AP has come very easily, however processing the images is a whole different ball game and one that I feel will take a life time to master (which is good because learning is one of my favourite parts of any hobby). I realise multiple submissions of the same image processed differently is technically against the rules of the competition, but I wanted to submit this anyway as I feel the below image completely captures where I am as a beginner astrophotographer and how I imagine a lot of people new to the hobby feel... which is that I have no idea which of the processing techniques below is a "better image", I love them all, I enjoyed the process of gathering the data and enjoyed the hours of "trying stuff" during processing to see what effect it had on the image and I enjoy looking at them, so here they are, my almost certain to be disqualified collection of Heart Nebula images 😜 William Optics RedCat 51 ZWO ASI 533MC Pro (gain 101, cooled to -10°C) Optolong L-Extreme Filter SVBONY 30mm guide scope ZWO ASI 120mm mini guide cam ZWO EAF ASIair mini Star adventurer gti Bortle 5 sky (just south of Blackpool, UK) 73x 300 second lights (6hr 5mins total) (dithered every 2 subs) 30 each flats, darks, bias Stacked in Siril (drizzled) Processed in Siril, photoshop and GraXpert

Just Booked my place! Really looking forward to it as it will be my first star party although based on the weather this year I'm not going to get my hopes up too high 🤣

Ha/Oiii dual narrowband filters are all over everywhere and are really useful, what I am looking for is an Oiii/Sii dual narrowband filter to pair with my Ha/Oiii, that way I can double up on Oiii data and capture some Sii without drowning it out with even more Ha. So far I have found only one Oiii/Sii dual filter (Askar ColourMagic 6nm) and it only comes in 2" which is super frustrating as all my other filters and my EFW are 1.25"... So my question is... Are they a thing? does anyone know where I can get a 1.25" version?

Hi, I haven't been to this event (or any star party) before but its looking like this will be my first. How do you book? simply send the campsite an email directly? Thanks

I started Astrophotography in May 2023 when I got a SA gti to use with my mirrorless camera and lenses... well and truly got bit by the bug and made a few "investments" to help me along, I have only attempted 4 targets so far, trying different settings, new equipment etc. but this is my latest (and I think best image) and the first time trying to image Andromeda. M31 the Andromeda Galaxy Taken early August William Optics RedCat 51 ZWO ASI 533MC Pro (gain 101, cooled to -10°C) UV/IR cut filter SVBONY 30mm guide scope ZWO ASI 120mm mini guide cam ZWO EAF ASIair mini Star adventurer gti Bortle 5 sky (just south of Blackpool, UK) 46x 180 second lights (2hr 18mins total) (dithered every 2 subs) 30 each flats, darks, bias Stacked in Siril (drizzled) Processed in Siril, photoshop and GraXpert

Two of (almost) the same image processed differently whilst navigating the VERY steep learning curve of this hobby. I'm only a couple of months in to this hobby and so far have only really imaged this target, playing with different settings, using different kit/processing techniques to see what differences they make. NGC7000 RedCat51 + Olympus O-MD EM10ii mirrorless camera 180s subs + darks, bias, flats and dark flats Red looking image ~ 8 hours total integration, stacked in DSS, processing in Photoshop Brown/beige(?) looking image ~ 4 hours total integration stacked in Siril, processed in Siril and Photoshop

Trying to decide whether to upgrade from using a standard camera lens to one of two options: The new ZWO FF65 APO https://www.firstlightoptics.com/category-567/zwo-ff65-apo-refractor-telescope.html Or the well loved RedCat 51 APO https://www.firstlightoptics.com/william-optics/william-optics-redcat-51-v1-5-apo-f49.html Im using at Olympus M4/3 camera so both would need an adapter but the William Optics one would work on either scope using the 48mm thread (I think) I am using a SA GTI mount to weight is an important factor, the ZWO comes in fully loaded at 2.8kg and the RedCAT 51 is a bit lights at about 2kg ZWO is 65mm aperture, 416mm focal length at F6.4 (if ordered today or tomorrow it comes with a free 0.75 focal reducer) RedCAt 51 is 51mm aperture, 250 focal length at f4.9 I would be upgrading from a zoom lens, 58mm aperture, 70-300mm focal length at F6.9 The ZWO is a little more expensive but I wonder if it gives me more over my current lens than the RedCat 51 What are peoples thoughts? Thanks

Thanks for the welcome all. Here is my very first image, taken last night