SwiMatt

Absolutely nothing to be sorry about! The more you know ASTAP starts stretching the limits of my knowledge in dedicated astro software! But it is now saved in my browser as yet something else to look into

The only reason I haven't tried DSS is because I run all my machines on Linux and DSS is only for Windows but so far the scrips that come packaged with Siril were good enough for me. My photos were also done at 50mm (with zoom on the kit lens) but @f4 if I'm not mistaken. There is no doubt a way to stack these manually without the flats, but I didn't want to take the time to play around with all the possible settings to detect stars when registering the images. Ah-ha! Good tip, I did not know. I'll look into it, thanks! Thanks for this tip. It does sound cool, but you got the wrong impression of me 😂 all the talent I have in software manipulation, I lack in hardware I wish I had the savoir faire and patience for such a project...

I will no doubt attempt a star trail with my phone next, I have good feelings about winning this 😂

Starting to feel like I should get out while I can Tonight I will take new flats and to the very least get a normal starry sky...

Things that happen when trying to write in English! I learned something new today

I can totally understand that! Playing with software and coding is a thing that I like so much, I just never thought before of how much of this there is in astrophotography. That feeling when you do something right and a real picture pops up on your screen (even a wrong one like this)... it's a real dopamine kick. It's the same kick I get when my code at work runs smoothly, on when I fix a tricky bug. I don't understand how I wasn't seeing this side before.

It's a scary thought! I currently don't have the budget to be too hooked to astrophotography 😂 But I have no doubt that I will continue experimenting with the little setup I have. With a ball head for the tripod I have and an intervalometer I will have enough to give it a "real" try - that's all very cheap and accessible.

I am one of those who do JUST VISUAL. But yesterday night I had my first shot at astrophotography Just a month ago I didn't believe taking pictures of the sky could ever be for me, but I just had to see what the fuzz was about. With just a DSLR and a kit lens, even without a tripod adapted to the camera, even without an intervalometer: I put my camera on the balcony table and took about 30 lights (2.5"), a few darks, a few biases and a few flats (ask me more about the specs if you're interested - they're beyond the point). The goal was not to take the best picture I could: I knew that with 30x2.5" I could really not go anywhere - but with no intervalometer I wasn't about to do a 3 hours session of clicking. But I wanted to test the process, learn about the science of it, see if I could eventually like it. Incidentally, I completely messed up the flats - using a headlamp that had a very concentrated center beam. My impression? It was a lot of fun. Being under the stars is always good, even from my balcony, no matter the tools at hand. And the processing! Now, don't get me wrong, it was a bit frustrating: I tried processing manually without the flats (on Siril), but there was just not enough signal to do anything with it. Without flats I just couldn't manage to detect enough stars to register the images. On the good side, doing it manually allowed me to understand what each step is for. In the end, I applied the automatic script using my terrible flats course and the result was hilariously bad. But also weirdly satisfying! There are two reasons I'm posting this horribly wrong attempt: I had just so much fun, and while I will remain a visual observer first, I also will get into getting some gear targeted to photography (a tracking mount, first and foremost); To let any beginners know: you'll mess up, and will mess up hard. As I said, I'm a professional scientist, I understand quite well the things I did and what went wrong, and what I should and should not have done (heck, I knew it while I was doing it). Just have fun with the process, and it won't matter. Not looking for advice at this stage, just wanted to share a fun experience!

Currently enjoying a bowl of tobacco on the balcony, despite the Moon up on the other side of the house I managed to give a good prolonged look at M29 and M15 in the Mak at 166x. Transparency is good tonight, considered the "Moon-wash"... M29 was showing a lot of the main stars without problems.

Warm welcome! As it happens I live in Sweden, but you made the right call to move... skies must be better there

Love this! The highlights really make the crater pop. Suggestive.

What a nice collection of sketches! Very nice and thanks for sharing!

Wonderful work @josefk! I personally like your "poor" tidy sketch

Incidentally I and so many others have similar issues 😂 it's quite a pickle to be in!

Have you bought a 4" apo yet?

Delightful shot!

After this whole thread and all the envy you caused me, it was especially painful to observe the Moon and Jupiter within 2° and not being able to put them in the same field of view

What a seeing tonight! I pushed 312x on 5" almost as a joke and even Jupiter was holding it decently, showing the equatorial bands as neat as I've ever seen them. Unfortunately I hadn't planned to stay too long and a couple of clouds covered up the sky so I went inside early. The Moon showed so many interesting details. On the Northern part of the terminator, I found what looked like some interesting rugged mountains with a sort of canyon coming out on the lit surface, maybe some pious soul saw something similar and can help me identify what that could be? I haven't got a Moon Atlas yet

And it seems to be heavier than both the StellaMira 66mm and Evostar 72ED... For me, I wonder if 62mm is too small. Which is really hard to know since I never looked into anything that wasn't a Mak. Time to get "real" astronomy friends...

@JeremyS let me know if you found a good counselor, I'm in need of a good one (especially after creating this thread)

We need explanations of what seems to be an inner joke. EXPLAIN (with Dalek voice)

I'm seeing that StellaMira also has a 66mm which looks intriguing at an interesting price. Mid way between 60 and 70 might be an interesting compromise? Although 72 is plenty portable already.

Stop giving me apo envy 🤣 what have I started... Oh THAT's what it is!

Besides, for visual use the aberration might be more tolerable. If one has the money, the 90FL seems like a great portable scope - although maybe not quite small enough to fly easily with it. By the way, another unseen advantage for a light frac with smaller aperture is how convenient it would be for solar observation. Smaller filters (easier to carry for, and easier to replace if the foil tears), smaller set up. I could almost think about putting the setup in the backpack for a lunch session. I think, as a summary, there is not one person here who thinks that a committed astronomer should go for a fast achromat if money isn't the main issue at hand. Apo wins in basically every respect for this type of usage. A good apo regularly seem to punch above its weight - a thing that is not easily said for any other scope that I heard discussed. But at this point I might slowly update other things and go for a big purchase later in the year (I'm thinking that Williams Optics instruments look veeeeeery sleek and beautiful)...

I never thought that B4 would be considered as "bad sky quality" 😂 consider that I live in B7-B8. It would be a dream to have fast access to B4 every time I want. Quality of skies isn't really something I can control, unfortunately. And because portability is so important to be able to get away from streetlights - limiting me to shorter refractors - all of a sudden I don't see a way to avoid larger exit pupils when getting the widest views. For sure a small refractor will get more use when I travel: my Mak at the moment is already bulky and big enough that I would hesitate to fly with it. Do you think however that given the same sky conditions a 70-80 apo is a better choice than an ST80 or similar achros, considering the higher price tag? All things combined, I will probably not go for an apo that requires me to change my whole set up (I have an AZ5, and will soon upgrade my tripod to something more solid): this probably rules out the 4 inches. There is always a chance to upgrade the whole set up to only a 4" apo as a my work horse, but it's not in the cards as of yet. I will say that it is nice to dream about it For sure you all gave me so much to think about. I read and re-read all of your comments because it's just a pleasure, and a very good cure against that terrible disease that is aperture fever.