Oortraged

Thanks Elp, I've had the same question and appreciate the guidance!

That's certainly the same way I've understood what Cuiv is saying in the videos around this set up Cimh. Your image earlier is certainly impressive - I've been reluctant to add the wedge in, but you've tempted me again! Thanks for the detailed write up too 👍

Definitely Elp, if we ever get a clear night here again it's top of the target list

Just got done fiddling with this composition of M52 and the bubble nebula in Siril. Limited data amounting to about 25 minutes, half with the internal filter and half without. Surprised just how much of the background nebulosity the S50 managed to pull through in my Bortle 4 skies under short integration.

Interesting Dave, thanks for sharing. I think there is definitely mileage in the S50 for some more tinkering, it has a broad enough audience that some (cleverer people than me) are undoubtedly going to start doing some interesting stuff with them!

Great bit of kit JP, and all the better for being a freebie! Looks to be about 150mm of aperture? There are arguments for bigger, but here in the UK this is typically the limit of resolving power as dictated by the atmosphere on an average night! I hope the scope brings you and the family many fun evenings!

Yep, makes perfect sense! I think they're just wonderful bits of engineering - that would be a good enough excuse for me! Wow Astro, now there's a set up that's as nice to look at as look through! Really stunning.

What a beautiful tribute. I can only hope to be held in the esteem you grandfather clearly was, condolences to you and yours.

Thanks Steve, this actually made me laugh hard enough to scare the dog.

Olly, a question - I thought the big selling point of these harmonic drive mounts were their portability? Seems countinetuitive to mount one permanently in terms of cost/ performance? Or are they really that accurate?

I'm just watching 'Carbon Brush is typing' with utter glee at what is coming hahaha!

This is one of the most sophisticated trolls I have ever encountered.

Thanks for such an in depth explanation Olly, really fascinating to understand a bit more of what goes into producing images of your standard. Just had a proper look at your linked mosaic - stunning. A week well spent in post!!!

Olly, I hope you don't mind me asking a question (and without intending to derail the thread from it's original question) - when you say 'a months full time work in processing'. What does that look like? Is it just the sheer amount of data that generates such timescales when you have 400 hours to integrate? Or is it more down to becoming an astronomical Michelangelo, taking slivers of data from a digital David in pursuit of perfection?

Now that's a Swiss army knife of a frac collection, one for every possible job! I do miss my old 8" dob, but I couldn't justify the storage space since a house move. Switched to an ED80 for visual use about 8 years ago, and it certainly shows less, but I love what it does show! The S50 has to satisfy my aperture fever through digital means for now... although I suspect Mystic Meg would probably forsee a large dob in my future at some stage! 😄

The 4 definitely looks cool, emulates that dob look, which is often how I think of the S50 - a companion dob that doesn't give me a hernia! 😁

Really cool image! I've meant to ask before, are you using a physical mask of some sort for the diffraction spikes, or is there some electronic wizardry I'm missing to do so?!

Heya folks, nice to see some images of the eclipse from the Seestar! With the weather having been what it has recently, I had chance to sit down and pull the .fit files off the S50 and try and get to grips with post processing. Have been using the videos from Deep Space Astro on YouTube to get to grips with Siril. This is my first proper effort at an image, could only convince Siril to use 40 minutes of data compared to the 53 the S50 had gathered. Utility on Siril handles colour calibrarion and removing some excessive green noise in the data. Then ran a general noise reduction on the resultant image. I used the StarNet plug in for siril to remove the stars, did a manual stretch of the data in the histogram and (perhaps excessively!) altered the saturation to bring some more colour forward in M51. Finally, stars added back in and a stretch done on those (tried to keep them a bit smaller). There's definitely a little bit of a learning curve, but very manageable and a good way to pass a few hours when there's not much to see above! Lots of nuance and things to learn with the software, but found it genuinely really fun, and looking forward to tackling the rest of the archive! Quick edit to add the YouTube channel I've been watching for anyone interested in learning more, apologies if it's already been linked earlier in the thread: https://youtube.com/@DeepSpaceAstro?feature=shared

Hey, welcome! Brilliant pictures, and a lovely part of the world to be based in!

That's such a cool image Dave! Genuinely phenomenal where we've got to in 144 years since that shot. Especially given that people must have had far better visual observations even through relatively modest contemporary scopes! As with most things in the UK, the main source of disagreement in these conversations is the weather - if we were in Arizona I'm sure we'd be too busy with what we were looking at to worry about what everyone else was looking through (although, the exception that proves the rule may be the CN forums 😂). Ryan

Cheers Paul. I do empathise with both sides of the conversation in truth, and many of the the points that are raised disparagingly toward the S50 are ones that I had with myself over the course of months prior to purchase. Since ownership, all such concerns have dissolved in the joy of being able to view and share these objects with friends and family. I'm very new to the hobby compared to many. I started pursuing it in anger in my early twenties, and am 36 now. I'm very aware of the fact I am standing on the shoulders of giants in how accessible the night sky is through this sort of equipment. Equally, I recall being dissuaded from a goto as my first mount at my first Astronomy Soc - first, I rather ought to 'learn the night sky with binoculars and star hopping'. Many pleasurable evenings were had off the back of this advice, and the skills I learnt are used every night I observe - be it with the S50 or visually with the ED80 and azgti. However, the S50 is as nuanced an instrument as the Dob I started with: the challenges and opportunities to learn and grow as an observer remain as potent, it is just the medium which has developed. One of the greatest pleasures of this hobby is that there is space for every approach and perspective on it - a whole universe of room for all of us! I thank those who have the means and commitment to have invested in dedicated rigs (particularly those who have subscribed to the ZWO ecosystem) for supporting the development of devices such as the S50. I greatly value their feedback, guidance and experience in collaboration with all of us enjoying looking up at the night sky, through what ever means we are able.

Heya folks, it has been an interesting read catching up with this thread since ordering, receiving, and having had chance to spend about a month with the S50! I hope you don't mind me shifting direction of the thread with a brief observing report from tonight. Was thrilled to have some clear skies, and have chance to take some images to share with loved ones. So, I'll start with the best image of the evening! M51. I have a little postage stamp of a garden, that faces roughly NNE. Weather report seemed to show that trying to get out into the wild tonight would have been touch and go, so this and all the rest come from my Bortle 4 garden. M51 shows 53 minutes of data in the time stamp. This took about 2 hours to collect in reality, with some high level cloud and star trailing issues confounding the S50 stacking more. I have the raw frames for the whole evening though, and look forward to learning how to process them Next best image of the evening was M97. There are some star trailing artefacts on this image, but once again its just the live stack from the S50. Targets were few and far between in the garden tonight, and almost all of then at or close to zenith. Obviously a challenge for any device only moving in 2 axis in a fixed alt az set up. I already had 1 hour of data on M81, but some forum trawling showed me I had missed a trick, and could have got M82 into the frame as well. Well, I've had a week of rain to ruminate on my failing there! Alas, both objects soon eluded the gaze of the scope, flanked, as they are, by the neighbours houses! I have to say, as short on data as it is, and how bad the framing may be, I love the composition of this shot. And now, moving progressively from bad to awful, may I introduce you to my attempt at M108. I'd hoped to be able to get enough of this for a friend, who is a keen surfer, to make a birthday card. Even with cropping, I don't think I'll get something satisfactory! The field rotation is pretty impressive for how truncated the data collection was - but at least I caught some photons Finally, a very tiny set of 6 x 10 second subs on M94. This was enough to notice the streetlight next to it ruining the attempt! All told, 6 of the Messier objects on an evening where the forecast made me sure it wasn't worth going out. I completely understand that the S50 isn't a device that will please everyone (and indeed, does such a thing exist?). To offer an analogy, however: I enjoy balancing the carbs on my VFR400. And my enjoyment of doing so is in no way diminished by the fact that others enjoy riding fuel injected bikes. Clear skies all, Ryan

Hey Jessica, welcome! I'm relatively new here myself, but have found lots of friendly and helpful people, and a lot of interesting topics, and even a local astronomy society in my local area since joining! I hope you have just as much fun delving into the forums Ryan

That looks really smart Lee, even more excited for mine now! I also opted for the 2m Lynx astro cable, so glad to hear I haven't overdone it or underdone it! Sounds like a great plan with the DSLR too 👍 definitely a fan of repurposing/ multi use from a bit of kit as I am tight on storage, so food for thought! That's a smart idea @Jim L, really tidy and no chance of cable snags as you say! Unfortunately, I think with the version of the talentcell I opted for (LF4100) it might be a bit too large to take this approach - I've included a plectrum for scale. It also weighs in at a heftier 750g or so. I have some other, non astronomical applications to press the TalentCell into, so unfortunately this was the compromise for now - but ought is better than nought, as they say! If it proves overly cumbersome through the summer then I can always make the switch for next season Thanks for the perspectives folks, greatly appreciated.

Thanks Elp, that's good to know for quick set ups and as, inevitably, more electronic bits find their way into the set up! Cheers Lee, yours looks really neat and tidy. Good point about the tube potentially fouling if it is on the pier. Is that the ADM saddle I spy lurking there as well? Must say I'm looking forward mine arriving and getting it on the mount! Ryan