TiffsAndAstro

Yeah it's a possibility but I'm hoping I can rotate the OTA in it's rings to compensate. Flo been pretty amazing, just let down by DPD. And yes it's the weird adapter cos the focuser has non standard threads?

So It may might be clear tonight and I'm scopeless. Except for my mighty minimak astrograph, of course So, as you're forcing me to, and for the good of science in general I might set up and use my mirror lens so I can swear and not focus it for two hours. I'll even try the bahtinov from my 72ed. How bad can it be? If I manage to do that, and hang my guider off the front of the vixen dovetail, what should I point it at? Orion way too low

I think I didn't have enough frames to tell either way. Possibly I was at the cusp, so didn't see any worsening of the noise, but the noise was reasonably high anyway. I can post a drizzle and non drizzle versions if you want to see? Just tell me jpg or tiff or fit etc It's only about 100 mins total 120subs on m51 Also have similar on iris nebula of it would be interesting to compare? Isuspect I need way more total integration time for it to be even worth comparing though.

How do you know what your seeing is? Sky meter? I said 2" because the mf summit calculator used it as an average default value. I have a evostar 72ed 600d flattener.

Turns out Nina image pane has a very similar feature. Make sure you're zoomed out click bahtinov icon move box over you target make box a bit bigger if you need to It's pretty handy

So just want to say Ty again for everything everyone contributed to this thread. My scope had to go back cos the lens hood was welded on. Even Flo couldn't move it. Flo have been pretty amazing wrt to this, and I'm a old cynic. I took the opportunity to send back the rotator i doubt I'll use. And after reading this thread and a video from 6 years ago, I decided I also didn't like my image train hanging out the back held on by me remembering to tighten two iffy screws. Even if getting reasonable back focus seemed easy. So I bought the m48 (I think it is?) adapter and can screw it all together. Possibly back focus won't be perfect but I can try than £17 set of spacers? Is there anything I'm missing? I assume the replacement will be the later model like I think my original was. I'm only very noob, but this seems a really capable imaging machine, if I can improve my skills a fair bit. I liked the focuser. Out of a sample size of one ;(

As a fellow noob, my first reaction is - it's free, how bad can it be? The reality *possibly* is - bad, if it doesn't match up with expectations. If I were lucky enough to get such a thing for free, I'd look at a few YouTube videos on if it's possible to optimise it for visual for little cash/effort. Noob as I am bird Jones is a red flag, but expert people on here are lovely, very helpful and refreshingly frank

im undersampled, but i can't work out what my seeing is - i assume its 2" ish. Didn't notice a massive increase in noise but not many subs so quite noisy anyway. i'll leave off the drizzle for the time being i think. ty for the advice.

Honestly, comparing (just now) a basic osc processing/stacking to a drizzled one, i can't see any difference. except the image less pixels and smaller file size. which makes things quicker. ill give drizzling a rest for the time being.

as a youtube trained expert, i was under the impression i needed to drizzle as im undersampled and because i dithered. will have another go sans drizzle then ty

its fine without drizzling (usually) but i dithered, so id like to drizzle ill have a look at gimp's re-sizing/downscaling and give it a go after that too

its a windows_stop code, and the little pictogram thing just takes me to the usual vague ms webpage if i get really bored i can try cropping down incrementally and testing each one to find a reliable size/tile size. also pc is good enough for this stuff. worst that could happen is it takes longer than a faster 6, 8 or more core pc

anyone have any clue why my PC blue screens of death when i use siril + drizzle + starnet++ and try removing star? im assuming its because the image is 4 times the size it would be if i didn't drizzle. what would be a good way to downsample (?) it back to my sensor resolution of 5184 x 3456 ? i can crop it down to 5184x3456 and obviously reduce the fov, but im not keen on that, even though sn++ then seems to work ok. 4 core 4 thread 6600k with 32GB ram. should be ok performance wise.

Ok had a search through both cards and nothing, sorry if its clear this evening i can try imaging with it again, but not in orion too low for me to see now

One needs to be inside a firesafe though, surely? I'm hoping cheap flash drives and hurling them into distant neighbours gardens will suffice.

i really dislike manufacturer lock in. but i have a macbook. running nina etc on boot camp. im in no hurry and can wait try and find a cheap light 2/4core windows pc to velcro onto the scope. the pi for a server is a great option though. right after that, ill make a pier made out of stacked baked bean cans and string

I'm ok with that stuff but mainly because I can watch a video or read a post and follow instructions. Coincidentally I was looking at a 4gb pi4 to flash astroberry on. Never done it, but it doesn't seem to be rocket surgery. Your link would mean I could do both but with only 1.5x the effort I like the neatness cable management of the asi air, but I also like Nina and chrome remote desktop works a charm. So maybe a nano windows pc on my scope and the pi4 server for my storage.

I'm seriously looking at a nas server thing with spinning metal disks for storage. I massively underestimated data storage requirements. I'm crap and noob and even I regret deleting stuff. My plan is to have cern begging me to let them have a little of my server storage

Sorry I misunderstood I'd love you to have a go. I'll check my SD cards, possible they are on there.

I still think its a decent lens for daylight - small, very light and cheap yeah its f8 and darker than my bias frames for astro anyway. Ill do as you say when i get a bit bored of my 72ed. gonna try the bahtinov mask from my 72ed on it - what could go wrong? btw i also thought i might have camera/sensor alignment issue because of those shapes, but after getting my 72ed, i think it was more of a vintage lens issue well, hopefully its ok for the moon btw, so maybe i should keep it for luna photography, which i never do?

Pretty sure you're spot on, and i think there's some adjustment available if i pop the cap on the central obstruction. thing is, i rather like its daylight performance. its a pain to focus, and a remote shutter release is required as it shakes more than shaking stevens going before a judge. however i wouldn't want to risk knackering its daylight performance to tinker with unrealistic expectations. i can't find much on the interwebs about adjusting a mirror lens, so i wondered if i could look at stuff on how a mak-cass (i assume it imitates) and have a try based on that?

Er no, sorry they were deleted to save disk space a month ago. I don't have pix insight anyway. Not sure it was cropped either. Also it's the bestest image I managed with my minimak

So I have a very cheap mirror lens I bought mostly for the T2 canon adapter. In daylight I quite like it. For astrophotography it's rubbish. However, it looks vaguely like a mini maksutof so I want it to be amazing ;( When I do manage to vaguely focus it, he stars look a square/cross shaped. Is it even worth me considering removing the central obstruction and could I only adjust it at night on stars? Or should I just chuck it in the bin? This image was some time ago, about 45 mins total integration time and rubbish.

Well your amazing image made me have another go at post processing mine, but for limited gear I need more total integration time, though I am getting hints of the nebuluoslity, nothing like your striking image. As Orion (my reason for trying this simple, uncomplicated and not at all frustrating hobby) is too low now and my fov seems a bit small for the few reflection nebulas still visible, I'll just have to stick with galaxies. Except Andromeda which is also too low now and would fill my fov perfectly. M101 and possibly m51 are maybe big enough so I might try some long multi night projects on them. Also smilie face in markarians chain and wait for November for Orion to return. By then, I want to have try mosaics and get all of Mr Orion from Betelgeuse all the way down to er whatever the bottom right star is lol. Flame, horsehead (maybe not sure without it) running man everything. Good enough for an a2 print. Just for me. I'm also very interested in suggestions for other targets I can get with my gear that I might not know of. I tried looking for where I updated my signature but can't find it again lol. My quote is better anyhow

Have to say Nina (and phd2) is amazing. it does everything except taking lens caps on/off and physically adjusting the alt/az bolts