TiffsAndAstro

So I'm quite keen on f4 ish newtownions. Not so keen on the horror stories with collimation and an image train hanging off the side, even just osc and maybe filter drawer. Are there any such scopes that are easier to deal with? And I realise I'll need a grown up mount and other accutrinontes £

The idea of monetising grammar Nazis makes me 😂 Yes I did have to Google grammar/grammer as I suffer from unintendedironyosis

Is there a commercial market for astro pics? Maybe some monetisation of social media?

Thing is I think any image you take you can (by default, is?) copyright, so in theory no one else can use it. My camera even offers a field for copyright info, which I like to imagine is a stenographically imprinted watermark, but is probably plain text meta data ;(

Yeah Orion is gone for me. Maybe back November time? Galaxies are my targets too once I'm a bit more dialed in. M31 too low too

Your results speak for themselves. At some point i will have a go at this (but via gimp rather than photoshop) m42 orion has a very easy to overexpose core, hopefully this will work for me too, ty

Do you stack the different exposure then stack the three results? Or maybe each result in a separate layer then selectively combine sections?

I tried cutting out a 2 inch diameter circle coffee machine filter to try, wasn't great ;(

I've looked vaguely on the light pollution map in the recent past, and nearest bortle 4 is about an hour north of Manchester or need head into Wales on 20mph roads. For context, cuiv the lazy geek takes some great images from a balcony in Tokyo, so anything is possible

Ty for this been trying to find it to download and struggled:)

That's a really good point about higher targets. Previously I would wait for M42 to pass meridian before starting imaging but this is harder to do on higher up ones for the reasons you said. I think my next test maybe tonight and/tomorrow on m101/106 (none cluster test target suggestions welcome, unless clusters have a good property to test like maybe star separation?) I'll tick meridian flip in sequence and I think I can add a calibrate guider into the sequence too? Calibration seems to take about 5 mins. I really just want to do one target for as long as I can for a nice result.

Ty for this it's good advice. I like KISS and try to practice it in general :)) Not gonnaa think of back focus until I reseat the flattener. I took it out and didn't pay much attention when put it back. If I reseat it again with more care to slowly tighten up each of the two bolts holding it in, alternating every 1/4 turn it should reduce the tilt a bit. I need a way of screwing the flattener on though, those two bolts don't inspire confidence in accuracy or security. I think my back focus will be acceptable then. If not I can maybe try the cheap spacer set on flo. I'll keep any eye on the hfr grap. Higher plot for star numbers and lower plot for hfr. In my last session I did see a big drop in hfr and number of stars but want sure what it meant. Now I do Ty also I'm definitely managing my expectations. I'm viewing my current setup as good practice for if I ever bought a more grown up setup while also being a very portable battery powered rig for travel to darker sites. In theory. really appreciate your help with all this. This site's users (and you tube) have helped this not be overwhelming. At least not yet. Also, saw one you tubers 2 hours total integration time of bodes and cigar galaxies. My 13 minute attempt was not massively worse, so I'm optimistic:)

One hour on on M42? Wow Love all these images and was expecting it to need tens of hours

Ty for this. Added to my list to read. I wonder if there's some Nina plugin to help? Will have a search Lol already read that, phew those examples images look really useful.

Ty all for all this. I'll try and sort the tilt next, and then see if back focus issue is still visible. Of course I'll try not mess with any tilt fix while playing with spacers. Doesn't sound terribly fun, but I think it's a plan

So I don't need exact back focus as long as I can focus the stars? Ie moving the focus tube will compensate for incorrect back focus? Or is perfect back for required to get stars In Focus and not egg shaped? Apologies if this is a particularly dumb question

Ty for this. I've watched a few videos and my t ring should give exactly 55mm. But what if it doesn't? Not sure how I'd order a possible fraction of a millimeter spacer. I think for now, I'll try and improve the tilt and then ask if anyone can see a back focus issue, but I'm open to suggestions:) Ok then, after looking at your link they go down to 0.4mm. is it just a case of trial and error, slowly building up the spacers and looking at the results?

So...about back focus.... I assumed sort of, that as long as i can move the focus tube via the focus knobs in and out past focus and back, then if its in focus, its in focus. But now im wondering if i have to get the exact back focus right before i then move the focus knobs? i can't see what difference it would make, but then there's lots of things i can't imagine that do actually happen I mean, if the back focus is spot on, there's no need for focus knobs, surely? and yet they exist any chance you know of a good video or link which would explain this? especially with a dslr if its much different from a osc.

All I meant was the zwo camera leaves the option of it working with the asi air in future. I'm a massive Nina fan, but the asi air is still very appealing

Would in be possible to buy the Flo zwo guide scope bundle, plug it into Nina on a laptop to slew and plate solve and leave the main scope free to look through? It's £200 seems to work very well for ap, but why not visual, too? Can try it out before getting an asi air, plus you have a zwo guide cam that will work with aso air if you go for it

i did some test subs 60, 120, 180 and 300 seconds with guiding going. I think my stars are a little oval shaped, but they seem exactly same oval shape in all those test subs. so i suspect the alignment of my camera/reducer/focus tube is a tiny bit out. next clear skies i have a plan to fix or reduce this shape. also i reduced the wait to settle time from 10sec to 6sec to improve speed but will change that back, as i had a yellow nina warning about camera not being ready. Also any good suggestions for a 'final' test run. Ideally something high up and not a boring cluster I'm thinking m101 as it's about the biggest spiral visible all night? Also other people will be a decent judge of what's possible with my gear and so any remaining major issues?

Hmm that's not what i worked out by the online tool, but its very likely i did it wrong. https://www.astrohowto.com/interactive-dithering-calculator/ i have a sw 72ed 420mm f5.9 and the zwo miniguide scope f4 120mm with the zwo120mm min guidescope bundle. All on a sw gti with a proper tripod now. using nina.

yeah watched a decent video on hfr. not entirely sure how to use the graph display of it in nina yet, im assuming higher plots show more stars and tighter stars? which is good ? I also need that bahtinov grabber. not sure if it an addon or built into nina now, but it looks very very useful

I'm reading through it as I get a chance but will take a while. My pc is ok but getting old

Er, why would my pc performance make a difference on reading a guide? Also what is jtol ?