TiffsAndAstro

Guess I'll see what happens in a couple of hours.

yeah, but they're generally moving there relatively quickly

I think I have the same dew heater band. On my 50mm pentax I like to think of it as a free lens hood. If I'm careful. At 28mm no chance

I'm just watching a video on YouTube Martins astrophotography. I think shows what I need. Will try follow it asap

Also this is very different to synscap app which is all I have

sorry this video is confusing The cross have in the bottom window doesnt match the upper one And if it did, the small target circle for Polaris would be at 3pm not slightly before Cant watch video right this second, but, is the gist of it that I move the ra away from what seems default, so that 12 on the clock in the scope is pointing straight down? If so, yes I already do that. Then I use the bolts alt az to put polaris at the correct position. Last time I did it a little rougher expecting the polar align with the app to then correct it (vi alt az bolts)

Yeah sorry I need to double am I seeing this, first. 600d 135mm pentax k and adapter

Will give it a go ty

Cant watch video right this second, but, is the gist of it that I move the ra away from what seems default, so that 12 on the clock in the scope is pointing straight down? If so, yes I already do that. Then I use the bolts alt az to put polaris at the correct position. Last time I did it a little rougher expecting the polar align with the app to then correct it (vi alt az bolts)

Are they the bird shapes? Ty so much for the diagram but I don't quite follow? Ok I see now, check focus on stars more spread out from center?

Sadly I think I'm someone that some how enjoys failing and then, eventually, really enjoys failing slightly less badly. Plus english weather.

I need to double check that this is indeed the case, but, if it were, would it point to any particular problem apart from my gear being that?

the andromeda image was a vintage 135mm f2.8 60sec subs for about 20 minutes total. Im going to try the same shot but longer as soon as it is clear and use same set up except ill try stopping down and see if it helps with the angel star shapes. any criticism is warmly welcomed so tyvm also turns out my polar alignment was not as good as i thought it was. will do it properly asap and try stopping down the 135mm a bit. i will focus on using just that one lens as the focal length seems a decent balance between ease of seeing stuff and being a bit more zoomed in

ty for your in depth reply - i have a couple of questions though, sorry i line up polaris from its position given in the app through the polar scope and manage to match it pretty easily and quickly. i don't think im struggling with that part. why would the mount not be in the default home position? after using the polar scope i turn the dec 90 degrees (by eye) and lock its clutch. the ra i might adjust a tiny bit so it looks perpendicular to the ground in the polarscope then lock its clutch. next clear skies, right after positioning polaris correctly in the polar scope, i will then do a 2 (though its stopped working) or 3 star alignment (1 & 3 still seems to work fine) then chose the polar alignment option and do that (which is use the bolts on the mount to adjust) then reset star alignment and do it again and i should be good? i haven't been using ra and dec to do star alignments or polar alignments, apologies if this wasn't clear.

best i could manage last night about 1200seconds i think. those angels/seaguls are getting annoying ignore the file name pretty sure this was wide open at f2.8. next break in clouds will try stopping down the same lens to F4 or even 5.6 see if this scares away the seafuls.

After a while last night I could choose two star alignment option and stars but it wouldn't move. 1star and 3 star still worked fine however. I tried resetting alignment but no joy. Anyone any guesses what I've done wrong?

maybe i like seaguls? sorry for a late reply, only just noticed this. will have a go stopping down, but right now i want experience/time gathering data, even if its a bit crap data hopefull stopping down will clear that up might be able to test that tonight ty

i know you speak truth, but i want to try everything. when i'm bored of everything i can try and do something a bit better m31 tonight now i've realised i can see it for a couple of hours before house roof i will go back to orion though, mainly because its amazing. i really haven't looked into stacking multiple night's exposures, so a few hours on one target per evening will do for now. here's a bluer version of the same image btw lol. didn't think i did much different but there you go lol i prefer the colours of the earlier one, but this is still quite nice. tbh, im still in shock a 15 dollar 40 year old lens can do this.

Ok will do a 2 maybe a 3 star alignment after my pa in app using physical knobs. Ty so much for this. It might be obvious to many people, but I'm very noob if you hadn't (or are too polite) to notice.

Hi I wonder if theres a sub forum or something where I can post an image and details and get some realistic feedback?

Apologies I maybe mixing terms. I do a very rough polar alignment get the pa scope pointed close to polaris. Add counter weight camera lens check balance. Then an accurate polar alignment via the pa scope and alt/az (i think that's their names) matching the Polaris position in synscap app. Then i do a 2 star align in the app. Then i do a polar alignment on a bright star or jupiter using the same physical knobs above. Then i select a star on or close to my target and do another polar align via app and physical knobs but it's usually spot on. 2 min exposures still seem too much though

I really would like the horsehead tonight if clear ish. Might do quick experiment on it with my mirror and 200mm f3.5. Maybe andromeda before it drops too loo?

Ty after 10 to 12 hours this is the first image I'm happy with.

So only thin usable from last night was 2 hours on alnitak trying to get "everything" in frame. Which I did but dpnt like 4mins stacking maybe 10 minutes processing I'm pretty happy. M42 core not too blown out but weird processing artefacts if you zoom into core. Vintage 135mm f2.8 iso400 unmodded 600d moon not up.