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I made that decision too, sold the mono gear and invested in an ASi533 OSC. Looking out at a drab grey sky now...

Now I have APP working (for me) I've redone this 4 panel mosaic. Each panel comprises 6x 300s subs and these were initially processed in APP with no calibration frames and none of the tools options in APP used. This fairly raw mosaic was then opened in PI, croped to removed the stacking, frame alignment errors and rotated/fliped to give a fairly correct orientation. Next, I hit the image with SCNR to remove any green, then a luminance mask was applied and repeatedly worked flicking between background and subject applying colour and density corrections with saturation and colour transformation tools before saving full size and smaller versions in tiff, png and jpg formats. To me APP has produced a better integration of the 4 panels than my earlier attempt with processing the 4 separate panels in PI and then combining in PS CS3.

Echo what Huw said - it's superb Adam

Thanks. Yes thats a cable. I've tried curving the power and data cables in all sorts of different directions but still get some form of shadow or spike (or both) something I'm starting to live with...

Finally got a night where I could capture all four panels on M45 in one session with the bonus of very little moon. Each panel is built up of 6x 300s subs at a gain setting of 100. I've processed this in a mix of APP (assembling the mosaic, LP removal and a general background balance) then moved to PI for a touch of DBE, saturation and saving the image in different formats. Then a tweak in PS. The kit: Scope: RASA 8 with an Idas NB-1 filter, Camera: ASi533 Pro cooled to -12°C (felt like it warmed upto that temp!), Mount: iOptron CEM60. Guided with a TS 80 guide scope and PHD 2 dev3. I had some initial problems with APP where after the long process time I kept getting a black screen. Omitting the dark subs cured the problem and the image ended up being processed with no calibration frames. Hope you like.

I keep finding that after a long spell of clouds that old favorites become first stop for a new session. M45 is built up from 4 panels, each panel has 6x 300s subs so a total of 2 hrs. Each panel was aligned and stacked in PI, DBE applied and then saved as 16 bit tiffs. These where then assembled into a single image in Photoshop CS3 and brought back into PI for further processing NGC2244 is built from 12x 300s subs entirely processed in PI. Scope RASA 8, Camera ASi533 OSC and mount iOptron CEM60. Mount guiding PHD2-dev3 (really like the multi star guiding), guidescope TS 80mm with ASi120S MM.

Thanks Alan - Yes but for me it's waiting for things to get out of a bank of trees to my SE.

New object for me. Found it by chance looking for another object in CdC. Comprised of 15x 300s subs through an IDAS NB-1 filter Scope: RASA 8 Camera: ASi533 OSC gain 100. Mount: CEM60 Processing PI only.

Welcome @Retired-Not-Dead to the forum. Best thing to do is keep things simple to start with. Take lots of shorter exposures and use a free program like deep sky stacker to assemble the stacks and play (and I mean play) with the images as you go. You'll make loads of mistakes, want to throw the whole thing out the window etc (been there) but gradually you'll get a handle on the amount of 'playing' you need to do, you will become more structured in your processing, you'll lengthen your subs, start taking darks, bias, light darks and flats and your processing will blossom. You'll probably want to change kit too, but until you get some experience you could be just chasing rainbows. Stick with it. Above all enjoy the hobby 👍

Take a look at these with a pull over flap to cover/uncover finger tips.. https://www.coopersofstortford.co.uk/mens-thinsulate-mitten-gloves/?SKU=11537&src=gbase&vsrc=igb9b2&gclid=CjwKCAiArbv_BRA8EiwAYGs23J6AzIaw534sU0bf1bvewXFTgC_cuVeA6SVPnF6t_VEIzn--vbNI1BoCpf4QAvD_BwE

It's a classical f15 long focus refractor used for more detail visual views of planets, double stars (the moon!) with a almost zero colour aberations and little or no distortions. If that's not your thing then move on to something you will use regularly and enjoy.

It''s meant for what it's made for. If that's what you want to use it for it's for you. Otherwise...

Why not build the outer walls with blockwork and any internal walls with studding and plywood cladding so you can fix stuff to the walls if needed. Also easy to re arrange if needed later...

Merry Christmas All Single 5 min sub shot circa 1.00 this morning - enjoy

Finally managed to get the 3rd quadrant finished and the 4th in it's entirety. So there are 6x 5 min subs per quadrant. These were aligned and stacked in PI. The four stacks were taken into PS-CS3 and the 4 aligned and the whole image flipped horizontally. Each quadrant then balanced against it's neighbour then the image saved first as layers (just in case) then flattened and saved as a single image. I then took it back into PI to do some additional contrast enhancements before resizing a saving. Scope RASA 8 Camera ASi533 OSC cooled to -12°C Mount iOptron CEM60 guided with TS 80 guidscope and ASi120MM camera.

Well the skies tonight tried to clear so I had a play with my (holiday) cam - a Panasonic Lumix GX80. Although it won't connect to my laptop to fire off exposures what it will do (only found out this today) is allow a timelapse session with marked exposure lengths upto 60 seconds (RAW files shot). There's a T setting which I think times out at 2 mins but not tried that yet. Anyway I set the camera on my WO ZS73 and set the time lapse going. These are unguided as condition would have had PHD running for cover. I set it up to take 30 subs. I ended up using 6 (yes it was that bad!). I shot 4 darks and threw the lot into APP. It came out quite noisey so it was into PS to run a noise reduction and despeckle. The RW2 RAW files from the Lumix won't open in APP, PS or PI I had to download a RAW file viewer (FastStone Image Viewer) to convert the RW2 files to tiffs so I could see what I had and process them. Not too bad for 6 mins @ 1000 iso and f5.9

The original panels after stacking looked quite good I had used some de-noise in PI but the noise just increased in PS even with 16 bit originals. I'll have another go in PI and see if I can't get a better result.

Hi Sir, This was suposed to be 4 panels with 5x 300s per panel. Bottom right had 3x 300s before the cloud called a halt. Still I've saved the sequence so can repeat one day! You got permission for the obsy then!!!

Now a work in progress... TBC

Finaly some sparkly stuff up there! I've tried an 8 panel test of this area before but it didn't work very well for me so I've restricted the size to 6 panels (3x2). Camera: ASi533 Scope RASA 8 Mount CEM60 Processing: Initially in PI to align and stack the panels (panels each 5x 300s) then in Photoshop CS3 to align the panels and apply saturation, curves and retouch edges. Quite noisey.

I removed the felt cushion from the RASA and replaced it with 1mm PTFE sheet (ebay). That provides a flat almost frictionless facing allowing the camera to be rotated without having to slacken anything

@gorann Great imaging Gorann. I had to make an adapter for my RASA 8 to a) get the filter closer to the sensor and b) be able to turn the filter so the correct face of the filter is pointing to the sky. With the 533 its fine but larger sensors without the adapter would show vignetting.

M33 imaged 22-11-2020 early evening while wait for the main image of the night to clear a neighbour's roof line. 6x 300s, ASi 533 unity gain no darks, flats or bias (relied on PI's DBE to help out there. Main processing in PI with final tweaks in PS SC3.

That image is incredible Goran - looks like the RASA strikes again. Trouble is I think my credit card might get bent again on a new filter....

That's intense Goran. Super image - mosaic in the making...