kirkster501

Do you have the clutch tightened as previously mentioned? The Star Adventurer is an absolutely fantastic device, I love mine and use it all the time.

I use a Canon 1100D that I modded myself. You will need a T-ring adapter and possibly an extension to reach focus to connect the camera Bayonet to fit into the focuser of your scope - either 2" or 1.25". Below is my first ever DSO picture from 2011 of M31, with the very same 1100D before I modded it two years ago. At the time I was utterly thrilled with this - 12 x 120s exposures.

Photos taken with a flash make any dust and marks that are present seem much worse than they are. From the evidence of those pictures I would leave it alone, I have seen very much worse that that. As and when you do clean it, it is simple - Just as Willie does here. I did exactly this with my C925.

Master Luminance a combination of Ha and Luminance filters and RGB. With TEC140 and ASI174M.

With Takahashi FSQ85 and QHY268C. Best 65% of 6500 frames. Processed in PixInsight and Photoshop.

When it comes to renewal contact them on chat, plead poverty and that you need to cancel if they can't make it more attractive and they will drop it to £20-£25 or so. I got away with that for 3 years until they did me a deal for £40 that I refused so dropped back to photography plan with Lightroom, Ps and Xd for 9.99 per month - which is peanuts. I now do video with DV Resolve for free.

On emission nebulae I never use a traditional luminance and always use Ha as the "detail" channel. I am also dubious of the need to do a luminance on other objects such as galaxies if you bin the RGB at 1x1. Indeed, this is my strategic direction. I add up all the RGB to make a synthL and then sharpen and work on the detail on that before blending back into the RGB. OSC has no lum channel....

Luna with TEC140 and ASI174M with Baader CCD LRGBHa filters. Used Ha and L filter combined as a Luminance and RGB filters for the colour. Processed in PixInsight and Photoshop.

With FSQ85 - a superb visual and lunar scope as well as DSO that it is better known for. QHY268C OSC camera. 17:20 UK time, 24 Dec 2020. Moon at 73% full phase. Fractionally over exposed so need to learn to expose for the right of the histogram so as not to wash out the brighter craters.

Very nicely done.

Lovely picture.

Unusual to see a Takahashi FSQ85 taking a lunar picture but this is what I used in this image with QHY268C. Best 35% of 2000 frames. I think focus is minutely out. Expected to be able to get more colour than I have so need to research further. Anyway, hope you like it and Merry Christmas.

Mosaic? In the UK? I struggle enough to get one panel done where I live, let alone four or twelve (or more).

Yes, that is also an important consideration. But with filters like the Optolong L-Extreme with its 7nm pass band in Ha and OIII you can also do NB with a OSC.

Nice picture mate. As other have said, you need to take flats to eliminate the bunnies.

My thoughts on this..... I don't think anyone questions that mono is better, 100% of course it is. With mono you dedicate the whole sensor to that channel alone so the full resolution is available for each channel. So the results in an ideal world will always be better and you will build a better final image. Period. Ideal worlds, eh???? Wouldn't that be nice...... Covid all gone, conflict all gone, live to be 150 with my super-model girlfriend on my super yacht harboured off Cannes..... Oh, and clear and reliable skies for astronomy. Yeah, wouldn't that be nice? Alas, we don't live in ideal worlds folks. Most of us on this forum live in a cloud infested country in the path of Atlantic weather systems with three major global air-masses converging directly above the UK with the jet stream snaking all over the place. So, I'd suggest the question should be what quality pictures *CAN* you take from these cloudy shores with the minimum amount of frustration and that keeps your interest alive in this fascinating subject? I asked my self that question many times whilst I was doing mono with my Atik460 and 8300 chip cameras (both superb btw). And I have a mountain of unfinished data sets and a heap of frustration to go with it. This year I have been working on M76 in LRGB - The Little Dumbell nebula - for months and only have two colours in the can due to the UK permacloud. In the same time I have grabbed several complete images with my OSC camera, one of them below from my QHY268C on the FSQ85. OSC is now so much better than it used to be. My strategic direction is now OSC. Although I will continue with mono I will be making no further investments in it. If I lived in a sunnier, kinder climate my answer may be different. But I don't. I live in Nottingham, UK. Merry Christmas, Steve

I have several articles about how I do this: https://skastro.net/unboxing-and-initial-setup-of-qhy268c/ note, website in development.

I ran a very similar setup albeit with the Atik460EX on my FSQ85. This is native FL on the FSQ85 with just an LDAS LP filter and QHY268C. Note, no FR. It would be much wider of course had I used the FR - which I no longer do.

My fiancée’s ears pricked up at the thought of it raining diamonds 😂🙈

I am a big enthusiast of lunar observing, though no expert and I have seen that book before. It is indeed beautiful. However, times move on. What a printed atlas cannot do is mirror and invert left to right the view seen through the EP the way that a digital atlas can. That said, I still use a printed atlas as well sometimes. Google moon is superb.

I am not sure. I will try it. PI does not use graphic card acceleration and is run on the CPU. I know you can get Starnet to use the CUDA on the GC but I am not sure other PI processes can use that.

I have a reasonably modern, fast machine with i7-8700K (12 cores, hyper-threaded) with 32G of fast memory and Samsung EVO 970 and a NVidia 1060 GC. Stacking 150 x 6000x4000 resolution images from my QHY268C camera in PixInsight can take 45 minutes plus.

They are very low down in the UK. Should be higher for you in Florida. P.S. Say hi to Florida for me. Can't wait to go again, if we ever get chance with this Covid thing

Yeah got to try and get soemthing in the can

With FujiFilm X-T2 and 55-200MM lens (@200mm) on Startracker. ISO 800 and F3.5. 7 Second exposures. Tomorrow - conjunction day - is clouded out.