kirkster501

We should have a handicap, like in golf, when comparing a picture from a UK imager (northern Europe to be fair) to those from the Med and warmer climates. In marks out of ten, we should get 9 for even submitting the picture, so lucky are we to get anything at all! 🤣 Being interested in astronomy is in my DNA, since I was five, 47 years ago.

Hi all, Any ideas please about a scope cover that is a bit more substantial than a bin bag? It would never be left out for days at a time but sometimes I am not inclined to pack away my wide-field rig at three in the morning so I'm looking for something I can quickly throw over the scope, covering it and the mount electronics (doesn't matter if the bottom of the tripod legs show) until the following day. “Real” scope covers are stupid money for what they are. If it's marketed towards "astronomy" I am sure the cost gets inflated fivefold..... Appreciate your thoughts please.

4 hours Ha (3nm) with 10 minute exposures and 80 minutes each of RGB Astrodon RGBHa (3nm) of 5 minute exposures. TEC 140/Atik 460 on MESU200. Next stage on this project is HOO so need to grab some OIII.

Thanks Steve, that does it. It was the "File>new" bit I didn't get.

Hi all, I'm a bit stuck... I have my colour image and I can split it into channels, manipulate the channels, for instance merge Ha into the red, and then merge it back together into an RGB again. Cool. So, when I have split the image I get the R,G,B grayscales at the top as three images. Now, how do I make a copy of one of those please - red again say - so I can then use it as another layer as a luminance? I can't see how I do that.... A bit lost with it! Thanks, Steve

Spectacular!

I worked it out;complete the grayscale as mosaic masters first before LRGBHa cominations.

Yes indeed. But there is noting inherently complex about these scopes. Other than the insane accuracy of the mirror and corrector surfaces, they are pretty simple devices mechanically speaking. Issue with fans is the risk of creepy-crawlies getting into the tube. So if you do this you must make sure of using some gauze or soemthing across the aperture of the fan.

Hi all, When doing a mosaic do you take the [say] four greyscale Ha tiles then stitch them and repeat with LRGB and then use these completed, constructed mosaic greyscale channels to do post processing? Or do you do the individual tiles as completed LRGB pictures in their own right and then stitch those together? Thanks, Steve

I have seen some videos on Youtube where someone installed small fans in their OTA tube to counter this - and to more rapidly cool the OTA down and move the air around.

One of mine has burned up like that before too, for no apparent reason. An Astrozap strap and an astrozap controller. The other strap that was connected at the same time was fine.

Welcome! I also lived in the wonderful Italy for a year. The skies, the food, The wine, the girls....😉 love it there and went twice last year. welcome to SGL 😃

Thanks, yep, going to build a pseudo lum and try that later on.

Tried to keep the background nebula the star cluster is passing through. It is very obvious in the vicinity of the bright stars. However, the gas extends many degrees around the stars and most close up views/picture do not show this.

Almost certainly your issue is seeing and/or collimation. A big scope makes the seeing appear much worse. Also as Newbie Alerts says, if the C14 scope is kept inside and then taken outdoors it may never stabilise all night. Big scopes must be kept outside in an obs or at the very least an unheated garage/shed. Even then, the few degrees between outside and inside a [cold] observatory, the delta between the two can take an hour or two to stabilise adequately. you can see this when you look through the EP at the bubbles of air on the defocused star. So you need to get the roof open with a big SCT as soon as you know you're going to be out. This is not always possible of course depending on other commitments. Damian Peach said in one of his talks he can get more good seeing nights in a five day trip to Barbados as he can in two years at home in the UK.

M45 with Samyang 135mm and RGB Astrodon filters G2-8300. 10 x 180s per filter

From RGB 10x 180 each TEC140 and Atik 460 last week.

Great idea. Looking forward to the data coming in ! I'd love to play with such data, although as Carole says, I'd be sure to say it wasn't my own. It really is utterly dire in UK at the moment. When you think about it, AP really is a crazy hobby to get involved in in the UK

Thanks guys, yes, the Samsung is a wonderful piece of gear.

An active (i.e. heated) dew shield or tape should never be "warm" as such. It only needs to output the tiniest, weeniest bit of warmth to keep the dew off. Indeed, if your tape or shield element is actually warm to the touch it will be having adverse effects on the seeing, especially a SCT scope.

I am doing a mosaic of the whole constellation of Auriga which abounds in clusters and nebulosity. I really like the Double Cluster. It's a fascinating area of the sky, looking straight out into the Perseus Arm of our galaxy. The DC is very distant, about 7500 light years. Were it at the distance of the Pleiades it would dominate the night sky.

Samyang 135mm with Moravian G2-8300 and RGB Astrodon filters. 15 x 5 minute Blue, 10 x 5 minute Green, 14 x 5 minute Red

When Ian king closed down his operation I got my Astrodon 1.25” LRGBHaOIII 3nm with about 20% discount.

^^^^^Agreed. Or wind was blowing and gusting a bit from one direction. This has happened to me.

Sharing a few pics of my battery box I built from a 110Ah leisure battery and a very strong tool box. I used metal XLR connectors and plugs and the whole thing can be isolated internally with a master 100A switch and 40A fuse feeding the whole thing. Also a power meter with an internal shunt to measure power consumption. CTEK charger point built in. A lot more expensive to make than I would have thought - the thick end of £300. The battery alone with delivery was £110. The heavy duty tool box £40. The power meter £16, the master switch £20, master fuse £10. Power distribution fuseways with busbar £24. 16AWG and 8 AWF wire and heatshrink. The XLR sockets are £3.80 each, same for the plugs. I took great care to make sure the cabling was neat and tidy. Each output individually fused as well as thee master fuse to the whole box. The whole thing works brilliantly.