nmoushon

Thanks!! It feels like I've been on a month-long expedition to Andromeda, exploring clusters & dustclouds through a panoramic window, (which is partly the truth as well) and I'm very happy I'm able to share this experience with the rest of you!

Regarding the 3minute subs (180s), That was my maximum exposure-length with the lum filter without overexposing the core of the galaxy, the fast focal-ratio of f/3.8 really speed things up, and since the background sky overpowered the readnoise-level I doubt anything would be gained by going for longer subs. And with my crappy seeing and lots of moving clouds, less data got wasted with the short subs and the stars less bloated and less burned out cores.

I forgot that the AG is at f/3.8...that explains a lot lol. Most people would do long exposures combined with short ones to control the core and just do layer masking in the processing to feather the core out. Is the main reason you didn't use this more common technique because of your clouds and seeing, which I completely understand why it would limit you, or is there another reason why?

This is just fantastic! I can't believe the amount of detail you have achieved in this. Simpley amazing. This was a HUGE undertaking that clearly shows the amount of time that you put into it. My jaw dropped when I saw the first 100% crops.

Btw why did you choose to do 180sec Lum over a longer exposure...or is that suppose to be 1800sec?

If you have two bits of rubber you could put them on either side and then grip it with some pliers. The rubber will protect the treads(as long as it thick enough and not very hard) from the force of the grip of the pliers and this should give enough grip for it to turn.