Stargazer33

I've used a couple of layers of self-amalgamating tape on my particularly nasty Celestron CGEM mount knobs.

YouTube has lots of really informative videos on astro image processing in a number of programs including Photoshop.

Signed. Brighton & Hove Albion also have a massive training ground built 10 - 12 miles away on the edge of a village called Lancing. The development, which is about to have a large extension is built on a flood plain and right up to the back gardens of dozens of homes. The training grounds floodlights illuminate the sky for miles around. Since the development, the gardens of the homes have started flooding; which they have never done before. The council in there wisdom are also in the process of agreeing to a development of 600 new dwellings and an IKEA store on another part of the flood plain!

Back in December of 2018 I bought a Startech 7 port powered USB hub, which I fitted to my new on 'scope DIY power hub. After a long break from imaging I am finally getting back into the swing of things after watching a few YouTube video tutorials on the various programs that I use. Anyway, the other night I was simulating an imaging session to test out the various options only to discover that four of the seven usb ports weren't working. I looked up Startech's website and found that they have an online returns form. I duely filled in the form, including a copy of the receipt from an online retailer and sent it off. The next day I received an email to say that my request for a replacement under warranty was approved and shortly after another email to say the replacement had been shipped! To be honest I thought they would say that it had been too long since the purchase, so I was very pleasantly surprised to receive a positive response and so quickly too. What excellent customer service. Well done Startech!

Very nice. Lovely subtle colours. I don't think I've seen this target showing so much depth before.

I used these on my power distribution box. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GX12-2-2-Pin-Plug-and-Socket-12mm-Screw-Type-Panel-Connector-Aviation/192556123261?hash=item2cd53d447d:g:T0cAAOSwdfZbEVIa:rk:5:pf:1&frcectupt=true

You can use anything of the right diameter as a drift and gently tap out the pin. A precision screwdriver for example.

I'd be very happy with either version! 😁

That's a great start Terry! It's much better than my first images and my take on M42 which came later. Looks like you have a good signal to noise ratio (snr). Have a look at the YouTube video on applying a false luminance layer. It's shown in Photoshop, but gimp is so similar I'm sure it can be used for that too.

Hi, the Moon is a good target to cut your teeth on. It's nice and big and easy to focus on. Plus there is so much to look at that it will keep you entertained for ages. Have a look along the terminator - the division between day and night on the Moon. Be aware that at high magnification, it will quickly move in the eyepiece if you aren't tracking. Remember the lower the number on the eyepiece the higher the magnification. Also a x2 Barlow lens halves the eyepiece number. So a 20mm eyepiece becomes a 10mm eyepiece with a x2 Barlow; a 30mm eyepiece becomes a 10mm eyepiece with a x3 Barlow etc. Enjoy your Christmas present. I'm sure you will have lots of 'wow' moments.

Ooh! The pinky fudge one. My favourite. Oh, nice image too! 😁

That is very nice for such short exposures! I didn't realise that you could achieve such an image from 15" exposures. Out of interest, what 'scope did you use?

For anyone interested in making themselves a lightbox; the LED light string I used in mine was bought from Amazon (other south American rivers are available!) here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07XCB6L5W/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Nice sharp image. You could also take some calibration frames to get rid of the hot pixels, i.e. dark frames.

I've finally got around to making my flats box. I decided to go for a cylinder rather than the normal square as I thought it would maximize the amount of reflected light and limit any 'dead' areas. I could also use the Celestrons dust cap retaining pins to lock the flats box onto the 'scope. I purchased some of the craft board that has a thin foam sheet sandwiched between two sheets of thick paper/thin card. In order to bend the card into a cylinder, I creased the board every 20 mm by pressing the edge of a steel ruler into the board. It took two of the sheets to make a cylinder big enough to fit my C9.25, with only a couple of cm trimmed off. I then made a reinforcing ring/defuser holder from two strips of the foam board; this time creasing them at 15mm intervals. I stuck these level to the bottom edge so the joins were 90° to the main cylinder joins. These strips were cut wide enough to ensure that the diffuser cleared the secondary housing. The cylinder was designed to lock into the C9.25s dust cap retaining pins so next I cut two keyways into the bottom outer side. They looked a little weak so I reinforced them with some Christmas chocolate reindeer plastic packaging! Although the foamboard is quite shiny, I wasn't happy with all the grooves, so I lined the inside with white A4 paper. The Perspex sheet was cut to shape and hot glued into place onto the ledge. Next, starting at the top, I notched the edge of the cylinder to run the LED string lights cable through and then started to spiral the LEDs around and down the cylinder. The top cap/reflector was made from two discs of foamboard. One to go inside the cylinder and one to sit proud of the edge. They were glued together before being hot glued onto the top of the cylinder. The LED light string that I bought has an integrated on/off button as well as both up and down brightness buttons with a 3M sticky pad on the back, so I stuck this to the top cap. As I had previously made myself a 'scope mounted power distribution box with aircraft sockets for power, I removed the 3 pin UK plug/ac-dc converter and soldered on an aircraft plug to match my 12 volt DC supply socket. The lightbox illuminated.

Go to your profile, picture & name above right, under the search box. In the little picture on your profile page (an S in a purple box in your case) there is a link to click on. Upload a picture of the appropriate size and Bob's your uncle!

I had already changed my .png file to simply 'home', together with the corresponding maptex entry in the .ini file. I have actually managed to get it working on my PC which is running Stellarium version 0.13.3 on Windows XP SP2. My laptop (Vista Home Edition SP2) is running Stellarium version 0.19.2. Both systems are running OpenGL version 3.3, with each version of Stellarium reporting that there should be no problems with the display.

Very nice, well done! Lots more stars and an appreciable amount of nebulosity in your latest image. You'll have to visit Grandma and Grandpa more often! 😀

Well changing the .ini file name to 'landscape' has now got it into the landscape list, but when I click on it Windows (Vista SP2) shuts the program down!

Thanks Alexander. If I can sneak off at all tomorrow I will give that a try. Merry Christmas! 🎅🎄

Hi, yes the file name is the correct .ini file. I've removed the minutes and seconds from the file for security reasons, but they are there in the proper file. I've also done it with a single word name for the folder, file and .png. So afraid that isn't the answer either. Thanks for your suggestions though. 😀

Um! Yes, .jpg link is broken!

Hi, having recently bought a mobile (cell) phone tripod adaptor, I thought I would have a go at setting up my custom landscape view in Stellarium. I have watched all the videos on YouTube and read all the threads on here and I think I've done everything correctly, but the custom landscape doesn't appear in the list. I have tried this on my laptop (running Vista SP2) and my (very old) PC (running XP SP2). Neither of these work! I have included a screen shot of what I've done. I have obviously forgotten or missed something really basic, but for the life of me I can't see what. Any help/advice would be much appreciated. Thank you & a Ho, Ho, Ho!

I built one of these after reading this post.

Great images. Welcome back too. 👍