alan potts

John, better off than you for latitude by close on 10 degrees and I have done this many a time with the 115mm triplet and the 190mm M/N as well as my Dob, but if you can't see it with a quality 18 inch mirror then the conditions are dire, it has happened. You may well remember some time back I played a game trying to see it from about you maximum latitude by estimating when it is the same amount of degrees above the horizon, result here are far for wonderful and compare much the same as your own, I don't recall seeing it below 20 degrees with the 115mm but have done with the 180mm Mak and 190mm M/N. I found a power around x150 best for me but there are so many differences between our two sites. Best wishes for the New Year, lets hope it's a tad better than this one, Alan

Yes of course I didn't change the guide scope focal length in PHD, so therefore I imagine the calibration would be wrong as well, so much to remember with this dark art, plus the grey matter is not what it once was. I was considering having a play with my 180mm Mak, even though it's F15 and I don't have a reducer I thought it may be good on globulars, well the brighter ones. Alan

Fairly sure I covered everything and I did tighten up the alen screws, however as I took things apart I thought there may have been some movement in the many rotating parts of the 3.7 inch focuser, I will continue to play with it over the coming months. I feel my biggest problem is I am always chopping and changing scopes and focal reducers, too much gear not enough clear sky. Alan

I tried my OAG last night after about a year of being in the box, I also bought the focuser just in front of Christmas from FLO. Now the 290MM mini (2.9um) was working on a SW ED50 guidescope and with the new multi star selection was getting very nice results. I did however wish to try my 183mc (2.4um) on my 805mm APO and though an off axis guider would be required for this, I realise the match between the two is not good but wanted to try it anyway. Now I got the stars to focus and select in PHD-2 and made calibration without issue, though they did not appear as sharp as I normally get. The guide though was very up and down, I assume because the longer F/L of the scope, the SW ED 50 is only 242mm, so this is over 3 times longer. Simple question is this to be expected, i,e, the guide appearing what would be about 4 times worse than normal. On the first test of the new PHD-2 it was a straight line much of the time, using the OAG it was anything but. Results of 4 minute subs were not great but on a few stacked images the result looked reasonable from the point of view of using the 183MC with this scope, going to try the SW ED50 tonight to see what happens with that. Alan

Lovely shot with nice detail around the flame and HH. I always find Alnitak annoying in any of these shots. One of our fellow Mods did a PS video on how to remove the glare from it but though I tried many times I could never follow it and use another method that Olly helped me with, one that I have long since forgotten. Alan

I had the L enhance version from them and didn't like the result, maybe I sold it on in haste and should have tried a blended shot or two. The result you have here I feel will benefit from that, though as I am sure you know you can always take shorter exposures of the very core and blend them. At the moment it would be nice to see anything, been awful here all month. Alan

Lovely captures David, wish the weather would break here, been awful for a few weeks. Alan

I am sure others know better than me but in my experience this is because you guide scope has moved or been moved and it need re-calibation. I have had the exact same thing about 6 times all told. Even when the scope was moved only a small distance fro where it was and I thought it wouldn't matter this happened, re calibrate the scope using your instructions which you can find in the help section. Alan

If it does my oh my there's going to be some cloud about. Alan

Mine was in an observatory though subject to long periods of damp and extreme cold for 3 years, I really think covered up it will not be a problems. Alan

Very nice shot with lot of detail, the trouble with this is it's so small, but a beautiful capture. Alan

For what it's worth I am not exactly having a fun time many miles south. I got about 90mins two nights back but it was generally poor seeing and passing very light haze though i did get 15 subs of 4 mins taken. It was a chance to test the new multi star guiding, which I have to say seemed very good. Weather is not just mainly cloudy, it's cold and very damp. Alan

Yes that was the one I had and was not impressed, yes they are pricey too, there is an extreme version now and that is about 230 quid. When I had the Lenhance I just did the normal 4 minutes that I do, not very adventurous with time on the shutter, with my site I dare say I go double that exposure on a moonless night, must try some different lengths. Alan

Done, nice image too. Alan

I do remember it had a much tighter graph than you showed for the one you used, it is on FLO's sight if you wish to look. Gone now, the good thing is the guy that bought it was very pleased. Alan

I prefer it with stars but interesting result Alan

It is a very nice capture and has come out well. I bought a L enHance from Optolong and hated it, I actually sold it on before my card had been paid, just did not like the colours it gave at all. On reflection I should maybe have done a mixed stack to see if it improved. Alan

Feel I would go for the 120mm, slightly shorter so a tad easier to guide, still very good quality optics and enough left from budget for a very nice camera or the bits you stated. I have 800mm, 635mm, 420mm and 330mm, as well as 1000m on a M/N 190mm that I have not used for AP yet, must try it, so pretty much the same as you. With me I spend so long getting polar alignment spot on I am reluctant to remove scope and swap around. Alan

It is a shame you are not near me, I have a length of 6 inch plastic sewer pipe I could cut to length and put in the mount to have a realistic dummy run before buying. Alan

A couple of my fellow Mods have SW Esprit 150's and they turn out some stunning images. I wish I had bought one when I could have out here for 3400, the dealer here is a friend, sadly he is not in business now. Olly has done some stunning captures with his TEC 140's too I have also heard very good reports for the 120mm too, which if I am honest would be more my upgrade now for F/L reasons. Alan

Sadly no H alpha available. If you wish to have a go at a longer Tif file I posted 14 hours of M33 about 10 days or so back, feel free to download that, so good result from people on that one. You have done well on this M31 though. Just checked the M33 data is 12 pages back. Alan

Mick I feel it was just very poor condition. Prior to taking the gradient out the whole image looked very poor really which was clearly hazy thin cloud passing, even I am surprised it turned out as it has. Think I will try the OAG though as I also ordered a focuser to fit on it to make it easier. Must try not to drop things on the obsey floor. Recently I clocked up 20 hours on this at a longer focal length, I have always stuck to 3-4 minutes subs, just habit really but I still have a tendency to want to move on after 2 hours. I wanted to combine this year and last but I lost all the data in a drive crash. I didn't do longer this night because it was clear that cloud was amassing, it's been awful ever since, damp cold and cloudy. Alan

A few months ago I dropped my SW ED guidescope which I have to say I rate for fit finish and quality. After it kissed the concrete floor there was an internal chip in the front element, not massive but big enough to cause concern. I later blacked it out altogether with paint but stars still had odd shapes, especially bright one. Guides seem decent though and sometimes even stunningly good. So I change over the the guidescope for the new one I bought in front of 31st Dec and well enough in front Christmas. Did all the calibrations after a rough alignment and the guiding last night was absolutely awful, hope it wasn't the razor sharp stars I now have. Didn't know what to shoot as cloud was moving in from the east, so 25 x 4mins on M33 with the Borg 77EDll and the 071 OSC, darks and flats and a 100% selection of captures. Going to try the OAG I bought back in February soon so maybe it was money wasted Seems I missed the crop from the righthand edge but on the whole this gradient trick that Trevor on Backyard posted some time ago, seems to work reasonably well, just no good for very big targets and big nebulae, Olly spotted I had used it on M31 the other day, he don't miss much, but then that's why he's so good. Alan

Had a quick play, sounds like you spent ages on it reading that, most of which I am sad to say i don't understand. A very nice result though and the pick of those done in my opinion. Thanks for posting. Alan

Made mistake of buying gear in front of 31st, you know the rest, maybe by 21st I will be forgiven. Alan