alan potts

Stunning image there, 26 hours, may not be a record but that is one heck of a lot of data. Alan

I did consider this filter as I do have a bit of a glow to the south east from the town which is 5 miles away. I also just have a issue with a lamp about 100m away to the south which was well covered by a walnut tree, this has now been removed by the owners. It is causing me a few problems in the shape of lens flare when pointing to the south, the south of course being an interesting area. Over all though I am in a much better situation than many of our members but in the last 12 years my sky has without doubt become brighter. Alan

Actually Terry I have just tried what you suggested and forgot to re-set the setting to where I always had them but I have to say without darks added (which were correct) the image is much much more pleasing to my eye. My messing with setting to some something I had never used before got rid of the colourful lines but this without darks is for me nice, I like what i see. The other image was so noisy and looked awful. Alan

The darks Terry are only one length, 240secs, I have never used this camera at any other length, it's an 071. The 183mc I only use that at 180secs. As I don't really understand what the gain does I never touch it after making a mess in the first week, now stick to only one. I don't have LP out here which sort of makes me ask why I bought this filter, I guess just to see if it would help. Well like it or not I am stuck with it as i do not believe in this returning things if you don't like them. Alan

Steve, without doubt I used Sigma clipping and dither, tried it a second time in DSS and got the same result. 3rd time I check ticked a box in the advanced section for removing hot and cold pixels which has never been ticked. This solves the problem but I am interested as to why my settings that I have used for over 2 years didn't work. Not sure I like the results of this filter, maybe my choice of target was poor. I may try and do a mix of normal OSC with IR/UV filter and some with this L Enhance. Alan

Median with sigma clipping, this puzzled me the satellite has not been removed, I have double checked and the settings are correct, satellites always come out and even aircraft, don't understand this. If it doesn't remove them the filter is of no use to me, under normal condition I have 8 aircraft overhead at any time and rarely do not get one through a frame or two most nights. Alan

I use DSS and it has never done this before, no settings were changed at all, the same evening I took an hour on the Pelican without filter and it's fine. Alan

Only darks, I never use calibration as I move the cameras about too much, I dither between each shot and have never seen anything on the 100 or so images I have taken since I bought the two ZWO cameras. I tend to agree with you but why should you see them just because of the filter which this was first light. Same night same set-up without filter different target nothing, just a decent image of the Pelican. It has only had the smallest of stretches. Alan

I am no expert but that is the best I have seen and blows my half baked effort out of the water. Alan

I am guessing it is me doing something wrong on this one or does data have to be proceeded differently. I have just received an Optolong L Enhance filter from FLO and I tried it out two nights back. At first glance using the area around Sadr I thought I was getting more signal through on a 4 minute sub. I only used darks and dithered between shots. All in all there is 1 hour 30minute and I limited the selection to 80% as I had a feeling there was hazy cloud in at least 3 of the captures. Now because of the data I have only streched it very lightly due to the faults in it, there are Red and Green streaks here and there. I cannot see this fault on any single shot at all. I am aware of slight icing at the bottom edge, this was a mistake by me in cooling. Is this me or is it the way the filter works, or has something else happened I am unaware of. Any advise gratefully received, Alan

Indeed a good start, M31 is a very difficult target to process, recent I read account from really top imagers where they still are not happy with the way the core came out, I never am either. Try a look at Astro backyard, he has a few very useful tips on this target and are not over difficult to follow. Alan

Most kind of you to say, sort of just fell over the image by chance, had no intention of taking a shot of it, I was staggered by how much it moved in the 8x4mins I took, it moved so much I didn't stack at all, this is just one shot on it's own, no dark or anything. Alan

Kind of you to say, I guess, having not seen others of this encounter with M53 the weather was poor. I only got it by chance looking at C-d-C. Alan

I didn't get a chance to image Neowise whilst it was a bright oject for a collection of reasons, weather too which is odd out here. So here is a shot I took a couple of night back as it slipped away past Messier 53. It is only a 4 minute shot with a 183MC and no calibration frames I am not even sure I got the focus bang on but here it is. Alan

That's a cracking shot, hardly above roof tops in the Uk, still low even for me out here. Alan

As good as any I have seen, superb capture. Alan

Lovely image and again living up to your name with 14 hours, Alan

Thanks guys, I guess the piece I read was someone that was using ST4, I did this myself at the start, now though the mount never moves (unless I trip over it ). I imagine poor results of late are due to me trying to image at 20 degrees and we have had some very hot weather 40c . One night was 30c when I started and I struggled to get to minus 5. Alan

It's been a while since I have been a pest, so here goes. I read some time ago a member calibrated PHD 2 near to the target he was going to capture on any given night. Now I have calibration broadly in line with the instructions given and use this every night. Is there any advantage doing this way, near to target, as my guiding has been a bit up and down of late. Though this could be choice of low targets and very hot conditions of an evening. Alan

Very nice never seen that one done before, though I am sure it has been. Alan

I did just that though a couple of month later, I was lucky to pick one up S/H, I got those two in the first week of launch. Really good range of eyepieces, I had all of them but now only the two shortest, I kept my Ethos range where so many doubled up. I mad an effort to say I would get the Dob out last night, what happened, rained hard. life for you. Alan

The 6mm and 10mm were the first I bought, cracking eyepieces, then the cracking came into play in a manner that still hurts. One night the scope fell off the mount and the 6mm did indeed crack. Alan

Lovely image as good as any I have seen of this . Alan

Thank-you for those kind words. Having had most of the TV range apart from De-lite I don't feel you will be disappointed no matter which you go for. Rather like you suggest I bought almost all the Meade 5000 ranges at some point, though they are good eyepieces I find in faster scopes they get found out at the edges, TV do not. Alan

Superb image Carole, very well done. Alan