alan potts

Feel you may be right there, easy to correct though, this whole area comes out over orange here, which I guess is because it is fairly low down, not like where you are where it gets pretty much overhead I would have thought. Alan

Like all of them Carole, this is an area I wanted to capture but now the trees have ruled it out for this year. I could still get some shots of it but the guiding is much better on the rising side of the mount for some reason. Alan

This is 93mins of 3 min subs on 3 nights, all the 3's. Conditions varied a fair bit and last night was by far the best but was using gap in the trees time for M17, which I will add to further. It is nowhere near as good as the shot from a member the other day from similar latitude but he had a F/L advantage over me of about 400mm. Same old gear at the moment Canon 40D modded, and 805mm APO on AZ EQ 6. Spent what seemed an age getting PA back to something like only to kick the tripod, yet again whilst putting the roof back in place, life! Please feel free to offer advice, I personally feel it's a tad orange but was told that is fairly normal as there are a lot of orange star in the background, I could have taken it out but decided not to. Hope you like it, Alan.

I have or have had all those you mention and for me the best of them is the 14mm Delos, super eyepiece, however I feel the 13mm Ethos is better which is why I still have it. Alan

As I have so many I stuck one on each telescope, still have over 20 though. mainly still in the boxes they came in. As some of my eyepieces are secondhand it is clear the previous owners had no use for them either. Alan

You could have had fun here, I would not be lying if I said we had had 60 storms through May to now, even had another last night, terrible this year. Alan

Steve, There is a mosaic program that is available to download as part of EQmod, I have it though have not tried to use it as yet. It took me long enough getting the pilot program to work for and the scope, I E, eqmod itself. I was thinking of having a go with M31 as it's so large for all but the shortest scopes. Alan

Nice report, M13 and 22 always captivate me when I'm using the 18 inch, so many stars. Alan

I tried these from here a couple of years back and failed. My sky is generally very good indeed but I feel it is a hard target to drop on without a very good goto system. I feel you have done very well indeed grabbing the triplet, not as easy as the one in Leo. Alan

Thank you Dave, I am fairly pleased with it because so much of the data was taken when this target was fairly low, I said 20 degrees I believe it is actually a bit less. The trouble it my gap is due south and of course there is meridian flip to consider. Well last night I just ignored it, still getting decent guiding. I feel the real reason is the sky is very good here looking that way, nothing for over 100 miles apart from Greece. I am still struggling with focus and it is catching me out from time to time, sometimes it seems to change all by itself, can temperature drop cause it as 8-10 degrees drops off quite quickly. Alan

One of the very first things I ever tried, nowhere near this quality though, I always feel this gets lost in the background stars though you seem to have brought it out very nicely. Alan

I think it's upside down. Alan

Kind of you to say, I feel it is just that I am getting more data and also paying a bit more attention to things, help given by you and others is starting to bare fruit, still a lot to think of though. Kicked the tripod last night whilst sliding the roof back, so no doubt the wheels will come off with regards to PA. Alan

Five nights I have grabbed data between the trees and once in them, this is 3 hours now and I have left the orange stars in place as some tell me thats as they should be. Canon 40D at 3mins x60 on a modded camera. Please feel free to offer advice on any aspect, it's the only way to learn, guiding is becoming more natural now thanks to help from members, even this low down, it starts at only 20 degrees above the horizon. No darks in any of my shots now since I managed to dither, wouldn't have thought that I would have needed so much help with that, been doing it for years. Hope you like it, Alan

Another one on my to do list as I have about an 80min gap in the trees when I can get onto these lower targets. I don't expect my 40D Canon will get anywhere near the quality of this superb shot. Alan

Stunning work!!! Alan

I must say seeing this it is remarkable good. I am looking at a new Zwo 071 in Sept which I was hoping will improve my work. Last night here temp on the sensor, according to APT was 33c. I am only using an old 40D which is modded, I do however have both 7D versions and it makes me wonder if they may get better results albeit without the modification. There is some stunning work done with Atiks and filters though. Alan

I have seen them before Mark, don't think I will be swapping them for my set of TeleVues. Alan

That's wonderful and with a DSLR. I am hoping to get some subs of it myself in the next few days now the moon has cleared off for a bit. Not been able to do anything the last two clear nights as I hurt my foot badly accidentally kicking the soil tiller whist moving it, could have been worse, could have been running. Alan

Very nice shot not over coloured. Alan

Yes I can agree with that, I guess size comes into it too, I am about 6 foot and fairly strong, or do I mean strange, now I am doing AP the 12 inch or Dob do not see much light and to sell them here is next to impossible. Alan

I would not have though an 8 inch would be too heavy, I carry my 12 inch LX SC without massive tripod and set them up , tripod first of course. Set up once the sky is clear from start to finish is only about 6-7 minutes with a 2 star alignment though I have never timed it. Alan

Really does look like a bubble, great shot!! Alan

Really lovely shot, I was thinking of trying this myself but at 805mm I feel it may well be rather lost in frame. Alan

Great image even though I do feel it is a little over saturated but this at least shows the cluster well. I found with a rather half hearted go at M71 it was rather lost in the background. Alan