nephilim

Ah, I didnt realise that.

I'm not that clued up with the best specs for DSLR imaging, i'd ask the question as a new topic.

We'll have to meet up for a ride up here in the Lakes, that machine will crush the off road trails I ride 😃

You may find this useful https://www.photonstophotos.net/Charts/RN_ADU.htm

Here's a tutorial to get you started, he's using the desktop version but the phone version is great aswell

https://stellarium.org/release/2020/06/22/stellarium-0.20.2.html Ive used this for a fair few yeasr & imo is the best app out there

😂 @Alien 13 I'm in the process of saving up for those extra special bits of bling (including wheel reflectors 😄) Just to finish it off with a little bit of style.

Cheers mate, In the long run it doesn't matter what they look like as long as they do the type of riding you want them for. Although it is very satisfying flying down a mountain where I live in the Lakes on a bike i've built myself & even more so when it stays in one piece 😂 This will probably be the last bike I get as It'll 'outbike' me every time & is capable of flying down far techier stuff than I'll ever be able to do so I wanted it as perfect as I could get it & doing a self build meant that every part is how I want it 😃 Ive also got my Orange 120S hardtail for winter riding so I dont really need more bikes......Famous last words 🙄

At least there would be actual gear to buy 😃 The whole bike thing was a nightmare with lead times on gear being very similar to Astro stuff now. I got the bike built in the end (the black one, Bird Aeris 145) & it was well worth the wait.

I agree with you there mate. I've been regularly buying Astronomy kit for around 10yrs & never know anything come even close to this. The same happened with bikes during the first lockdown & I had just started building a full suspension mountain bike, suddenly components were sold out everywhere & it took several months to source all the parts I needed to get it finished. On the plus side, once people either realised the bikes they'd bought were way over specced for them or the novelty had worn off, 4 to 5 months later the second hand market was flooded with pretty much un ridden bikes at seriously low prices. Fingers crossed the same might happen here with Astronomy.

The mountain bike increase was the EU in anticipation of a tax increase, that was stated by the MTB manufacturers. I agree Covid would make more sense for Astro gear as a lot is made in China.

That's a shame mate. Cant believe its gone up in price. It does seem to me that a lot of astronomy related gear has suddenly gone up . I wont get all political or give my opinion on the subject but I've a feeling leaving the EU has a large part to play in this as the same price rises are happening in the world of mountain biking ( My other stupidly expensive hobby as one isn't enough 🙄) & a few suppliers have openly cited this as the cause. I hope you have some good luck sourcing one.

Ah, you'll know then that flats are a pain The scope has to stay in exactly the same position (orientation) as when you took the light frames, same focus & same ISO which is easier said than done. A white T shirt folded double & then placed tight over the end of the scope, I used a tablet with the white screen & aim for the histogram to be as central as you can get it. The reason for doubling the T shirt is that with the tablet method am unfolded T shirt wont work as its too bright. I'm just getting back into AP after a long break from it due to sub optimal kit the first time around. I always used the T shirt method but its been a long time since I've last done any but I'll be using this method this time around. This has some great info/ advice https://astrobackyard.com/how-to-take-flat-frames/

I'd have a look at starting to try & get some calibration frames as well. Dark frames will help get rid of the noise associated with DSLR's, all cameras suffer from it but with DSLR's its a bigger issue. Unfortunately calibration frames are a necessary evil & will help improve future images. Well done on your first one though 🙂 If your unsure about taking calibration frames there's a lot of tutorials on YouTube etc. This will give you a brief idea to start with though. https://practicalastrophotography.com/a-brief-guide-to-calibration-frames/

I tried PI on a friends PC a while back.............My head imploded.

So I'm now looking at guidescope mounting options for my Samyang setup. I've got the Evoguide ED 50 with Zwo asi 120mm-s. Most of the setups I've seen on this thread are mounted side by side using an ADM Vixen side by side mounting. Is there a reason for this or can I just mount the guide scope on top using this https://www.wega-telescopes.de/shop/Rohrschellen-passend-für-Samyang-135mm-F2-Objektiv-inkl-Sucherbasis-3D-Druck-p258368766 Also if mounting side by side for whatever reason is better do I need the ADM 7" or 11" mount.

Although they are the same lens it'll possibly be due to the price at the time as these tend to fluctuate. I recently bought the Samyang 135 on Amazon, the Ronkinon 135 was around £40 more expensive.

Ah, I did wonder if that was the case. The 8se is a good planetary scope as it has a very long focal length so it's great for planetary detail. With DSO's it needs a much lower powered EP due to it having quite a narrow field of view as quite a few of the larger DSO's are fairly big (M31 for example) This is a good site (linked below) that will give you information about how different objects will look with different EP's , just enter your scope details, EP choice & object target & away you go. I'm not that familiar with the 8se as far as imaging with it so can't really advise you on side of things with it https://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/

@Alien 13 You beat me to it 🙂

If your stars are showing signs of trailing then yes it's too long, just experiment with different exposure lengths, there's a handy rule for exposure times v's star trailing here https://astrobackyard.com/the-500-rule/ Also, what type of mount (or tripod) are you using?

That is also my way of thinking but no doubt mine will be questionable now 😂 keep us posted on how you get on. My eyes are not the best these days either so I understand where your coming from with that 😂

I'm a little curious as to why your wanting an EP for astrophotography unless your question is referring to a good EP for visual.

Unfortunately I'd read about this , I never mentioned it as the complaints all seemed to be around 2018 & I couldn't find anything mentioned after this so I assumed this had been rectified. Apparently it was affecting random lens' not just a specific batch batch, most people were lucky but some were not. There was even a title on one forum titled '3rd time lucky'. As its a well documented problem there shouldn't be an issue sending it back. I'm hoping mines ok but wont know until I've bought the camera. Whereabouts did you buy yours from? Mine came from Amazon.

Unfortunately the kit you have isnt really suitable for imaging DSO's. The 120mc-s Is really just a planetary imaging camera (and quite a good one) or can be used as a guide camera, as mentioned above the sensor is very small & not really worth trying to image DSO's with. Again as @rickwayne has said your scope & mount are also unsuitable for imaging, the scope is a bird Jones design & I'm afraid isn't rated very highly. If I was you I'd have a total rethink. Astrophotography isn't cheap & £400 will get you on your way but you would have to up your budget a little & go second hand. firstly though I highly recommend you spend £20 on this as it'll give you a great deal of good advice on how to get started with AP & will save you a lot of money in the long run as it'll also let you know what not to buy. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html Its doesn't seem all bad news though as the ZWO 120 is a very capable planetary camera ( I have the mono version but I use it as a guide scope) & as you sound like your getting good images with it for now I'd concentrate on getting better at that while you decide which way you want to with AP & reading the book I've linked will give you all the info you need on the best way to go about it.

Just to add my two penneth. If I was starting out & looking for a scope as close to an all rounder as I could get for visual use I'd be looking at a Dobsonian with an aperture of 8", 10" or 12" (depending on how large a scope you want) As mentioned above although the Celestron is a great scope it does have a narrow field of view which will limit slightly the number of DSO's able to fit fully in the FOV without having to go for a really low powered EP. Dobsonians such as the Skywatcher Skyliner 250p GOTO or 300p GOTO are really good scopes plus they have a focal length respectively of 1200mm & 1500mm giving a considerably wider FOV. I'm mentioning the GOTO versions as I'm assuming that you want a GOTO system the same as the Celestron. Again this is just my opinion but I personally wouldn't recommend a GOTO system to someone new to astronomy. This may sound daft as a GOTO would obviously make sense & help locate things if your unfamiliar with the night sky, but I think it does the opposite as all your doing is pressing a few buttons to get to the object your wanting to see. I started out with a non GOTO 8" reflector & found that putting in the effort to find things myself a far better way of getting to know the sky & where things are, plus I came across other objects inadvertently that I wouldn't have known about if I had GOTO. Another big benefit of a non GOTO Dobsonian is the price. The larger 12" Skyliner is £850, far cheaper than the Celestron 8se @ nearly £1500. The 300p also has 4" more aperture than the 8se & at F4.9 as opposed to the 8se @f10 the Dob is much faster & has overall far greater light gathering capabilities. With nearly a £700 saving you could use that to buy a very good range of decent quality eyepieces that would start you off very nicely, you also wouldn't need a focal reducer saving another £100 or so. Anyway, those are just a couple of things to think about but good luck with whatever you end up buying.