nephilim

Yes. I was already living in a fairly out of the way area anyway but moved to the foot of Cross Fell in the Northern Pennines & found it was a whole new level of dark, as in can't see your hand in front of your face darkness, plus the back garden has extensive uninterrupted views for miles (below is the view from my garden).

So after a few years pretty much out of the hobby after giving up due to sub par gear due to a quite limited budget, I've been lucky enough to be able to save for the last 10 months and buy  a fairly decent AP kit. Similar to you, my new location gave me the motivation to  try again & I'm very glad I did. I'm now very much looking forward to a (fingers crossed) good winter.

All the best

Steve

I'd love it if a dedicated EAF became available for the Samyang as I really struggle manually focussing. I use the ASIair but it's focus routine is absolute pants (everything else it does though is superb), half the time the HFD is showing 10 which is as out of focus as its possible to be (even though the stars on my tablet screen show themselves as fairly tight) the other half its bouncing around from between 2 or 3 point something to 8 or 9 point something & again the stars on the screen look stable. 

I've completely given up on using that method & manually focus instead, so far this has more or less been ok albeit very time consuming but sometimes it's only just out so has ruined an image.

An automated focuser would be a god send. @Adreneline has tried to explain to me in depth the process of a home brewed one using the ZWO EAF, sending links to the company he uses for timing belts etc but my brain tends to stop working. I'm very good (well....I think so 😂) at 'learning by doing'. As in watching someone do it the first time & simply following suit. This has worked well for me with the likes of slowly learning PixIsight but when faced with just written instruction all bets are off 😒

Talking of focusing, I'd like to thank @Space Oddities for pointing me in the right direction for the WO Bahtinov Mask for the 135 (although not specifically for the Samyang, it's adjustable & makes for a perfect fit)

Another SGL member @Ande had mentioned it to me a while back but I'd forgotten all about it. I initially baulked at the price of it but then realised it will also fit my upcoming 'winter scope' so it made the price easier to swallow. It arrived yesterday from FLO & I have to say it's a really well made, solid bit of kit with nice good quality brass (I think) adjustment screws, also been acrylic it will make those diffraction spikes really stand out.

Steve

11 hours ago, Ags said:

What aperture is that Cat?

F2....... Cats are always fast.....I'll get my coat 🙄

7 hours ago, Kon said:

I have been away on holidays and to see family in Athens and to my horror I could hardly see any stars through the city lights. I am so used to my bortle 4/3 skies and the fact that the whole Milky Way arch is so bright and defined. It makes me wonder how others that leave in inner cities manage their observations, it must be very challenging.

Since coming back the weather has been horrible and tonight I managed 1hr of clear skies. I used my 8" Dob with a ES 82 degree 6.7mm EP. I started with Saturn and the atmosphere seemed rather stable. Cassini division was clearly defined in an on/off basis (I suppose the seeing was changing with incoming clouds). I then moved to Jupiter and nice orange/brown bands were obvious but no sign of the GRS in the current position. The 4 moons were lined nicely and could fit in the FOV. Finally, I moved to the moon and had a quick look at it and I was rather impressed with my 82 EP that it could almost fit it in the FOV.

Although it was a quick session and the bright moon did not help for DSOs, I am glad to be back in my dark skies and observing again. I am also sold on the 82 degree EP and looking to upgrade the rest of them with wide ones.

Nice report there Ken. Even though you only managed an hour, I bet it was nice just to be out & able to see some stars again 🙂

I know exactly what you mean when it comes to the city & the night sky . I've spent the last 9+ years living in the middle of nowhere in between the Lakes & the North Pennines ( I also grew up on a farm in the Yorkshire Dales with lovely star lit sky). I've moved a couple of times during this period but in the same area. My skies are also Bortle 3-4 & the village,if you can call it that, has no streetlights so to get to the car in winter it means a head torch. On a clear night the Milky way pretty much stretches from horizon to horizon with M31 easily visible directly with averted vision not needed.
I visited a friend in Leeds a couple of years ago ( I think i've visited cities about 3 times in the last 10-15yrs as they stress me out 😂)  & couldn't believe it when I stepped outside at night, it was like daylight with no stars visible at all. Its maybe a little better these days for the Astrophotographers out there as good quality narrowband filters do away with most concerns about LP. I do however feel sorry for anyone with even a passing interest in visual astronomy who lives in a city (or anyone for that matter who just wants to look up & wonder about everything 'up there'), especially the children. I work in the outdoor education industry in the Lake District & we have young people from schools all over the country who come to do our week long residential outdoor courses. 
Our centre is near the end of a valley, actually a dead end that goes nowhere so no lights from through traffic, its absolutely pitch black down there & it saddens me the amount of children who cant believe their eyes when they first step outside on a clear dark night, I say saddens as it means they dont have access to this wonder back at their homes. They're amazed as many of them have never even seen a hint of the Milky Way, i'd say that all had seen the Moon but many hadn't a clue just how many stars can, if the conditions are right be seen in the night sky.

Just before they leave to go home on the last day of their course the students are always asked which part of the week they saw as the highlight/ which part did they enjoy the most?  Keep in mind, we take them rock climbing, paddling (Canadian open canoes) Gorge walking which involves abseiling down a waterfall, hiking, orienteering & for one night the older ones (Year 6 onwards) spend a night on the hills wild camping, a large percentage have never experienced any of these things . If the weather has been good, as in 'clear sky good' then at least two out of every ten will say seeing the night sky, if they've spent a night on the hills & its been a clear sky, that number can be as high as half of them.

I'm preaching to the converted here but the night sky has been absolutely destroyed by artificial lighting, plus theres the masses of unnecessary lighting that stays on all night serving no purpose what so ever. I know that some councils are trying to limit the amount of LP in their villages, towns etc but really its nowhere near enough & even with the drive for darker skies I fear that one day there will only be the odd pocket of truly dark sky left available to witness the Milky Way etc & the only people benefitting from that most definitely wont be the youngsters (or people of any age really) who live in these overcrowded, over lit places.

Apologies, that turned into a little bit of a rant but it felt good to get it out there 🙂

Steve

Presenting the ridiculously expensive WO Bahtinov Mask for my Samyang 135ED camera lens. Unfortunately there isn't a dedicated one for this lens unless you go down the 3D printed route & after having a dodgy 3d printed experience I've sworn not to go down that route again.

Although this looks like it's clear acrylic, it's actually Mithril Silver hewn from rock in the Mines of Moria by the Dwarf Lords themselves (Lord of the Rings for those who don't know) magically disguised as acrylic 😂 To be fair to WO this seems  very well made & feels solid & with it been transparent it maximises light transmission for really clear & well defined diffraction spikes.

This one will fit over any dew shield measuring between 75-110mm in diameter by adjusting the brass (I think brass?) screws. This will also actually benefit me in the long run as it'll fit the refractor I'm buying this winter (100mm App) so 2 for the price of 1......At £44 though it's still a very very expensive Bahtinov Mask. 

The usual very good service from FLO, ordered Tuesday evening & delivered this morning, also very well packaged 🙂.

Steve

PS Don't tell Smaug about the Mithril.

1 hour ago, RobST said:

Looking forward to your images with the sharpstar 😀 i was torn between that and an esprit 100, i went for the esprit in the end 😀 might be here by Christmas 😂

@RobST I was originally looking at the Esprit 100, the WO GT81 IV & Sharpstar 100Q but so far it's the Sharpstar that has my vote plus no messing around with spacers for backfocus & no need to buy a flattener. I'll probably have enough to buy it in November but the lack of stock means I probably won't see it until around January. Just in time for crisp, clear winter nights....Hmmmm we'll see 🤔😒

And yet one more thing. ZWO do their own dedicated ring if thats all you want, they have several options which fit their range of cameras. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo-accessories/zwo-holder-ring-for-asi-cooled-cameras-78mm-diameters.html

I'll just add that the top plate on the camera side is a WO DSD 245 Plate & not PrimaluceLab

I use these which fit both the Lens & my ASI533, as @geordie85 mentions with their option, a strip of felt/ velcro is added for a snug fit. All my set up is mounted using PrimaluceLab gear, its expensive but very good quality & you can mix & match all the parts. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/tube-rings/primaluce-lab-80mm-plus-tube-rings-for-airy-apo65f.html

7 hours ago, GoldTop57 said:

Yes - sorry missed that in your post. They did a trade in deal going from ASIAIR to ASIAIR Pro last time. Will see what features they are offering in the Plus before deciding.

I didn't realise they did a trade in with the last one. I'll be very happy if they do the same this time around. I dont mind spending a bit more to upgrade to the newer version as a trade in but I wouldnt be happy just buying the new version outright after only having the Pro since January. Thanks for the info.

In a nutshell, yes to all your queries. An EQ mount in my opinion is only of real benefit if your either imaging or you have a motor driven GOTO so that the object your viewing stays in your field of view without you having to do any work. My first scope was the Skywatcher 130 with an EQ mount & manual control 'stick things' (thats as best as I can describe them 😬) and it was awful to use.
 
Obviously use what your comfortable with but before I went over to the dark side (AP 😂) my favorite type of mount was a Dobsonian as they're very easy to use. Due to the scope your using though I'd go back to an Alt/ Az as you'll now know yourself its the easiest & most comfortable option.

Steve

1 minute ago, nephilim said:

@Chefgage I didnt realise that I'd just seen it written here & AstroBackyard tends to be pretty reliable?? Copied from the Website.... Dithering improves the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and can remove artifacts like hot pixels and satellite trails. Images shot with a regular DSLR camera can benefit from dithering, by helping to decrease the amount of fixed pattern noise.  
 

@Chefgage Although what your saying about it been done between imaging actually makes sense that it wouldnt remove them.

44 minutes ago, Chefgage said:

Dithering will not get rid of satellite/plane trails though. The dithering is done between each image so the satellite/plane trail will still be there. Stacking software such as DSS can effectively remove them though using the kappa sigma stacking lime has been mentioned above.

@Chefgage I didnt realise that I'd just seen it written here & AstroBackyard tends to be pretty reliable?? Copied from the Website.... Dithering improves the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and can remove artifacts like hot pixels and satellite trails. Images shot with a regular DSLR camera can benefit from dithering, by helping to decrease the amount of fixed pattern noise.  
 

If your guiding then I recommend dithering, not only will it get rid of plane/ satellite trails but it'll also remove hot pixels (I may be wrong but there looks like a fair few in your image) and can help decrease the amount of fixed pattern noise but mainly in DSLR's. 

Have a look at the YouTube clip in this link  https://astrobackyard.com/dithering-astrophotography/

13 minutes ago, MARS1960 said:

I dread to think what I have spent over the years.

I'm still torn between the L enhance and L extreme, though being under Bortle 4 I think the L enhance will do just fine.

I was the same. I'm under Bortle 3/4 I wanted it for Moonlit nights mainly as they seem to be the only ones that are clear 😒 But now i've used on nights that have no Moon it really does make a massive difference with the amount of signal it can collect over a short period of time.

I've only been back in the hobby since last Nov & i'm already rapidly heading towards 5 figures.....I try not to think about it so it never really happened 😬

22 minutes ago, MARS1960 said:

Drat, I'm getting a shiny new L-enhance but need to sell something else first lol.

It certainly is a never ending bottomless money pit mate 😂

24 minutes ago, powerlord said:

I got this one for 10 quid:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/184573856712

very good quality printout, works a treat - nice clear pattern.

stu

Cheers but I've gone for the WO one as it'll fit both my Samyang & my upcoming 100mm refractor. I've had bad luck recently with random 3d printed gear. I overtightened a nylon screw on a printed tube ring for my Samyang lens & it cracked (good job it broke then rather than when nearly 1.5k worth of AP gear was entrusted to it) then my 3d printed BM for my lens somehow bent out of shape & is useless. I'm sticking with strictly non 3d printed kit now as the 'Buy cheap, buy twice' adage is certainly ringing true for me with those 😂

3 hours ago, MARS1960 said:

Haha, Looks nearly as nice as mine 😂.

@MARS1960 Mines got a nice shiny Optolong L-eXtreme in there so I beat you with that 😂

15 minutes ago, GoldTop57 said:

👍 for ASIAIR Pro - though due to be superseded by the ASIAIR Plus which I understand will come with an antenna and emmc storage.

Yes, I mentioned that in my post above. Total rip off by ZWO on that one, they knew the WiFi was an issue but rather than admit it they just bring out a newer model with the problem fixed. I'm happy enough with the current one & have no intention of giving them more cash 😂 Even with the dodgy WiFi its still a total game changer & makes everything so much easier.

8 minutes ago, MARS1960 said:

Finally, after 6 years with a DSLR I decided it was time to go and get dedicated.

It's bigger and more beautiful than I thought.

I'm as excited for first light as I was my very first time out 6 years ago.

Shame they sent the wrong PSU but heyho, it is obviously cloudy for the next week anyway 🤣.

@MARS1960 Welcome to the club mate, you wont be disappointed 😃 

13 hours ago, Viktiste said:

Posting an Astro picture to get back on track. One of my first successes, after days of failures messing around with equipment in both clear and cloudy weather. My father would have smiled in his grave had he seen this!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

@Viktiste Thats a really nice image mate & its definitely a target I'll be looking at come winter. My Samyang 135mm lens can fit M42 & the Horsehead in one frame so it's probably the main  group i'll be looking at imaging. I think the hardest part will be processing. As I know it's really easy to blow out the core. I know I'll have to combine long exposures with short exposures. I dont have a clue how to go about doing that in PI but as we've been saying in this thread, its good to have something to do when the clouds roll in 😂

Talking of first images, this one is mine although you may have seen it as i've posted it all over the place in the forum  as I was so happy to have finally taken a proper AP image 🤣. This was also my first time trying to process an image. I took this about 2 or 3 weeks ago & then I spent around 40 hours the weekend before last cramming YouTube videos on how things worked in PixInsight. I found a really good tutorial on transforming OSC data into a Hubble Palette image. I gave myself a massive headache by the end of it all but have to say that i'm over the moon with the end result & that'll keep me going until the next clear night. Unfortunately that will be a long way off yet as I've just ordered a Bahtinov Mask which should arrive tomorrow & keep the skies up here black for a while 😒

Steve

You can do away with all the software you used to use & just buy the ASIair Pro. Imo its a total game changer. It takes care of plate solving, PA, framing, focus & imaging run.
Once i've set up all my gear, pointed the mount roughly North, inputted an imaging plan for the night & connected the ASIair I can be up & running taking images in less than 10 minutes. I can then let it get on with it, go inside & keep an eye on how its doing on my tablet from inside the house. I'll pop outside & take my flats, then set it off taking darks & it'll then Park the scope & switch itself off. Its an amazing piece of kit & very well priced. It only works with ZWO equipment though & several Canon & Nikon camera's. The ASIair in the photo is the nice little red box in the centre of my set up.

You can program it to take images of as many targets as you want in a session (It has all the NGC, Messier etc catalogues stored & gives a list of all the objects in the sky where you are on the night & how long they'll be visible for etc). If you have for example two projects on the go (say M33 & M1) You can program it to start off with M31 for 2 or 3 hours & then when M1 starts to make an appearance it can switch itself over for 3 hours or so on the Crab. 

The one downside to it (there is only one I can think of) is that the WiFi connection is poor. The ASIair itself is a WiFi hotspot so you can obviously take it to a dark sky site if you wish & just have the tablet next to it.
The ASIair is used via an app you can have on either your phone or a tablet/ notebook, either Android or Apple, it wont run on a laptop or desktop unless you use an emulator such as Bluestacks. My main gripe with it is that for some unknown reason, ZWO decided to house the 'antenna' internally & as the casing is metal then this means the signal is very weak, its fine if your stood next to it but take your phone/ tablet  any sort of distance away from it & it'll lose connection. There is a dedicated ZWO WiFi extender https://www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo-accessories/zwo-wifi-extender-for-asiair-pro.html but really it seems a bit like they did it on purpose so you buy more ZWO gear.
Theres also 'new' version of the ASIair coming out very soon (as if by magic 🙄) which has the antenna fitted to the outside. IMO this is a bit off really, its as if they've accepted theres an issue with the WiFi but instead of offering customers a fix they've decided that we all want to spend yet more money buying the version that should have come out in the very first place. This is my only gripe & because the AAP makes life so very much easier I can let that go.

Heres an overview of it in action https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KovCJRcZkDA&t=1159s

I do all my calibration, stacking & post processing etc in PixInsight

Steve

14 minutes ago, powerlord said:

Hi Steve, I made the addition of mono about 2 months ago - I went straight from DSLR though - I see you already have a cooled OSC. But I've found it awesome. Especially narrowband. Not shot much RGBL tbh.

30 mins each on HSO gets me awesome results on most targets - that was never possible with the DSLR.

stu

Hi Stu, I've only just finished completing my OSC set up (although theres a refractor needed to be bought soon for those Winter/ Spring galaxies) I am tempted by Mono but I think I need to get a good year under my belt,  especially with processing, before I think too seriously about taking the plunge into mono. I can certainly see it been something I'd be looking at though.

Steve

6 hours ago, david_taurus83 said:

Sorry folks, I've ordered a new mount so you'll all have to suffer the clouds for at least another 6 weeks!

As has already been said, it's definitely a long term hobby. Especially if your shooting mono. I'm looking to set up a permanent pier in my back garden now though so should make it easier and hopefully if weather is clear can leave things running all night. For the last 3 years or so I've had to stay up and babysit the kit as my last garden wasn't exactly secure. New garden is much better and darker to boot.

@david_taurus83 Going mono in the uk takes the meaning of patience to a whole new level.

I'd love to get a mono camera, I hate the idea of losing hard fought for photons to the wrong colour well on my OSC sensor but just the thought of having to collect 3x the amount of signal (even though that signal is 3 times stronger........now i've actually written that down there seems to be no real good reason to not have a mono camera 🙄) sends shivers down my spine 😂 
If I lived in a more AP friendly country it would be a no brainer but unfortunately I have to grab those very infrequent clear nights when I can & I like to be able to have enough integration time to start processing an image after each session & then keep adding to it rather than waiting x amount of months just to collect the 'Red' channel I was missing.

Steve 

30 minutes ago, saac said:

If you figure PixInsight out write a cheat sheet .  I learn how to do something then forget  as quickly by next season - all these astro programmes I find come with a high skill fade , maybe it is an age thing  

Jim

@saac I know exactly where your coming from Jim. I just hope there are enough tutorials available to keep me going, as soon as I run out of those & any images to process due to bad weather then all the info I've tortuously learned will start leaking out of my ears 😂

Steve