bomberbaz

I have been guilty of black clipping myself in the past but not so now. I watched a nebula processing tutorial online which basically mirrored what your saying @ollypenrice However having just checked the image above, it seems Gimp histogram shows it is black clipped but I am sure it wasn't when I processed it. I shall have another look at the master image and see if I can get something back out of it, strange. steve

Yes the whole image did look nice I agree, however mine is what it is with my scope I am afraid. Someone on here tested the enhance, the extreme and my askar db filter on the same dso, same exposures etc. In the test the extreme had the tightest stars and best detail, followed by the askar (there wasn't much difference between these first two, but the price tag and askar being available 1.25 made the decision for me) then the enhance. I also seem to remember the enhance gave to halo's around sone brighter stars EDIT: apparently the extreme is available in 1.25 now but I am not planning changing, results speak for themself.

Don't tale this the wrong way peter but the stars are much tighter in my image. The L-enhance was the goto when first brought out but personally I think the latest range of filters, including my askar and the L-extreme have taken over in tersm of tight and tidy stars. It's a personal think but when imaging nebula, I like more colour, and less star.

I did, I am impressed. Just used default settings, tweak on dark levels and saturation in gimp but wow, massive improvement EDIT. I think this looks like a squids head, tentacles left to right. I claim as mine unless previously mentioned.

Same here, just checked it again and it is consistantly guiding at under 0.8 and sometimes as low as 0.5. Bearing in mind I only have a 120 FL guide scope I am pretty impressed with this.

It dioes yes but the problem as I see it is most of the image is nebula so does make it a little difficult. The gradient is from hotel lighting adjacent to my garden, blooming nightmare it is. I also have GMic & Py astro installed in gimp and I am sure there are tools in there for removing gradiant. As mentioned though, this was a 5 minute bash, nothing more as there is insufficient data to get carried away.

This is a quick process of data using new rig. Quattro 150p, HEM15 and Askar DB filter with 183MC pro, stacked in DSS, quick process in siril then a tinker in gimp ( 5 minutes messing total ). Not bad I think for 80 minutes, loving the stars. Lights and darks only.

So update on how things have gone for anyone interested. I made sure I got a good position to calibrate the mount tonight somewhere close to equatorial equator and it is currently tracking at a little over 0.5, very pleased with this. As already mentioned I have added a heavy loom weight to the mount and this greatly increases stability. As per advice from @vlaiv I have dropped my tracking speed down from 0.9 to 0.5 and this is obviously helping as per above. I may experiment with 0.25 later but for now I am very happy with what I am getting. Since I collimated using a laser (I don't have an artificial star) the stars on the images look very tight indeed, once I have stacked these test subs of California nebula we will be able to see how good this is. I moved the camera to the bottom following advice from you guys above and I concur, it is far more stable this way. I am sticking with the mount I have, the whoile idea of this is keeping it light and portable. I can carry the entire rig out in 30 seconds and be up and running in a few minutes, this was a key aim. I realise this will impose certain limitations but having a better (read heavier) tripod would bring it's own limitations and I am not prepared to compromise on them. Anyway, I would have no problem recommending the HEM15 as a lightweight mount, super bit of kit. steve

look under the mount icon and you find it there

Thank you vlaiv for the explanation, to be honest I wasn't entirely sure how guiding speed works but now it is clearer. I will try at lower speeds and see how I get on. I only picked up the 0.9 from someone on here who said they used it on the AZ Gti so I just adopted it & never really questioned it. Thanks Steve

Yes I think I will check collimation tmorrow, results from tonight seemed to indicate it is slightly out although not as bad as it could be. Regarding my tracking it was a little over 1 but we have a full moon and cloudy patches running through so it never really got chance to settle properly. I am pleased to say that polar alignment was simplicity itself, whatr a very good design Ioptron have incorporated into this liuttle mount, I am most impressed. Finally the auto focuser is another great bit of kit although referring back to collimation I did notice again a slight comet tail on the star it chose to focus on. Overall a useful little session and it has wet my appetite to do some more astronomy related things now after what has been a fairly lengthy break.

Ags, what is your guiding speed setup on the air app. Mine is currently 0.9 as that is what it was for the AZ Gti but I am wondering if the lower 0.75 might be more preferential to the HEM15!

Some very useful information on this thread, I have the Celestron Lithium 13.2 Ah LiFePO4 Powertank Pro | First Light Optics which I believe meets flight regulations. I have setup the imaging rig (details below) but I haven't had a go with it yet. Forcast is for clear spells later so I am just going to have a bash M81, 82 and the garland. Right now as @Ags I am interested in tracking and seeing how the RNS is. Also bought an auto focuser so want to see how that works and will be running it all from my local network rather than direct connection so want to see how that behaves. No further hijacking, I will report how I get on in my own thread below if anyone is interested. )

Just tried attaching this and it works, very solid now so happy to go from here and as it attaches with a cable tie it doesn't affect portability.

Forgot I had this, an old loom weight. Circa 15 pounds in weight. Should be plenty.

Further to this comment I tried it and it is rather unstable. One of my aims was to keep this lightweight so I can shift it all assembled from house to garden and if I want to stick with this, stability needs addressing. I shifted the orientation of the tripod but now it is unstable at the back to front 😬, so extra weight seems the answer. I do have a 15kg weight in the garden and I will either fettle some kind of anchor to aid stability or try without the pier. Again, thanks for heads up.

Yes and so glad I did this before, quite a task and still not sure it is right. I will watch a video tomorrow to check but thanks for heads up anyway

Hello all. So I finally got round to unboxing my new gear, it had been sat in spare room for 3 months due to personal circumstances that some may be aware of. Anyway, so newly purchased were a SW 150 quattro, a two auto focuser and ioptron hem15. There was a little bit of tinkering needed after assembly but nothing major, tested on some distant trees and all seems well. Pleased that this new setup seems no heavier than my previous one (no counterweights) so happy that I can easily carry it outside assembled. Auto focuser seems straightforward enough once fitted although that was the most fiddling part. Wiring up again seemed pretty easy, zwo do know their stuff when it comes to ease of use. Now I know there are umpteen threads on here but due to my lack of forum inertia, it would take me a long time to read all and catch up so just wondered if there are any snippets of advice anyone can through my way prior to it seeing first light. Pictures attached. Cheers, steve

what type of scope are you after, I bought my dob which is made to order but within their specifications. Up to 16" with extras such as DSC, Weights, shrouds, bags, counter weight, morror cooling, scondarary heating and others.

Just bought this myself a few months back but still sat in box, following for when my mojo returns. peace all.

No idea but here is a link to scopes that can attach. Maybe there is something in there that is similar to your focuser which may be of help. ZWO EAF Compatible Focuser List & Connecting Methods (yuque.com)

Hello all. Has anyone got a really good image of Orion's belt they could send me. I know I could get them easily from the internet but these are impersonal, it would feel far more special to me if someone had something that had time and effort put into it. I appreciate the said time and effort that it takes from our community in creating the results I see in this forum of images. The reason being is my recently passed wife used to look up in clear skies and look at constellations/asterisms and other than the plough, it was the one thing she really liked to see. It held something to her and so it is for me too. If you could PM me any image I would be very grateful. Thanks all. Steve

Yes never thought about identifying it amongst a see other other stars. Well over 13 hours RA is stable where as dec it is moving at around 0.65 seconds an hour. Not sure how this computes into imaging without trailing maximum time?

Thanks for the information, this is helpful. The insightobs have a 12.5" RC scope available from chile so I am hoping they will be able to get this without spending a fortune on obs time and just running a test on drift time before I book a slot. I am hoping from there it will gather enough in less than an hour thus avoiding costs but more importantly, drift.