CraigT82

No, not without an adaptor. The skytee has a M10 bolt connection which is a little bigger than the 3/8” on that smaller tripod and extension.

That image is like a punch in the face! There’s a lot wrong with it but I understand how it appeals to someone new to the astrophotography game. You could great images of M31 quite easily as it’s a big and relatively bright object and it doesn’t take much in the way of expensive equipment to do. The shopping list you’ve put together is a good place to start, you wouldn’t get much use out of the 7nm Ha filter with the 533mc though, it’s meant to be used with monochrome cameras. With a colour camera you could make use of one of the various dual band filters like this , more expensive but more useful with a colour camera (and there are cheaper brands out there too) https://www.firstlightoptics.com/light-pollution-reduction/idas-nbz-dual-band.html Things you haven’t listed are: -Power (battery or mains?) -UV/IR cut filter -laptop or tablet to control ASAIR -software for calibration, stacking, processing -dew straps and controller

Oooh I need me some of these!

You could post up some great DSO images you've seen (with credit) and we could guide you in the sort of kit you'd need to produce the same kind of image?

Beautiful... a real masterpiece

Courtesy of the gentleman @bosun21 an absolutely pristine Starfield 102ed Great build quality and stunningly sharp views looking at the branches across the way against the blue sky. I swear I saw an ant wink at me 😉. Love that the baffles continue down the focuser drawtube. I’m finding the twist-lock ring on the end of the drawtube very stiff though, I keep unscrewing the adapter when trying to undo the twist lock.

Simple, no nonsense and great value EPs. Love mine. Tested the 6mm back to back against the 6.5mm Morpheus in the moon and found it to be sharper and with better contrast.

Star suppression is absolutely fine in my view. You’re simply mitigating a limitation of your data acquisition system, in the same way that noise reduction, sharpening, applying flats and darks etc is.

Here is a grossly overstretched image of Mars (I was trying to capture Phobos and Deimos) which shows the fat spikes well. The planet itself was the same width in the image as the spikes. In normal planetary imaging we don’t really stretch the data so the spikes don’t show up in normal exposure times (few milliseconds).

Really nice work 👍🏼

Awesome Geof! The blending is excellent, well done on capturing such consistent images from the uk!

Dew will form on any surface that is colder than the dew point temp, usually this will be on any surface exposed to the sky. The dew shield shades the objective from the sky and so dew is delayed from forming here by slowing the rate that the objective cools. Never used dew heaters so can’t answer you queries about those sorry!

That’s an absolute cracker Francis…. Top drawer stuff!

Not sure that wil work too well as the description states it’s for uPVC and wood, and soft metals only. Ive used this stuff before which works well for sticking mirrors in (also gluing secondaries too) V-Tech VT-130 Clear RTV Sealant Adhesive Quality Flexible Silicone: 75gm Gasket https://amzn.eu/d/7Sh7qS1

Here is the data sheet for the Baader filters, it gives the outside tube/lens ID that each work will work for. It doesn't have to be 6mm over the aperture size, if the filter covers the whole aperture then great, if it doesn't then as long as the unfiltered aperture is blocked off completely then that will work too, just you'll be working with a slightly reduced aperture. baader_solar_fi.pdf

Absolutely nothing due to poor weather forecast and young kids that refuse to sleep through the night…. So have consoled myself by buying another telescope 😂

Wow I thought we had it bad down at 50+ In the UK. Good luck with Orion 👍🏼

Exactly that… the insulation is to keep the temperature of the tube wall as close as possible to the temperature of the air inside the scope. Without the insulation the air in the tube will contact the cold tube wall and this will create temperature differences inside the tube which can ruin the image.

Fair warning.... would require a LOT of Oiii exposure in dark skies. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2515-5172/acaf7e?s=08

I use my AZEQ6 pretty much exclusively in Altaz mode for planetary/lunar imaging because: A - saddle is lower so it’s easier to get my 12” newt on there B - I’ve no view of Polaris and the AZ mode setup doesn’t require a view of Polaris. No horror stories I’m afraid. Has worked faultlessly since I bought it last year and tracks incredibly accurately after a 2 star alignment (planets barely drift even at over 5m focal length).

Yes I did notice the magenta too, almost like NB stars. Maybe that’s what the CN lot were shouting about.

I think there is a little CA but certainly not much, it’s a lovely image and I’d be proud of it if it were mine, nice work.

Due to a new house and new kids I only managed a sum total of 4 images this year, of which this one is my favourite… One thing I did manage to capture- which I’m really glad I did - was the lunar occultation of Mars. I captured a load of data but haven’t manage to process it yet so that may well turn out to be my pick of the year, if I ever get around to it. Single frame below as a teaser but it would be a composure of two images once done…

Yes you’re right I think, you’d need ideally much shorter exposures to gain something, but I think it depends on how long the ‘moments of calm’ are during your imaging session. My understanding is planetary imaging relies on very short (<10ms) subs to ‘freeze’ the seeing, i.e., exposing for a shorter period than the coherence time. For DSO lucky imaging you’re using much longer exposures of around 0.5-1.0s which aren’t short enough to freeze the seeing, but the hope is to catch the periodic moments of steady calm air when the seeing improves momentarily (visual observers will be familiar with the brief spells of clarity), and grab a few frames during those periods (the ‘lucky’ bit). By including only the best frames from the session you can improve on the resolution that is normally attained in long exposure imaging and so you’d be resolving at the magnitude of the seeing blur in those steady moments which could well be under 1”. On the flip side the total exposure time would be low and hence the image not very deep/smooth and only really suitable for brighter targets or targets where you already have some long XP data to combine.

Only one I watch regularly is Jean Luc Dauvergne, a French planetary imaging maestro. Occasionally I’ll search and watch videos on something specific that I’m trying to do, like how to do something in gimp or affinity or APP or whatever but I don’t generally watch or subscribe to any of the Astro channels