CraigT82

Lovely texture in that image. Is it a HSS combination?

If you've got the camera in the wedge it shouldn't need any extensions as the wedge itself is an extension... Or have you not got the wedge yet and are just trying out the camera straight through the scope? The camera should focus fairly closely to where eyepieces come to focus, or maybe a little further in.

All fantastic renditions, really nice work. I always prefer the natural looking palettes so first one for me. What was the kit? (Sorry can't see your sig if it's in there!)

Nice and natural looking, Neil. Always beneficial to work on the fundamentals

The 178mm is a monochrome sensor and has small 2.4 micron pixels, whilst the 224c is a colour sensor and has larger 3.75 micron pixels. Larger pixels are generally better for DSO imaging as they collect more light, but there are some other factors involved in the choice of pixel size. Do you have filters and a filter wheel? If not you can discount monochrome cameras straight off the bat. Have a look at the ASI385mc

Why imageJ and not AstroImageJ??

I've been using the amazon basics cable for a couple of years now, no issues at all. Touch wood. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00I83XF76/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_294NT9SHMVM2YQ5ZQZN7

OK. The full calibration normally take a couple of minutes. Definitely worth doing it next time you set up. When you shift click the green guide icon you should get a dialogue box asking you if you're sure you want to redo the calibration

I didnt know it did the calibration first, how did you get it to do that? If nothing has changed with the setup hardware since the last calibration then a new calibration shouldn't be needed for each session, just a guiding assistant run. I think if you rotate your guide cam in the guide scope you would need a new calibration. You didn't have any windows updates or any other software changes that might have affected phd2 at all before that session?

Were you clutches tight? I've had this behaviour in PHD2 recently and the clutches weren't quite done up after I'd done the PA. Also I'd reiterate the advice above and redo a calibration (and guiding assistant for good measure)

It doesn't have to! Im just starting out in DSO photography and my kit is automated enough for me to be indoors whilst it does its thing, I even go to bed and leave it running. I don't have an observatory I just have it set up on my rear patio. I set an alarm for when the imaging sequence ends at 4am or whatever and then I go down and switch the power off and throw a cover over it before going back to bed. I started out with visual observing, then moved into planetary and lunar imaging and now into have moved into DSO imaging, and out of all that it's the DSO imaging involves the least time at the scope. However be warned that it is also the most expensive aspect of this hobby that I've encountered so far!

Thanks for chipping in 👍. No other lenses, not using a coma corrector. I did think it might be collimation but the Ha filter (which is the newest generation) doesn't have this effect, just the older o3 and s2 filters.

If it is solid you might want to loosen the worm adjustment off a little on the dec then and see if the noise disappears (the 4 bolts and two grub screws is what adjusts how tightly the worm gear is meshing with the worm ring). Adjusting the spur gear meshing is done by removing the mother board, loosening the two screws holding the motor to the casing and lightly pressing the motor in whilst retightening the screws. Again if it's too closely meshed it can cause issues (the motor will stall during slewing). If you do this be very careful with the mother board. The other adjustment is the worm shaft end float which is under the round black caps with the two holes, but if you don't have any side to side play on the axis you probably don't need to touch these. Getting the mount to run sweetly is a real balancing act between all three adjustments and can take lot of time and testing to get right!

I didn't say it was normal. it is common though as I've heard several EQ6s and a few HEQ5s make that sound at start and stop of slew. Granted it's not ideal and in the video above it is quite bad, but it should be relatively easy to minimise with adjustment of the spur gear mesh which may improve the guiding on its own (as seems to have been done for the RA with the new video posted). It is the ticking/crackling noise during the slew I'd be more concerned about. Actually just re-reading the second post by the OP which says that they couldn't managed 3 min exposures with "perfect guiding". If guiding is perfect and stars are dodgy then there is nothing wrong with the mount... differential flexure is your issue.

Mine makes the same graunching 'coffe grinder' noise on starting and stopping the slew, most of them do i believe. But the regular clicking during the slew doesn't sound right to me. It seems to be at about the same period as the worm gear turning so definitely something worth checking as you really don't want anything wrong with the worm.

I know exactly what you mean. We tend to think that post processing can make great images, if only we can spend enough time to get the processing *just* right, but in the end if the data is really good then less is more and it will need very little doing to it to make it really stand out.

Beautifully processed.

Very nicely done, keep up the good work! 👍

Yeah I think it is best when imaged though broadband filters but no chance of that for me so NB only, really easy to combine and switch around/blend in APP though.

This is my first attempt at M42, just to see what it looks like with this scope and camera really. It isn't my favourite nebula by any stretch but with such strong signal it's a quick fix target under city centre skies. 10x120s per channel. 200/1200 newt on eq6 and Atik 383L. Baader 7nm filters. Calibrated, stacked and combined in APP with bit of post process in Affinity.

It's not the vignetting overall that I'm looking at, it's the brightening of the lower left corner that has me perplexed. It seems to calibrate out ok so I'm not overly bothered, more curious really

I have bright corners on my O3 and S2 flats, whereas my Ha flats a more normal with 4 darker corners. Could this be due to deterioration of the filters at the edges? My O3 and S2 filters are of a older generation than my Ha filter. S2 flat screenshot below. Cheers

That's a cracker! Love it 👍. Especially for only 1 min exposures... Sometimes you just can beat aperture!

Yes 1200mm... I'm not using any corrector. Coma is there but not offensive at F/6. I also shot shot 1 minute broadband reds to upload to HOYS (NGC2262 is one of their target clusters) and even those had little rugby ball stars. I wonder if my guide cam cable was dragging. Only way I can think of to explain it really! Yeah might be a bit much for a AZEQ6, it must be quite a bit heavier than my 8" and also more of a sail too and I think mine is right at the max for my EQ6. I'm gutted I missed out on the 130pds on the sale section yesterday!

Ah you're too kind! Were you using the 250PDS last night? That is a big beast to guide!