happy-kat

I'm having a go now and will share how it worked/did it, and find the proper post with details. hope that is alright.

Check out filters in startools, you can lose the CA really easy quick ( I didn't even bother creating a star mask first.) The slider on the right set it to 1 ( sorry can't see what it is called on my tablet) I read to use that setting (can't find post).

In the photo further up is that your focuser poking through, you weren't tempted to cut it off?

What this thread can do is help a person decide how far their astrophotography journey will need to be by helping them see whether what might be acheived without long exposures is going to keep them happy and provide a visual mount, or that the goal is more and therefore longer exposures and an eq solution is required. I love this thread it stops the hobby being so black or white.

Your horse head is wow just amazing. Such dedication taking so many images my PC I think would fall over stacking that lot.

In feeling a drift from the brief by looking at f11 refractors On size, perhaps the cool down and view out strip the size/length growth.

Would you have to keep it in the warm house or is there an unheated clean/dry garage or something

Yey clear night last night, wasn't clear until quite late but thought get an hour outside, oh boy was it super cold though. Have been wanting to capture Orion, so low though hovering around 20 degrees so well and truely in the murk. But no, murk was not my big problem it was the neighbour's hedge. Had it been clear earlier it would have been out front and just above the street lamp so I guess the hedge was better and there are no direct lights out the back facing South. I used my manual barn door. Canon 1100d Canon ES 85mm at f4, Baader 2 inch Neodymium using a step down ring. ISO 1600 15 seconds. I wanted to come away with subs and thought giving my self a 4 second margin of drift within a 15 second window I hope to get quite a few. All raw files. Oh and flocked flower pot as a lens shield. 23 lights (I had to discard 8 the trails were to big) 8 flats ( used my tablet and Lightbox application and rested the tablet on the lens directly when I was finished to take these) 25 bias (well they are so easy) 19 darks (I failed to count to 20!) Camera managed through using my Android tablet and DSLR Controller. This lens does have a bit of CA so even though fast at f1,8 I stopped it down to f4. Focusing was actually much harder then when using my vintage lens, the focusing ring whilst nice and deep does not have the precise buttery feel the old lenses have. I used DSS to stack and then StarTools. I did try using PaintShop Pro but I got better results this time using StarTools to wipe out the excesive gradients from the hedge area even with using Gradient Exterminator in PSP. I was really pleased to pick up nebula suggesion around Alnitak and then I had a really good look and there is a suggestion of the Horse Head nebula if I really stretched the image. The star shapes are quite tight considering my less than precise tracking. Next time must pick a target not in the murk or the hedge and garden fence. I did a wipe and develop in StarTools plus a crop and a 70% bin before I did anything else, I did find that afterwards opening the image in PSP it had been clipped. The last image is the heavy stretched area I wonder if the HH is lost on uplaod.

The important element is your mirror, and you say you have a good one.

Looks very impressive, the focuser looks very nice unit. Did you remove the secondary to flock the tube?

In the immediate term there is much to progress with. How to create stacked images on your Mac. What about take the telescope off and put your dslr and kit lens on your mount, see how long the exposure could be then you would probably be able to create some great milkyway images. GIMP astrophotraphy plugin

The 25mm is usable wouldn't rush to replace that one. I would go for 30/32mm and something like an 8mm. My most used eyepiece is a 16mm giving just 40x on my telescope. As you can see choosing eyepieces a can of worms lol, probably why many say use what comes with a telescope before rushing to get more. There is also the design of eyepiece some other a soft eye cup some a flat top some users where glasses. Read me all about eyepieces

If your scope was lighter I would say the staradventurer weight bar is fairly inexpensi but I don't know if a kilo will be enough. Sometimes astroboot sell weight bars. I won't advocate the bar I used as it does but fiddlier than it needs to be. Having never used an Az4 I can't comment on your questions.

The mod is easy to do I read that and did it to my az3. I got the weights from astroboot as I didn't have any already. There are several threads on this site where others have done similar to their az3. Or go the quick route and fit a nylock. Here What is the budget for the eyepiece?

Though the Az3 can be easily modified to balance and hold it's altitude. http://www.spacegazer.com/index.asp?pageid=97490

I stop mine down to f2.8 don't need to go any further. Also mine is not a super coated takumar but I don't find CA an issue. You'll love the buttery smooth focus control.

I also like this site for a look and read. http://www.budgetastro.net/

sorry the member is Knight of Clear Skies. this is th adpator I have two of and reach infitinty on my old lenses. http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001CX1HZ6/ref=pe_385721_37986871_TE_item?tag=stargloung-21 There is more than one good article on that site I linked too, also one on using the kit lens.

I have a Helios 135mm circa 1980s. Takes surprisingly good daytime images, use it at motorsport events, but it suffers from too much CA for my liking at night and also although it is a f2.8 iot is not hugely star sensitive.

Fixed the link. Read here 135mm is cheap but I find too long if a static mount. Also the member is Knight of Dark Skies, does excellent stuff and did the read link above.

I very much like my old Takumar 50mm f2. If you have a static mount then you want the widest field of view. The cheapest will I think be 50mm around f2. Wider primes might be more, I also have a 28mm crosima lens but it wasn't good for astro. A great read by a fellow member. There is a link next but I can't see it but it should be there.

Owning a newtonian, mak and refractor the newtonian is the least suited to land use, I would say very unsuited.

Hi What to you does 'very powerful' mean? Your expectations. Be careful of budget eyepieces Î an thinking with the ST120 budget might increase the observation of chromatic aberration. My little ST80 performs better with my own high powered eyepiece over the supplied 10mm, the 25mm is fine and I use mine.