tooth_dr

Class! Beautiful place and great photos.

Identically John, both the QHY9 and 383L are the same camera, with perhaps lower read noise in the QHY9.

Thanks John. I have a full frame Nikon D800E and the Tak wide t adapter sitting here to go on it, but I cant drag myself away from the cooled CCD. Perhaps I should give it a go. Your 383 is currently attached to the Atik EFW2, which has 1.25" filters in it so I'm not going to strip that down yet. I'm going to have to sell off some gear in the very near future, so am just deciding where to go. I bought the scope collimated by Orion in England, and drove it home carefully. I have the Tak collimating EP as well, but I havent even looked through it yet. I plan to have a look at it over the next few days as I dont think everything is quite 100%. It could be spacing as these scopes are critical to the 1mm. Or it could be focus. Or tilt in the CCD. Or me!!! I'll definitiely keep this thread updated as I go along.

Here is a 10 minute Pelican from last night also:

Really great! Only comment - it’s upside down 😂

I agree that experience is important. You have made great progress

If I can tame the stars I'm onto a winner Dave The EFW isnt under warranty, I'll post it up here for free once I get a new one. It might work ok on another PC, but for AP, the cost of buying a new wheel far outweighs the frustrations of lost captures.

10 mins on M33 last night also:

Stephan's Quintet and the Deer Lick Group. This is from last night. It consists of 20 x 5 mins subs, luminance filter. Tried new cables and without USB hub, and still the EFW stops responding. For the bin by the looks of it.

It would be more useful to share your details on the forum along with the image rather than via PM, as I am also curious what equipment, filter(s), subs exposure and number etc.

I did a four panel mosaic last week. I’ve yet to process it. Even at 500mm it doesn’t fit in. I think that looks spot on.

That is a thing of beauty!

Great job, well done. On this myself tonight

Fantastic. So much detail.

Great image. Can’t wait to try this in SGPro. Still trying to work it all out.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/112726105228?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&itemid=112726105228&targetid=538581646294&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=1007277&poi=&campaignid=1669190339&mkgroupid=67214011160&rlsatarget=pla-538581646294&abcId=578896&merchantid=6995734&gclid=Cj0KCQjw6eTtBRDdARIsANZWjYbYCIWq7V-rM4uUsz7lExkSo-q3L4Gk6UTAFOqfuTdvgPlbVAFjNpIaAoe5EALw_wcB or https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/333185243548?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&itemid=333185243548&targetid=596596260901&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=1007277&poi=&campaignid=6619152137&mkgroupid=84510981808&rlsatarget=aud-739442097725:pla-596596260901&abcId=1140496&merchantid=116530669&gclid=Cj0KCQjw6eTtBRDdARIsANZWjYZw-uhUDQVSKGsUGyfRyBwNjQ8qdP_9SyTm7_jHJvLF8v3e0_ZwXMUaAg9NEALw_wcB

Precise parts? I’ve an invoice for two adapters for the Tak by them at $337 without paying import tax as well 😮

Yeah I edited my post after I noticed the mistake. Like everything in this hobby - either expensive or compromises.

Very nice Steve. Plenty of contrast it really stands out. Good job.

https://www.astroshop.eu/extension-tubes/astoptics-m54*0-75-5mm-extension-ring/p,57936#tab_bar_1_select edit - thats male to female. You could buy the 8mm version and cut off the male part , or go with johns idea! Basically you need this

I used to have a meade LXd-75 Mount but that was over ten years ago and I can’t remember how I did it. What do I need to buy to connect and control a 14” LX600 Mount using a PC. What software would be suitable for selecting and centring different targets? Thanks in advance Adam

Thanks John. You know how it is with new scope you want to make sure its performing to it's best. Then I can undo it all with the processing. I'm getting an Atik EFW3 7x 2" so no colour until then. Cheers! I agree Tony about the doubles. Even in a completely unstretched stacked image it's just about split. I've take a few more exposures of shorter duration and layer mask it in! Thanks Sean, yes I think I'm being a bit over critical. The head does have a particular 3d feel to it I'm imaging IC5070 now, and I've dialed in the focus a bit better but then I notice a slight distortion of the star shapes as I do so. I'll check the collimation on Thursday when I'm off.

I'd say keep the sub length you did above, and get dithering. Dithering did more for images than anything else did. I'm like you and struggle on target choice! I usually trawl the deep sky section, or use this website : https://telescopius.com/

Lovely image. I see a few images popping up from this camera, and it seems to produce the goods with short integraton times. Nice one.

Basically - looking a more experienced eye cast over this, so that I can tweak my set up. How can I tell if there is a spacing issue / focus issue / collimation issue? I've it as close to focus as I can get it but it still looks soft to be. I'm imaging at 2.23"/px. Equipment used: Takahashi Epsilon 180, QHY9 mono sensor, with 2" filters. PA is good and guiding was on average < or = 1"/px I have it spaced as close to 56mm (+.6mm for filter glass) as I can get it, but I could introduce delrin rings if required to tweak it slight. The focuser should be ok as it is an upgraded 2.5" moonlight CR focuser. Maybe a high speed reflector was a step too far for my ability. This is 4 hours data, luminance, in 300s subs. Any advice - positive or negative - welcomed! CS Adam.