tooth_dr

I wasnt sure. The star shapes are pretty funky, especially the top left. Is the spacing ok and everything rigidly attached?

Nice image, lots of detail. Like the HH image you took, there are awful big stars in this area too. Do you have a 0.85 FF fitted to the ED80? More exposure time will help, but I dont think longer exposures will help out here.

Hopefully that does the trick 👍

IKEA tape measure Swede to the core

What software are you using? Recently my Atik EFW2 was only showing 7 instead of 9 filters in APP. I was able to correct it but I'll be honest I cant remember exactly how, sorry, but it was only a matter of changing the settings,

Thanks Steve, Alan and Graham. Thanks for taking time to have a look and comment. Thanks Dave. I could try an image with the D800 and the reduced SS94 at 413mm F4.4. This would probably cover most the FOV, maintain the image scale (actually improve on it slightly) and get me RGB data. I hadnt really considered a pier extension, I may run into issues with clearance close to the zenith. It's a case of not being able to have ones cake and eat it too.

Nice Francis. Thats the Seagull Nebula! I only know this because I got a few subs of it the other night. Your camera and scope combo appears to be working very well. Adam

This is my 4 panel mosaic of the HH region, in H-alpha, taken over the past couple of weeks. A total of 66000 seconds of integration. I removed the stars in Starnet+ and there are some artefacts remaining. Not sure where to go from here - possibly some RGB data or Oiii/Sii. I can really only get about 4 hours on this per night because of the dual rig. Pre and post meridian flip, one telescopes view is blocked by the bottom of the dome slit. With four panels, it's a long slog only getting one hour per panel per night. Thanks for looking Adam.

Thank you. I like a bit of retail therapy too Can I share an image I took of the same object at a longer FL? Same cameras, but at 1200mm instead of the 522mm (that is what my reduced ED80 plate solved to. I always like having the longer focal length to go to for galaxy season.

I had a black one too, no issues with it either (I ran them both side by side on a dual setup). I know you say you feel like you are getting to the end of the ED80. I kinda felt too that an upgrade was an inevitable right of passage, but yet I still havent really surpassed my old images despite investing in 'better' kit This is one of my favourites, cropped heavily, taken with the ED80 dual rig. Not terrible for 80mm aperture

I personally havent found the focuser to be an issue on my ED80, and I have had a lot of kit hanging off it. However my daughter wanted a gold telescope for Christmas, so I bought her a Alt-Az mount and she is now the proud owner my gold ED80. I replaced this with a SharpStar94. I looked at the Esprits, but the focal length, speed and the 44mm imaging circle swung it for me. I've only used it a few nights, so hard to comment, but the biggest thing that I can see is that the RGB filters focus at the same position, and the stars seem overall smaller. I am getting some haloes that I didnt notice before, but nothing that really upsets me.

Very nice image Skipper. The haloes for me don’t really detract from it.

One hour on the Seagull IC2177 when IC434 disappeared from view, 3 x 1200s subs, Tak and QHY9. A lovely target, will look forward to more Ha and some Oiii too. Thanks Adam.

Hi Ciaran I did indeed buy one of the SharpStar refractors, it's a fairly new model, I think it came out in October or November. It's supposed to be 55mm backfocus and I'm using a standard M48 T adapter so it should in theory be exactly at the 55mm! I'll try another sub over the galactic core to get more stars, good idea! I'm imaging now, so will move to a different target to get more stars in the FOV.

I know, It is a good offer, and can only imagine that it will be genuinely £300+ more after this offer, and only going one way.

I've been in touch with this supplier, as well as the supplier I have ordered mine off. Essentially this is the situation as far as I can tell - there were a small number offered initially at the discounted price of £1799 - these have all sold out. BUT then QHY last week announced that the discount price will hold for ANYONE who ordered before 5th Feb, but they will have to wait for their order to be produced/delivered. So that is why it says awaiting delivery.

Hi there, I will post a few images that I've taken with it over the next couple of days - M45 and IC434. I bought the 0.8x reducer for it and I'm currently trying it out with a full frame nikon, but it doesnt look great. It may be spacing or something else, but the stars in each corner are showing some sort of distortion.

Any one able to comment? Thanks

Yes I do, I sent you a copy of the Mesu handbook March last year 😂 The mesu is working great, it has around 30kg payload on it, and consistently guides well, and platesolving takes two goes to get within 2-3 pixels of the target.

Thanks Jon for the reply 👍🏻 Its not what I understood to be PE, but the jumps in RA 2" in either direction from baseline. I suppose this is my point. You can have big peaks that would impact on the image but still have what appears on paper to be a good RMS value. To be honest I'm not what my point is, just trying to consolidate my own phd2 results with others. I've a good idea what's going on with my kit and now thinking how much is due to seeing.

Just an observation - the graph the RA RMS is reporting 0.60” which is fantastic. But it is oscillating between almost +2 and -2 arcsec. I appreciate your imaging scale is large but does this mean RMS isn’t really a good comparison mechanism?

An option could be the .77x reducer giving a closer FOV. You could then use it to add ha to images etc

@Spongey I’m waiting on delivery on the 2600MC from FLO and the 268MM from MA. That’s the benefit of a traditional scope, where you weren’t restricted in equipment choice, like with the RASA. I’ll have the option of using Lum with the mono along with the OSC, or if the moons out, a dual band filter (NBX) on the OSC and H-alpha on the mono. I have thought about cancelling the order but the intro price is good and with weak pound etc, I’ll bite the bullet and get it.

The QHY268M is selling for £1799 in the Uk 👍🏻

Apologies for the poor quality of the photos. The clouds kept coming in and out of the view really quickly. What do you think of the corners of the FOV - tilt, spacing or otherwise? It's a SharpStar94, with the specific FF/FR 08, giving 413mm at F4.4. I'm using a Nikon D800E, with 4.88um pixels. This is a 30s shot, ISO400 of around the M45 region, same image stretched differently. Thanks Adam.