PhotoGav

“Want that one...” Andy Pipkin, Little Britain. Still tormenting myself over which one to order. It’s the pleasure of the chase though!

Very interesting - thank you for sharing.

Quite.

+1 for SGP! Plenty of users on here, so plenty of help available. @RayD & @LightBucket - no need to apologise, that is a useful discussion and I am happy to have catalysed it! Thank you all for your responses so far. Choosing how to spend the limited astro budget is always challenging, but fun too! The next curve ball is that there is a second hand WO FLT98 for sale on Astro Buy & Sell which might just fit the bill at the optimum quality / price point! As for yielding to temptation - the Tak it is then....!!!

@Jkulin - the reason I asked was because I noticed significant star elongation in your image’s corners, which looks like coma to me that would normally be sorted by the flattener. As you are using one already, could this be a spacing issue? @ollypenrice - thank you for that clarification. I will keep my eye out for the 106N, but fear it may not happen in time for my imaging plans. An interesting addition to the problem though! You are the devil on my shoulder! @RayD - thank you for your post. You have been a strong advocate of the Esprit throughout my research and it is good to see one of your subs, which looks great across the whole image and restores my faith! @swag72 - absolutely, that is why I had eliminated the Tak, until the French Devil re-opened that argument!! So far the Esprit has plenty of support, while the WO has zero input / feedback... interesting!

Thank you John, do you use the dedicated flattener? Thank you Olly, that’s what I fear. You have just reintroduced the earlier eliminated FSQ106 and potentially a large dent in my Astro budget (I was thinking that a ‘cheaper scope’ would enable a filter upgrade)! I have seen the occasional second hand one, but generally around £3k. The most recent was in Rome, which makes viewing and collection a bit expensive, but a rather lovely experience! Perhaps I could borrow your rig for a bit - a Mesu 200 and a pair of 106s would be nice...

Absolutely, I have a stepper motor already from a previous scope. I just need the bracket and coupler. Do you have any images taken with the Esprit 100 that I could look at, please?

Excellent, thank you John. That’s quite an affirmation of the Esprit! I use the Lakeside motor focus system, so will definitely connect that up. Another step closer to the Esprit ‘Buy’ button!

Alan, exactly, I know who you are referring to and indeed his results speak for themselves. That’s why I’m close to hitting the button for the Esprit 100, but just want to be sure I’m not missing something, to be sure!

Hello wise astronomer people. I am chasing my tail over which telescope to purchase. I am after something in the 550mm range for imaging with my QSI 683 and have identified my three favourite options; 1. Takahashi FSQ106 (530mm, F5, about £5500) 2. William Optics GT102 with Reducer (560mm, F5.5, about £2600) 3. Skywatcher Esprit 100 with Flattener (550mm, F5.5, about £1700) The problem is that I can’t decide which to go for. I have realistically eliminated the Tak as it is too expensive. If money were no object I think I would just get that and then not be able to blame equipment for my failings as it appears to be the ‘gold standard’ of imaging scopes. I could just save up for one, but that will take a while and I have springtime projects that I need the scope for. So it is down to the SW or the WO. I have heard very good reports about the SW Esprit and have almost decided to go with that option, but I have that nagging devil on my shoulder whispering in my ear that perhaps the WO would be better. Would it? Does anyone reading this have a WO GT102 and can they please give me their opinion? One bonus with the WO would be the option to use it without the reducer, giving me 703mm at F7 - that could be useful. On the other hand, the SW would do the job very nicely and is the cheapest option. Oh my, choices, choices! I look forward to hearing your thoughts and experiences of these scopes and to your help with spending my money!

Thankfully it doesn't seem to draw much power, so the batteries do last quite a while. I'm interested to hear what you come up with though. Good luck and happy travels!

I had similar problems powering my Star Adventurer with a mobile phone charger power bank. It kept on switching off, very irritating! I now use a Skywatcher 7Ah PowerTank with a USB lead to the Star Adventurer. It works perfectly. Not as small and convenient as the power bank, but it works!

Here’s a small selection of some of my favourite books from many years ago and a book that I made with a colleague last year.

Graeme, thank you, that is very helpful indeed. I will be investigating those two programs.

I know, I just tried Astrometry.net and it picked out IC342 and nothing else. I’ve looked on Sky Safari, Stellarium and in a couple of books, but no mention of any small galaxies near IC342. I haven’t tried Cartes du Ciel yet. Where is the best place to find small feint galaxy details? Well spotted, I think you’re right, that is another little galaxy and not just a guiding error!

Thank you Neil - I've been trying to find out more about that little galaxy bottom left, but have so far failed completely...

Thank you Dave, Charl & Alex. I look forward to hearing what you manage to see Alex. I’ve not tried to observe this galaxy yet, so a real report would be great.

The Hidden Galaxy certainly lives up to its name, hiding behind a dense region of the Milky Way near the galactic equator in the constellation of Camelopardalis. IC342 is only around 10 million light years away and has an apparent diameter of about 20 arcminutes, making it the third largest galaxy in angular size visible from Earth, after The Andromeda Galaxy and The Triangulum Galaxy. If it wasn't for all that dust and the myriad of stars, it would be a spectacular sight in the night sky, though it can be seen through binoculars, it just proves difficult to offer up much detail. I rather like all those stars, they definitely make this an interesting and different kind of a galaxy to try and image. Tech Spec: Celestron EdgeHD 800 with 0.79x Reducer, QSI 683-WSG, HEQ5 Pro, Baader 1.25" filters L = 24 x 1200s RGB = 12 x 600s each TOTAL = 14 hours I processed the image with AstroPixelProcessor and Photoshop. I'm generally pretty happy with the outcome. The brighter stars have lost a bit of colour in their core and I did consider whether to shoot a set of short RGB subs. I'm not sure if I have the stamina to keep going with this target for now and am not sure how much of a difference that would really make anyway. I am more inclined to move on to my next target, as and when the Sky Gods allow! My only other complaint is that I have a bit of star elongation in the corners - I guess this could be either a spacing or a tilt issue? One day I hope to sort it out! Anyway, I hope you like it and I look forward to hearing your comments. Clear skies.

Front row seats for the time lapse session can easily be reserved with the promise of large slices of cake, especially data and walnut Edit: I just noticed my spelling mistake - though I quite like it like that!!

With a long peak to it... Perfect for knocking eye pieces, telescopes and anything that you put your head near... For that reason - I'm out!

Ha ha! I nearly put 'no offence to my wonderful team mates'. I hope you've been revising!?!

Welcome to the World, Azbec. See you at SGL SP2017. Come and say hi! If you are an Astro knowledge genius, would you like to be on my team for the quiz, please? It would be great to have somebody who knows some stuff on the team this year!!

Tell Lizzie I've become bitter and twisted since we last met, I just swear at people these days... Really looking forward to our geek week. The only problem might be Will's new tour bus - it's huge and will block most horizons. Let's hope for clear skies and not too much Herefordshire mist!

Are you a Mac or PC sort?

Here is my astrophotography journey through 2016: It started with a first light image for my William Optics Star 71. Thankfully I seemed to have received one of the good ones! Then it was Galaxy Season and I opted for a pic of M82 with my C8, going for the Ha jets. Back to the WO Star 71 and a widefield shot of The Jellyfish Nebula. And then back to the C8 for another galaxy - M101. What happened next was a huge step forwards in my astro journey... I treated myself to a Pulsar Dome, which was installed in July. I thought that I would take full advantage of the mount's new home and go for a widefield four pane mosaic of The Veil Nebula with the WO Star 71. The final image of the year is another widefield with the WO Star 71 of The Lobster Claw Nebula and its neighbours. There are several other images gathered in the last couple of months of the year, but they were processed in 2017, so will feature in next year's collection! Have a great year everyone and above all, Clear Skies!