DaveS

I have both, and both have cameras on the end of them.

I think the "CMOS optimised" is just marketing guff, I don't see any difference. When I specc'd my ODK rig I went for Chroma LRGB and NB, but that was before they went from pricey to stupidly expensive. I currently have a set of Baader photometric filters in my LRGB wheel, but they have some horrid halos.

Clear skies are a myth.

In casual conversation I will usually refer to myself as "a bit of a stargazer" as it sounds a bit less serious than "mad obsessive astrophotographer".

I saw that video, it's all about NB imaging of fuzzy diffuse nebulae, so not a true test. I would like to see how it stacks up against small faint galaxies with fine detail. M65 and M66 would do as a start.

Total cloud here, but with the devil's lightbulb polluting the sky there would be no point anyway.

It's not going to win any prizes but heigh-ho 5 hours 20 mins H-Alpha on the Crab with the ASI 533MM on the ODK 12 for a totally bonkers 0.38"/Px. Collected 6 hours (36 10 min subs) but only 32 made it through QC into the stack Stacked in AstroArt 8, Blur Xterminator 2, ArcsinH stretch and Noise Exterminator in PixInsight (I may have been too severe with Noise X) then back to AstroArt for a slight Histogram Stretch. I won't be getting any othe NB data as I currently have my HaLRGB wheel on the OTA and have no intention of swapping anything until summer, this was just a moon-polluted stop-gap until I can image galaxies again.

Well, I think it's rather fabulous.

Currently -2.8⁰ here. I had a quick look outside, and while it looked clear I could see a lot of high cloud.

I've got a small blowtorch and a proper one in the garage, I think I'll fetch it in tomorrow. Meanwhile the wood is burning, just about and the room is slowly warming up, just gone above 18⁰.

Sitting here trying to get warm, blummin' wood doesn't want to burn. Utter rubbish. It's only warmer than outside in relative terms.

Almost total high cloud here. I had a look and the moon is surrounded by haze.

No streetlights in the villages where I live, and long may it continue. I think the nearest are 4-5 miles away, though the nearest town do their best (Worst) to make up for it.

Solid cloud here in the Bride Valley Dorset. CO is suggesting odd clear slots, MO says no chance.

OK, here we go, in chronological order. HCG 44, the Leo Quartet M64, The "Black Eye Galaxy" The "Bubble Nebula in SHO M92, the only Globular that I maged this year Finally HCG 92, Stephan's Quintet All captured with the ODK12, the Bubble in SHO with the G3 16200, all the others in LRGB with the SX Trius 694.

The clear slot has unexpectedly increased to all night, at least according to the Met Office, so added 6 hours Luminance on HCG 35, and 2 hours on Copeland's Septet to take it up to dawn. I may lose some data to passing cloud, hopefully not too much.

I was discussing this with Rupert at Astrograph, and he said that Chile charges you VAT even on kit you already own when you import it. Meanwhile, I have an unexpected clear slot so getting more Luminance data on HCG 10, just a sneaky 3 hours.

Stargazine flatlined 18 months ago, it's a dead horse (Or parrot) don't flog it.

I've stopped planning ahead, even from morning to evening, the weather changes so quickly, but almost never for the better. This is the wrong part of the world for astronomy.

The rejected Dynetics Alpaca looks like a much better design for landing on an unknown and possibly irregular surface.

Did I see the doomful word "imaging"? Beware of the slippery slope into the financial black hole of bankruptcy. In all seriousness imaging begins with the mount, if you haven't got that sorted then nothing else will work, something at the HEQ5 (Other capable mounts are available) level is about the minimum for imaging without having to spend hours (And ££££) fettling.

Clouds apparently.

I was wrong, only 3 hours Luminance and 3 hours RGB. I thought the data was thin when I couldn't apply Unsharp Mask without sending the noise crazy.

AKA HCG 61, reworked with Blur XT ver 2 and AI4. Captured with the SX 694 on the ODK 12. 6 hours L and 2 hours each RGB on the 21st and 24th May this year at the end of Galaxy Season. Version 1 Version 2 I think there's a bit more detail coming through in Version 2 but it needs to be looked at full size on a good monitor to see.

From the MO forecast I thought I had the chance of 6 hours plus of clear sky last night so set up a sequence for a couple of targets, HCG 10 for 3 hours RGB and 3 hours Lum, then HCG 35 for 3 hours Lum just on the off chance. Got as far as 1 hour Red and the first 10 min Green then the cloud rolled in and the rain alarm was showing showers so called it a night.