DaveS

Yep, showing not merely a degree of stupidity, but a postgraduate degree of stupidity. I kick myself most every day over it. Ah well, at least it's saved me from spending even more money that I haven't got (Gotta think positive ). A QHY410C (Not to be confused with the QHY411) may be a realistic possibility down the line.

I'm caught in a similar situation, just at a slightly more ruinous price point, with my G3 16200. When I spec'd my big rig it was the best option, but things have moved on rapidly and the new QHY 600 mono or 410 OSC are serious contenders. However (And it is a BIG however) not only is a QHY 600 £4100, but I would need a new wheel, and worse (MUCH worse) because the 16200 sensor is "only" APS-H I thought I could get away with 2" mounted filters not taking into account that a) 50mm unmounted Chroma were the same price as 2" mounted and b) the G3 wheel would take 50mm unmounted as well as 2" mounted. Dur... *slaps head* The QHY 410 OSC might be an option if I only wanted to image in RGB.

I started using AstroArt when I moved from DSLR to mono CCD as it did everything I needed from capture to post to JPEG for posting or PNG for printing. I've stayed with it from v5 through v7 (Missed out 6) and now v8 (A huge improvement, even over v7). I now use Maxim DL for capture, but only because the ASA software currently requires it. I've tried Startools, Image Plus and Pixinsight but have come back to AA8. Pixinsight had me even with Warren's book.

Even if it wasn't solid cloud I wouldn't be trying to image anything, even with 3nm filters.

Hi Claire and welcome to SGL. In addition to Turn Left at Orion I would recommend the desktop version of Stellarium, now at 0.21.something. Even though I'm mostly an imager I find it very useful for planning sessions and seeing field of view. There are other planetarium software packages that I use (Cartes du Ciel) but find Stellarium easier to use for a look around at what's in the sky.

Oh, it is grab 'n' go. He's grabbed it and now his back's gone!

£11k is actually not bad for a 180mm triplet apo, the TEC is twice that.

Realistically yes, though I could always do with another camera. Or two, or three, or... I really must stop hankering after one of These for the ODK.

I focus in L and apply any offsets, but when I checked my ODK and Chroma filters I found less difference between filters than between autofocus runs. Checking with a Bahtinov Mask showed that the focus was identical between R,G,B filters.

Ooh, yes. Love the detail and the colours. Must have a go at M31 myself sometime.

Wow! That's absolutely superb.

Not entirely surprised as there was a lot of atmospheric dispersion and "boiling" from the low altitude plus chromatic aberration from the old objective, no ED glasses then. Lucky imaging from a video might have produced a sharper image, but this was 25 fps live video.

I just called it "Horse Manure"

The ASA DDM60 mount has 60mm dia axis shafts, while the DDM85 has, surprise, 85mm shafts. I have no info on the latest series of DDMs which are spec'd in payload, though the DDM160 had 160mm shafts.

Was sad to see the state of the old INT dome.

Well it was quite good, but 1/2 hour really isn't long enough.

I've just re-watched an episode of his "Adventures in Space and Time" from earlier in the year, and although made up of earlier programs that he's re-visiting, I found it much more engaging than "Universe".

There's a heck of a lot of green there. I don't have Pixinsight but I ran your JPEG through AstroArt 8 using the "Attenuate Single Colour" tool to reduce the green and got this: This was just a quick process to try and get rid of the green. Could also do with a Gradient Reduction. I think the equivalent in PI is SCNR Green but not sure. Your data has a lot of potential.

Normal for Norfolk

Magic roundabout. Not to be confused with:

Ah, I had forgotten about the ball bearing method, thanks for reminding me.

Yep, hope he sees this.

I recall a thread on here where remote imaging was discussed. It became quite heated with some members quite adamant that unless you had set up the rig yourself it wasn't your data. But I don't see any professional astronomers having a problem with remote imaging not being their data.

I have seen artificial stars on the FLO site, and have considered them, but cannot get a long enough throw from my obsy position. Best option would be to set one up in my bedroom or possibly the upstairs landing looking through an open window but the distance is barely 20m.