red dwalf

one for sale here.

wow

i would say it was an ideal mount but there are very good for the money and i`d say it would be fine, if not you could always sell the mount and upgrade that too, they sell very well

are you sure your settings are still the same in the brain of PHD, biggest is the guide camera details and pixel size of guide camera 

that is beautiful, well done

I'm not 100% familiar with your mount, mine is the Neq6 Pro but I'm sure the USB cable you have shown is the wrong one, this is a printer style cable and I'm sure there is no where to plug this type of cable into the mount, I'd check with flo again or have a look at the mount on their website, it shows you need the eqmod direct cable. 

Yes but it's not a normal USB cable, this is the one you'll need for your mount 

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/lynx-astro-ftdi-eqdir-usb-adapter-for-sky-watcher-eq5-pro-heq5-syntrek-pro-az-eq5-gt-az-eq6-gt-and-eq8-mounts.html

Ascom platform which I believe is 6.4 now, and I now use the latest version of stellarium which works great and you don't need stellarium mount anymore as it's built into the new version of stellarium, and you'll need eqmod which is also a free download 

This was a image with my unmodified Canon 1100D, 80 x 90 second subs with 15 darks 31 flats and 31 bias frames, stacked in deep sky stacker and processed with Startools with some tweeks in photoshop cs3, I converted the rgb image into mono and used it as a 50% luminance layer to finish it off. 

You could buy the processing software, startools, which is around £35 and does a good job at gradient removal and lots of other useful processing jobs. 

some of the actions i find very good HLVG is very good for getting rid of the green cast, deep sky noise reduction is excellent, sharping toll is great, i can go on but i find them excellent although i don`t use them all

2 hours ago, geordie85 said:

A fine m31 you have there, maybe a tad over saturated on the colour but still very well done 

This one was my first attempt, aittle less saturated, I always find the colours difficult to get right, I'm slightly colour blind which does help L.O.L 

1 hour ago, happy-kat said:

Nice capture

What version of startools are you using, have you tried the revised Shrink module to reduce stars.

Version 7 I think, I have used the shrink module a few times before in startools with good success, I also have an action in photoshop that does a good job too and it is just one click to do so I tend to use that mostly 

2 hours ago, paul mc c said:

Lovely image.....was this shot in RAW files?

Yes indeed, Shot in raw files

Around 63 x 90 second exposures with a Canon 1100D connected to a William Optics GT 81, 15 X darks, 31 X flats and 31 X bias frames, stacked in deep sky stacker processed in Startools and some tweaks to colour and star reduction in Photoshop CS3.

what back focus distance did you settle on ?

it`s all about the mount, mount first camera then scope, minimum mount i would recommend would be the HEQ5 pro, ideally a NEQ6 pro, i bought a 5 first but you always end up buying something bigger in the end, the scope is ok but you will need a coma correcter for it i think, camera is fine, not so long ago a 350 was the camera of choice, ideally modded.

guide scope is ok but i`d get an altair astro 60 mm non rotating helical focuser or similar,

 https://www.altairastro.com/altair-60mm-guide-scope-kit-straight-thru-non-rotating-helical-focuser-no-eyepiece-76-p.asp

it`s cheaper than the skywatcher and bigger aperture but i understand people like to keep the same brands

i believe if it is a private sale then there is little to be done apart from appealing to the seller to put things right, if you get no joy from the seller you might be able to message a moderator but i don`t think they get involved in sales anymore, also as john says, if you paid via paypal you might be able to re claim your money

hi all,

i`m unable for some reason to get the stars, especially big bright ones to focus properly, i`ve tried taking the reducer flatner off and just having a extension tube connected to the camera / filter wheel straight into the focuser and they still look the same, on one side it looks like an egg ! starting to drive me made and not sure what the problem is, everything i can think of is tight including the focuser, the equipment i`m using is a William Optics GT81, starlight filter wheel and an atik 460 camera, i`ve added a couple of pictures to show the focus is good using a bantinov mask and a 1 second image of vega, any ideas gratefully received. 

i`m not a fan of those power tanks, things may look ok but they can cause trouble

looks great, i also had focuser problems last night, seems to be a usb cable loose or the usb socket on the focuser loose, always happens when you least expect it

whioe since i used a handset as eqmod much better for myself, but from what i remember is that the date and time format is in the American style i.e. month day year instead of day month year, just check that if you have not already

M13 is lovely, mine is nothing like it L.O.L.

some of the best detail i have seen in M51 for a long time, you must be very pleased with the results

WOW !

that is a cracker