tomato

Glad you got it sorted, but you would think they would have had a handle on this.

Incredible. I wonder did they take 100 hrs of video and picked the best 500 frames from it, and is that even possible if the landscape is changing so rapidly?

1 hour ago, DaveS said:

I imaged that area last year, but the data was stuffed up by the uncorrectable reflections from OOUK's rubbish (Being polite) anodising.

Doesn’t sound good, what was the problem, I’m assuming it had a reflective rather than a matte finish?

It will be push to with a Celestron star sense module initially but I wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up motorised at some point in the future.

I still don't know how you manage to get these shots, they are just amazing. You have not done a You tube video by any chance?😏

22 hours ago, Vroobel said:

Based on my recently obtained experience, playing with the perfect data from professional or scientific instruments may not bring pleasure as it's too easy. Struggling with data collected under a real city sky gives a chance to learn how to deal with gradients, background colours etc. But it's my opinion only.

I agree, good professional data almost processes itself, but in my experience externally sourced data can vary widely in quality, even when you pay for it. I had a set from Chile which to be fair was captured with a CCD but it had a big light gradient (moonlit sky?) and several bad columns. HST data can sometimes have terrible joins if it is a mosaic, be noisy and suffer from detector artefacts, but I guess you don't look free data in the mouth, so to speak,  especially from such a venerable source.

This is some historic Esprit 150/QHY268c data embellished (if that's the right word) with 5 hrs of Nautical Darkness data captured on Saturday night to give about 10 hrs overall. The framing is a little off but it does put PGC 49480 centre stage. This galaxy has two very pronounced and symmetrical spiral arms, making it look almost like Saturn in the wider image. It is described as a "little cutie" in an Ice in Space thread, not sure how a galaxy can be cute, but I see what they are getting at. 

Thanks for looking.

Annotated

We did a successful focus test last night, the cage had to be raised about 15mm to put the focuser tube at half its travel with the star focused. On to the altitude bearings next…

Yes, I don’t think any 16” scope can be classed as light weight, but I’m hoping it will be a distinct improvement on the original Skywatcher flextube, that design was just too much for me.

Wow, now that is one colourful Crab Nebula.

57 minutes ago, LondonNeil said:

Nice clamps, nice build. 

How long do you think the scope will take you to set up when all finished?

Thanks, the fully assembled scope will live in my garage, my granddaughter as part of her A level Design project will design and make some wheel barrow handles to trundle it round to the back garden. A quick collimation and it should be good to go so I estimate about 10 minutes for this set up. 
For transport to a dark site it will strip down to the rocker and mirror box, the truss tubes and the secondary cage. This will take about 20 minutes to set up with two of us on the job, I reckon.

OTA now assembled and collimated good enough for a star focus test this Saturday night hopefully, then the truss tubes can trimmed to their final length. It will be like Lord Rosse’s Leviathan telescope, pointing straight up, waiting for a star to cross the FOV.☺️

Thanks for the comments. The sky here now is ridiculously bright, so yes, some heavy gradient removal work is required on these summer datasets. I’ll keep going for about another week with the Esprits then change over to my “Summer Nebulae” wide angle RASA8 and SY135 set up. 
The 16” SW Dobsonian conversion project is also progressing well, it will be nice to give it first light in tee shirt and shorts temperatures.

Wim, Thanks for the link. I think have have used this script once before to identify M33 globular clusters but I can’t recall when and how I used it. Why don’t I write everything down?

Greg Quicke has sadly passed away, I do remember him from Stargazing Live Australia, he was quite a communicator.

Australia's 'Space Gandalf' astronomer dies aged 62 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cl7744p258yo

This is 6.3 hrs integration with the Esprit 150/QHY268M and OSC dual rig. Most of the galaxies in this cluster are fainter than 16 mag so it makes for a pretty nondescript image, but I love these kind of targets. The annotated version tells only part of the story, in addition to the numerous PGC catalogue galaxies, the FOV is peppered with scores of other galaxies of similar size and magnitude, and if you go deeper, there are are dozens of faint spots hinting at a much deeper vista which has only just been registered with my meagre integration time.

Visual only observers often marvel at the wonder of seeing an object just at the limits of visibility through the eye-piece, and for me these just discernible island universes in the image are my equivalent. Such massive objects at a truly unimaginable distance, and yet captured with my backyard set up.

Thanks for looking.

Annotated

A second dovetail bar for my RASA8 is £51 from Celestron. So to attach my guide scope to it I used a piece of flattened profile steel tube, drilled at the ends to use the existing screw fixings on the scope. It looks a bit rough but does the job.

Great result from 4 hrs of data👍🏼

After a lean spell, I have managed to get a wider FOV on this galaxy with the Esprit/150/QHY268 dual rig, although the main galaxy has been embellished with 5.4 hrs of Esprit150/ASI178 LRGB data, making for 13.7 hrs overall. Apologies for cropping off part of NGC 4747, I thought I had just about sneaked it in but it was a casualty of the edge cropping.

Thanks for looking

Annotated

3 hours ago, wimvb said:

That would probably mean a long fl and moderately fast to slow scope (moderately fast if you add a reducer). In the UK/Northern European climate, a fast system such as RASA makes more sense, imho.

Indeed it does Wim, and I would keep my RASA8 for that reason. The trouble is, I've always had a longing for a big RC, it was initially my scope of choice when I got back into AP 10 years ago, but I came to my senses after I saw @ollypenrice's galaxies work with the TEC 140s, and went with the Esprit 150s instead. While I'm still a "hands on" imager and not too doddery to handle a big RC, I think I will have to have one just to see how it compares to the refractors. It's not  a rational decision, but there you go, at least someone will get a bargain somewhere down the road.🙂

Interesting discussion. I’m considering a middle option, in a few years time, trading the dual refractor rig in for a large aperture RC but keeping it in the UK, hopefully to a decent dark site when we make our final house move. 
 The trouble is the way I fear the UK climate is going it would just gather dust rather than photons.

6 hours ago, WolfieGlos said:

Thank you Steve. Wow, 20 years you held out, that’s really interesting. You certainly went through a revolution like you say in technology during that period.

Certainly watching her grow up is going to be incredible, and yes, you’re right, the cosmos will still be there. I guess it’s the usual self inflicted pressure to image or view as much as possible, when in actual fact, it’ll still be there. That’s a good point, and so what if I go from (say) 50 images a year to 15? 

I think the UK weather trend will likely limit your image output more than anything your daughter can do…

When my youngest daughter was seven I  dug out my old scope from the loft for an out reach event at her primary school. Man that was a scary evening, I’d never done visual with it and my star hopping skills were minimal, talk about pressure with a group of excited children gathered around the scope, eager to see something.

Another update, the mirror box has been made, the tube clamping arrangements designed and made. Some keenly priced titanium threaded rod has been sourced for the top tube clamps, to keep the top end weight down.

Yes, the loos. After a visit we used to get fumigated on Nitro fumes when the fuelers were warming up in the pits. At the end of my career in the chemical industry I moved into health and safety, when giving COSHH talks I’m glad nobody had any footage of me as a youth in the pits  at the Pod, eyes streaming from Nitric acid fumes.☺️

First off Chris, many congratulations on the birth of your daughter. Children put my AP on hold for 20 years due to both time and money issues, during which the activity went through a revolution (film to digital, Goto mounts, Chinese suppliers of decent, relatively cheap kit), so I had a great time when finally getting back into it. 
 

Don’t worry if your time for AP drops to next to nothing, your kit and the Cosmos will still be there. Enjoy watching your daughter grow up, as you no doubt are finding out, there’s nothing else like it.

Wonderful image, great to see the Altair APO being put to such excellent use.👍