tomato

I have just realised that Scooby Doo is the same nebula @steppenwolf was referring to. It’s a small sky…

Great capture, I guess I should know this but are the colour transitions in the trail a real effect, related to the layers in the atmosphere?

Just a quick heads up that a member of the Wolverhampton Astronomical Society is scheduled to be on Central news tonight (6 pm) talking about Astrophotography, I'm looking forward to it.

The Scooby Doo Nebula (part of the Heart Nebula). Of course I take this hobby seriously.😄

I think the design and manufacturing costs probably rule out a friction drive from the likes of SW and Ioptron, but you never know. There are a couple of similar friction mounts out there but nothing like in the numbers of Mesu units that have been supplied.

Cardboard off, first speed, cardboard on second speed. In fact with the slippage that is likely to occur when turning it, the speed is infinitely variable.😉

One observation, when using an OAG on a refractor fitted with a FR I get sausage shaped stars on the guide cam, but PHD guides on them, no problem.

I think this will be fine, my pier has 8 machined spacers under it to get the flange flush with the false floor in the observatory and it ain’t moving anywhere when bolted down, even with ~100 kg all up load riding on it.

Lovely images, a good thing about digital data, it doesn’t go off over time.👍

This was also processed with Startools 1.8 Alpha and AP 1.10. Started with the ST Compose module using L + Synthetic L from RGB, RGB, Ha into NB accent. Then default work flow and then a lot of adjustment in AP with HSL and colour tools to try and achieve "conventional" galaxy colouring and lose the blue tone on the IFN. I am still not a fan of IFN, to me it detracts from the galaxies and makes the processing, at least for me, too darn tricky. Still it's part of the skyscape so I should stop moaning and learn to how to process it. Fantastic data, as always.

I use a 120 mini with a ZWO OAG v2 on an Esprit 150 FL 1050 mm. I have to date never failed to have a guide star in the FOV, but there have been occasions where only 2 or 3 are visible. The USB connection on the camera is a bit fragile, best to loop the cable back round and velcro to the camera body.

I remember that…

Total respect for dedication to find away through. When I took the plunge and purchased a PI license and then hardly used it I thought what a waste of money, but then @Laurin Dave introduced me to the photo metric mosaic script and it was worth buying just for that.

Cracking mosaic. Did you use any specialist processing software to stitch the panels together? I couldn’t get anything as smooth as this without using the likes of APP or the PI scripts.

Wonderful detail around the Elephant’s Trunk region, and certainly no shortage of colour. I prefer the toned down version but I always think with narrowband there is a lot of scope to adjust the colours to individual taste.👍

Any CEM120s coming?

This, most definitely not grab and go.😊

Thanks to advice received here shortly after joining SGL I purchased a Mesu 200, and would agree it’s the best Astro imaging equipment purchase I have made. I heard a comment today that Mesu mounts are purchased by folks who like to tinker with their mounts, I would venture the precise opposite is true.

Indeed, but RASAs have lots of other ways of producing dodgy stars, at least in the corners.😉

This is my Grunt ‘n go 16” Dobsonian, about 3 mins from garage to back lawn.

My Mesu dual Esprit 150 rig guiding performance seems to be susceptible to both seeing conditions and scope orientation, which probably means the balance needs work. Nevertheless it can vary from 0.35-0.7” total RMS. My experience concurs with @gorann, RASA8 with separate guidescope is not as good as OAG on the 1050mm FL refractor.

Great rig, nice to see someone making a Mesu portable. That drilled semi-circular plate on the adjustable wedge looks suspiciously like the ones installed on the Mk I Mesu.😊

Glad you are feeling better Steve, I agree with @callisto, I would get a PCR test.

Oh boy, the weather must be really getting to us, I really like the broadband vs Ha analogy. Isn’t nebulae imaging just taking pictures of clouds anyway?☺️

The artic fans as used by @Tomatobro are vibration free, certainly down to an imaging scale of 0.47” per pixel.