tomato

Yes, hand made ferrite core memory on the guidance system of the Saturn V, hats off to those guys, they were amazing. And the project objectives were very different, get ‘em there and bring them back safe by the end of the decade, I don’t think sustainability got a mention.

That has a very dramatic, brooding quality about it, and I think it has artistic merit. Personally although I now regularly extract the stars as part of the processing method, I will always put them back in albeit sometimes in a reduced form, as for me it isn’t an Astro image without them, as they are fundamental in shaping what we see. Galaxy images certainly wouldn’t amount to much if we took the stars out.

Agreed, I thought the swarm of Pac-Man shaped stars would be too much for it but the tool did a decent job. Of course, the aberration is there in the nebula detail, which isn’t as straightforward to correct, so I do need to fix it at source.

These are a couple of near subliminal 7 x 3 min images for the M16 region with the SY135/IMX571c/NBZ and RASA8/QHY268c/NBZ set up, the roof of my neighbour's house is just out of frame on the SY135 image. I had a horrible optical aberration on the RASA subs which I need to investigate but I couldn't fix it in the time available so took the subs anyway and attempted to fix the Pacman shaped stars in software (StarTools). Thanks for looking.

Wonderful. In addition to your dark sky you are also blessed with unobstructed horizons, if I recall correctly. The lowest elevation I can use is 18 degrees. 🙄

A little while ago I attempted to capture M16 in the brief window (60 mins or so) I have from my location. The first subs told me I had a horrendous optical aberration on the RASA/camera setup but in true BJ fashion I carried on regardless. I thought I would see just how good the star repair module is in StarTools and was very impressed with the job that it did. Now let me say I don't condone poor camera alignment for one second, and I will endeavour to fix this before I image again, but for folks just setting out on the imaging journey who have to get the other 99+ things working, don't chuck your subs in the bin, the software can give you something that you can show your friends and family, even if you wouldn't submit it for an APOD. Original Stack (crop) Final Processed Image

Just Awesome! Have the cores on those 20th mag stars (or whatever they are) burnt out the pixels on the sensor? Wow!

Superb image, looks like a close up of NGC 891, except of course not even Hubble could get the level of detail you have here. Have you put it forward for an APOD? IMHO It’s way better than any recent galaxy image selected.

I actually use a Dyson but it’s one of those terribly dated mains powered models. Funny though, the trailing lead never seems to bother me as much as the darn thing running out of juice before I’ve finished.

Uncooled versions of the latest CMOS cameras do make technical sense but that has to overcome the manufacturer’s commercial intent. I doubt it costs ZWO £400 to fit a Peltier cooler to the camera so it’s in their interest to keep pushing them out. Cars don’t really need electric windows, reversing cameras or even alloy wheels, but that’s what the majority of customers want and will pay for them. I believe the latest Dyson vacuum cleaner will give you a dynamic bar chart of the dust particle size distribution that it is collecting, every time I hoover the house I wish I had one of those.☺️

Just loaded my horizon file into NINA, CdC and Stellarium, I think I have about a 45 minute window after transit, when it briefly has a vertigo inducing altitude of 22 degrees…

Very nice, Altinak really well controlled. Is this an RGB image rather than a dual band filter?

I’m with Olly on the choice of camera. My own experience of starting out with an (old) DSLR then moving to a cooled OSC CCD was like night and day. If you are going to spend £450 on a modified DSLR, then you should seriously consider a used cooled CCD, I have seen the venerable Atik 383 up for sale recently for £500. Yes, you would also need a filter wheel and filters, but it will certainly out perform the DSLR for DSO imaging.

Inspired by some recent images posted on SGL of M16, taken by UK based imagers I thought I would give it a go last night. Objects low to the horizon are not for good for me given I live in the middle of a housing estate, but I thought I might be lucky and have M16 rising above some bungalows opposite. Alas, it turned out to be further to the East and I had to wait patiently while it cleared my neighbour's roof. The time was counting down to the meridian flip which I wasn't in a position to image beyond as I have to manually realign the dome aperture, and I needed to be up early the next day. The guiding was awful, presumably due to the low altitude and thermals rising off the roof, then the guiding was lost altogether as some high cloud rolled in from the South. The best I could muster was a few 60 second subs with the SY135 as it rose tantalisingly above my neighbour's rooftop, I didn't realise how bright it is! Oh well, I might try again or more likely file this one under "Not accessible from this location".

Hi Danny, this thread might be of interest:

Here is a two panel mosaic of the Veil Nebula, captured over the last two nights, each panel 33x3 mins with the RASA8/QHY268c/NBZ dual band filter. I was hoping to post a sister image of 6 hrs integration taken with the SY135/IMX571c/NBZ but alas the focus was off for 100 of the 120 subs taken, the focus motor had worked loose. Just one of the perils of unattended imaging. Thanks for looking.

As requested, here are a couple of single 3 minute RGB subs, cameras at -20 C, taken last year with an Esprit 150 in Astro darkness, Bortle 5/6 location. The first is a QHY268c, the second is a RisingCam IMX571c, which I think is essentially the same as the Altair version. I agree with the previous posts, in that I don’t think you will be disappointed with the camera once you have some experience of using it under better sky conditions. I’m currently imaging under light skies with these cameras and ‘fast’ optics, I’m frankly amazed at what level of detail can be captured with minimal integration times under these conditions. QHY268c, Gain 30, Offset 30 RisingCam IMX571c, Gain 100, Offset 10

Captured last night with the RASA8/QHY268c/NBZ and SY135/IMX571c/NBZ a two panel mosaic on the RASA but not much of change in the FOV as far as the SY135 is concerned. A total of 51 x 3 min subs on the RASA and 21 x 3 min on the SY135, the FOV is from the SY 135. Calibrated and stacked and the panels combined in APP, 1st LNC 3 iterations and 20% MBB. Down sampled x2 in APP and LP removal applied, then PI to separate the stars, extract the channels then create a pseudo blue channel as per @Luke Newbould's tutorial, 0.6*r+0.4*g in pixelmath. Recombined and NoiseXterminator put to good use, finished in AP. There is a problem with the stars on the RHS of the SY135 setup, currently tricky to fix as I have no tilt adjustment with the OSC camera, unlike when the G2-8300 was attached which had total adjustability. Thanks for looking.

Captured with my ASI120MC-S AllSkyCam last night at 23:15.

I’m very impressed, I tried to do this but as you say blew out the fish head and centre, with no significant blue coming through.

Great result from less than ideal imaging conditions.

With regard to APP and mosaic panels, after much experimentation I create each panel stack separately then combine them in a separate integration, adjusting the LNC and MBB parameters accordingly to get the best overall result. As I am usually only integrating 4 or 6 panels, this process does not take very long so you can try different settings and home in on the optimum quite quickly. Here is my effort on your unstreched FITS file, background neutralisation in PI, initial Histogram transformation in PI, then separate the stars with StarXterminator then Curves transformation on the starless image and Morphological Transformation on the stars image to reduce them slightly. Recombine with PixelMath then application of NoiseXterminator. Some further minor adjustments in Affinity Photo using Levels and HSL. I tried to create a pseudo HST palette version but there is not enough blue or green signal to make this work. I think the data is pretty decent.👍

Looks like one of my early attempts at imaging M51.

My daughters clubbed together and bought me a NoiseXterminator license.😊

This advice is obviously way after the horse has bolted, but if buying used Astro kit without inspecting the items in person, always request up to date photos of the critical items, e.g. lens, mirrors of telescopes and sensors of cameras. It’s not a cast iron guarantee but it will give you some assurance that the equipment is OK. If the seller won’t provide these, I would decline the sale.