tomato

With those points driving your decision, I think a used KAF 8300 CCD is a sensible way to go. There is a Moravian G2-8300 currently on ABS UK.

Bravo for rising to the challenge of imaging a broadband target like M51 from a Bortle 8 location.👍

I did some tests last night with the RisingCam IMX571/Esprit 150 in poor conditions (some thin cloud, nearby 90% illuminated moon) and the subs look like this: Fair enough, you might say, the dust bunnies are visible due to the poor quality background. However, the QHY268c on the other Esprit 150 was downloading subs like this: An equally light polluted background but the dust bunnies are much less apparent. I'm trying to run these cameras as close as I can to have the same image capturing properties, with the RC at 100 Gain, 900 offset in High Gain mode, and the QHY at Gain 30, Offset 30 in DSO mode. I don't believe the QHY sensor window is free of dust particles so is it just that the RC is more sensitive compared to the QHY with these settings?

The RASA8 at F2 is super sensitive to focus and tilt. I agree the focus is off a bit but the bottom LH corner stars look a better shape than the others so that would indicate to me that the backfocus is not far off and there is some tilt on the sensor. Other RASA8 owners on SGL have made a simple jig to allow tilt adjustments off the scope, see attached thread. I have a QHY 268c which has a coarse tilt adjuster built in which allows me to make adjustments fairly easily when the camera is on the scope but either way you need to have some form of tilt adjustment with your ASI 1600. The Celestron RASA camera adapter has some squidgy material on the mating face which I wasn't keen on, as it introduces a variable into the imaging train at a critical point, but other RASA imagers use it OK. Don't be put off, the RASA is an amazing imaging scope.

@gorann has a point, sales of new CCD cameras must be dwindling, but on the other hand there are an awful lot of outstanding CCD images out there and I’ve made the point before that these cameras don’t suddenly stop being able to produce quality results just because CMOS has come along. So here is maybe another topic for discussion: are CMOS cameras a better choice for folks buying a dedicated Astro camera for the first time? Personally I find the processing stage the more challenging aspect of the process with either type of camera, and the approaches to capturing the data are different, but if you are on tight budget I would still seriously consider a used CCD.

I’m a bit late to the thread, but I think it’s a great image worthy of some more integration, but then galaxies and galaxy clusters are far and away my favourite imaging subjects.

I have used both the Atik and Moravian mono cameras, they are both solidly built and perform flawlessly. I'm sure the QSI would get the same assessment. The Atik might be available cheaper but you would need a separate filter wheel. Steer clear of the OSC versions, though I think they are quite thin on the ground.

I have just connected the camera through NINA, here are the details: If you have the camera with the integated filter wheel, you will need to connect to this separately on the FW screen.

I resolved the driver problem successfully to run the G2-8300 with NINA, I confess I can't remember how but I'll check to see which driver (native or ASCOM) I was using. Anyway it will work fine with SIPS, the free camera control software supplied by Moravian Instruments, which is still supported. I agree with Olly, it may be 'Old Tech' but it's a solid performing camera IMHO.

Congratulations to the worthy winners, a lot of work went into them.👍

Great capture with the MN190 and Atik 460 combination, lots of tiny galaxies in the image.

So much Ha! Imagine aliens that evolved to have super sensitive vision to this wavelength, the heavens would be permanently cloudy to them. Enjoy the summer break, how many scopes could you be operating simultaneously when the dual Esprit 150 rig is up and running?

Stellarium states the size at 3' 46.98" x 1' 42.12". Yes, AB's image is a superb, with lots of Ha regions prominent. I could take some Ha now the moon is getting dominant, but I've just put the IMX571 OSC cameras on for a mosaic attempt on the Virgo cluster, but I could ask @Tomatobro to have a go with his RC. Thanks Olly, but if I can't fix it with a single button push, I'm afraid I'll have to pass.😉 The best solution for me is to wait until @Tomatobro has taken 8 hrs of subs.

What kind of grease do you use on those gears and bearings at 40 below, and do you switch off the Peltier coolers?

Thanks, I came across it while looking through Adam Block’s galaxy images. I really like the orientation which gives an almost 3D view on his image, mind you it was taken with a 32” RC from Arizona by someone who knows what he’s doing.☺️

Much as I applaud the software authors who provide automation of file loading and assignment, I’ve been caught out too many times to put my faith in them. As I am fortunate to have the time to do this, I load all my lights and master calibration files separately and manually assign them in APP. Takes a bit more time certainly, but no head scratching should a processing warning arise.

Is this in line with some sort of celestial clock?🙂

This is another collaborative effort, NGC 5033 in Canes Venatici. It is some 64 M light years distance, and is about 4' x 2' in size on the sky. This is about 11 hrs of integration made up of 150 mins from @Tomatobro's RC10/ASI600, and 510 mins from the Dual Esprit 150/ASI 178 rig, all data binned 2x2 and captured over 3 nights. Rather than taking the easy way out and cropping to the ASI 178 FOV I have retained most of the wider ASI1600 view which meant I had to try and smooth out the disparity between the two backgrounds, given the big difference in integration times. However, you can still see the join in places I’m afraid. There was also a big difference in the quality of the data collected from both scopes over the 3 sessions. Last Saturday night was an excellent sky in Shropshire, NINA was recording HFRs on my rig of 1.2 vs 1.8 which is usually the norm, but the poorer quality data was still needed to complete the image. Calibrated and stacked in APP, processed in APP, PI, AP and GIMP. Thanks for looking.

That's outstanding detail from a 210 minutes of integration and a Bortle 6 location.👍 Are imaging at native resolution or are you binning 2x2?

I would love a processing package that would produce the best result from the input data by following a set of rules based on the science. However, the first and biggest hurdle is determining what is the ‘best’ result. The huge variation of results presented in image processing competitions is testament that getting consensus on this would be hard. For example I would agree that most galaxy images display too much colour saturation, but that's what most imagers (including myself) do, I can’t see that changing.

I have tried running @Pitch Black Skies's excellent M101 stack through StarTools using the default settings throughout. It produced a final result with a very bright background and strong false colours, clearly because the default settings in the second AutoDev stretch were not optimum. I altered just the Ignore Fine Detail and Shadow Linearity settings to correct this and ran everything else on default. The final result has a clear green caste but overall it's not too far away IMHO.

Here is the link, there is a Windows stand alone version. https://www.starnetastro.com/

I think the silvery tones are great but I agree the background is too dark and has clipped the faint regions. I find getting this right in Startools is one of the bigger challenges. In my experience, you need to spend some time carefully adjusting the parameters on the second AutoDev stretch, particularly the Ignore Fine Detail, shadow linearity and detector gamma functions, to get the optimum result. It’s very easy to clip the data.

The 1980’s experience taught me the importance of a substantial, well engineered mount, so when I got back into imaging the choice was simple, a bog standard Mesu Mk 1.

I have two cameras retro fitted with Peltier coolers, with the whole set up powered from a mains powered 12V power supply. The on rig voltage runs at 12.8v but drops to 12.0v when both coolers kick in. I think you are in risky territory if your supply voltage is down at 10.4v when the cooler is running.