tomato

If you press the save button at the top in the right hand window APP will give you the option to save a FITS, TIFF or JPEG image file, with various other options. If the stretch box is ticked to the left of the save button, a stretched image is saved. Its been a long time since I ran the trial version, I’m assuming these functions are enabled and APP just gives you a limited duration for the free trial?

3, no 4 laptops, beats my 2 plus a TV for the dome cam. Glad you currently follow my school of thought on cable management, “Let ‘em dangle!”😉

I think your approach to getting started with imaging is spot on. There have been a couple instances recently on SGL where folks have bought a lot of gear and struggled to make it all work together and alas it has ended up in the classified section a couple of months later. Get some images in the bag early on which you can be proud of (like your M31) to share with family and friends and SGL. That’s where my motivation came from to go deep into the AP rabbit hole.👍

Agreed, if it ain’t broke (from an image quality vs mount performance perspective), don’t fix it.

Just a suggestion, you could put some low power red LEDs on each leg if you find yourself tripping over them in the dark confines of the observatory. I don’t have much space at all in my dome, and although I have a pier I still bang into the counter weight arm quite regularly.

Really nice, any reason why you haven't gone with a central pier?

Back to the OP's question, there are excellent images being captured with both CCD and CMOS cameras, other factors such as the scope set up, sky quality and how may clear nights you have at your disposal could certainly influence your decision. I started out with CCD, but now have CMOS cameras, but I still use both. My latest project is a dual system attempting to use a CCD for capturing luminance and a CMOS OSC for the colour. IMHO ZWO are decent quality cameras, you wont go far wrong if you go with them, or any of the other established suppliers for that matter..

Spot on image of M33, lots of detail and nice colour balance, all from just 3.5 hrs of integration, great job.

Likewise, it is pretty robust and the developers have moved it on a lot from the early days.

Congrats to the winners, and I really enjoyed the 'Pop Art' debate that the entries prompted.

Lovely image, just recently purchased a second hand Samyang 135 with the Sony fitting so it needs a bit of fettling before I can attach my 268c to it, but I’m looking forward to it.

Great capture. Anybody who pauses even just for a few moments to contemplate what’s actually visible in this image would surely have their breath taken away.

"Big fish, swallow you whole" Sorry, its my all time favourite movie. I'm also under a Bortle 5 sky but I will have to give this a go with the RASA.

Thanks Goran, it’s my inexpert use of Pixinsight I’m afraid. I’ll take a step back and run the data again, attempting to implement all of the helpful suggestions. I will do some lucky imaging of this galaxy for the BAT project, then it’s time for a camera change or maybe dust off the RASA. Perhaps the scope change will prompt a change in the cloud cover?😉

And here is my hasty PI version. Is that extra galaxy detail real? I'm not so sure.

Sorry, I’m firmly in the Affinity Photo camp now, they actually like Astrophotography!😊

Thanks Olly. I do find the that StarTools (at least in my hands) tends to produce velvety black backgrounds, although there are options in the software to avoid this. My other usual processing workflow of APP and AP does give a more natural background and the stars are less harsh, but I currently cannot get the required colour or detail by that route. And then there is PI. Something to look at now the clouds are returning…

There are plug ins for PS which will sort out the back ground, (one called Gradient Exterminator springs to mind) and I think there are workflows on the internet that show how this can be done just with PS. Sorry I can’t provide more detail but I haven’t used PS in quite a while. I think you have had a good first go at M31, I certainly wouldn’t class it as an easy DSO imaging target.

Yes, I nearly went the RC route for small targets, a truss tube RC appeals to the engineer in me, but in the end I was swayed by the simplicity of the refractor and the results @ollypenrice was achieving with the large refractor approach. Plus a dual 10” RC rig would struggle to look through the dome aperture.☺️

Thanks, I have used the SVDecon module, I had a go with the manual sampling but I was happier with the default settings result. There is an awful lot to experiment with!

This edge on galaxy in Andromeda is one of my favourites, as far as I know it has no popular name but I would call it "the Two Lane Blacktop Galaxy" as it appears to have a tarry strip of asphalt running down the middle of it. It has took some grinding out with the recent run of poor weather, first session was 6th August then nothing until the last two nights when the lion's share was captured. It's also a milestone for me as these last two sessions were the first I have left to complete unattended, all went well apart from some dome shutdown issues which some changes to the control programme should fix. 15 hrs integration taken with the Esprit 150/ASI 178 dual rig, 145 x 3 min L, 52 x 3 min each RGB. Calibrated and stacked in APP, processed in Startools 1.8 and AP. Thanks for looking

If you run them through any kind of star analysis tool, the numbers will soon tell you which are the poor subs to be discarded. Alternatively as they are saved in sequential order by NINA, view the last one and work back in suitable increments until you hit the last of the good ones.

After reading the Celestron white paper on the RASA concept, I think choosing another scope would be the way to go if you want a higher focal ratio.

Looking good Goran, I like the mice on the rug.☺️

Yes, the core is bright but you do need lots of integration time to reveal the detail in the numerous dust lanes, more subs benefit the colour also. It is a big target so I think of imaging it as an extended diffuse nebula. A very nice M31 BTW.