assouptro

Thanks Gorann that’s a new one to me and well processed under the circumstances Bryan

Simply Lovely! Bryan

Good question Merlin refocusing between filters is essential! I thought my filters were parfocal, they might be, but not with my doublet!

Loads of lovely nebulosity Harry! Had I taken this, I would be happy, and possibly printing it off to put on my wall! thanks for sharing Bryan

I like this! nice wide wife field view M42 can be a tricky process and the only advice I can offer is image the blue subs as close to the zenith as possible, that goes for all blue subs on all objects. (Not that I am in anyway an expert! It’s just something I read when trying to research hints whilst trying to image m42 myself) Thanks for sharing Bryan

Thanks Baz I appreciate your kind words! Bryan

Thanks Submarina I’m sure there is loads of reference material out there that would cover your questions but as I was using Astro pixel processor I got a head start. By watching Sara Wager’s YouTube video I hope that helps. thanks Bryan

Thanks David I was only able to do this thanks to astropixel processor, the program makes it so simple, and I wouldn’t have downloaded APP if I wasn’t looking for a way to deal with column defects! as someone once said... “all’s well that that ends well!” Thanks again Bryan

I was wondering..... When I was processing this image my eye was drawn to a teardrop shaped object in the nebula, does this object have a name? does anyone know how big it is? Here is a zoomed image Thanks Bryan

You are not kidding! it has been something I have been seriously considering this year! Having said that I like the comparison, and look forward to its completion, (hopefully this year?!) I understand your frustration! thanks for sharing Bryan

That’s high praise! I hope your son liked it! Thank you! Thank you for the kind words Bryan

Thanks for sharing Anthony you have started to reveal some of the nebulosity there, maybe you could try some longer subs, unless you’re trying the 30” unguided challenge? thanks for sharing Bryan

Thanks Adrian for your comment and suggestion. I had a play with Starnet a couple of months ago just to see if I could get it to work, and it did! I just need to play a bit more to learn how to “gather” the removed stars and then reapply them to the final image. cheers Bryan

Hi fellow stargazers! well so far it has been a poor winter here in the North West of the uk and I have rarely been able to enjoy the night sky for what seems like months now! I started this mosaic in November and although I am not completely happy with the last few sessions due to high cloud, wind, moon etc I thought I’d have a go at putting it together. firstly, I can’t believe how easy APP is at piecing together a mosaic! It stitched it together seamlessly with digital algorithmic glue that encourages me to keep on doing mosaic images once the clouds allow. The image is of the Soul Nebula and contains about 48 hours of data. I need to learn some subtle processing techniques to try and reduce the stretching of the data from effecting the stars as they have bloated slightly and where I could see space between seemingly close stars they have melded together which is a bit annoying, but this hobby always needs further research. Imaging scope: revelation Astro ed100 Camera: Atik 460 mono Filters: Astrodon ha, oiii, sii 5nm mount: AZEQ6 data acquired with Artemis Capture calibrated and stacked in APP tweaked in PS Calibration frames used: darks, flats, dark flats, bias, bad pixel map There are talented folk on this forum that could have made much better use of this data but here is my result for my efforts so far thanks for looking and any comments/ criticism welcome. Bryan

Lovely colours thanks for sharing Bryan

Hi Dave I love the shower caps! Genius! can I ask, what mount is that? It looks like a nice piece of kit! cheers Bryan

I have had condensation under my TG365 in the past but bought one of these. Pro Breeze 500ml Compact and Portable Mini Air Dehumidifier https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00NFRTVY6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_IejcEbGFF9SGK It was originally for my sons bedroom where he had a damp spot but he’s now moved into a converted loft. the dehumidifier has a float switch in it that turns it off when it’s full so I drilled a hole in the water chamber and ran a small “hose” from it out of the bottom of the cover so it constantly drains. I have put my cover over in a rush during an unexpected shower without having the time to wipe down and found all water gone the next time I check, which would normally be 24-48 hours later depending on the weather cheers Bryan

Hi I got fed up of setting up and stripping down. I had a stone circle laid in the lawn so I could leave the tripod in situ covered with a motorcycle cover,(motorcycle sold to buy my first serious telescope) but this got in the way of family garden use and the tripod legs started to rot. I then saw a feature in the sky at Night Magazine and decided to build myself a permanent pier (once I had been given permission!) I was able to sacrifice a bush (well it actually survived and was moved to a large pot) and build a small extra section of deck so my setup didn’t take up too much room from the usable garden. https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/how-to-build-a-back-garden-telescope-pier/ originally I had a 12” Meade LX200gps on a fork with piggyback scopes but recently swapped the mount for an azeq6. I am able to leave most of my kit outdoors under a telegizmos 365 cover with a plug in dehumidifier running under the cover and I can set up and down in minutes now enabling me to take advantage of any clear spells I hope this gives you some help cheers Bryan

Thanks Peter I will bear that in mind, I am considering purchasing SGPro to control a focuser I haven’t used yet, along with everything else! I have just been putting it off as I know the software I am currently using pretty well and need to find the time to commit! thanks again Bryan

Hi Carole thanks for the input! I have had a start up procedure that involves switching on devices and connecting them in a slow methodological way that has worked for me apart from the odd time, where, like you I have had to disconnect and reboot to re establish a connection, however, this has failed a couple of times in 12 months and resulted in a system restore, normally after a windows update but just recently I have been unable to connect the camera without restoring the laptop to an earlier date? Having said this, I have managed to connect it twice, (when we had a 20min break in the constant cloud cover!!) just recently without issue?? I love this hobby!!! 🤪 thanks again Bryan

Hi Dave, hope you’re well? thanks for chipping in! I have been in the registry recently to allow file transfers over my network as my capture laptop is windows 7 and my processing laptop is 10 and the windows 10 laptop only sees the windows 7 pc as a media device therefore not allowing file transfers via “network” I have had to tweak the registry a couple of times since as windows updates seem to undo my efforts! I don’t think the part of the registry I have tweaked would have any effect on the camera connection as it hasn’t in the past but I’m not a computer programmer, so, that is essentially a guess?! I have a registry repair program I know and trust so maybe I’ll run a check on it as well as a chkdsk run?

Hi Olly Thanks for taking the time to add some thoughts, I will check device manager to see if my laptop thinks it's already connected the next time this problem occurs. Just one question, what do you recommend I do in this situation? Thanks again Bryan

Hi Newbie Thanks for your input, I too have kept everything the same as I am well aware of the problems that can be caused by the slightest change resulting in a clear night of frustrating tech problem solving instead of capturing the universe! I have only swapped things when it has been necessary. I believe it is probably an update but maybe an issue with shutting down in the correct order too? I always struggle shutting down eqmod! Cheers Bryan

Hi Helen thanks for taking the time to reply. That's interesting? Has this happened recently? are you also using Artemis and Windows 7? I will probably email them if it continues. I know they have new(ish) software, dusk, that they recommend instead of Artemis but I like Artemis and also use the dither script, I don’t know Dusk and also don’t know if I can dither with it? maybe it’s time to get to know SGPro? A complete software solution that will take care of camera control, dither, capture etc? Sometimes I just don’t like change! Although that’s the nature of this hobby!! anyways, thanks again for the input! cheers Bryan

I thought so too, as this problem first appeared after an update, but I haven’t updated since the last restore and if still failed to connect once after I had restarted from my last successful session (if that makes sense?) cheers Bryan