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Hi David I'm glad to see you getting to grips with that new camera and what a start! Fantastic Images! I am enjoying the 460 when the weather allows. thanks for sharing and I hope you get to the bottom of your halo problem, I had a similar issue with an Oiii filter, I ended up biting the bullet and opting for astrodon but only the 1.25 version s/h, I don't think I'd get away with buying the 2"! Cheers Bryan

Hi, its been a while, the weather has been appalling in the NW, but we had a few clear nights last week and although it was a full moon I took advantage. I have been working on a HSO palate of NGC 6960 trying to incorporate RGB stars but for now I've settled on a ha/oiii mix with rgb stars It's not spectacular compared to a lot of the stunning images I see on this site but I here it is anyway! 6.5 hours ha and 5.5 hours oiii and 20min each of rgb. stacked in dss below is the HSO version I'm working on, Its psychedelic and over cooked and I really need to resolve the magenta stars! subs as above but with 4hrs sii I am considering adding to it to should the clouds part before its lost to the roofs! Thanks for looking Bryan

Great image and write up. You’ve reminded me why I love this ridiculous hobby! Oh, to travel among the stars!!

Hi Mick Great image. like Dave says, rotate the camera and stick with it. This is one of my favourite dso’s with lots of of ha and oiii in it. I too have a 314, it was my first Astro ccd and it’s a great camera, if your guiding allows you to take longer sub frames,do it, you won’t be disappointed. Thanks for sharing Bryan

They remind me of my early attempts at both these lovely dso’s. In fact, I’ve not really gone back to them to improve! M104 spends most of its time behind my wife’s “lovely” trees and m13 doesn’t lend itself to Narrow Band! Great photos! Bryan

So I finally got round to synthesising the green channel using Noel’s actions. I also cropped the image slightly. I quite like it. Its probably the best witches broom I have achieved to date. I may put this one to bed for now and have a go at something new (when the skies clear) thanks for the suggestion Alan Bryan 8EF58660-A324-437C-B616-06B47E3B7737.tiff

Thanks Alan for the comment. I do have Noel’s actions and was considering this approach I’m at the Blue Dot festival atm I’ll have a go when I get home cheers Bryan

Thanks I’ll take your advice and have a go at adding some rgb before I put this one to bed for another year! Cheers Bryan

I have been trying some new filters and I’m pleased with the results under challenging conditions imaging scope TS-Optics 65quad camera atik 460ex filters astrodon 5nm its just 21x 20min ha and 11x20min oiii for now. I may continue with this image and add some sii or rgb? Thanks for looking Bryan

Thanks for the reply. I think that’s sound advice, and pretty much what I was thinking, I think a drift alignment has to be an actual test of the movement of the mount with relation to the rotation of the earth and should be more accurate, but I’m hoping someone can chip in with some facts to support that theory? cheers Bryan

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, the laptop was probably the problem, it’s an older windows 7 machine it it does have 6Gig of RAM? I’m not sure what the processor is but it’s a dual processor. I tend to use that for guiding and image acquisition as I leave it outside at night and wouldn’t cry too much if it got damaged or stolen. I then keep an eye on it remotely with chrome Remote Desktop which I can do from my other laptop or even my phone from anywhere! It’s great being out with the family or friends knowing I can check in, change targets, or sub times etc from my phone! I hope someone can tell me which is the more accurate, it would be good to know? Cheers Bryan

Hi I have recently moved my mount, I took it on a camping holiday and as a result I had to re-polar align it once it was back on my home built pillar. I had read about SharpCaps polar alignment routine and I figured it would be a well spent tenner. I downloaded sharpcap 3.1 and set up a 50mm finder with my Qhyii m camera. I totally wasted my first clear night. I struggled with the sharpcap routine simply as a result of the length of time it took for the image from my qhyii m to refresh on screen! I set the exposure to 15s but it took sometimes up to 2 min for an image to appear on screen no matter what I did with exposure time, gain, usb settings etc! This made the whole process unbearable but I preserved. Once I had what was close to “excellent” sharpcap alignment, I realised the latitude and longitude settings in sharpcap were on default. I didn’t know how much of a difference this would make so I reluctantly had another go at the polar alignment routine. It was frustrating. On the YouTube videos it all looked so simple but I have to admit I find sharpcap difficult to comprehend. So on to the second night. I started imagining, I am only using a ts65mm apo with a 420mm focal length and when I had eyeballed the alignment on my camping trip I was getting pretty good guiding with phd and prior to moving the mount I was imaging with a 12” Meade with an oag at around 200mm fl and getting less than 1 second guiding corrections. My guiding now was erratic at best and when I looked at the result of my first 20min sub I could see movement and eggy stars! Grrrr! So I started my usual routine using Phd drift alignment. This takes time too and by the time I was satisfied, not happy, just satisfied I only had enough time to take 2 x 20mm subs before the dawn. Day 3. Yes, we had 3 nights of clear skies without a moon! This is a rare thing here in the northwest and I had spent the first 2 tinkering. I decided, after more research, to try Sharpcap again, but this time downloading version 3.2 and using my faster laptop, the one I use for processing, and a shorter usb lead. I could now refresh the image at any rate I desired! I managed the sharpcap routine in 10min! My results were less than 10seconds on both axis! As it wasn’t completely dark yet I followed this up with a drift alignment with phd. I made a couple of very small adjustments to get the dec lines horizontal (or as near as damn it) The experience has put me off moving my mount again! So after all that, if your still reading, my question is, which is more accurate, Sharpcap polar or Phd drift? Cheers Bryan

Power line!! 😂 I was dictating to my phone!! Thanks a bunch!!

I am trying to powerline using SharpCap I just have a simple question Should I have the mount switched on and tracking in the process? Speedy help would be wonderful as I am in the process as I speak Many thanks Many thanks Bryan

Thanks Kev I am pleased with it under the circumstances Bryan

I’ve re-orientated it and re processed it in oiii/ha bicolour

I went camping to Northumberland with my lovely wife and I could see there was a possibility of clear skies. So I decided to try a portable set up. I normally have a permanent setup in the garden and was reluctant to move it as the polar alignment was pretty good, but hey! We all have to take risks! I was rewarded with clear skies on Wednesday night but couldn’t believe how much lighter the sky is that 1 degree further north, it didn’t get beyond Civil darkness whereas at home I get an hour of Nautical darkness at this time of year. I chose the veil nebula as its high in the sky and one of my favourite dso’s I took my ts65 as I thought that would be the most forgiving of my scopes if I wasn’t perfectly aligned and narrow band filters to give me a fighting chance. I only managed 40min ha, Sii and Oiii but was pleased that I managed anything! i haven’t flipped the image yet or spent any real time processing but here it is thanks for looking

Thanks Don I was trying to reveal the core and the outer shell, which with such a small amount of data and my limited imaging skills was tricky!

Fantastic image and a heartwarming story, thanks for sharing and good luck to him in the competition! I hope he stays inspired by the universe and it’s wonderful treasures! Clear skies Bryan

Here is another attempt at a quick oiii ha combo.

its a shame I haven't been able to do the ha and oiii justice as on their own I think they have promise, especially when you consider the short exposure times of 3min X15 in twilight with an 86% moon rising?

Ah well, this years is definitely over cooked, so I can’t say I’m surprised. 😊

Stunning!

midsummer has been clear for my location 2 years in a row! Last year I captured 1 hr 12 min on m 27 with my lx200gps and my canon 650d with a 6.3fr/ff but with no flats This year I captured about 90 min with an Atik 460 bin 2x2 (45 Ha 45 Oiii) with the same scope and ff/fr but deforked and mounted on an AZEQ6 I still have loads to learn when it comes to post processing and I don't think I'd be able to repeat the process as I have just been playing with adjustment layers in ps till I thought I should stop! Anyway.... here are the images in Jpeg Thanks for looking bi-colour midsummer.tif

Thanks Steve It has been pretty frustrating lately, but at least we are now heading back to darker nights! We just need some clear skies now to give us a fighting chance!