The Admiral

I am not fully conversant with all of this, but could this be the cause of the difficulties folk have been having in calibrating this sensor, bad flats etc? Ian

Unless you do that in the dark . Can't say the design does anything for me, but it doesn't affect performance and for most of the time it'll be in the dark, so no bother really. Ian

May I ask, did you find that the back focus needed was the recommended 55mm? One day I'll get to try mine out! Ian

Whether this will help I'm not sure, and being relatively new to the device myself I'm still finding my way. But I get the impression that you need to allow the AAP to boot up and beep first, before you open the app and try to connect. Worth a try. Ian

👍 Fascinating stuff. Good to make use of those dark skies. Ian

It'll be interesting to see whether your rig will be able to pinpoint these PNs, because of their small size. I am sure that you are aware that, but for those who aren't, I read, Peter Goodhew uses a pair of 152mm refractors in a dark sky location in Spain and he typically uses 50-100 hours of integration. Pascal le Du maintains an on-line list of amateur discoveries from around the world (planetarynebulae.net). Good luck and keep us posted Göran. Cheers, Ian

There's an interesting article by Peter Goodhew about the hunt for planetary nebulae, in the March 2022 edition of Astronomy Now. If I understand correctly, confirmation of a PN requires looking for the OIII Signal as well. May not be relevant here though. Ian

I'd also advise that you hold the filter drawer closed with an elastic band or some sticky tape, as they are prone to drop out! I had that happen with mine, and luckily there was no damage done as the drawer dropped to the concrete below. Ian

Super detail! One of the best M51's I've come across on the forum I think. Ian

Very nice Carole. I too hadn't realised that there was so much more to see beyond the cone. Shouldn't be surprised really though, space is full of stuff 🙂. Ian

Ah, good to hear. As a matter of interest, what lens(es) are you thinking of using? Ian

And that's not manual focus which actually works by fly-by-wire! Are there any 4/3 or MFT lenses that have mechanical focusing? Ian

Unless I'm barking up the wrong tree, isn't this what you want (from the ZWO website)? It is relative response, but should that matter? Ian

Hmm, you might be right there ! Ian

Not sure why the sensor isn't centred in the cooled verson. Presumably this is a mock-up? Ian

They were using beryllium over 30 years ago. May be they've changed the composition. Ian

They were using a Be wall over 30 years ago. May be they've changed the composition. Ian

Great stuff, thanks for the link. At last some user experience is getting posted. Hope it's good! Ian

Anyone with AstroPixel Processor experience care to chip in? I use it but I'm very much a noob. Sometimes I look through the offerings submitted to the IKI Observatory processing competitions, and some who use PI seem to employ every tool known to man , and yet when I look at the resulting image, dare I say it, I think to myself "What was all the effort for?". I'm inclined to think that with PI, it is excellent in the right hands, but one does need to temper the selection of tools, just because they are there. Your view may, and probably will, vary of course. I'll get me coat! Ian

That makes sense, you wouldn't want to be turning down the camera cooler! Ian

Agreed, at least for the Plus version, there is a power setting tab where you can adjust the percentage for each of the 4 outputs. It does seem to require that the corresponding O/P is named before you can access the adjustment. Good to see that the dew control product can be had with a shorter lead, too. Saves trying to manage metres of excess cable. Ian

Don't forget to look at the Q&A tab for the AM5 on the ZWO site. Worth a perusal. 94 questions so far! https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/product/zwo-am5-harmonic-equatorial-mount Not sure how different this page is. https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/tutorials/am5-faq-35-things-you-want-to-know-about-zwo-am5-mount.html Ian

So I shalln't be alone then! Ian

I'm sure you've looked at FLOs UV/IR filters page. Take your pick 😉. I bought the Astronomik L2 for my ASI533 but haven't had the opportunity to try it out, sadly. Ian

Well, I've bitten the bullet and ordered the AM5 and tripod! I'm not usually an early adopter and whether I've done the right thing, only time will tell, but besides the relentless cloud we've been having, I've been having trouble with my back which has prevented me from transporting all my gear from around the house and setting up, on those few clear nights, so it's time for a change to lighter gear all round. The Rainbow RST-135 does have a track record, and is lighter, but I'm not prepared to shell out that much. Even so, the AM5 costs as much as my GEM45! Still no manual available yet! Ian