The Admiral

Quite clearly the company have been struggling with this, but the paucity of information is rather poor; their website hasn't been updated since November. Surely the best way to keep customers on-side is to communicate. May be those who've put up some money are kept better informed? TS-Optics give delivery as 'unknown'. Pity! Ian

Enjoy using your new acquisition . Ian

Just a bump as I have one for sale on this site ;<) https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/347135-celestron-starsense-autoalign/ Ian

From Wiki: "The f-number of an optical system is the ratio of the system's focal length to the diameter of the entrance pupil ("clear aperture"). " So here: f-number = FL/D So, for f/5 with a 55mm lens D=55/5 Therefore, D=11mm and for f/4 D=13.75mm Well, in theory! I guess it'd be instructional to check that the diameter of the front element does fit this formula for the designed lens aperture too. Ian Doh, I think I've got that right now, how many edits have I had to do .

Well that's a very good start. I take it you've checked out this long thread? It's devoted to imaging with an Alt-Az mount. https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/228101-the-no-eq-dso-challenge/ Ian

Congrats Avani. Another one of your usual impeccably high standard! Ian

No I didn't either until late in the afternoon! Nice to know I wasn't the only one. For once the weather played ball(ish). Ian

Thanks Dave. Broken cloud here now. Amazing how the weather co-operated for once, though not perfect but I'll take it! Ian

The more I looked at it the more I wanted to tweak the processing . Here's a MkII version. Thanks for looking. Ian

I tried taking some pics of the almost-full Moon yesterday but I was fraught by the clouds. Tonight I was lucky, doubly so because there was only variable thin high cloud, and I caught the lunar eclipse, which I hadn't realised was taking place until shortly before I went outside . It was also an opportunity to try out my new camera lens. I've increased the contrast a tad in order to bring out the shadow gradient across the disk. At an effective FL of 280mm the Moon is quite small in the frame and I had to crop it down. Lumix G80, 200mm with 1.4x TC, ISO200, 1/800th at f/4. Ian

Yes, and this is from that day! More like a woodpecker flying across the Atlantic here! Ian

That's the spirit! Nothing wrong with Alt-Az imaging, though it has to be said there are limitations, but within those you can get great results. And you've made a start in that direction, well done! Ian

Do you mean that you stacked the jpegs rather than the raws? If so, you are going to run into problems as jpegs are only 8 bit and fall apart when they are subjected to significant stretching. Jpegs will also have 'baked in' the correction curve, so stretching won't be using linear data. But other than that I think I prefer your first attempt as it shows the nebulosity better, rather than just a 'glow'. But other's may take a different view; I like 'impact' . I used 30s for my M45 with an effective 560mm FL. I'm usually a bit selective on the subs I use, discarding the ones which have visible streaking. Ian

No experience whatsoever here, but I guess from an engineering standpoint it makes sense to first bond the two scopes together to make a single unit, and then mount that as a single item, much like you would for binoculars. Just my 2d worth. Some rig though! Ian

Don't worry, by the time this island has drifted into the Atlantic away from Europe, your weather won't be under our influence any more! ;<) Ian

Yup, now just the worst of the winter weather to come! Well, in any normal year, who knows what this one will bring. Ian

I like those a lot Nigel. Ian

So far as I understand, the drive mechanism is quite able to cope without the kit being balanced, and the weights are more with an eye to preventing the tripod tipping over (especially as they are toting the mount for portable use with relatively light weight tripods). If Father Christmas is kind to you, then please be sure to review it! Ian

There are several threads on CN. Early days perhaps. Apparently it needs to be guided. Ian

Well this technology has tickled my interest (though not the wallet! Yet!!). It is currently listed on the @FLO site. The specs would be ideal for my situation as all my gear has to be carted down from upstairs and set up in the garden each session. There are several review threads posted on the CN site which are worth a read. There is some discussion on the tracking precision, especially for the cost, some of which is beyond me, but the thrust seems to be to use it on a photo tripod for portability. I can't see how you could expect sub arcsec precision without a more substantial tripod, given the assymetry of load, but what do I know. At the more practical level, I would want to use something like an iOptron Tri-pier and the iPolar, rather than a Polemaster, so it comes down to the availability of adapters. Early days yet. Ian

If you have a youngster demanding all your energies I can well understand your dilemma . Getting into processing does demand a quiet time on your own, working through things. I am at the opposite end of the age spectrum, so I can be more selfish . To be honest I still prefer the first versions. There is a lot of dust swirling around M31 which is visible in your first versions but not your last one. I also like the feeling that all that dust is being lit from within by the bright core. But each to his own. The deeper you go with M31 the larger it gets, and the FoV of the SCT is quite narrow so you won't see it all. I started imaging as much because it allows me to visualize what I can't see visually, which is really what it is all about. You've certainly achieved that. Ian

There's plenty going on in those images, the dust lanes are clearly revealed. A dark site does make all the difference. I know this might sound critical, but it's not meant to be, but with a colour astro camera, where is the colour? I'm sure it's in there, it just needs to be brought out. I've used neither Snapspeed nor Photoshop Express and I don't know whether they're up to the job in hand. I wonder what you'd get with more dedicated astro processing tools, like Startools (about the cheapest) which I've found to do well bringing out colour. What are you using to stack with? I see a satellite trail which could easily be removed in stacking using the Kappa-Sigma clipping option in DSS. Ian Edit. Ah, just read your posts of 21st Nov.

For duo-band I would have thought it depended very much on the innate Ha response of the camera, some are better than others. If you could say what camera it is, others on here may be able to comment. The balance between the green and red responses I imagine might cause a problem. Ian

Perhaps on that basis my "cheapo" 102mm Altair Wave Super ED triplet APO should come near the top of the pile! Given that this was taken with an ALT-AZ mount and the exposures confined to 30s, perhaps it actually says as much about the exposure conditions as the 'scope? Ian

Never mind elusive Mercury, it's an elusive Sun around these parts . Thanks for the heads up though, though I need it to be an Autumn star if I've any chance of seeing it. Ian