AKB

I've certainly used mine as such, but perhaps I'm just not discriminating enough. I'm certainly no expert in observing. The thing which makes it suitable for imaging (large back focus hence oversized secondary) may lead to a contrast reduction, but I'd say for all that it's OK.

Good grief! I never thought I see you write that! You'll be extolling the virtues of Crayfords next...

Success! I must say that just today I have downloaded TeamViewer since I couldn't get my previous 'solution' of VNC working. Seems to work like a charm, using the 9-digit ID... I didn't know you could use IP addresses at all. Anyway, a vast improvement for us both, then!

If you take the green away (with SCNR or similar) then they look a lot less offensive...

Ah, good to know! I am always in awe of your pictures, they are just a delight to see, and it was a good excuse to take an even closer look at the detail. Tony

Is it this chap?

...I've had a lot of newts in the garden recently. Does that count?

Getting close! The world of the ultra-fast broadband awaits! (Best used for Astro images.)

Ah. In the end, I went for one of these (much the same concept) ... https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/baader-varilock-29-lockable-t-2-extension-tube.html

You can read about SCNR here: https://www.pixinsight.com/doc/legacy/LE/21_noise_reduction/scnr/scnr.html ...although I don't actually use PixInsight, it's very easy to implement in other packages. It just limits the maximum value of green as a function of the red and blue intensities. I'm searching his 28,000+ posts to find the right reference, but in the meantime, perhaps he will drop by and let you know! It depends. I play around with 'fast' systems (like and F4 Newtonian, or an F2.3 Hyperstar) and things like spacing and tilt are critical. For this, CCD Inspector is a good tool. I'd say you don't need it at the moment, but I've heard others say that they don't know how anyone can image without having used it. Each to their own!

Mike FWIW, I ran your image through CCD Inspector. Results attached. Not knowing your imaging scale, the results are in PIXELS. I'm impressed with the flatness. Although I don't consider myself qualified to comment critically on others' images, so you may discount my thoughts, I'd say that it has a bit of a green tinge and the background level is slightly high. To remediate this, I've run it through an SCNR process and also applied a little tweak of the low-end curve (following the practice of @ollypenrice) which is a simple but effective noise-reduction technique. HTH, Tony

Here in England, I can rarely see the sun glinting off anything. But if it does, that means it's probably going to be cloudy that evening...

Ah! I have it! Checking the box "Force CFA" seems to be desperately important (no idea what it means, but there you go...)

I'm trying APP, since I hear GOOD THINGS about it... ...BUT, I'm getting grief from the start. I'm trying to start at the beginning and calibrate some data from a QHY8L OSC. Whilst I can load the data, and calibration frames, and I can set the debayer mask and method in the step 0 'RAW/FITS' page, nothing I do can enable viewing of the data in colour. I think I've watched all of Sara's tutorials, but I must be missing something absolutely basic. Advice most welcome. Thanks, Tony.