AbsolutelyN

It was modified by Astronomizer - http://www.astronomiser.co.uk/. Fantastic service, he quotes up to a few weeks for the mod but it was sent back modified within days. 

I don't know enough about DSLR calibration at the moment, perhaps others can chime in? The image above had darks, bias and flats applied. I might re-process without at somepoint and see how that looks.  

Here is a much less processed version of same image that does not have noise reduction which shows how noisy the image is. Again this is only 8 mins, I'd hope much longer integration will do much better.

I recently had my 6d modified. The weather has not been very co-operative but I managed this test image last week - 8 one min exposures through an Esprit 100 @ 1600 in Bortle 5. I was quite impressed for just 8 mins of exposure and looking forward to trying more integration time. Really bought it for travel but it may get used more than I thought. Biggest issue is calibration, you can't easily calibrate like you can with a set point cooled camera.  Please ignore the dust spot.   

6 minutes ago, Rodd said:

No one is suggesting that we shouldn't support it.  Look--I tried saving on my own external hard drive--it broke and I lost all data.  So I said, why not pay to have the images safe...I did and the data is gone.  Come on, what the heck?  Whats next...open my own data storage company?  That's not me.

Every sympathy for your lost images, I've lost many personal images over the years and learned the lessons. These days you can make multiple backups of final images ... upload each final image to Facebook as you go - just share with yourself, or email yourself a copy with a cloud email (or get multiple free emails accounts for backups), instant and free backup for final images spread across your computer, astrobin, facebook (or many other social options), or multiple email accounts ... even get a print. Just ideas for spreading the risk.

I lost all my images too. However it only took an hour to add them back. If I'm going to spend thousands on equipment and hundreds of hours to create these images then I'm going to keep multiple copies and not commit storage to one website. The site is also built and run by one developer, I suspect it only just pays it's way. Unfortunate stuff happens and the site has done so much for the astrophotography community, I think it needs all the support it can get right now.  

Postman brought a nice shiny EQ6R today. Usual brilliant service from FLO - and delivered within 24 hours. Nice surprise to find a USB port on it and can control EQMOD via standard USB cable. Anyone know of any issues with this compared to the standard EQDIR cable?   

7 minutes ago, Adreneline said:

Flats taken using SGPro Wizard with an iPad Lightbox app as the light source and tee-shirt cloth stretched over the lens. 

Hi Adrian - can I ask what ipad app you use? Sounds very handy. Thanks

Stunning image Adam and really beautifully processed. 

Will things improve as the solar cycle progresses? 

My mount is always outside, covered with 2 big rubble sacks to waterproof and then a cheap scope cover. I keep a couple of dew heater strips wrapped around the mount all the time to provide some heat to prevent moisture buildup.  

Wow ... amazing image, that must have taken a bit of doing! 

1 hour ago, johninderby said:

Congrats on the new scope but you are tempting fate by mentioning clear skies. 😁

Never mid the clouds .... thwarted already. Ordered a the RASA 8 Starizona filter draw from 365 Astronomy and they have sent the wrong item! It doesn't have M42 threads at both ends, one end has much larger M48 thread. So can't do anything at all with the new scope as can't attach a camera! 😐  

They are sending a replacement immediately though so all not lost and good service from them so far other than the mixup. Have had it for days too and didnt think to check. 

1 minute ago, johninderby said:

Congrats on the new scope but you are tempting fate by mentioning clear skies. 😁

🙂 That's ok, it's too much to expect so not getting hopes up. 

What's going on?  RASA 8 ordered from FLO arrived within 24 hours and possible clear sky tonight?? 

33 minutes ago, fwm891 said:

There's very little tolerance with the f2 RASA. I've made my own spacer/filter holder to give me the 25mm back focus. The filter at present is not sitting quite square on and causing a few distortions (left to right in above image) though that may also be due to the IDAS NB-1 filter not being well corrected for the f2 light cone. Correcting the mount PA last night has made a big difference and something I will check more often especially after working round the mount / tri-pier.

Thanks .... just ordered one from FLO, hoping fiddly spacing doesn't make me regret it ...

Last night's unexpected clear skies allowed me to grab more data on California Nebula. This is the previous 4 hour HA image combined with 5 hours of SII and one hour of RGB. So total 10 hours with Esprit 100 and 1600MM. Abandoned original bi-colour idea but might have another go later. Also got 1.5 hours of OIII but there was no nebulosity visible as far as I could see so didn't add it. 

Slightly different version + highres on Astrobin - https://www.astrobin.com/x9j14e/

Looks great. How are you finding the star shapes in the corners? Rather curious about how easy it is to get the right spacing for good flat field. Cheers, Tristan

7 minutes ago, Pankaj said:

Lovely image. Can you please share the details...equipment, exposure etc... 

Thanks, it’s 52 5 min exposures so about 4 hours with esprit 100

Finally a clear night. 4 hours of HA on California Nebula before it went behind house. Take with Esprit 100. Higher res on astrobin.

On 04/12/2019 at 18:50, MoragaSky said:

I have one on order for my SW Esprit 120. SW staff recommended it. The dealer who saw it an imaging gathering recommended it. My hope is that the production model is as good. But Starizona has a good reputation for quality and for making it right when something slips through. At the same time I ordered the Pegasus Focus Cube2.

Any feedback on how well the reducer performs and how easy it is to get right backfocus?  

Clear skies are so rare these days I usually do some HA imaging if I can but didn't bother last night as it was only very very intermittently clear.

Weird, never seen this before, hope you got it fixed. This is my Esprit 80. 

Brilliant thank you that's much appreciated. Do you don't happen to know if there is any reason I can't use mains/ring circuit cable to run say 10 meters from the power supply and then switch to heavy duty 2.5mm2 cable for the last couple of meters which go outside (and need to be flexible)? The distance to run is through the loft so can be pinned down to prevent movement as I know solid copper cable is not designed to be flexible. I just happen to have a load of ring mains cable. 

6 minutes ago, TerryMcK said:

I use a 32 amp version of that to power my amateur radio gear and it works fine. I use another, older version power supply, which isn't switched mode, to power my astro rig and it draws about 4 to 5 amps when everything is on (dew heaters x 3, cooled astro camera, mount when slewing) so is well within the capacity of the power supply which is capable of around 40 amps at 13.8 volts.

You will find it better to use the terminals on the rear and run two cables - one to each rig - and will find it is much more reliable than a car plug (up to 10 amps) that you can still run BTW from the front. Terminal binding posts are far more reliable than cigarette lighter plugs and are less likely to be kicked out in the dark!

Thank Terry much appreciated. Are you referring to the higher spec power supply (or a similar one) - https://www.firstlightoptics.com/batteries-powerpacks/nevada-psw-30-25-30a-switch-mode-power-supply.html

I'm thinking of getting a second mount (probably eq6-r) so I can take better advantage of those very rare clear skies. I've currently got a Nevada PS-08 6-8A Regulated Linear Power Supply running AZEQ6, 1600mm, two dew heaters and sesto senso. It's located about 10 or 15 meters from the scope running two power cables to power all that. I did have some issues with the mount not getting enough power but suspect it was due to power the cable length (worked when swapped to 2.5mm cable). My query is should I get a second of these to power a second similar setup (but with 4 dew heaters) or would I be better with something like this to power both? May possibly be-able to shorten distance between power supply and scope.  Any thoughts appreciated as electrics not a strong point. Thanks

The Pleiades through the branches of an old oak tree.
https://www.astrobin.com/ifmnuf/?nc=user