AbsolutelyN

Heart of the Heart Nebula. 4 hours 46mins with 250PDS / 1600MM Pro and Baader 3.5nm HA/OIII filters last night. https://www.astrobin.com/fj1y56/0/

I kept it really simple - 6d, lens, dew strap, tracer battery and a star adventurer. Just forgot the intervalometer which was a pain. That kit was more than enough for me to explore the sky in bortle one for years...

Thanks, yes it's an excellent lens. This is taken wide open at f/2.8. Ideally it needs stopping down a bit for perfect stars but they are reasonable wide open.

Thank Craig - mostly just very lucky to hit on clear skies.

The Milky Way was incredible - image of it here -

The Milky Way right down to the horizon from Bortle 1 skies. 16 mins exposure with a Sigma Art 14-24mm 2.8 lens on a little Star Adventurer. https://www.astrobin.com/4pa4kj/0/

Thanks Adam. I wish I'd opened the aperture a bit more now - I stopped it down to f/2.5 as I was concerned about the corners on full fame but looking at other images I took now they are stacked I bet I could have just about got away with f/1.8

Taken in just 2.5 hours from amazing Bortle 1 skies of northern Scotland. Canon 6d (modified) and Sigma 105 1.4 lens on a little Star Adventurer. 150x 60 second exposures. https://www.astrobin.com/n4t69f/

@geeklee yes I think so - I use this one: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/astronomy-cables-leads-accessories/lynx-astro-silicone-power-cable-25mm-dc-jack.html

I got a little mini pc to control one mount and my main computer to control the other mount (and remote desktop into the mini pc so both controlled from one PC). This relatively cheap mini-pc runs its perfectly for deep sky and it runs from same 12v power supply as the scope (with appropriate cable). https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08K2V3NY1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Only running one mount at the moment and I tend to always run it through the minipc now, much less hassle than the long 20m USB cables I had been using. It also avoids issues with multiple cameras - have had all kinds of issues trying to connect 3 zwo cameras.

I tested out a rough and ready dual rig last year - RASA 8 and Esprit 80. It was very difficult even with a wider field on one scope and it was too much for my azeq6. I concluded its massively easier and more flexible to run two scopes on two mounts. Much more manageable in my opinion.

CEM120 ordered back in April finally turned up .... makes the AZEQ6 look like a toy 🙂

Its been on iplayer for a couple of years (first shown in 2019) but well worth watching.

That's a good point too, black will absorb the heat but I think here its specific to being under a cover as it happened not exposed to the elements... it wasn't even sunny when it became distorted ... its is kept under 3 black covers and if wet I have a little heated element going too so it probably gets pretty toasty under there. I have a black solar filter (20% infill) which can be in full sun all day when doing solar and not had any issues with that at all.

Thanks, installed that and will try it next time I print something.

Creality Slicer. Default infill is about 20% I think but pretty sure I increased this one to about 50% to try to make it stronger.

Yes I never thought my Ender 3 would print ABS but I do wonder if PETG might be an option.

Brill thanks ... new to this so didn't even consider my printer could print any of those other filaments, will look into it.

Just wondering if anyone has any recommendations to prevent PLA distorting/melting? I build this really basic thing to hold my zwo eaf for use with a timer belt. It was built with eSun PLA from Amazon. It worked really well but then it clouded over and I covered the scope for a few days. When I uncovered it I found this has completely distorted - presumably from the heat of being under the scope cover. I guess the obvious answer is to not leave it under the cover but I was quite surprised is was hot enough to do this at all - at least it made me laugh when I saw it.

Superb images Craig, amazing achievement.

Thanks Adrian. I accidently linked to a WEBP version of the image that is not compatible with all browsers. It's now a good old JPEG so should display.

Deep dive (for me) into Cepheus taken over the last two nights with Sigma 105mm and ZWO 2600MC. 7 hours and 24mins integration time. Hope to add some HA and OIII to the image eventually. Astrobin higher res - https://www.astrobin.com/zdrdc2/

This was a rushed test shot but came out better than expected despite so many flaws. It was taken to test a Sigma 105 1.4 lens but due to time constraints was mounted on a star tracker which was not polar aligned - just pointed roughly north. I'd hoped for 30 second exposures but 15 second exposures were the most I could get away with without trailing so badly aligned. It's a stack of 272 15 second exposures (68mins) with a ZWO 2600MC. Taken 1st August. Not 30 sec exposures but it says 'no more than 30 seconds' so assume this is ok?

Beautiful again Adam. The colours are really nice and subtle but punchy at the same time. Great stuff.

Thanks all!