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...

2 minutes ago, Victor Boesen said:

Wow....

Incredible shot! The Sigma is really impressive, what f-stop is it shot at?

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. 

8 hours ago, CraigT82 said:

Wow! That really is world class Tristan. 

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

8 hours ago, Craig a said:

A really super image, bortle 1 sky’s! I can dream, the view of the Milky Way must of been mind blowing 

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/

19 hours ago, tooth_dr said:

Mind blowing Tristan. What an image. 

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

20 minutes ago, Rustang said:

How do you control both though, two laptops ?

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.  

9 minutes ago, JamesF said:

The colour of the PLA may have some effect as well.  I printed a mounting bracket for my weather station in white PLA which has been fine outdoors for a couple of years now.  It is somewhat heftier than the brackets above, but still only 30% or perhaps even 50% infill (I can't recall which).

Of course, under a cover it probably gets warmer than out in the open which won't help.

James

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. 

13 minutes ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

Also what Slicer are you using ??  & the in-fill you used on the print ?

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. 

3 minutes ago, adyj1 said:

A word of warning - some exotic materials have very specific requirements (such as a heated enclosure for ABS) so do your homework before ordering...

Ady

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

22 minutes ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

For me, for prints that I want to ensure remain in 'shape', I don't use PLA, except for Prusa's Prusament PLA, or better still PETG/ASA/ABS filaments.... 

have a look at FIlaprint (https://shop.3dfilaprint.com/) I find are reasonably priced & fast shipping etc... 

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. 

10 minutes ago, Adreneline said:

Great image Tristan but the SGL version is not displaying for me - just getting the image holder and a '?'.

The Astrobin image is amazing.

Thanks for sharing.

Adrian

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!