AbsolutelyN

22 minutes ago, Stu said:

Just had a quiick look in white light after having got back home from a weekend away at relations. AR2827 is showing well, changed again since yesterday with more complexity to the main spot.

I was surprised to see AR2828 visible as a small pore, surrounded by swirls in the granulation.

More surprisingly, I saw more activity over to the other side of the disk (LHS looking at a left right reversed image). Two small quite widely separated spots, one of which itself was split in two. I guess this is the start of a new AR? It does not show on SpaceWeatherLive currently.

Anyone else ‘spotted’ this yet? 😉

I imaged it for about an hour and an half this afternoon - basically until I ran out of disk space. One has developed much larger than when I glanced at this group yesterday. 

It's really nice and proves you don't need total astro dark to get excellent images. 

Superb Adrian! 

After an hour and a half solid observing AR2827 I finally got a brief steady spell so I could get a bit more detail. Sky watcher 250PDS with ZWO 178MM  with Baader Solar film.

Animation: https://www.astrobin.com/pv5buw/

Aristoteles, Eudoxus and Montes Caucasus - Taken 18th May with 250pds and 178mm. 
https://www.astrobin.com/n3rc2p/0/

9 hours ago, peter shah said:

lovely detail....nice work

Thank you Peter. 

Taken over the last month, about 5 hours data with 250-PDS and 1600MM. Approx. 100 mins each in HA, SII and OIII.

https://www.astrobin.com/gm499m/

Not much movement but here is a quick animation over about an hour

This is my first proper test of home made Baader filter for my 250PDS under half decent conditions this morning. Taken using a 3x barlow and ZWO 178MM. Not very familiar with solar image processing so if I'm sharpening please let me know. Doesn't compare to all the amazing HA images but nice to be-able to turn to scope to a new object. 

Another version with less sharpening and less contrast - probably better.

I've recently got my first 3d printer - an Ender 3 Max and am very pleased with it. 

5 hours ago, tooth_dr said:

I made an off centre solar filter for my 250, fits between the spider vanes so probably more like a 4” scope now.  I wonder if you’ll get significantly more resolution with the bigger aperture  Hard to tell with the 

I don't know, this was just a quick test during a 20 min clear spell, but I expect/hope so. I've never done solar with anything bigger than a 80mm refractor. I'm hoping to use the 178MM so that will test it better. 

Finally got around to making myself a solar filter for my 250PDS and this is the very first image taken just now. Luckily there is a nice looking sunspot just coming into view too.  

Taken using Baader solar film (photographic version) and a home made filter cell which steps the scope down to 8" as I could only get hold of A4 sized solar film. 100 frames stacked with ZWO 1600MM. 

I've just sold mine but it's an absolutely superb scope. Wide field of view, only 400mm focal length so easy on guiding and reasonably fast. I was very pleased with the images the scope produced. Make sure you get the flattener though.  You can't go too wrong with it. 

M42 with Esprit 80 and 1600MM
https://www.astrobin.com/ph1nb5/

Excellent images, well done. 

I'm looking at this 6" refractor for Lunar photography but I can't find any specs on the focuser. Does anyone know if the Sesto Senso will fit this? 

Thanks 

2 minutes ago, Adreneline said:

Excellent! I know the CEM120 is in a different league but I have been delighted with my CEM25. The iOptron Commander software is loads easier to use than EQMOD etc. and it works flawlessly with the ASIair and SkySafari. The only issue I have had, and it is probably entirely down to me being a numpty - or incompetent - is no matter what I do I cannot get Astroberry to work reliably with the mount but that probably won't bother you.

Hopefully you won't have to wait too long - I'm sure it will arrive in plenty of time for the next nebula season!

Adrian

That's great to hear, will certainly be a learning curve as I've never used anything but skywatcher/eqmod. I can't figure out astroberry at all so no worries there. 
My guess/hope is mid summer ... suspect it is the tri-pier that will take longer to arrive than the mount. 

Decision made and order placed. 

After much research I just found too many potential issues with the EQ8R ... such as USB hub potentially not working (skywatcher say they'll fix any issues but it does not instil confidence).  If the EQ8R had been a reasonable amount cheaper I'd have gone with it but it actually works out more expensive than the CEM120+Tri-pier once you add the EQ8 tripod. So one CEM120 and Tri-pier ordered from FLO. I expect delivery will be quite some time off however .... 

Bought this the other day, well done it's an amazing image. 

31 minutes ago, JSeaman said:

Yeah don't get me wrong it's right at the limit but with a RoR obervsatory I have a keep rate of about 80-90% so not too bad, I lose more to satellites than wind

Agree completely on the comment about good copies, I hope you find a good solution!

You know perhaps an observatory would be a better investment .... thought I had go ahead for one the other day but permission has since been revoked. I'm fully exposed to the west unfortunately so the hope is heavy duty mount will reduce the impact of that. 

25 minutes ago, JSeaman said:

I'm using an NEQ6 Pro with a 300PDS on and can do 10 minute sub so guess you have some other issues

That said I'm at the limits of the mount and I have been torn between EQ8 and CEM 120. I had settled on the 120 then found a bunch of people with ioptron issues. That said, it's easy enough to find a bunch of people that have issues with any astro equipment as it's a complicated set up at the best of times. Keep us posted on which way you go!

 

You're doing well to get 10 min subs with such a payload. I've managed about 5 mins and probably could get the odd 10 min sub but I can't consistently do it as very reliant on conditions.  I'd loose too may subs to even a slight breeze as I'm in quite an exposed location. So I tend to go with shorter 1 min exposure which has a far higher keeper rate. 

You can find great and awful accounts of both mounts, though finding it hard to find in-depth reviews/views of the EQ8R. I guess some of it is just the luck of getting a good copy just as it is with some camera lenses. 

On 22/04/2021 at 07:11, newbie alert said:

I own a cem60,  incredible mount , more than pleased.. I bought it when it was just on the release of the cem 70, I preferred the look, wasn't really that much info out there and only a handful of testing mounts that were showing pre-release.. when they did release the price to me just didn't add up.. cem60 were £1699, cam 70( basic model ) was £2350! I couldn't see where the extra £650 was other than a slightly different gear size,  black livery.. , think the basic cem 120 was £2550 at the time... for me the price just didn't add up... awesome mounts thou, won't take that away from them

 

Yes it's a real shame about the price rises, wish I was 12 months earlier on this as its about 1k more now.

Comes down to CEM120 or EQ8-R. Wavering slightly towards the EQ8R despite all the advice to go with the CEM120 because I know I can get parts and support from OVL whereas the iOptron is an unknown quantity in regard to support for any issues that may occur over the years. Feels important as the mount will be permanently covered rather than in a observatory so less protected.  

Just now, Adreneline said:

Stunning Tristan. Your 250PDS continues to deliver great images.

Out of interest which software did you use to select/stack the 750 frames?

The processing looks great to me - not over-sharpened at all. The OIII filter has worked really well considering collect OIII in Moon light is generally a no-no!  

Adrian

Thanks, loving the 250pds. For stacking I'm using AutoStakkert!3 set to use best 25%. It was just a bit of an experiment really. I wanted to directly compare to HA but could not get my filter wheel working with USB3 required for faster transfer rates for some reason. 

Lovely  image Adrian. 

Another quick go at the Moon and this time I thought I'd have a go with OIII filter. 750 frame stack from 3000 frames with ZWO1600MM and 250PDS. Best viewed at 100%. 

No idea but curious to know the answer. However with video I think you'd hit file size issues first, depending on rate rate. I just did a 3000 frame video and it's 30gb.