Stub Mandrel

It's worth remembering that ANY image of a DSO is an achievement

@MarsG76 My early 'works' were no better! Not sure if I shared this (claimed to be the North America Nebula) before:

First science article about Ultima Thule published, plus hi-res pic: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-s-new-horizons-team-publishes-first-kuiper-belt-flyby-science-results

I took the liberty of grabbing the image and putting it through Gradient Exterminator; this is a jpg so expect better quality if you do it yourself: Edit: Bottom centre you can see what happens if you don't mask off a bright DSO before using Gradex...

Dim squirmio, as we say in Wales!

This, 150mm x 914mm (36") mirror of otherwise unknown properties, freshly recoated by VCSM:

Most folks switch this off so they stay put and use flat frames instead. Nice horsey

... before you set fire to your neighbopur's trees ...

So keep your batteries charged :-)

I retro-edited it in

>sneak edit< No....

I am very much a whisky drinker, but I don't have a problem with a decent whiskey. Decent mass produced bourbon (including JD) is generally better than cheap whisky.

Does he know about these? https://petersrailway.com/ Chris Vine is a great chap and a very skilled modeller.

That's a very nice image. Great for a first DSO. You might want to fiddle with the colour balance slightly to make it less blue and bring out the yellower core. I think the background has a slight blue cast too, but it may be my monitor.

You could use an M10 nut off a suitable potentiometer or switch - only a couple of millimeters thick! Or use an M10m bolt with a plain shank, cut the head off and shorten the threaded part. It will lock when the shank reaches the hole. Or use stud lock, or even epoxy on the thread if very loose.