MarsG76

Excellent work Steve, this is one major object that I regret not being able to image from my location.

I haven't ticked any extra buttons that show visually the corrections outside the graph that get generated as the mount is guided... I use Resist Switch for both RA and DEC... but I suspect that not only does PEC make little to no difference on my current sensor pixel size resolution and that PEC can damage the PCB during a coincidental alignments of conditions.. this is what happened to my mount...

"Quite a lot" is an understatement... Nice image of the swan and friends wide field.

That looks great... very sharp detail....

What a great idea... dreams...

Yes, M42 is a AWESOME object to observe.. and yes it does get better with a darker sky and I find that using a Lumicon and Astronomik UHC filters really make it pop... the amount of detail is staggering and really makes a massive difference.

And you're right.... there wasn't much improvement... atleast not with a camera that has a pixel size or around 5um...

Arc seconds

Unfortunately I didn't keep any logs, but I'll tell you that comparing with and without PEC didn't make any (if any) significant tracking improvements... and I did tests over a number of nights... My current camera setup had a pixel resolution of 1.16"/pixel and my average RMS tracking is usually 0.7-0.8" and the best I have see was 0.38" on a great stable night, so the CGEM with PHD2 already track at sub pixel resolution, so PEC can't improve my imaging... BUT After tracking with guiding and PEC enabled my laptop crashed and the autoguider became stuck on a pulse in one direction than sudent;y my RA side of my mount PCB failed... I attribute it to a state where autoguide port was getting a pulse in one direction and PEC tried to push it in the opposite direction, creating a electrical fault (current drain/short/excessive current due to fighting the directions) which might have fried my CGEM mount main board. So if you're already tracking at your imaging camera max res/pixel, think about if its needed and worth the risk... if you're already tracking at or sub pixel resolution, your detail in your images is now limited by the seeing rather than tracking.

Yes, toward the mirror.

Of course... I added a plastic cut out to cover the back of the primary, and cut holes to where the fans are... this forces more air up the tube hence creating a slight breeze up, this does stop dew from forming on the primary... as an added bonus it helps the mirror reach equilibrium temperature faster... see image attached...

Absolutely... the problem is that there is so many objects and so little moonless clear Skies and not enough years in a life time to see and image everything that's available to backyard equipment.

If you look closely at the core you can see the streams emanating from the core. Seeing might be hard, but imaging technology has allowed for amazing work and fine detail captured by amateurs... quality that was only dreamt of by the pros 30 years ago.

Thank you... I'm sure that astronomy will at the very least be a passing interest.... When I said boring, I meant in the visual aspect... It seems much more bland than, say, the colourful whisps of nebulosity that some nebulae cover the frame to frame in detail... but astronomy is interesting in all forms... I knew that the galaxy was not going to be as "colorful" as other objects but it's not imaged often and I want to target the objects that are neglected and/or objects that are further south and not visible (easily or at all) from the northern hemisphere.

Hello All, It's been a while since I posted any images since my baby daughter was born, as you can see I was preoccupied with something that took priority over the hobby... Finding time and energy to expose subs wasn't a problem but procesing the data, well that where I was (and still am) time poor. As things are settling down I was able to spend a few nights under the stars and start playing with the data. This is an image of NGC 1316 which is located within the Fornax Cluster, a cluster of galaxies in the constellation Fornax. NGC 1316 is located at the edge of the Fornax Cluster and about 62 million LY away from our Solar System. NGC 1316 appears to be interacting with NGC 1317, a small spiral galaxy visible below NGC1316. I’m happy with the amount of detail captured in this generally boring galaxy, I particularly like the "jets" streaming out of the core. This photograph was imaged with my cooled Canon 40D DSLR and with my 8" SCT at 2032mm focal length for a total exposure time of 20 hours and 25 minutes across multiple nights. Thanks for looking, Clear Skies

Excellent work...

I recommend the C8 on a CGEM or equivalent mount and you won't regret it.

What I did to eliminate dew forming on my primary mirror is just added 3 fans on then back of the mirror. This creates slight air flow away from the primary and has topped any dew from forming on my primary. I'd avoid using a dew heater on the primary since that can introduce air currents and, at worst case scenario, astigmatism due to the uneven temperature of the primary. On the other point, that halo you describe does look like dew related dispersion.

Very nice image...

Crazy details

Love it... I really like the CaK solar images.

Another great result Charl....

Looks great.

Very nice charl... complete with cloud bands and the Cassini division.

Timing