mikemabel

well done on getting the sombrero galaxy.....must be very low in the sky ?

Well done great detail. This hobby does reward perseverance.

Imaged last night , not in a great position from my garden 28x 180s bin 2 ZWO 485mc WO S73 0.8ff Heq5 pro guided Not much detail to bring out and quite noisy but here it is Clear Skies

Thank you !

wonderfull image , inspired me to try this

After 3 years i finally have a decent image of this wonderful nebula 38 x 180s darks applied ZWO 485 mc opt l enhance WO S73 0.8 FF HEQ5 PRO RBM This target is near to a lot of light pollution but i seem to get my best images in this area of sky strangely Spacing is still an issue and guiding was problematic. This has been through topaz denoise which i recently purchased........it does affect stars somewhat and not a panacea by any means but i am happy with this transformation also lightened colours.

Cheers for those suggestions. The Zwo is interesting but far too expensive. The tripod is a contender though with a portable skywatcher adventurer head unit. The ZWO harmonic mount needs testing first by more experienced SGL members than me.

Cheers Martin but i dont think it would help enough to be honest i think a Star Adventurer and possibly buying a 60mm scope for when i dont feel well enough to get the main scope out is my only option Thanks Mike

Hello I have a heq5 pro mount which i am finding increasingly hard to move and setup. i am in my sixties which i realise is not old but i need something more easier ie lighter to get out of my garage and setup i have a WO S73 refractor flattener and 485mc camera Can anyone suggest an easier mount to set up with this telescope please i have looked at the obvious skywatcher star adventure setups but my imaging train is 4.5 kg though removal of the flattener would reduce tis by 0.5kg im sure any suggestions please thanks

I needed some inspiration so after looking at petevasey and wimvb I thought I would try these targets as at least near polaris I would get some decent time on them. Unfortunately I made the mistake of adjusting the backlash on my heq5 pro and of course the guiding was catastrophically bad. Clouds also kept coming over so this is unguided. 48 X 180s darks applied WO S73 with ZWO 485mc 0.8 flattener UV filter

I've never imaged with a reflector but after looking at these images I may be tempted They do seem to get a bad press and the necessary coma corrector does have to be factored in. Would a sky watcher 130p-ds be a good alternative ? But I am tempted......

Cheers ags. I'm a bit ham fisted when it comes to taking things apart so I'll just leave it . It will only end in tears. Thanks Mike

Cheers Andy I did try to take the nosepiece off but the whole cover tried to come off so I quickly put it back and forgot about it ! Unfortunately the WO flattener has a M48 thread so I still need an M48 to M42 somewhere in the setup. I've set it up as best I can and will take some test exposures to fine tune it. Cheers Mike

Thank you Fozzybear for that explanation. To get that 39.3 I will add spacers up to 39 or 38 then screw out the flattener to add the rest. As far as I can see the 2" nosepiece does not come off. Clear skies Mike

Sorry it's another Backfocus question but just for my sanity can someone confirm the length of spacers I require to achieve a flat field with this setup WO S73 scope with matching 0.8x reducer flattener and this camera. The Backfocus of the flattener is 56.8mm and the 485mc requires 17.5mm of Backfocus. The flattener is adjustable. On the website WO state a DSLR requires 1.8mm dialled in to bring it to the optimum distance Thank you 😊

Takes your breath away those images Brilliant

Beautiful widefield image Mike

Taken last night I had software problems after going back to Windows 10 from Windows 11 Guiding was a bit off 49x 180s gain 100 offset 50

After messing up the previous post I thought I would add this. Only 5 X 180s with luminance filter

Hi Jonathan I am loving this combo . The 485MC does have amp glow but when I take darks at the temperature of the images it calibrates out exactly . I would recommend a L enhance filter . If you look at my image of the horsehead nebula you'll see the results. Clear skies

Taken last night 49x 180s offset 50 Darks applied

Taken last night as a lucky shot as Orion is not very high and near to street lights 19x 180s 50 offset darks applied L enhance filter

M1 imaged last night with new William Optics Z73 and 0.8 field flattener purchased from FLO after help from a fellow SGL member. Taken with Optolong Enhance filter and ZWO 485MC . I am still tweaking backfocus so stars are not as good as they could be 45 x 180s gain 100 offset 50 Darks applied . Cropped and full scale Any cc welcome

Thanks for that information Adam . I've decided to keep the 485 and get the GT 71 ..if I can find it in stock. If not then I will go with the S73 and depending on finances look to a 533 in the near future. Again thank you for taking the time to explain things . Mike

My only concern is the small 60mm aperture of these scopes. I am not a dedicated image the same target over a few nights guy . Will this scope give me reasonable data from a 1 to 2 hours session. My better half is pushing me to spend more and so I am looking at a GT 81 with the flattener and accept a fov reduction. What do you think ?