astro mick

Hi guys. Thanks for all the input. Yes i am well aware of condensation,thats why all my electrical gear is placed inside lidded plastic containers. Gave it a trial run this evening and all seemed well. Cheers. Mick.

Hi Dave. It has the UK 3pin plug,so should be ok. Mick.

Thats great,thanks.

Hi Guys. My new ZWO cmos needs a mains 240v ac to 12v dc converter to operate the cooler.I ordered from a well known distributer which i thought was the correct one. On its arrival i noticed the mains input is just a 2 way female plug,which i assume is +/-. My question is will this be ok,or does it need an earth. Could it damage the camera. Cheers. Mick.

Thanks Dave. I thought more people would have done this. However. Mick.

Does anyone leave their cmos camera permantly attached to their scope,even in winter. I used to do this with my old ccd,but not sure about cmos.Although i cant see why there would be a difference.Having just got one,i would be interested in comments regarding this. Have you experienced problems with this,especially say after a heavy dew,and the camera remaining wet for a period of time. Or should we bring them in and dry out after every use. Cheers. Mick.

Thanks everyone,some really good reading here.As i said i am an imager,but it is full of frustrations,never mind the endless big hole in the wallet. Precious clear skies trying to sort a prolem,can waste nearly a whole night. Mick.

Hi Guys and Gals. While i wait for my new camera to arrive i ventured out last night into a not perfect sky,and only for about 2hrs as clouds were on their way.I decided to do a bit of visual,something i have not done seriously for several years. Equipped with a good mount scope and eyepiece,it was a fabulous 2hrs.Going back to view double stars which were a big favourite of mine when i was starting out,the colours, the splitting,just the never ending variety of things to see up there.Then there are the clusters of hundreds of stars packed to-gether makes a glorius site. The stars were pin point in the scope,and that gave me a joyus feeling.I did,nt try for deep space objects as the moon did wash out a good proportion of the sky. I have tried to image with my main scope and view with another,but the pitfalls of imaging often kept me busy,so was,nt always a success. I will continue to image,but i do realise what i am missing,so hats of to the visual guys,as they are really seeing the sky first hand. Mick.

For those that can,it is a very good idea,but i would,nt like to mess with a new camera. But lovely images,and just shows what can be done by the brave. Mick.

Thanks. I think it has now sold. Appreciated the link. Mick.

Wow Tooth. You have stopped me making a big mistake,i had,nt relalised that.I was about to take the plunge as well. In your debt mate. Back to the drawing board. Mick.

Cheers Tooth. Too expensive. The ASI 1600 basic is £945. I can hardly justify even this price,so expensive. I was a big Starlightxpress user,but they no longer cater for people on tight budgets.

Thanks.(Never thought of QHY) I will certainly have a look at this. WHO sells this mono camera. Mick.

Thanks for all this guys it has really helped,as much as i am tempted to opt for the OSC my guts tell me Mono. My budget would allow the ASI 1600MM,and as i have all the Filters,it might make more sense. Cheers. Mick.

Hi. Thinking of changing my mono ccd for a cmos camera.I have always had mono ccd cameras,but they are becomming very expensive. I have been looking at ZWO cmos cameras,namely the Mono ASI 1600MM and The Colour ASI 533MC. I,m leaning to-wards the Mono as i have all the Broadband and Narrowband Filters in 1.25. I have had the Narrowband Filters up for sale,but have had no interest.I think people are now mainly switching to cmos. The scope is a 102mm F7 Triplet,so it should take the 1.25 filters without too much vignetting. Ths Mono also has a larger chip size,which may enable me to frame bigger targets. But of course the colour cmos is less hassle,and maybe capture an image in one night,especially with our rubbish night time skies. Your thoughs guys and gals. Mick.

Thanks Guys. Mick.

Oh. I,m glad you liked it.Its something different i suppose. Mick.

No idea why i chose this target.Something new i suppose.This is the Planetary Nebulae in Camelopardalis named the Oyster Nebulae NGC1501.I could hardly see it on my screen. Taken with my 102mm scope and Atik 314L+ mono. Took 6x600 secs in both Red and Blue,but could,nt face taking the Green,so i synthesised it. Did calibrate and processed in Photo-shop. Maybe a longer F/L may do it justice. Dont think i will visit again. Mick.

Very nice indeed,for an unmodded camera. Mick.

Fabulous image Bryan.Amazing. Mick.

Thankyou Martin. Much appreciated. Glad you liked it. Mick.

Its a lovely Filter Dave.They also do an Extreme,but i think it would be too much for my little 11OOD. Here,s to your clear sky soon. Maybe this weekend. Mick.

Hi Goran. Thank you. I used an Altair Astro 102mm Triplet + x0.8 Reducer fitted with an Optolon L-Enhance Filter. This Filter lets through Ha at 10nm O111 at 24nm and H-Beta at 24nm.(I dont think the H-Beta adds much). The Ha is very dominant.But i kind of like it. Mick.

Thanks Adam. A DSLR is a relatively cheap way of getting these widefield shots. Mick.

Hi. Following on from my recent IC 405 i managed a little time on its companion IC410 both to be found in Auriga. Again i managed to take just over 3hrs of data in 480 sec subs using my DSLR 1100D and Ha filter. The session was cut short due to clouds arriving around midnight,2hrs earlier than expected,buts what new. Set the ISO to 400,and of course took calibration frames. Thanks for looking. Mick.