gorann

Just posted version I of mine - I thought it looked a bit dark and gloomy compared to yours, so I brightened it up a bit😎

TS sells an Astrophoto Edition of the C9.25 and C11 where they add their own 0.63x reducer, so that one should at least correct the field. I assume the Celestron reducer does the same. No idea which one is the best but I assume there will be reviews to be found by googling. https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p3657_Celestron-C9-Astrophotography-Edition---Crayford--Corrector-and-Off-Axis-Guider.html

You captured amazing details in the galaxy all the way into the core, and a lot of dust. If I should comment on something it is the dust, which looks a bit odd to me - kind of thick and homogenous grey - I sometimes get that if a part of a curve is a bit too flat or inverted during stretching. I compared it to my Esprit 150 version where the dust looks lighter. However, I then noticed that my core is burnt out compared to yours so maybe I should have another look at my processing of that image: https://www.astrobin.com/399792/G/ EDIT: Thanks to you Rodd, I now tamed my core (version H) by reprocessing it from start.

I agree - amazing result from your latitude Tom! What equipment did you use?

Like all astroimages I do not think there is an ultimate version - I wish they could be posted with a slider so that the image can be adjusted according to personal taste at the moment😉

Exactly! I also wanted to do something that deviated a bit from Rodd's interpretation - I had actually not seen Block's version until this morning when I surfed for other Irises out there and it is quite striking how many ways it has been presented.

Nice version Wim! @wimvb. Mine is a bit lighter and I think the dust could be made to look even more light, like this IOTD by Peter Shah https://www.astrobin.com/374668/ or Adam Bloch's image (https://www.adamblockphotos.com/ngc-7023-widefield.html). Do you think the data may not support it and that the brown structures I have in the dust of my version is mainly noise? Maybe I pushed the dustiness a bit too far but it does not look like noise to me, but I should have another look at it.

Marvellous! I am just amazed what the combination of you and and an Esprit 150 can squeeze out of a brightening sky.

Excellent Gav! I should point one of my SCTs on this one, one day (no astrodarkness up here). Until then I can throw another Esprit 150 image into the mix. It is only 3.5 hours at f/7 and taken with an ASI071, so OSC. Was the first light for my Mesu 200 (if a mount can see light...) Tomato @tomato - your galaxy is very nice but something must have happened to your stars during processing since they are almost all red (although some should be white or even blue) and a bit dark ringed (the latter could be from HDRM if you use PI).

Just say that it has always been there, you just have't noticed it darlig😎

I found that one of these works fine for focusing my Meade 14" ACF after I have locked the mirror. https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p7106_TS-Optics-2--UNC-V-Power-Crayford-Focuser-for-2--and-3--SC-Thread.html I may also add one to my EdgeHD 11" but so far fine adjusting the focus with a JMI motorfocus on the mirror has worked rather well.

Since we drifted more and more into videos on this thred, here is for something completely different (i.e. not 600 or even 6000 pounds!) I found it quite stressful to watch when you see a 1.25 m mirror lifted by a tractor and then when they realize they built the doors to the shed too low......

Good luck Dave! Amasing to me that you have such a short break in your astrodarkness - but then I will get my nearly eternal nights winter....

Very nice Dave! Will you be able to collect enough Ha for the outer rings before nights get too bright even in Berkshire?

Maybe you should take the AstroBackyard guy with a grain of salt. He often seems to be selling products sent to him and he loves them all. Some of the episodes really reveals a lack of knowledge, like the three episodes where he starts imaging with a Celestron EdgeHD 11". For SCTs and especially for that rather big one you really need off-axis guiding and he was using a finderguider, the most inadequate guiding equipment you can use for that scope. Not surprising, the stars in his final image were far from round and it all looked very fuzzy. In the middle of one of the EdgeHD episodes, he suddenly shows the new Canon EOS Ra that has nothing to do with anything else there. In a later episode he reveals that it was sent to him from Canon, so not purchased by him (he did not reveal if he got to keep it).

On my dual rig, a Mesu 200 with an Esprit 150 and an Esprit 100, I use two laptops since I am convinced I would run into (more) trouble with only one. One laptop runs Cartes du Ciel (free and the one recommended by Lucas Mesu) to control the mount, PHD2 (Lodestar on an OAG on the 150), and one ASI camera (usually ASI071). The other laptop just runs the other ASI camera (usually ASI1600 for Ha) on the Esprit 100. I connect the Lodestar to the USB hub in the ASI camera on the 150. I use ASICAP (ZWOs free capture software) and I do not think it could control two ASI cameras so I would have to learn to use some other capturing program. In any case, using two laptops probably means less riskt for USB crashes.

PS. I am impresed by the level of detail you have for the core of the nebula - not far off that of the Liverpool Telescope that I once processed (only 24 minutes but with a 2 meter RC scope): https://www.astrobin.com/384176/F/

Thanks for the approval Rodd! I like the light dustiness that could be brought out from your data. My old DSLR data on the Iris was more heavy as I remeber it. I should revisit it one night.

Thanks for the entertainment for us northerners Rodd! Great data. Your version looks so good that I did not want to say I would try to have a go at the data until I could see that my version was not too inferior. So here it is, mainly done in PS, but some HDRM and SCNRgreen done in PI. I am at least rather pleased with the stars. I also used Olly's @ollypenrice method of adding a few % of an Equalize layer in PS to get more dust out. Cheers Göran

Very professional and entertaining, quite amazing really - just like Top Gear! He forgot about the collimation part of a scope that just got nearly cut in half at the local garage, but never mind. And at the end the mesage was the usual one - spend your money on the mount first😅

Thanks Richard, much appreciated!

Yes Ray, I found it interesting, so thanks for the enlightenment! I do have a Star Adventurer too for travel and there it may of course make a difference. But his use of the little counter balance in the video tells me that you could easily make your filter wheel balanced with a bit of weight attached to the light side.

Yes, on our original Mesus that kind of balancing is not possible (no clutches), but a CEM120 is supposed to be able to carry 50 kg (I thought), so it should not matter much there either.

Or if worrying about a filter wheel - why not just put a counter balance on it? A bit of fishing weights on the thin side.

Well, I now saw the video. I never realized that this was so filddly - I may be saved by having a Mesu on one pier and an EQ8 on the other - I doubt they would bother about filter wheels sticking up or down. Hopefully, for Midnight Lightning this will not matter when he upgrades to a bigger mount.