gorann

Thanks! You will get there! CS Göran

It is an amazingly good camera. Only problem is that one batch suffered from oil behind the sensor leaking onto the front. I had tha happening to two of mine but It was quickly and apparently permanently fixed ny TS.

Thanks a lot Carole! Yes quite dark with an average SQM of 21.5 so Bortle 2-3

Thanks Adrian! This is what the Squid looks like after 6 hours with just the RASA8. I am sure the dark sky here helps a lot for such a faint thing. I really like the complex sky in your AB image.

Thanks! He, he🤣. Maybe that is a good reason to have a piggy back: getting that extra surprise the next morning. A new form of lucky / unlucky imaging!

This one was not planned. I thought my recently posted image of the Elephant's Trunk was the last one for the season, as I had almost forgotten that I was testing out sensor distances on my Samyang 135 with ASI2600MC piggybacking on my dual RASA8 rig, while aiming the RASAs at the Elephant's trunk (see the previously posted image). I had not realized that the squid was so nearby. If I had known I may have made an effort of framing this image better, but at least I did not accidentally decapitate the squid. To the 17 x 10 min of Samyang data I have added ca 50% RASA8 data to the Elephant's Trunk and 30% to the Squid. All with IDAS NBZ filters and ASI2600MC cameras. Totally probably around 10 hours of data. Comments most welcome! Cheers, Göran

Thanks Alan for the very kind words!

Thanks a lot Steve! I have to admit that I actually had a go at the Rosette a few moths ago😄

I am usually aiming at something rarely, or in best case never, imaged, which gives me a thrill (and sometimes a dissapointment). However, this was the last night of the season since astrodarkness is just about to disappear up here, and most nebulae are now behind my northern obsy wall. So I played it safe and aimed at something bright and striking, IC1396, and therefore often imaged. Fortunately my dual-RASA rig doubles the length of the night. However, processing it was interesting since I found it hard to find any thrustworthy reference image to glean at. This seems to be the nebula where everyone goes ad libitum and over the top when it comes to colours, whatever filters used. Well, here is my version of it. Ha and Oiii, with the quite broad bandwidths of the lovely IDAS NBZ filter. Facts: RASA8 with ASI2600MC (gain 100) and IDAS NBZ filter. Mesu 200 mount. 86 x 5 min, so about 7 hours. Processed in PI and PS (including a Star Xterminator step). Comments of course welcome! Cheers, Göran

Thanks Lee! Good to know. I assume with version #3 you mean #4. Maybe I should stick to #1 then (was done on my new 42" monitor at work, while the last three were done with a smaller older monitor at home in a rather bright room).

Sh2-160 in Cepheus This very rarely imaged object from the Sharpless catalogue is located about 2.5 degrees north of the Lobster Claw and Cave Nebulae. I can only find one other image of it on Astrobin. Quite strong in Ha but no Oiii to be found by the NBZ dual-band filter. Imaged over two nights (23-24 April) since nights are getting very short up here, so this willl be my second but last image for the season (I can say that since I have collected the data for a final one). So, dual RASA8 and ASI2600MC (gain 100) with IDAS NBZ dual-band filters (Ha+Oiii) on a Mesu 200 mount. 90 x 5 min, so 7.5 hours. Procesed in PI and PS . Cheers Göran

Had another look at it this morning which resulted in a new and hopefully better version with less magenta tone on the dust.

I thought about that sometimes, especially when I had to crudely crop some less well planned, or rather unplanned, mosaics, just to have them fit into the usual square that squareheads enjoy😄. I think your mosaic is great and very useful!

Thanks! Very nice mosaic Adrian, I will save it for reference! But, yes, it is on a few wide field images too, including SDSS (Aladin) where I spotted it, but I bluntly decided these would not count😉.

Thanks a lot boys! Yes, I just had a look at them on my mobile phone, and there the second one looks blown out, but not so much on one of my computer screens, especially earlier today when the room was quite bright. So here is a compromise:

This very rarely imaged object from the Sharpless catalogue is located about 2.5 degrees north of the Lobster Claw and Cave Nebulae. I can only find one other image of it on Astrobin. Quite strong in Ha but no Oiii to be found by the NBZ dual-band filter. Imaged over two nights since nights are getting very short up here, so this willl be my second but last image for the season (I can say that since I have collected the data for a final one). So, dual RASA8 and ASI2600MC (gain 100) with IDAS NBZ dual-band filters (Ha+Oiii) on a Mesu 200 mount. 90 x 5 min, so 7.5 hours. Procesed in PI and PS . I have posted an A and B version, the latter brighter and more contrasty. I realized that my preference depends on what screen I see it on, and comments most welcome! Cheers Göran

Would not the double encoders on the Mk1 mean that it will automatically stop if there is a mismatch between the encoders, like if you have a cable snag stopping the movement or the scope hitting the pier? With only encolders on the motors they may just continue running. But what do I know...... In any case, the old Mesu Mk1 I recently bought from Olly had a pre-Sitech system so it is now with Lucas to be upgraded and I decided to play it safe and go for the Sitech II (1000 USD compared to 500 USD for the Sitech I) to be able to use all encoders. Another reason being that my present Mesu200 Mk1 came with the Sitech II and I imagine I will be running into less nocturnal confusions if they both work exactly the same.

All great images Rodd👍, maybe except the last one where you were not too kind to the stars...

Grand finale indeed Wim! Lovely colour and details. Darkness is gone for us up here so time to prepare for late August. I assume isolating your obsy is first on the list.

As I understand it Lucas got rid of the encoders in Mesu 200 mk2 so then the more advanced Sitech II was no longer needed.

Sh2-140, Sh2-145, Sh2-150 and PK107+7.1 in Cepheus I continue my hunt for galactic dust until the bitter end, which will be soon since astrodarkness is rapidly disappearing up here now. This two-panel mosiac was imaged under a full moon with my dual-RASA rig over two nights. Again the IDAS NBZ dual band (Ha+Oiii) filter made it possible even with the moon at full force. Sh2-140 is rather commonly imaged, but this is not so much so for the other two Sharpless objects in the image. The Ha emitting sphere in the top right corner is the faint but rather large (15') planetary nebula PK 107+7.1 So, caught 16-17 April 2022 with RASA8 and ASI2600MC (gain 100) with IDAS NBZ filter, on a Mesu 200. 193 x 5 min, so about 17 hours. Processed in PI and PS, including Star Xterminator to stretch the nebulosity separately from the stars. Cheers, Göran

This two-panel mosiac was imaged under a full moon with my dual-RASA rig over two nights. Again the IDAS NBZ dual band (Ha+Oiii) filter made it possible even with the moon at full force. Sh2-140 is rather commonly imaged, but this is not so much so for the other two Sharpless objects in the image. The Ha emitting sphere in the top right corner is the faint but rather large (15') planetary nebula PK 107+7.1 So, caught 16-17 April 2022 with RASA8 and ASI2600MC (gain 100) with IDAS NBZ filter, on a Mesu 200. 193 x 5 min, so about 17 hours. Processed in PI and PS, including Star Xterminator to stretch the nebulosity separately from the stars. Comment most welcome as allways Cheers, Göran

You are perfectly right - the ASI1600 was maybe on pair with CCDs like the 8300 and won at the time by being cheaper but it suffered from amp glow and microlensing artefacts, but the new generation CMOS has since then left the CCDs behind. But I can see that the low second hand prices on what used to be very expensive CCDs are tempting.

Not sure I agree Steve, and you have much tighter stars in the CMOS image, although that could hardly be down to the camera😉

Good thing is that I am not in a town, so no lights to dim😁