gorann

Nice image indeed Steve, and I agree with Wim that the needle looks best in version 2 but the sky is better in version one, especially those distant galaxies that Wim mention looks more natural in version 1. Amazing to me that you still have some darkness - here you can read a book outside at midnight (or at least I could when my eyes were younger).

I see it a bit the other way around - galaxy season in the spring is becasue there is less Milky Way nebula to aim at, so we are mainly left with galaxies. But there is always plenty of galaxies around, also when the Milky Way is up there with all its glory. However, if you get hold of a light bucket like a RASA or Tak Epsilon, then you can always have IFN season unless you are up here in bright-summer-night Scandinavia where we have a no-AP season right now😣

Interesting idea Wim, especially right now for you and me up here at 60° N in central Sweden so north of anything on the UK mainland. A mighty high pressure has settled on us and I did not see a single cloud all day. But ordering a the necessary solar equipment, like a Day Star Quark, which currently seems to be out of stock everywhere, would inivitably bring the clouds in when the box arrives and it would most likely spoil the whole summer.

Yes, I think you are right - there is enough internet in the countries that can afford buying Teslas.

Did not know that - it may explain why I have not got Musked yet, but maybe he aims at us with the next swarm, and Oslo has the highest Tesla density in the world..... https://evannex.com/blogs/news/norway-goes-crazy-over-tesla-model-3

I hated spending time clone stamping away trails, but since I started CMOS imaging with many (usually 50+) short (2-4 min) subs and stacked them in PI I have not had any one ruined by either sattelites or airplanes. Their trails are effectively removed by the algorithms (I usually use Linear Fit Clipping). But I assume there is a limit to this. As I understand it the problem is that there are no international agreements and regulations, and right now the world does not seem to be in a state for international agreements of any kind......

I downloaded the image to PS and inverted it, with an interesting result:

Now when Vlaiv has enlighened us on what musk really is (for once I happened to know), you can't help wondering why anyone came up with such a sirname, and the decendants actually keep it.

Yes, I have heard of the problem and hope that it is minor for RASAs at FL 400mm. The flexure problmen should be the same for refractors, but with reflectors mirrors may move but I though that would be small slips that happen once or twice in a night, and then there will probably still be enough to stack.

My thought too, one day the time will come for the MN190 - I just could not resist buying mine since I found it in a local ad in mint condition for near to nothing - apparently they are hard to sell since people do not undertand what it is.

One of the plans for my dual RASA 8 rig that I will put together for the next season is to enable just that, have them look at like that guy in the picture producing a two panel mosaic in one night!

Quite a few mounts would handle a dual MN190 rig but the question is if the primary mirrors stay steady in place - dual reflectors could be a challenge if the mirror move on the scope that does not have the OAG on it.

If it is not on the same mount, it does not count as a dual rig, does it?

Nice to see that someone more than @wimvb is aiming to show what an excellent scope the SW MN190 is! I am embarrased to admit that I have one of them stored in my closet (no space for it on my rigs right now) but I could maybe sell it to Wim (with a good profit or a share in the subs😁) if he decides on a dual MN190 rig.

My conclusion is that the JTD and ADM are in the same league as the Cassidy one. As Olly said his Cassidy works fine on his 106 Taks but wobbly for the bigger scopes. I would think the same about my JTD. There is probably nothing for sale that could handle a 6" refractor. And they are both still rediculously expensive..... Maybe a buisiness idea for Tomatobro?

I messed up the three letter abbreviations. I wrote I had an ADM but it is a JTD adjustment saddle from FLO (actually I now have two of them since I aim at having two dual rigs, one for RASAs and one for Esprits). But as far as I know it is the only option available out there and it is the JTD. It is odd that not more options are availble to us brave few that realized that a dual rig can offer twice the data in a night. There are even problems connecting two cameras (at least ASIs) to one computer so I usually play it safe and have one computer for each camera. Is JTD an FLO brand? They appear to be the only one selling it.

Great image Wim! More details are always nice (new version) as long as it does not look artificial, and your image is far from reaching that state.

In any case the Casady T-Gad is not made anymore, so we all seem to be stuck with the only option: ADM. It has worked fine for me keeping an Esprit 100 next to and Esprit 150, but I can appreciate that it would need the extra screws that Steve @tomato (or his brother) has put in for an Esprit 150. From what you say Olly, the Casady T-Gad may be in the same class, easily holding an 106 but struggling with a 140. Actually the Casady looks very similar to the ADM, maybe ADM just bought the design after Cassady's cousin retired and the workshop closed down: http://www.robincasady.com/Astro/TGAD.html

When astrodarkness arrives in late August I am certainly going to try my Samyang 135 with an ASI2600MC.

IFN is clearly there but without colour and structure. The SQM is virtually the same as mine so my first thought was a surprise that it did not pick up more in 3 hours at f/2. I know that aperture helps in some odd way (67 mm vs 200 mm so 9 times more photons with the RASA), but f/2 is f/2, and on a RASA8 and the photons are more spread out. @ollypenrice may want to have a comment. So my thought now is that you also need a very low noise cooled camera like the ASI2600MC - a DSLR just cannot make it.

Actually, he seems to have spent 100 hours on it and had to throw away half of it - we need guys like him! EDIT: And he replied to me on Astrobin: Markice has now joined SGL. Hopefully we will se more from him.

This image just came out on Astrobin. A RASA8 can catch IFN even in Bortle 9 Los Angeles! But you need stamina to do it..... https://www.astrobin.com/oop1fh/

Alternatives to the RASA 8 are fast and short FL camera lenses like the Samyang 135 f/2 or similar. Peter Shah @peter shahhas recently posted som very nice IFN images on Astrobin, like this one: https://www.astrobin.com/bjwawk/ Peter uses a Sigma 105 f/1.4. I have a Samyang 135 but have not tried it on IFN yet. My personal problem with those very short focal lengths is that they often do not handle small stars well and starfields may melt into a grayish mass rather than discrete stars like with the RASA. I also have a Canon 300 mm f/4 and its does show rather discrete stars, so I started wondering if there is an ideal focal length that both give a very wide field and can resolve stars resonably well. Maybe 200 mm would do that so I started searching for a lens on ebay and found the old Canon FD 200mm f/2.8. Our collegue Metsavainio in Finland bought one of those lenses in 2008, gave it excellent remarks (round stars all over and no chromatic aberration) and took some great images with it: https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2008/02/first-light-canon-fd-200mm-f28-lens.html The good thing is that they cost less that 200 pounds on ebay (mainly Japanese sellers) and, because loss of astrodarkness has sent me into the yearly AP-buying mode, I have one on the way now (it only took it a week to reach Sweden and I may get it delivered today). The FD lenses were made for the old non-EOS Canon cameras (those with a roll of film inside) and the adapters sold for FD to EOS do not allow it to reach infinity focus (unless you buy an expensive adapter that contains some lens system), but that should not be a problem if attaching a CMOS astro-camera that has a much shorter sensor distance than a DSLR. I will need two adapters, one from the FD mount to EOS mount (very cheap), and one from EOS to T2. I have been unable to find any direct FD to T2 adapter. It only weighs 735 g (som maybe 1.5 kg with camera) and my plan is to have it as a piggy back on a RASA 8 to show what I am missing outside the RASA's FOV. Just have to figure out the best way to mount it.

Very clever and interesting Charles! Yes, I guess it is the combination of my Bortle 2-3 (SQM 21.3 - 21.6) and f/2 RASA that makes it relatively easy for me. In my old images of M81 & 82 with 5-6" f/7 refractors the IFN was barely detectable even here. 12 hours with refractors: 13 hours with the RASA8:

You are welcome! For imaging at night I suggest you put gain at 100 and offset at about 30. Sensor temperature at -15°C. 1 - 3 min exposures works fine on most objects.