gorann

Interesting suggestion Valiv. Could it be that they whant that extra green signal since it coinsides with our visual sensitivity? In any case it seems difficult enough to convince the manufacturers to skip adding a bayer mask, so making them change it is probably just a theoretical possibility unless it in some way would enhance daytime photography (would it?).

This is a two-panel mosaic from three recent nights taken with the RASA 8 and ASI2600MC (79 x 5 min so 6.6 hours). The moon was up and just about full so I used the IDAS NBX filter, making this is a Ha and Oiii image. I enhanced the details of the main nebulae with a bit of Esprit luminosity data that I had from last season. I agree with @ollypenrice that this should be within out artistic freedom. All well known nebulae in Cassiopeia but not that often seen together. I like the band of dark nebulosity cutting through the image. If you want to know what is in there I include the plate solved low resolution image generated by Astrobin.

Thanks Dave! Yes, this was the first light with the RASA so I had not realized I needed to organize the camera cables in a circle, they were just randomly organzed. Now when they are in a circle I get no spikes.

Thanks Adam! For the RGB I used a mix of 60 s at gain 0 and 30 s at gain 100. (I was testing out the effect of gain since this was first light). So quite short exposures and I think that is what saved the core. I also took 50 x 10 s at gain 0 but I do not think I needed them or used them.

Thanks Olly! You are too kind! I just answered your question on the other post before I saw this. Yes, that is the full FOV of the set-up. No calibration frames used whatsoever, just a bit of Gradient Exterminator that easily fixed the slightly darker corners. That second panel is going to make an interesting CinemaScope framing with a lot of space to the left😉 This is what the 1 hour HaOiii image looks like - quite interesting on its own.

I just stared doing that. I posted my first attempt yesterday where I added the red (Ha) signal from the NBX dualband filter to an RGB image of M31 collected back in August. I have just bough a second RASA and ASI2600MC for a dual rig where one collects RGB and one HaOiii (or both RGB depending on target). I am just waiting for it to get a bit warmer here (-15°C now) to save my nose and fingers when I set it up.

Here is a recent example of a OSC CMOS image (ASI2600MC) I took with the IDAS NBX filter (dual band) under the last full moon and a RASA 8 (the sky was soo bright I barely could see Cassiopeia when I did a one star alignment). Totally 4.2 hours of exposures.

Thanks Steve! We both have Esprits and we both have RASAs, and one scope will excel over the other when it comes to targets. With my Bortle 2-3 sky (when the moon is gone) the Esprit 150 will certainly dig out more details on a steady night, but it takes a hell of a lot more time😉. By the way I really enjoyed seeing your Star GaZine talk. A great story with a very happy, and still happening, ending! I wonder if I ever had the stamina to do manual guiding.

Thanks, much appreciated!

Thanks a lot! Yes maybe I should print it. Haven't done that in many years.

Thanks a lot Peter! The depth remains to be seen😁 I should do a whole nighter with it soon when the moon is gone and the nights are long.

Thank you both, much appreciated!

M31 was the object for my first light with the RASA 8 and ASI2600MC back in August. Last night I finally got around to collect some Ha for it. Collected with a dual band filter (IDAS NBX) but I only used the red (Ha) channel. The data was added to the red channel in the RGB image as blend mode Lighten in PS. I think that the Ha clearly lifted the colours of the galaxy in a pleasing way. For the RGB data I have tried to tame the enormous dynamic range of this object so I could both bring out the outer dust "cloud" (presumambly made up my stars) that is often missed (or outside the FOV) as well as the details in the very bright core that is easily blown out. Data: RGB was collected without filter as a mix of 10 - 60 s exposures at gain 0 and 100, totally 2.7 hours. Ha was collected over 1 hour as 4 min exposures at gain 100. Stacked in PI and processed mainly in PS. Total integration time was 3.7 hours. I also include the RGB image for comparison.

Looking at your image again Adam, it struck me that the spikes look rather nice and at least not less attractive than the "inverse light house beam" stars produced by many Tak refractors, see for example this post and Olly's comment. If Tak owners accept such artifacts maybe you should not worry too much about it and see it as a signature of your telescope. However, I notice some chromatic aberration around your stars in the image. That is a bit surprising in a triplet APO with two ED glass elements so maybe it is caused by the focal reducer.

In my expereince almost all bright stars show a rather symmetrical ray pattern like that with any telecope or camera - it could even be of atmospheric origin. Maybe someone knows.

I have so far only had my ASI2600MC on the RASA 8 and I now looked through my images to find the one with the brightest stars, and it is probebly the one of M45, and I cannot see any such artifacts on the stars. It could of course be QC issues at ASI but my bet is on the optics. Gain 100, offset 30, -15°C, no filter.

Never seen it with my ASI2600MC or seen any reports about microlensing. Must be something in the optics. Have you seen it with any other camera attached to this scope? Was it cold? Could it be pinched?

I started off with a Baader 7 nm Ha and then bought a Baader 3.5 nm Ha and the improvement was clear (when used on an Esprit 100 with ASI1600MM as I remember it) with tighter stars and more contrast, just like what @ollypenrice says about his Astrodon 3nm. So when comparing the 7 nm Baader with a 3 nm Astrodon there is a clear winner. It may be that a 3 nm Astrodon is better than a 3.5 nm Baader but I have not seen any comparisons made. It could be that the difference is quite small.

If it is a tilt adjuster it must be one of the least accessible ones.

Thanks - very good to know! The M48 adapter is what I need. It will turn the QHY268M it into an ASI2600MM👍. The post says something about a tilt plate but someone here said that there was no tilt plate in the QHY268M.

Hi Fegato! Yes I would have thought that the weight of an EdgeHD8 with Hyperstar would be about the same and the RASA 8. Good luck with it! You find my RASA8 images on my Astrobin (URL below). I see that both Astroshop.de and TS have the scope in stock.....

This area on the southern tip of Cepheus contains Sh2-134 and 135 and some dark nebulosity (Barnard 173 and 174) as can been seen from the screen shot of Astrobin annotations attached, but also a lot more Ha structures that I do not have designations for. Maybe someone knows???? Shot under a pratically full moon last night and not the best seeing so of my scopes only the RASA could give me something to work with. Gear: RASA 8 wth ASI2600MC and an IDAS NSX dualband (Ha&Oiii) filter. Caught 47 x 5 min, so about 4 hours, before clouds moved in. Stacked in PI and processed in PS with a lit of PI tricks.

Agree and depending how long they are they could even cause spikes in the image on a RASA

The first recipient of a QHY268M has to tell us what came with the camera!

So now I have one on order 🥴 and need to find out how to attach it to my telescopes. I will use it on the RASA 8 so there I need a female T2 thread and then I want to use it with a filter wheel on my Meade 14" ACF, but I think I will stear away from the bolted wheel and rather want to screw on the filter wheel on a M48 or T2 thread so I do not need to take the wheel apart and unscrew all those small screws to get it onto my RASA. So I am thinking about a Starlight Xpress 5x2" wheel. How do you know that the camera comes with an M48 adapter? On the OPT and QHY sites it says Female M54x.75.