gorann

I see it now!

I cannot see anything moving either except the shaking of the whole image. So where and when should we look?

The latest generation of cooled CMOS, at least my ASI2600 (and most likely also the 6200), have no need for darks in my opinion. There is no amp glow (which I do have in my ASI071 and 1600) and the darks I have taken with the ASI2600 are just that, dark, so I feel they contribute nothing (except possibly noise).

Yes, I think you are right Rob. The iOptron brand has one from GSO that looks very similar, but with a different focuser.

I am also curious about what this telescope is. FLO do not manufacture telescopes and the scopes they have named Stella Mira are made by Long Perng in Taiwan (the same Long Perng refractors are sold in the US under the Orion brand), but they are refractors and Long Perng do not seem to make reflectors.... So what is the Stella Lyra?

🥴🥴🥴 Sorry for the multiple replies but my computer hang up - very embarrasing!!!

Thanks for advertizing my ATIK460 Olly! After reading this thread I have started thinking about keeping it, but I have too many cameras and someone else could make more use of it. So if anyone is interested in an unused ATIK460 at nearly half price please tell me😉

Thanks for advertizing my ATIK460 Olly! After reading this thread I have started thinking about keeping it, but I have too many cameras and someone else could make more use of it. So if anyone is interested in an unused ATIK460 at nearly half price please tell me😉

Thanks for advertizing my ATIK460 Olly! After reading this thread I have started thinking about keeping it, but I have too many cameras and someone else could make more use of it. So if anyone is interested in an unused ATIK460 at nearly half price please tell me😉

Thanks for advertizing my ATIK460 Olly! After reading this thread I have started thinking about keeping it, but I have too many cameras and someone else could make more use of it. So if anyone is interested in an unused ATIK460 at nearly half price please tell me😉

I love this thread! Regarding humidity and risk for the equipment, I would suggest you consider to insulate the obsy. At least my worries about humidity have made me insulate my obsies and I keep them at 10°C. Of course it means that you have to open the roof an hour or two before you start imaging. By the way, in you first post you say Bortle 3 and that SQM is 21.83 - that corresponds to Bortle 1 - cannot be darker! at least according to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bortle_scale) CS!

Very nice image Graeme! That little trick of Olly (which I also often use) made a nice improvement. Processing is much about learning tricks like that - one problem is to remember them.

Those weights are what SW may be listing but it also depends on what type of telescope you put on it. Newtons are light for their size but that means they act like sails so any wind will be a big problem. I think your mount could handle 14 kg of refractor so maybe even an Esprit 150, but a 14 kg Newton would be a challenge. Maybe some Newton owners that have tried it and could comment.

I agree with most things said here - I just made a hole in my wallet as big as yours but only got one camera for it😱. One thing, why are you planning to buy a 250 or 300 mm Newton? Maybe your mount could hold them up visually but I think most people would tell you that it can't handle them for imaging (although I have never tried myself).

I suggest you upload a raw sub here and someone can have a look at it. In that way we may find out if something odd is happening when you make the stack, or if the colour signal reaching your camera for some reason is very weak.

I use PI for this so I do not know what Blinked is. In PI the sequence is calibrate (with darks, flats etc) then debayer, then star align, then finally stack (called image integration in PI), and it seems you did it in that sequence so it should be ok.

Has the image been debayered?

Great image Graham, especially version 2! I am extra pleased to see this image since I bought the same flatfield quadruplet Apo (TS 71SDQ) from TS in February to use as a travel scope. Then, no travel happened, and we all know why, and I have not really got around to test it properly. It is made by Sharpstar and for some reason TS have stopped selling the scope which made me slightly worried. But your image suggest that the flat field works and you have nice round stars in all the corners, at least in your exemplar. I assume you are totally happy with it?

Sorry for maybe taking this thread off topic, but are you saying Valiv that software binning with CMOS is useless, but a good idea for CCD? Maybe I should keep my Atik460Ex that I was about to sell.

Very informative video @kirkster501. Thanks for posting it! This table shown in the beginning reveals why @ollypenrice benefits from longer subexposures with his CCDs than we CMOS people usually prefer. Longer exposures are needed with CCDs to suppress the effect of read noise. The recommended difference is almost 10 fold! At the end it also becomes clear that the most recent CMOS cameras that show the sudden magical drop in read noise when gain is increased (like the ASI2600 and ASI6200) works best with a gain just above that drop, actually increasing the dynamic range for the same total integration time. So for us with ASI2600 or 6200, gain should be set to 100 - nice to know I have been doing the right thing

Good point Ivor! Jm1973: you should go over your stack and find that one (or those few) with the star trailing and remove it (them) - and stack again. You are onto a good beginning!

Beautiful Dave! Wide field compared to my Esprit 150 version. Love the colours!

Yes, as @ollypenrice indicates OAG is really the only viable option for a SCT, especially with that focal length (I have an 11" and a 14" SCT and OAG on both). My only additional suggestion is that you go for the most light sensitive OAG camera you can get since finding guide stars with an OAG at a long focal length can sometimes be challengeíng, especially if you go for galaxies outside the plane of the Milky Way, where there are not that many stars. So I suggest you put in another 100 pounds and get a Starlight Xpress Lodestar X2 rather than the ZWO camera you suggsted. The Lodestar has huge pixels (8 times the area of the ZWO camera) so more in tune with your focal length and much more light sensitive.

Hi Vlaiv, that sounds reassuring. I got it from the FLO site where it says "The requirements shown below must be met if using non-ZWO 2” filters." and then shows a drawing: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo-accessories/zwo-7x-2-inch-electronic-filter-wheel-efw.htm

Has anyone with and ASI6200MM and the dedicated 5 or 7 position 2" ZWO filter wheel tried if 2" Baader filters fit? ZWO says in their info about the wheel that filters should be no more than 5 mm high (above the thread) and when I measure my Baaders they are 6 mm. I rather do not want to buy a whole new set and expect that Baader filters are a bit better than ZWO.