Star101

12 x 120s Lum 6 x 120s RGB It was late, sun will be up soon. Lum sub 13 was white out with clouds... by sub 17 it was daylight. Taken last early this morning. I will visit this later, when its higher for more data. Thanks for looking. Dave.

Thanks. I am using the ZWO AOG and Lodestar X2 for guiding. To be honest, the prism is taking a small amount of light form the edge of the FOV. PHD2 only showed maybe 4 stars to choose from. I just chose the brightest. I doubt it was from the galaxies themselves though.

With no real plan, I used Cartes du Ciel to search the Eastern sky for something to image at f/10 2800mm. I found this group of galaxies. I searched the net could not find too much info. I noticed collimation is slightly out, focus could be better too but hey. As I sadi, no real plan ? 20 x 120s Lum 10 x 120s RGB C11, Mesu 200, ZWOASI 183mm Pro, Astrodon LRGB, ZWO OAG, Lodestar X2 guiding with PHD2. Pixinsight. Thanks for looking. Dave.

Lovely report. Niallk. Sounds like a great night. Congrats. Thanks for sharing.

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I managed to add 7 x 600s Ha

If it means cheaper camera's....I'm all for it

I used to keep my NEQ6 outside under a BBQ cover from B&Q ( see Avatar ) I never had issues. I would recommend trying to keep it over concrete or similar and not grass. The ground/grass does allow moisture to collect. This is not helpful to the mount. A patio/drive/solid floor will reduce the moisture. Having said that, over the three or four years outside, my NEQ6 never showed any moisture issues. The only time I brought it inside was when deep snow was forecast....and we all remember deep snow.......I saw it in the movies once ?

I am no expert in this...I just searched the net. So far I found this SPAD appears to be the latest name. I could be wrong. https://indico.cern.ch/event/522485/contributions/2145724/attachments/1282036/1937814/053116_FEE16_v1_corrected.pdf And an actual camera .... but not yet for AP ! And the pixel count is a bit low! This is 3D, it talks of 2D but I cant find that. http://www.everyphotoncounts.com/files/Datasheet_64x32_SPAD_camera.pdf I like this PF-SPAD sensor - https://arxiv.org/pdf/1902.10190.pdf OK, I know, its not Astrophotography, but its showing possibilities. for the "near" future! Hopefully, its not just an idea any more

Someone at my local astronomical society, when asked if they would move from DSLR to CMOS or CCD, mentioned they were waiting for some new chips coming out in the near future. I didn't get chance to ask any more. This evening, I did some surfing on doodle and came across this info. I was wondering if anyone has any more info or of any other technologies that may be appearing in the high street soon? Super sensitive chips Dave.

Used MorphologicalTransformation to remove a lot of the stars. I used a star mask to reduce the stars only half way then created a new star mask to finish with this image. I need to go over Adam Block's new method ....could be a while Hence MorphologicalTransformation will have to do for now ?

Hi Steve, The image does not have any Ha. I only took 3 x 300s Ha and then had some problem with amp glow while processing them. Maybe wrong Darks used! so decided not to use. I will get some more Ha data and try that. Thanks. A couple of weeks ago, Astroimmaging channel had Adam Block showing a new method of star reduction. I may go try both his method and MorphologicalTransformation.

NGC 6946 Reprocessed. It's amazing what a good night's sleep can do I used photometric colour calibration and avoided too much processing elsewhere. The file was too large so reduced it. Full image here . Thanks for looking.

Getting the correct title may help ? Fixed

SGPro, ZWO ASI183mm Pro, Mesu 200 PHD2, ZWO OAG and Lodestar x2 for guiding. 40 x 120s Lum 20 x 120s RG&B Processed in Pixinsight Thanks for looking

It is possible to set the SiTech II to allow the Mesu 200 to go way past the meridian by changing the overpole and underpole settings. Limited by cables and motor crashes!. ( I may try this this summer having thought about it as I very rarely image west. ) If you do try this, make sure the scope is put back Eastward BEFORE parking as the Mesu 200 will take the shortest route to park !!....Could push the cables a little too far!! As I normally only image to the east side of the meridian, LP is bad to my west, my current Mesu suits me fine. I would still be interested to hear how this new model compares.

Please clarify this for me, but wouldn't the image rotate if only one axis rotates? I'm sure Mr Mesu has thought of this and maybe both axis do move.

Congratulations to all. I did try this comet at several instances over the period but didn't manage anything that would stand close to these. Well done!

I first saw this image at Jodrell Bank last summer when I went to a talk at Bluedot. I think it had only just been released. Amazing image and the lines were very interesting. Possibly caused by magnetism, maybe!

Found this....As of posting 36 mins to go before broadcast. Hope its worth the wait ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=Dr20f19czeE

The near perfect all round scope for me is the Celestron C11 with a 6.3 focal reducer and Hyperstar.....Which I have all Focal lengths of 2800mm 1760mm and 560mm...And yes, with Hyperstar, M45 fits in FOV for imaging. All in one piece of kit. What more could ya want

Some good words posted here. I use SGPro at the moment. I will have a look at this software and may give it a go too...Especially if its free

I just did a search on Astrobin.com There are several images taken with the RedCat 51 APO.

What about Sony? ? Can't leave them out

Did you find the lens cover Gina? Did it just pop off or smash? I ask because I have same lens but it has condensation residue in the center of FOV. I was thinking of pulling off the front lens to clean and seal....But not sure if it would break in the process. Dave