Bizibilder

Added another view of Venus to this years collection:

Slight change to my processing for these - using ImPPG for deconvolution - otherwise as before. Each pane is 200/1000frames, stacked in AS3!, sharpened with ImPPG and finished in Photoshop - (just the assembly of the panes, tidying up the edges and a tweak of curves plus a little sharpening). This is a monochrome image:

Details on the pictures: Six pane first: Now the large 40 pane one:

Excellent images - Like the enhanced colour version.

Very nice!

If you use your DSLR first make sure the video produced is in a format that stacking software can cope with - some formats wont work. However if you can go that route it is easier in many respects. P.S. I forgot - if taking single frames use RAW if you can - JPEG is "lossy" and can cause a lower quality final image. Having said that I usually stack DSLR JPEG's if I use that camera, although normally I now use a specialist video camera.

I would suggest taking as many single shots as you feel like with the camera and scope - i usually take about 120-150. Then stack them and process. This will give you a far better image than any single shot. Keep the ISO reasonable or the image may become noisy, A shutter speed around 1/40 sec or shorter should be OK. Don't worry about centering the image as freeware called PIPP will do that for you and crop the image as well - do this before stacking by the way.

First Sun image since May last year! Not many spots about and even today only one very tiny active area.

Not too keen on those adapters! M12 x 1.75 has a core diameter of 12-(1.75 x 2) = 8.5mm leaving 0.5/2=0.25mm of metal around the 8mm thread. I suspect it will snap!

That is a really good first pic of the Moon. Well done!!

A triplet from last night - 3 pane mono and 3x3 pane RGB taken using the ED120APO, ASi120mm camera, each pane 200 from 1000 frames. Processed in AS3, AstraImage (for deconvolution) and PS to finish. Also an image taken with a DSLR body (Canon 1100D) - a stack of 40 from 200 frames taken processed in PIPP for alignment, AS3 for stacking and PS to finish. (Please click for full size) Mono Mosaic: RGB Mosaic: DSLR colour:

Yes I had to do a bit of "colouring in" on the mosaic!

A couple of pictures of tonight's Moon - The first is a stack of whole disc DSLR images, the second a four pane mosaic using an Astro camera: Please note the images were taken in twilight: Please click for full size:

I used shed paint on my own observatory - Three coats as specified with the paint and then a coat every three years. It had it first "three year" coat last year and looks as good as new.

A couple of shots of Venus taken on two nights. ED120 APO, 2.5x Powermate, ASI120mm mono camera. Stack of 200 from 5000 frames. Images 150% of original:

Try focussing on something like Venus for a start (it is well placed around dusk as long as you have a view to the W or NW). As it is so bright you should see something and be able to focus on it (You say you can focus in daylight on a distant object so this should work). The slew the scope to a bright star and you should be able to see it. Whack the gain right up for a start and increase the exposure time. At worst you should be able to see a gray blob! Then go from there lowering the gain a bit at a time. Once you have the hang of it you should be able to slew around and find the brighter stars.

And have a look at Chris Shillito's You Tube channel - he has a whole series of tutorials from installation to advanced usage. Well worth the few hours (!) required to watch them all - you only need to watch the relevant ones as you learn your way around EQMOD.

We now have LED street lights and they do go off around midnight to about 5 am. Even when on they are not much of a problem. You can ask the council to shield the lights so you don't get direct light onto your property. I suspect you may have a much greater problem when all the new neighbours start installing their (in)security lights all over the place and leave them on all night!

Just a simple mono shot of Venus this evening - ED120APO, 2.5x Powermate, ASI120mm camera, 200/5000 frames taken. Image 1.5x actual.

Just to add that getting the whole darn thing carefully balanced will help. Just a little out of balance can make the motors very unhappy!

Tonights almost Full Moon - A nine pane mosaic each from 200/1000 frames through the ED120 APO and ASI 120mm mono camera.

A swift Venus image from this evening - 200/5000 frames using the ED120 APO, 2.5x Powermate and ASI120mm mono camera in truly awful seeing!* But it is my first Venus image for a few years so I'm happy with it. * The seeing was really bad as I had several laptop crashes which I eventually found to be caused by a dodgy USB cable. It meant that by the time I had sorted everything out Venus was down on the neighbours rooftops with the resulting severe boiling and heat haze.

How many revolutions will your EQ6 do in its lifetime? I suspect your generic bearings will be good for a few thousand rpm for many hours running time. If you install your bearings (any type) correctly and with the correct preload (i.e minimal play) and keep them properly lubricated, they should outlast the mount by a considerable margin.

Cheap second hand laptop with as many USB ports as possible! I used this company Morgan on several occasions (usual disclaimer).

Try Googling "Drum case". Seem to be some around £50 that are the size you require - They do both soft and hard (Fiberglass and/or moulded plastic) types. There will also be a second hand market for these that may be worth a try on the usual sites.