MartinFransson

Very nice! I like that last edit the best.

Thanks Rodd! I put quite a lot of time on framing my subjects. Old habit from being a regular landscape photographer

Hmm, I actually had watched that video before but I thought there was a difference since he had an ED80 and I have a 150-PDS Newtonian. I also got confused by the bracket things not seeming to fit my focuser since they were curved. Now I see that his is as well and it doesn´t seem to matter. Might give this a go tomorrow Thanks for the help!

Are you sure it wasn´t due to temperature change of the scope?

Hi! I have a Skywatcher motor focuser (the same type that is sold under a whole lot of names): Now, all instructions I can find on Youtube etc show the attachment of this motor focus to refractors with a single speed Crayford. Could anyone help how to mount this to my scope? I´m not very good with these things 🤣 My focuser is the Skywatcher Dual-Speed Crayford 2-inch Focuser and the motor focus I´ve got is this one: https://www.astroshop.eu/motors-controls/skywatcher-auto-focus-system-for-telescopes/p,11469 Would that motor unit also be possible to control via USB from a computer? If so, how?

That´s a beautiful Eastern Veil!

I love looking at it too! Thank you! That means a lot!

This has been my project since the start of this season and now I think I´ll just leave it... for now 😉 I started last season (with a longer FL) but didn´t like how my Baader O3 filter matched the Astrodon Ha filter, so now I had to get a 3nm O3 as well. This is a total of: 60*5 minutes of 3nm Ha 114*5 minutes of 3nm O3. Shot with a ZWO ASI1600MM-Cool and a Canon 300/4L IS tele lens. The lens suffers from bad star shapes in the corners but I managed to get it decent anyway. Didn´t want to stop it down from f/4 either. Combined as a semi-RGB (or what to call it) from R=Ha, G=70%O3+30%Ha, B=O3. Processed it as LRGB using a combined Lum from 60% Ha L and 40% O3 L. I am really happy that I finally feel satisfied with a target! Usually I just get restless and move on when half of the data is collected. Hope you like it!

I think GIMP handles layer masks. Search for Youtube tutorials on it. It really opens up a whole new tool box!

Nice setup 😎 I use the same lens and camera myself (along with other lenses). I have the 300/4L IS version but I would prefer one without the IS. I sometimes have problem getting corner focus right at certain angles. Pretty sure it´s the IS-package hanging in there screwing things up.. That image will be a lot easier to process once you get more data. Looking good already.

I really like that second version and I do something like that myself, only I use less Ha and more O3 for the green channel. Great job!

If you apply layer masks in Photoshop or a mask in Pixinsight I think you could get both the core and the outer shell looking good. That´s some pretty darn good data you have there 😀

Now, that´s a LOT better! I was wondering why you had such posterisation. Those are going to be really nice when you add more data.

Go for it!! 😀 This one has strong signal in both Ha and O3. I was very surprised at how strong the O3 was.

Thank you! 😀

Following this! I started having problems the day before yesterday. APT locked up, I had to shut it down and when I restarted EVERY setting was gone. My location, file naming, everything. Since then I can´t get PlateSolve to work. It has no problem solving an image but when I go to Goto++ it solves the initial exposure, indicates how many pixels from target it is. So far so good. Then it just does not work. Sometimes it solves the second exposure and indicates the number of pixels from target but then it just throws an error message, something about "RunTime Error 6 Overflow" or what not. I deleted Platesolve 2.28 and downloaded it again but does not help. Before I did that I got another error message. Not going to hijack your thread but will look for anything that might help me out

Last night I finally managed to get some more O3 data for my Cygnus Loop image. Despite being captured during full moon (Ha) and 80% moon (O3) the faint structures are visible. I guess those 3nm filters really do work! 94*5 minutes of Ha 66*5 minutes of O3 Zwo ASI1600MM-Cool + Canon EF 300/4L IS lens @f/4. Processed as bicolour with synthetic green from 30% Ha and 70% O3. Unfortunately I´ve got weird star shapes in the outer parts of the image due to the lens I used, but I might make a separate stack with just the best subs for stars or I might replace them with RGB star later on. Still very happy with this one!

Thanks! I use ZWO EOS Lens adapter for EFW. https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/product/eos-lens-adapter-efw-asi1600

I got one more night of Ha imaging on this area. Moon was darn near full but together with the rest of the data it turned out really well anyway. Got my focus spot on so the details really tightened up. Very happy with this one. Now I only have to get as much (or more) O3 data. Go away, moon! 🤬 60*300s Ha (Astrodon 3nm) ZWO ASI1600MM-Cool Canon EF 300/4L IS lens

That´s just beautiful! Superb editing as well!

63 hours is nothing short of amazing! How do you add the RGB stars to get a natural look?

You should be happy with those! But I see that you suffer from the same condition as myself - the inability to stay on target 😀 Instead of just keeping the camera pointed towards one target I keep trying to catch as many as I can. For you, especially using an uncooled DSLR and with light pollution, increasing the number of subs will make your data a LOT easier to process. Next time, try to go for at least 80-100 of those subs on a single target and see what that gets you.

That is insane! What a stunning image!

I do use it wide open. Was thinking of stopping it down to get better star shapes in the corners but didn´t think of the diffraction spikes... might have to rethink it :)

Thanks! :) 3 hours is correct. Feels like I would need at least the double. On O3 only!