alacant

Reverse RA does not change tracking. You have no park mode set. HTH

Hi Yeah, that's right; there's too much light. You need to be under the stars in the dark. You can connect the camera in video mode if you want to check it during the day, useful for getting close to focus on a distant object. You can do it directly in INDI or just swap the cables and use EKOS' capture. To test in daylight, just set the gain to zero. HTH

If you have not rotated the camera relative to the telescope between sessions, that's fine and probably what most of us do. If you find new dust has settled on the sensor, only then would you need to redo the flat frames. It only takes a few minutes anyway as you only need 12 or so of them. HTH

Hi. Nice image. I'm with @ebdons on the 2s+ flat frames (FF). Sometimes the screen refresh rate interferes with the shutter causing banding in the flat FF. You can check by stretching a few of the flat frames. BTW, the FF will not remove gradients but will go a long way to even out the image when you do come to process the gradient. HTH

Hi everyone Imaging alone for the first time in ages, it's strange not to have to translate every other sentence or have anyone else to blame or yell at! I managed 16 x 5 minutes frames before impatience took grip. Not ideal a 250p when you're alone, but anyway I was blessed with amazingly steady skies, albeit with some haze thrown up by the onshore easterlies. Had I not cut this short, I feel there's be more to be had in the outer bits. DUH moment: After having focused the main camera, calibrated the oag and plate solved, I realised I'd attached the camera 90º out; there are more galaxies to be had in the intended orientation. How do you remember which -according to ekos' plate solve or kstars' skychart- is 0º when you attach the camera to the focuser? I couldn't be bothered to turn the camera, re-calibrate... Anyway, without on the ground feedback or anyone to look over my shoulder, comments would be most welcome. Thanks for looking, clear skies and keep safe.

Ideal!

All non-reducing correctors are fine. The Baader MK3, the GPU, the GSO... HTH.

Hi. We started with the t-shirt method but found it hit and miss. So now use a cheap led panel. This gives far more predictable results. Exposure wise, Av should get you close with any metering. If you want to nail it, switch to M and adjust the exposure whilst looking at the histogram; get it somewhere near the centre. Slightly left of centre works well here with a 700d. To combat banding, go for at least 1s. Use grey card to dim the led panel if necessary. HTH

Hi everyone Just 6 x 5 minute frames before haze stopped play. Oh, and then the moon rose to illuminate the haze. Were it not for a big Newtonian, we'd probably have nothing. Strangely, the seeing and guiding was excellent, but when Arcturus is just about the only star left visible, probably time to surrender. Lovely cluster of galaxies -not the usual nondescript elliptical blobs-, stacked using Siril's magic performing percentile clip and rescued from the mud by StarTools. All comments, particularly when processing oxygen deprived data such as this, most gratefully received. From a sad, locked-down Alicante, thanks for looking, clear skies and keep safe.

That's a perfect choice for galaxy season and the cleanest Alnitak I've ever seen:) Great shots. Cheers.

If you can ship to Spain, I have someone who may bite. Do you have details/photos/prices? Cheers

Yes. It sums up much of what I feel too. I think big DSLR sensors with their rugged protective bodies which are designed for harsh conditions beat flimsy, temperamental cooled cameras with tiny sensors which cost three times more (catches breath!) in many respects. Cheers.

Hi. Yes, absolutely. It gives you a chance to check focus, guiding and seeing. If all is well, you can add the frames to the rest. Cheers

Hi For this one, I used StarTools. It's the quickest and best I know. AutoDev - bin -crop - wipe - Decon - colour - grain remove. In siril it's: crop - asinh transform - histogram transform - background extraction - colour calibration It's a nice image but there's not much data to be able to overcome the pollution gradient. Take more frames and you'd begin to see detail beyond that here I'm sure. Keep taking the snaps... HTH.

Hi Sorry to hear about yet another case of excessive street lighting. Anyway, perhaps no need to crop so much. I had a go at the background in Siril and GIMP but the .jpg doesn't have much to go on. I'm sure that with the linear image, you'd fare better. I sincerely hope that you succeed in getting that light removed. Good luck and HTH.

Hi everyone Full moon? Why not try some faint galaxies? This has to be the thinnest of them all. Field of view? No one laugh please; we have use of a big reflector for the weekend. Meanwhile this was the biggest we could muster. There is colour available but it means forcing it, which makes it look manipulated and takes too much time. I think the other blob in this image is quite well known. But not at this scale. Gradient galore. can't get the background:( Thanks for looking and all comments most welcome. eos 700d @ ISO800

Unless you're only intending doing video of the moon and planets, you're also going to need a coma corrector or other method to correct the field. There are no 42mm fit correctors AFAIK. The items to which I link are economical and are always useful to have around or buy a t to 1 1/4 adaptor and simply either cut the tube or use longer primary mirror bolts. HTH.

Hi This and -if it really is female m42- this will do it and bring the dslr sensor closer. If not, the next step is to bring the two mirrors closer. HTH

SW quattro equivalent with better build quality, aluminium tube and proper r&p focuser: https://www.bresser.de/es/Astronom-a-bresser/Telescopios/BRESSER-Messier-Tubo-optico-NT203s-800.html Don't stress about collimation; there's a lot of misinformation out there. You'd need to add a 1:10 fine focus and a longer, wider dovetail. The latter would be recommended for to the SW too. Still well within your budget however. Is that the sort of thing you're looking for? Cheers

Hi Canon 700d. We image all year, including summer where sensor temperatures can hit ~40º. We dither in between frames, thus giving around 30s of sensor inactivity. However, the 30s does little or nothing to the sensor temperature; you'd need a lot longer than 30s to do anything like in that respect. We go 5 minute frames all night with perfectly acceptable noise levels. Conclusion: don't waste precious imaging time by waiting. Just our €0.02 but HTH.

Hi. We have three. The 6" f8, 6" f5 and 8"-f3.9. A notch above the SW equivalents in all respects, especially build quality. Another advantage is that you can cut out the dealer and order direct. The German shipping and support is first rate. Examples with the one in which you are interested: here and here. The only difference being the three (rather than 4) vaned spider. Don't miss the current offer. HTH

Hi. Yeah, I think so. I'm with @andrew s on this. Anywhere near the meridian and equator for az then around 90° east or west of there for alt. Operatives being 'near' and 'around'. It doesn't matter if the guide telescope is aligned. It only takes a few minutes; there's even a cheat sheet for you to fill in;) HTH

Hi So it maybe, but way above average in dedication and the true spirit of the art. Superb shot. Well done.

Hi If you've an observatory to protect from the wind, I'd try the 200 on the new mount but I'd volunteer you'd have a lot more success and fun with the 130 on the same. SW 200s don't seem to have much resale value and come up frequently on the used market so -guessing- your price would have to be competitive. Or keep it and get an eq6 and a 130. Best of all worlds? JTOL, but HTH.

Hi. Answer in my post. Cheers.