alacant

Hi. Platesolve will get you to the target. Autoguide will keep it there. HTH

In APT it's called PointCraft. You take an image and the program will tell the mount exactly where it's pointing, update stellarium and generally relieve the trial and error tedium. Use it once and you'll never go back to anything else;) HTH and gets you automated. Cheers and clear skies.

Hi I'm assuming you have eqmod in which case you simply lose the hand controller. APT does automatic meridian flip but I don't know whether it will do an anticipated flip and then do either a cw-up track on the other side or wait for the object to catch up'. If your camera is to crash into the mount, the best way to be sure no harm is done is to stop the plan, wait for the object to pass say 15 minutes past the meridian, then platesolve and restart the plan on the other side. You can follow the progress across the meridian in stellarium. Then consider a mount extension to eliminate the possibility of the crash and in so doing get back to automated peace-of-mind- flip whilst you sleep:) Cheers and HTH.

Are they in high enough orbit to be visible at times when we're likely imaging?

Thanks for the comments. It was the halo [1] around that darn star which was the main problem. Individual frames show almost nothing in the surroundings but stacking does its job perfectly by bringing out the faint glow. In the end, it was GIMP's burn and dodge which came to the rescue. Cheers and clear skies. [1] Although most nights here are clear, being close to the coast we are dependent upon the airflow. Anything with an easterly component throws up haze, so a globular cluster with a foreground star was a poor choice for the imaging session.

Hi everyone This would be easy to process were it not for the alnitak-like fg star and was tempted by the layer mask route... Not sure we've got away with its taming, but have to love these type of clusters. Getting marginally better with each one. Maybe! Tips on your way with globulars most gratefully received. Thanks for looking and clear skies. 700d on 250p ~90m @ ISO800

Hi Does it have/have you attached a lens? If not it will be your telescope which does that job. Until the light is focused upon the sensor, what you describe is all that you'll see. Cheers and HTH.

Hi. If that puts the OP overbudget, there's a clone for around €90 for the colour verson. I have the mono version and alongside the zwo120, it's performance is identical. If you want to do deep sky too, just get something easy to cope with e.g. an eos 450d which has nice big light hugging pixels. HTH

CQ350 That dovetail clamp perched atop the electric connectors box doesn't inspire rigidity...

Tried with green but even the slightest touch gave it a mauve tint. This is with the red... and a side by side with this one...

Hi. Yeah. Should have kept one as a reference and used the same box to process the others. Tried the colour on my phone but nada. Gonna have a go side by side when I can get to a decent size screen.

This was an interesting comparison. We had 3 reflectors this weekend; 750mm, 812mm and 1200mm. The same target with each. Not an easy project when you see Scorpio and Sagitarius up for grabs whilst you're still only half way through! The aim was to try and keep everything the same. Looking at the colour, it's anything but:( Ah well... Thanks for looking and clear skies to all. ------- -------

Hi. Lovely shot. I had a go at the brighter stars. You also captured m4, just right of alpha:) Cheers

Hi. Good luck and do post your shot:)

Thanks vlaiv. So are we converting tif 0-65535 to jpg 0-255? Cheers

Hi everyone The histogram on a processed tif is nice and smooth. That of the same image converted to jpg is jagged. Could anyone give us a one liner explanation? Cheers and clear -new moon- skies.

Hi everyone m13 with a 6" looks about the same size as our m3 taken with a 10" so am keen to try the latter on the former; it should be getting closer to filling the frame. canon 450d 30x90s @ ISO400

Hi. Point at a bright star and use a finder. Rotate to any angle. It can also magnifiy the image. Even without a mask, you can nail the focus easily. HTH.

Hi. They all have CMOS sensors with smaller pixels. HTH

Hi. Our d40 has no usb camera control -did later version using a lead/adaptor perhaps?- but it does have a connection for an intervalometer. I think the d40x added facility to be able to control via a computer. HTH **EDIT good news: we've not tested it but it now works with APT. There's a cable available.

Ours has no usb or WiFi but it works fine with an intervalmometer. HTH

Hi. I'd stick with that: nice big pixels. IMHO if you went for any of the others, it would be for ease of software connection. HTH.

Hi. We once did an old refractor. Best to dismatle it, swab in 1% copper sulphate solution -sold as swimming pool fungicide- and rinse well with distilled water. Use one of these to shine through it over night every few months. HTH.

Hi. Oh dear. Too many variables? Suggestion: Lose the rpi for now and throw some decent resources at it. Get indi-ekos-kstars all on the same box; e.g. a laptop running ubuntu 18.04. Once you're familiar with it, then may be a better time to delegate parts of it -e.g. the indi server only on the rpi- to lower resource. +1

Hi. A cheap wratten #8 takes care of most of the blue without altering the rest of the colour too much. This is with a €100 ar80. Worth a go? HTH