alacant

2 hours ago, mikey2000 said:

I'm just wondering if it can be improved further....

Hi. Have you tried PHD2's PPEC? Set it to begin at whatever pecprep indicated as the biggest -as in most intrusive- PE and allow it to home in over a worm cycle or two. HTH.

24 minutes ago, Nigel G said:

have you ever done this

Yes. There's a discussion on the st forum. Ivo doesn't want to second guess with an are you sure, so we must be careful. I think it's something you only do once though!

23 minutes ago, Nigel G said:

Exactly that happened

Ah, glad I got that right! Trying to imagine where it is for you at UK latitudes. I think the bubble will be higher for you whereas m8 would be higher for me...(?)

15 minutes ago, Nigel G said:

I'm pleased with the result

I would be. Excellent shot. It also stands up to enlarging. I can id the bubble and the cluster but what's the nebula toward the bottom?

10 hours ago, Nigel G said:

attempting to image the bubble and then the lagoon nebula

Suggest vica versa? Certainly from here, the lagoon would be too low after the bubble was at a decent altitude. HTH.

9 hours ago, icebergahed said:

£700 on a ccd to do any deep sky

Hi. I don't agree with that (sales talk?). I have a dslr which cost far less than half that; it works fine for deep sky stuff.

3 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

some are using the tripod but not the telescope

+1. Start with just a camera. HTH, clear skies and good luck.

35 minutes ago, bobro said:

you may have a change of view when you see a fairly typical guide graph below

Look at the photo -it's fine- NOT the guiding graph!

8 hours ago, wimvb said:

10 degrees?

10'?

12 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

get rid of a lot of backlash in DEC if I am to image high up

Hi. When you have it as good as possible, offset the polar alignment by say, 10º in AZ. DEC then drifts and has to be corrected, but in one direction only. The motor always turns the same way for the correction; no backlash. Works as close to the pole as ngc2403, haven't tried closer -I don't think there is anything. HTH.

8 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

correcting collimation will put the light patch in the middle

+1. BUT just a heads up that before the OP corrects the collimation, he should take flat frames with the existing collimation, otherwise the 'light patch' will not coincide. HTH.

2 hours ago, Peco4321 said:

oval area of lightness on my images and looking back over all my pictures this is fairly consistent

Hi. I believe we know why that is. However, before you correct that, take flats AS IT IS to help correct this image. HTH.

2 hours ago, Peco4321 said:

only got a laser to check not Cheshire

Hi. OK, hang the camera on the laser then. If the beam stays put, you're fine. 

6 hours ago, Peco4321 said:

a lot of my images having a lighter patch in that area

Hi. I think you have to be more systematic. Again, JTOL, things you can try whilst it's still cloudy:

Does the collimation change as you tilt the telescope tube?

Does the collimation change if you hang a weight the equivalent of your camera on the Cheshire?

Is the primary fixed in its cell or does it float from side to side?

Does the primary have strong enough springs to hold it for ap?

Is the secondary correctly aligned for twist and tilt?

Does the secondary move when the tube is tilted?

Is the secondary spider centred in the tube?

Does the collimation show the correct offset whilst looking through the Cheshire?

HTH.

10 hours ago, bobro said:

out of collimation?

Hi. I think so and/or tilt although it doesn't show the FWOABW light leak I mentioned. Maybe just my inadequate processing. Here's the master flat showing the tilt... HTH.

53 minutes ago, Peco4321 said:

What could be causing that, or maybe just the full moon?

Hi. How does -the stretched- master flat frame look? That may help us diagnose moon or not...

7 hours ago, Peco4321 said:

try this one @mikey2000, I had already started the DSS run before changing any setting but 50mgb not too bad.  If no good, I'll stack again tomorrow, need sleep as was out till 0300 this morning, thanks.

8th Julywith flats no processing.TIF

Here's a quick look at your stack with StarTools in big-hammer mode There is colour... I think the main problem is gonna be the gradient bottom left to top right and what could be a light leak top centre. Certainly doable though  HTH.

33 minutes ago, Galen Gilmore said:

only 3 mins of exposure time

Amazing. Just imagine if you took 2 and stacked them. Almost twice as good; take loadsa snaps, stack them and see how the image improves. HTH.

Everyone say's I'm crazy: AP with a 6" f8 on a rusty old eq6? But hey, you can snap the ring nebula without having to put an arrow showing where it is!

17 minutes ago, Susaron said:

Which object is this?

Hi. ic5067 nebulosa del pelicano. HTH.

Moon again. Last night of this sort of deep sky stuff for a week or so. Oh, and that awful halo-ridden aliexpress cc...  3 minute snaps with 700d.

2 hours ago, Peco4321 said:

unscrewing the polar scope to rotate a bit to match up with the constellations makes it wobble quite a bit

Hi. No. Leave the polarscope tight. Rotate the RA axis to the 6 o'clock position. That is when Polaris is at the top of it's orbit. Clamp RA. Now rotate the RA scale to whatever time Polaris transits. E.g. today at Alicante,  

 Polaris                                       
     
                                      alicante                                       
                  Location:  W  0°38'00.0", N38°00'00.0",     0m                   
                     (Longitude referred to Greenwich meridian)                      
     
                        Time Zone:  2h 00m east of Greenwich                         
     
      Date               Rise  Az.       Transit Alt.
     (Zone)                                                                  
                          h  m   °         h  m  °          
2017 Jul 01 (Sat)        ***** ***        10:17 39N        

Then, when you're ready to align, rotate the RA to the current time and adjust alt-az to put Polaris in the small circle when looking through the guidescope **EDIT: polarscope. HTH.

On 2017-6-24 at 22:12, al-alami said:

The moon two nights ago

Hi. Nice shots. JTOL; I wonder for the earthshine it would be possible to scale both shots and then layer them? It may make an interesting shot.

I've run out of excuses. Maybe we should have a tick list for each post: cloud, rain, cold, hot, hazy, owl, time, tracking, filter...

So how about it was hot, dark, late, sticky and noisy. Not had those for a long time. But seriously, any comments here most gratefully received. TIA and for looking. 24x150s.

With turbulence over the southern horizon rife, the 700d sensor at 38º and the smoke from the San Juan fires, it was StarTools' superb deconvolution to the rescue. There's noise but it's bearable, as isn't the chromatic aberration from the cheepo cc making it look like it's been taken with an expensive refractor;) Thanks for looking and cool clear nights.

3 hours ago, Igwiz said:

I have changed cameras from a 314L+ to a 460EX

I'd guess the latter needs extra inward focus. Also, the swcc needs an extra 11mm of inward focus -compared with the focus position without cc-  pulling the focus tube even further into the light path. HTH.

3 minutes ago, Igwiz said:

 DOn't want to unnecessarily cut the tube!

Apart from using a GSO coma corrector -which spoils the nice wide field- the only solution I found. HTH.