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Hi 2000D? Try losing the dark frames and cropping to remove the rectangle. I think It'll be cleaner. Cheers ** If you ever get stuck, we do quite a bit of processing in Bar 'El Casino' in Sella;)

Ah. OK. Last night, 3 - 4. Add moon, haze and cloud, 5 to 9. Atmospheric stability is probably a better indication of what to expect than how dark it gets though. Cheers

Hi I've heard of that but not sure how to calculate it. It seems to vary a lot with the moon, cloud and weather conditions. Last night was good. Dark -e.g. you could easily see Andromeda- but perhaps more importantly the guide stars were steady. Cheers

Hi everyone With the moon out of the way and seeing back to something allowing frames over three minutes, some bluish reflection stuff. Must admit to not knowing what to do to get these more to the front apart perhaps from duplicating the 3 hours we have ATM. Thanks for looking and do post your dslr reflection stuff. 700d @ ISO800

Hi everyone We have use of a small refractor for the long weekend. Not sure whether it is put to good use at this time in the lunar cycle, but anyway... Thanks for looking and happy new moon imaging. 700d ~4h @ ISO800

In Spain, new telescope sales are the lowest in the world, hence far more clear nights.

Hi The noise is probably not walking noise, rather artefacts left over from the debayer. I've seen it before on DSS using simple bilinear. Convert to fits -I'd recommend: Siril- and try the super clean RCD debayer [1]. The idea of another 4 hours will certainly help eliminate the little noise/artefacts you have; your manual dither is working well. Lovely shot. Excellent for just 2 hours. [1] no one can find it. It's here:

Hi Lovely shots. i see some 'D's and some triangles, so in this order and with a % probability 80:10:9:1, my vote goes to: Focus tube intrusion: saw about 10mm from the end which intrudes. Primary mirror clips too tight. Remove them and fix the mirror with silicone sealant instead or loosen them. The 2 element Baader suffers astigmatism: use the m48 connection with a 4mm spacer to give you around 58mm backfocus. Fine tune from there, usually further than the 58mm. Something else. Cheers and HTH

Hi everyone With the moon out of the way we were able try fainter fuzzy stuff. It looks as if there is some blue about to emerge. Surprised to see so often frames were being downloaded, we only noticed we'd set 3m instead of the intended 6m. Maybe that would help with the colour. Unfortunately and once again, although the sky looked amazing, the stars were bouncing around hellishly, offset in EKOS as best we could using 3s guide frames with a min-error 0.60". Thanks for looking and any dslr shots of the same, do post your experience. 700d nt150s. 4h @ ISO800

Hi Those look like debayered, resized and processed (as in simply to make them viewable by humans) thumbnails. If your software can't deal directly with Nikon raw, I'd recommend first converting to fits, followed by applying bias and flat frames before stacking. Using Siril. Then process it. Cheers and HTH

Hi If you want difficult, 1333 is ideal, although I think you're gonna need longer than 30s frames. But hey, try it. Overnight, you could get over 900 frames. Don't forget about disk space and processing power. Each debayered frame is well over 100Mb and you'll need a decent gaming machine to stack them. Great project idea though. Do keep us posted. Cheers and good luck.

Hi Neither. Just my rubbish do-it-quick-in-the-coffee-break processing! Cheers

Hi everyone This is one of those dark regions at the Perseo-Taurus border where you wonder how you ever found anything before goto mounts. It's a mush of dark stuff with few stars having the courage to punctuate the gloom. Not nearly enough time, but do post your dslr efforts if you've had a go. I think the only way with this one is to start snapping when it gets to a reasonable altitude north east and come back in the morning. 700d on nt150s @ ISO800

Hi everyone Withe the guiding bouncing around all over the place but in an ironically crystal clear sky, this must be our last pics-at-full-moon for this months. StarTools' SVDecon to the rescue. Thanks for looking. Back to fuzzy stuff this weekend. I think. Do post your dslr-accompanied-by moon images. 700d on nt150s 80min @ ISO800

The back focus is 75mm. With a DSLR, you need around 20mm between the t-ring and the shoulder of the GSO. The m48-m42 adapter I had took 5mm, so needing a 15mm spacer for the cc to become active. Better to lose the adapter and use a 20mm m48 extension to a m48 t ring. HTH

Hi everyone The next in our series of what-to-do-at-full-moon targets. Well, OK, 80% Gemini moon then. There's a bright star down left trying to get in on the act. I thought I'd framed to eliminate but... Probably δ Cassiopeiae. Anyway, it was high enough for minimal -but noticable- gradient from the moon below, in Gemini. Thanks for looking and do show your dslr full moon targets. 700d on nt150s: 90m @ ISO800. apilado: Siril

Either 15 x 100mm flat aluminium bar and an angle grinder or (easier) Two 5 x 100mm flat aluminium bar rivet and epoxy sandwiching a single 5 x 80mm and an angle grinder. Your local window frame guy will get the stuff. HTH

Hi Am completely with @Lee_P on going ahead, moon or no moon; gradients are easily removed these days. The first set of frames. Some lovely detail in the nebula. Keep adding those frames but be careful to keep the target centred. Cheers

Fit the correct adapter/extension tube, then focus on a distant terrestrial object by looking through the viewfinder. That should get you close enough focus to record stars in a few seconds or so. You may even be able to see bright stars on the camera's LCD but much easier using an app on your 'phone/computer. Fine tune the focus on a brightish star.

To see what's in front of the camera in real time -like on your 'phone- you must set live view. On a 450, that's the video camera icon. To see anything recognisable which is in front of the camera, you must also fit and focus a lens. Or telescope. Cheers and HTH

Hi Bin 2x2 at gain 95 looping 3s. Works for us with the t7m, 120 clone under INDI. Tested up to 1200mm. Align the prism along the centre of the long edge. Push it in gradually taking flat frames as you go until you see its shadow. Then pull away until the shadow just disappears. Focus the main camera on a well lit object -it doesn't have to be distant- during the day, lock its focus and bring the guide camera to focus. You may need a tiny adjustment under the stars. A helical guide focuser makes the procedure much easier. Use somewhere rich in stars. Cassiopeia is good ATM. Cheers and HTH

You may just be able to get the 72 with the not-really-optional corrector. If the latter puts you over budget, perhaps stick with the lenses. To avoid fat, coloured stars with cheap refractors and camera lenses, don't use a focusing mask. Cheers and HTH

Hi everyone Full moon, so time to put away your camera? No! There's still loadsa stuff to have a go at. Even wide-ish field. Getting a bit better with refractor stars. Thanks for looking and do post your dslr full moon stuff. 700d @ ISO800 ~ 2h

Hi If you're planning multiple sessions, simply leave the camera attached. If you really have to remove the camera, mark its position using adhesive tape applied to the interface between the camera and focuser that it be replaced in the same orientation. Cheers

Hi If you're using a reflector, I doubt you'll notice any difference. But a 1 1/4" filter is cheap enough to remove any doubt you may have. HTH