alacant

It will help guide DEC without it having to reverse direction.

Hi. No.

Hi - Look at the numbers if and only if the images from your main camera are not to your satisfaction. - Adjust polar alignment to around 5' error. Cheers

Do Aliexpress do UK? To Spain, this seller ships from Europe. Just specify Europe and the size you want at the checkout.

Hi As you'll lose the ability to reproduce natural colour with the CLS anyway, how about a UHC? We prefer the latter to the -much more expensive- duo band filters. It gives a similar if not almost identical effect to the latter. The 2" version is more economical and does the same job. HTH

The pds springs are rubbish! We'd recommend replacing them with longer 1.6mm wire versions. 6 off, distributed 3 over the existing adjusters and a further three 'passive' over the lock screws. Collimation will then hold both between sessions and at any tube angle without having to resort (hehe!) to the locking action. Cheers

+1 But much improved already. It looks as though you have the focuser protruding too: 'D' shaped stars. 10mm or so cut from the end should do it. Getting there:) Cheers

if you're happy with what you have and have the time to spend with it, then absolutely no need to change. But as you'd isolated your main issue, I thought I'd point out that these days, FWOABW 'the point of no return' really can be effectively avoided. cheers

Hi For precisely this reason, we gladly allowed our pi trial to expire. Removing the distinction between linear and non-linear data by moving to StarTools was a breath of fresh air. Of course the dark art remains, but is far more under your control. In the end I suppose it's with what you're most familiar which counts. Oh, and lovely pelicans:) Cheers

+1 Get a proper adjustable eos-m42 adapter. Tighten the inner ring under gravity with the lens pushing down upon it. On our Tair 3s, take focus until the red halo predominates then back the other way tiny amounts until the red ring JUST disappears. Now tape the focus wheel securely. Use the click stop at f5.6. HTH

The rogue pixels are found at fixed positions on the camera sensor. Each group of 25 points is produced by the same hot pixel. Due to the dither, aligning the stars in each frame prior to stacking causes the pixel to appear to move. Of course, it remains at exactly the same coordinates on the camera's sensor.

Similar to AutoDev, but used mainly for combining narrowband data with RGB data. No more jumping through hoops trying to merge Ha with red etc... Details here. Cheers

Good idea. Especially with StarTools' latest NBAccent module. In fact, it maybe an idea to try loading just the red from this into the same.

Astro-photographers dwelling in m33 post it regularly on their forum.

Hi That's what i'd expect when not stacked with a clipping algorithm. A rough hot pixel count shows ~25 dots, corresponding to the number of frames. I'd increase the dither to around 15 pixels and check you really are using a clipping algorithm when stacking, e.g. Linear clip 5-4 works well for our dslrs even with the most stubborn satellite trails. Not sure what app you're using for capture but remember that although the dither is normally set for the guide camera, it must be converted to give the required movement on the imaging camera. Cheers and HTH

Ah, could you post a reference to what it's called English-trade-name wise? We get asked loadsa times, but only know the Spanish types. TIA

Hi Good shot. Nice colours. Don't forget to crop the edges to remove the stacking overlaps before going to Wipe and the subsequent AutoDevs. That should give you even more range and help remove the blue gradient. Cheers

Hi everyone Another one which works with a moon, albeit last quarter. Not as dim as we thought, but maybe we're looking at reports by visual astronomers. Thanks for looking and do post your dslr shots of the same. 700d on gso203 ~4-1/2 hours @ ISO800

Hi We're on aps-c dslrs. It's a 101% yes from us.

Hi We removed the clips completely and instead used neutral silicone sealant to hold the mirror. 6 generous blobs coinciding with the cork on the mirror cell and a little up the sides coinciding with the mirror clip posts is all you need. This has the added advantage of cleaning the spider spikes too plus it helps hold collimation between sessions and at all mount angles. Cheers and HTH ** Important: leave the mirror to settle on a level surface overnight before refitting.

+1 Decide on one or the other. Bias preferred here.

Hi Nice shot from what is a challenging setup. Well done. Should be great for smaller galaxies. 1000d, so best to lose the dark and dark-flat frames and instead go only with bias and flat. Dither between each frame and stack using a clipping algorithm. Flat frames aren't really optional though. (The aperture is set by the telescope, not in camera) HTH

You need the bleeding edge version. Don't worry. It's very stable already. If you can get some frames with a say a bi colour or UHC filter, so much the better.

AutoDev-decon-shrink the stars where you want them, then use Entropy to boost just the Ha channel. Try loading the red into NBAccent? Like the first one. Especially the stars. Cheers

If you want a cc and leave the focuser intact on a pds, then the answer is to use the gso cc. This cc moves the focus position away from the tube. Whilst the Baader and GPU leave the focus position intact, the sw 0.9 moves the focus position toward the tube. All three of the latter will give 'D' shaped stars unless focuser modifications are made, the sw being the worse culprit. An alternative would be to move the main mirror up the tube say 1.5cm and fit a larger secondary.