Demonperformer

3 hours ago, Paul2019 said:

I know what I have so far are no where near the same level

And you haven't been doing it for nearly as long! It is good to learn from others, but never compare yourself to them. If you do, you run the risk of simply trying to take their pictures, which will leave you feeling empty. The question should be, what do you think of the result? Does it show what you set out to capture? For what it is worth, I think it is a good representation of the area. There are so many DSO gems in the area that it is easy to forget widefield. After seeing this one, I would like to see what you would achieve with Cygnus with the clouds of milky way stars flowing through it.

What f-stop were you using? I know the temptation I always had with camera lenses was to open them fully to get as much light as possible, but even the "nifty fifty" benefits from being closed down slightly.

For AP, this is a good book. It does not say much about widefield, but the principles it lays down and processing advice are as valid there as with tiny subjects. My personal opinion is that, for imaging, the ed72 would be a lot easier that the 130, but by the time you factor in the flattener (for imaging) and diagonal (for visual) it will be quite a bit more expensive, so don't let me  spend your money!

4 hours ago, MilwaukeeLion said:

Can eat up space fast with this camera

Very true. One of the reasons I like the 'live stack' option in Sharpcap ... but that doesn't work too well with sub-second exposures!

This is a crater that took a while to grow on me, but the more I look at it, the more impressive it becomes. Your image captures its multi-layered edge well. And a great demonstration of the angled sunlight.

Definitely worth the wait. Nice result.

Agree with what has been said. I use platesolving with Sharpcap which puts the sync points in EQMOD. I have a list of bright stars at (roughly) 2h intervals at 30-60N which I use as my starting point. That way, I don't have to worry too much about how the scope is positioned on the mount after PA and can still get it within the required max distance for Sharpcap to do its thing.

On 05/07/2013 at 11:21, Jiggy 67 said:

how to find the star in a more recognisable catalogue

Does the certificate have a position (RA & DEC)? If so, it should not be too difficult to track it down and tell you (one or more of) it's official designation(s).

We're certainly not going to see it like the picture suggests without a telescope!

Hi, Flood, and welcome to SGL.

Enjoy the journey.

I have considered it, if only to get some data that I know is good to practice my processing.

From previous discussions, remote imaging seems to polarise opinion on SGL. There are those who say the image is yours because you have selected the target, capture details and processed the resulting data. There are those who say because you have not set up the telescope yourself it is cheating. My opinion: as long as you don't pretend that the data you get from a remote telescope it the Atacama Desert was taken from your light-polluted garden, I don't see a problem.

I do enjoy your images of 'obscure' planetary nebulae, Peter. Keep 'em coming!

And doesn't look like we shall have one this coming week either ...

I, too, quickly get bored with the CGI. I find the easiest way to "watch" things like this is to do something else at the same time and just listen to the commentary. Caught ep2 last night ... he did seem to be a bit obsessed with the idea of finding life, which I personally feel is a question that is never going to provide a satisfactory answer. This is because (1) I think there won't be any [science currently has no idea how organic molecules become "alive", so the argument that the universe is so big there must be life elsewhere carries very little weight with me], and (2) not finding it will not stop people saying "but maybe it is there anyway".

Just managed to catch up with the first episode yesterday - wasn't overly impressed, but will give the second episode a go (when time permits)

I think for that budget you are going to be limited.

It is possible to get quite good results on DSOs with a standard (unmodified) DSLR. For planetary, I thought the neximage was a bit overpriced. There used to be a lot of modified Toucams (Phillips) around that were good for planetary. I haven't seen many advertised lately, but it might be worth keeping an eye on various sale boards.

If you want to get a better camera for DSOs, I would recommend you wait until you can save up for one of the (for example) ZWOs.

Your unmodded canon is already blocking IR (and diminishing a lot of the red end of the spectrum as well!). If you have no intention of modding, then the extra IR blocking of the CCD version would just be duplicating what you already have. As such, I would make the decision based on cost ...

5 hours ago, MarsG76 said:

Well done.... challenge accepted....

 

I suspect it might be easier from Sydney, being a little bit higher ...

Some years ago, I tried to image this pair, but failed miserably. Maybe I'll give it another go.

It very much depends for which DSOs you are searching, but in general I would say lower magnification is better. Open star clusters tend to become less obvious as you lose surroundings (but conversely, smaller clusters do benefit from a bit more magnification). And with nebulae and galaxies, the light is spread out over a large area (low surface brightness) and a smaller magnification can help concentrate the light making it appear brighter. In addition, smaller magnification means that you can sweep more of the sky faster and is helpful for "star hopping".

What are you using to guide you to your target? Turn Left at Orion is a good source for some of the brighter objects.

Any indication of how much the "interchangeable" filters would be for the 80mm model?

Thanks.

Hi, Andy, and welcome to SGL.

I used nothing but a pair of 7x50s for decades. Still have them in my arsenal, and often get them out while the gear is imaging and just cruise the skies. Still come across new things.

The 200 dob is a great starter instrument. Is there an astro society near you (surely got to be one somewhere within striking distance of Bristol)? Before purchase, how about going along and seeing them. Societies often hold open "viewing" evenings when you would have the opportunity of having a look through various scopes. It would also give you a chance to see the physical bulk of some telescopes. I wish I had done that before purchasing a 10" dob (long gone now) ... totally unsuitable for my circumstances (although others get on with them very well). Nothing beats seeing a scope "in the flesh" for working out how well you will get on with it ...

Enjoy the journey.

I would hope a tracked mount is what is meant. Without any tracking, even 30s would be severely limiting in terms of focal length.

But you've got me thinking about PEC: apparently there are two sorts, one is dumb and the other reacts to what is happening "live". So, if you had been running an imaging session on an object, it would be learning what is happening to the mount in that session. This means that a sub taken at the end of the session would be more accurately tracked than one at the start of the session.

This is, as davew said, not as easy as it first appears ...

I am barely beginning to get to grips with CMOS ... I think I will join the "dinosaur" club and stick with what I have as well ... not that anyone will notice ...

An excellent challenge that could be a great "leveller".

A dark site is the astronomical equivalent of a unicorn.

50 minutes ago, noah4x4 said:

The only solution is turn off internal GPS  and use the hand controller for manual data input.

which defeats the whole object of paying extra for the gps system, surely.

Hopefully (?!) Celestron will be working on a solution ... although, as it was predicted, one might have hoped they would have produced a solution BEFORE it happened [sorry ... stupid suggestion ... where did i put my meds? ...]

On 16/10/2009 at 15:19, RobH said:

Gone are the days of the local ironmongers unfortunately, where you could buy nails by the pound, in eco friendly paper bags!

We still have one of those in Poole, Boones (they don't have a website but are listed on loads of the yelp-type sites). I can't praise them highly enough. They are the sort of shop you can go in with a nut and say "I want something that will fit this" and they find it and will sell you one. Brilliant.