Demonperformer

Hi, Rich, and welcome to SGL. You are in for a steep, frustrating - but immensely satisfying - learning curve with AP. Enjoy the journey.

Hi, Domer, and welcome to SGL. As you have discovered, AP has a steep learning-curve, but it is worth sticking with it. I would be quite happy with your MW shots. Enjoy the journey.

I used to use the SE mount for imaging and so appreciate your limitations. More data will always help, but the problem with any Alt-az mount is that you start to get field-rotation, so only the central part of the image is useable. I think you will be more impressed if you try some open clusters rather than nebulae ... you can get better results with shorter integrated times. There are some nice ones in the Sgr/Oph region.

Hi, Tony, and welcome to SGL from another "BCP" member. Enjoy the journey.

Some DSLRs (eg Canon) have the option for a clip-in LP filter.

Me too. Happy birthday, Gina.

Hi, Adam, and welcome to SGL. I'm about 40km west of you, so in astronomical terms that's quite close (4.228x10-12 light years). Enjoy the journey.

OK, I hadn't checked the magnitude. Sitting between 22 & 25.3, I guess it does take quite a big scope to record it, so your point is well-taken. I remember reading a few years back about a similar-sized asteroid that was discovered four days after it's closest approach to earth. If I was going to worry about this sort of thing at all, I think this would be the concern of choice!

This is the one I have. My first couple of results can be seen here, but others have done a lot better on here.

Single-band filters are best used with a mono camera as they are letting through just a single wavelength and mono cameras are more sensitive. The duo (and to some extent triad) filters work on a colour camera because they are capturing different wavelengths on different colored pixels. With the duo filter you can separate these wavelengths - basically, the red channel is Ha and the green and blue channels contain the Oiii. The triad filter adds another wavelength, but it is really just "muddying the waters" because (1) you cannot separate it and (2) you are spoiling one of your others. If the third band is Sii, that is red and it is mixed with Ha, if the third band is Hb, that is mixed with the Oiii.

Nice capture, particularly as this is not the best time of the year to be imaging this part of the sky.

Congratulations. You have some enjoyable nights (as well as a few frustrating ones!) ahead of you.

Hi, Dummy, and welcome to SGL. I have a pair of Celestron 15x70s which I find don't hand-hold at all well, but I find a cheap monopod more useful than a tripod. Seated, with the monopod leaned back against one shoulder, I find that this is a very stable, but easily moveable, combination. Sorry I can't offer an opinion of the Meade bins, but I'm sure someone will be able to advise. Enjoy the journey.

Mind you, I guess it does to some extent depend on the accuracy of the reporting. I'm not sure 'the register' counts as top-of-the-range reporting.

If it was supposed to be so damaging, I'm surprised no one has bothered to keep an eye on it after its discovery. But I guess we should at least be encouraged by the fact that they can't find it in the dangerzone.

Very nice result of the "velociraptor" nebula. IMO sii doesn't add a great deal to this nebula - maybe a bit of rgb for the stars.

If you get a small telescope you are still going to have to drag the mount out into the garden. For years (decades!) I used no more than a pair of 7x50s and you can't beat them for a "grab'n'go" setup. You could possibly compromise and get a pair of 15x70s (got my pair from FLO for about £50) - these are bigger and so will show you more, but are heavier and I don't think they hand-hold well (others may disagree) but I use a cheap monopod while seated and get some very nice stable views.

This would leave me with no confidence that I was getting the best deal from them. I would have been more impressed if they had included that discount when they sent the renewal in the first place rather than waiting for you to tell them you had been considering going elsewhere ...

Collimation nothing to with the finder - Ensuring the primary, secondary and eyepiece are all aligned along their central axis.

Hi, BradO, and welcome to SGL. We;'ve all done silly things ... As Geoff says, your budget would help. Don't worry ... you will find us very efficient at spending your money Enjoy the journey.

Hi, Space admirer, and welcome to SGL. I'm guessing when you talk about "magnitudes" you are referring to different eyepieces (magnifications?). This would certainly rule out it being a problem with a particular eyepiece. My first thought is that something has gone wrong with the collimation of the scope. Your manual will have instructions on the precise adjustments necessary for your scope model. Enjoy the journey.

I have one of these (although not used since I got the neq6 working). The only thing I found to help was to hang a "weight" (aka bag of dirt) from under the tray bit. This lowers the centre of gravity and helps a bit ... not a particularly big bit, but noticeably, so might be worth trying ...

start in the top left - one, two, three, ... this may take some time ... The cluster is standing-out nicely against the background stars.

And that's when you are "speechless" Seriously, I know where you are coming from ... Saturn tends to have that effect on people - certainly did on me. A moment to treasure.

I would agree with this. You say the quality of your images "feels horrible", but this could be down to any number of things, including your post-processing and no amount of new camera would solve that. A copy of this book is worth getting. Tons of good advice from someone who actually does imaging. Posting images will enable more informed feedback/advice.