Nigel G

I managed to get only 30 minutes imaging last night before cloud and rain started. A very quick pack away and 5 minutes later the sky was crystal clear, but didn't set up again. I checked focus after 20 minutes and still spot on. After last night's efforts I only added 15 minutes of data to Rosette, Nige.

Ken Glad your auto focuser is now working properly. Normally focus just the once, unless I change orientation of the camera or change the battery. Must check and see if it changes. Might get a chance tonight and to get some more on Rosette as the rain has stopped and clear patches are showing. Cheers Nige

A quick adjustment to the shadows, I don't know if I've over done it or not cos I can't find my reading glasses atm.? might be room for more. I will reprocess again soon, got the Crescent next. Nige. edit, found glasses, don't like.

hope this helps

Second image from last night. Orion and the Running man. 40 minutes of 30s and 45s, flats and bias, modified canon and CLS filter, ISO 1600. 150p. DSS & ST I love the colours but it seem's to lack some detail, the star bottom right started to over power the nebula and took some filtering to tame. The running man is showing nice colours, Cheers Nige.

Nice first stack, especially with a barlow, well done. 30s is fine, I have had up to 2 minutes with no star trails before, regularly use 60s exposures just tend to throw 50% away. Which scope do you have, I made modifications to the focuser to get prime focus. I have a skywatcher 150p. Nige. Edit- just seen your text and scope.

Thanks. I may have been a little aggressive but my wife liked this one it is my first go, many more attempts to come

First image from last night. Horsehead and Flame nebula, 45 minutes of 20s and 30s. flats and bias. modified Canon with CLS filter ISO 1600. DSS & ST. turned off hot pixel filter in DSS to try and prevent star issue. Flats worked very well and gradients low, quite nice to process. I know I can do better, tracking was not at its best last night so I kept frames I would normally dump. First original unmodified camera, 2nd modified camera for comparison. Similar exposure times. Cheers Nige.

It all seemed to go well until light cloud at 11pm as weatherman said. Got a bunch of 30s and 60s on the Crescent nebula, a bunch of 20s and 30s on HH &Flame, about 40 minutes on Orion but didn't get any on Rosette. Rosette was my 11pm target maybe get another chance tonight, but I'm not waiting to long. Nige.

Great first mosaic Ken, well done. Lucky you were using Alt-AZ kit to get the rotation I have often thought about a mosaic of 135mm images around Orion and Monoceros but keep chickening out. You have inspired me to do it. Now do I put it at the top of the list or hmmm, I have two unfinished images Rosette and Crescent and two to image HH and Orion. Crescent is fine as that's an early start. I have 2 of the mosaic already, but I really want to continue with Rosette and start the other 2. My mind is made. Weatherman said clear sky's tonight Cheers Nige.

If I win the lotto I'll buy you all the camera of your choice and a big yacht for me. Hope your promise of clear sky's is happening, bit cloudy here atm. Cheers Nige.

I hope you win the lottery Steve Happy Christmas all. Nige.

Thanks Ken, I'm going to look at the hollow star issue and find the cause, as you suggest, it's not focus, it has to be in the stacking settings, I need to adjust the hot and cold pixel removal or disable it completely to see. Hoping for a gap in the clouds shortly Nige.

Thanks Ian, I'm looking forward to be able to gather more frames Could be a slot tonight between the cloud. Nige.

Another short session last night, I set up, got target in position, first sub blank reddish image, look outside and , clouds. 30 minutes later a gap. Quick to start getting subs, it lasted 14 minutes. so got 12.5 minutes on Rosette with my 150P, modified canon with CLS filter. 25x30s with flat and bias, ISO 1600. For only 12.5 minutes, I'm pleased but I need to get at least 30 minutes a night for 3 nights on each object. I'm getting data on 3 targets over several sessions to try to reduce crop sizes, at this rate it will take me a decade, blooming British weather. This is a quick stretch before going to work, no detail work has been done. Nige.

CLS CCD clip in filter for canon cameras Nige.

I had a similar episode last night although I managed 15 minutes before the cloud came. I used the 150p, modded camera with LP filter, then took a couple without the filter when I saw the clouds arriving just to see the difference. NGC 6888, Crescent Nebula, 30 x 30s Canon 1200D modified & CLS CCD filter, ISO 1600, bias . no dark or flat as I packed away before remembering to take any. I need to and will be adding more to this. I have posted the single 30s subs with and without. The better one is with LP. Nige.

Thanks for that , I was wondering how to approach the issue I'll have a look. Nige.

Thanks Ken. Funnily enough I had upped the hot and cold pixel detection in DSS, that's got to be the answer. Cheers. Nige.

I have reprocessed Rosette taking a bit more time. Found quite a bit more detail and better colour. The hollow stars seem to be coming from either my lens or during stacking ? Repairing the stars then tightening in the magic module gave this result, a vast improvement on the first process. As theres only 30 minutes of data I also got almost full frame image. I have posted both for comparison. Cheers Nige.

I have gimp which I have never used, also have PS 2 old version which I have limited knowledge of. A good time to learn ☺ Cheers Nige.

I need to check the original subs to see if its the lens or a processing step causing the star problem. It looks like its there when first stretch is applied. With the modded camera I have used shorter subs, 30s on orion and 60s unmodded, I think this is why the modded images are sharper, the H&S has just 58 x 20s subs and is a ton better than my first effort. The CLS CCD filter seems to dim the stars compared to no filter and give them a blue tint, I'm reducing the colour saturation by around 75% with the modified camera. It is without a doubt gathering much more Ha.... With the original Orion I had to mask all the nebula's and isolate them in ST, but with the modified, no mask is needed. Cheers Nige.