Nigel G

Last night started very clear then started to slowly mist around 1.30 am. Very misty at 2.30 so packed up, by 3am gin clear, but already packed up. After the strip service the mount performed great, very smooth, the best yet, 8 minute subs no problem, all keepers. A DSO I have always struggled with is M31, never get the detail I want, the colours are a nightmare. I have imaged this many times and never been totally happy. I took 1 hour of 4mins 1 hour of 6mins and 40minutes of 8mins. Total 2H 40m ISO800 non modified 1300d with CLS filter, 80ED, dithered, flats and bias. Still struggling with colour but the detail is coming, going to try for more tonight, maybe without the CLS filter if its clear. Took some more on m45 but still has bloated stars, got to process it yet. 2 attempts at processing, just can't get the colours right, although it is my best effort yet. The first image was stacked as long exposures, expected good S-N ratio, a setting in DSS, it seems to have made a difference for the better, showing a little more detail. Nige.

Here is a great forecast for tonight, even the dew point will not be reached, hmm well its still total cloud cover atm. Best thing is not to get your hopes up and end up with great disappointment. I knew I shouldn't of stripped and serviced the mount. There's always a positive side to everything, I didn't raise the shutter count on my camera

First night of a long cloudless weekend, went to bed at 1.45am still waiting for the clouds to pass, got up at 4am still cloudy, Sun came out at 8am then quickly hid behind clouds.

I planned to use 2 wrapped in a lightweight tea towel an held on the scope by an elastic band.

The weatherman has promised uninterupted clear sky's from 4pm today until 7 am Monday morning, I have stripped and serviced the EQ3 and blown the dust from the scope lens, checked everything over and over, all batterys fully charged and chargers ready. Everything is ready to go and the clouds are clearing the sun is out. New bottle of Jura Superstition ready to open. Its going to be a long weekend I hope. I hope you have a similar forecast. Edit, I'm going to try a few of these wrapped in a tea towel and wrapped around the scope for a temporary dew heater. Any reason why not before I try it ?? Nige.

I have had another try at processing M45, seem to have reduced the mottling, Its the noise reduction in StarTools that starts it. Still not 100% happy because of the bloated stars, hopefully over the weekend will be clear and good seeing, I need to start new data really. As I reduced the background, a clear transition from black to blue started showing, this was not masked. I may have over done it with the contrast. Nige.

I have missed something What is Olly's way of fixing mottling ?

Thats a better image, better colour which picks out the galaxy's.

Nice image Neil, quite a few galaxy's there too. I had my scope aiming at M45, I have been waiting for this to be in view, my aim is to get a few hours of clean data, last night was not that good seeing, resulting in bloated stars. But still I captured more gas than expected. AND ITS NOT RED Hopefully tonight will be better, the weekend is looking great here, fingers crossed Modified 1200d, 80ED, EQ3. 1 hour 52 minutes total of 240s and 360s ISO800. First process. Cheers Nige. Edit, added second process. Second try, processed a bit different. A bit more noise but for a bit better image I think.

That's a fact I took one last night and entered it in the Lunar challenge Nige.

A friend of mine observed a couple of bright Orionids this week, supposed to peak 20th 21st of October. Possibly a good challenge but would obviously need to start asap, as a new challenge has already started might be too late. Nige.

Unmodified DSLR DSO challenge, Nige.

I had not seen these images they were on a new page. very well done Mikey. You've had some good nights Nige.

Great Andromeda image, very good detail, tight stars, well done Nige.

A couple from last night, A bit of trouble with PHD2 and M17 The Swan a low target, dumped 50% so only finished with 12x120s. Moved to the Soul Nebula and much better guiding, finished with 24x240s. Sorry about the red ! Nige.

Sorry I'll change the processing a bit or

Very good first attempt Peter, especially with a non modified camera. Not sure about the line either, green, a comets path ? is there anything moving through the subs? Nige.

Oh wow, that's bad luck, Our weather has been pretty poor but still had 3 or 4 nights a month. Try swearing at the clouds the last 2 times I swore to the clouds ( quite bad language too, can't repeat here ) they cleared off. Good luck and I really hope you have some clear nights soon. Nige.

Thanks This is natural colours, the dominant gas is Hydrogen, just a little enhancing in StarTools, My camera has been self modified which gives it a better red response, and a CLS CCD filter is used to reduce light pollution and improve natural colours. Nige.

Ah the right thread Sorry Bob, I posted this by mistake on your NAN thread NGC 7000 2nd part of 2 panel mosaic. So I managed to get just under 2 hours of 240s last night on this image at ISO800 to add to my first image from a couple of months ago. It has turned out much better than expected, both images blended in well. Modified 1200D, 80ED & EQ3. Cheers Nige. And both images together.