geoflewis

Well done Dave, whatever you think, it’s a very nice result and the tidal tail is showing, even viewing on my iPhone. Does it show better if you raise the black point a bit as the sky background looks pretty dark (on my phone that is)?

Looking at your original post again, the downloaded image in SGP (bright grey in the background) appears to have round stars, so what length exposure was that one? Also the period of the PHD2 graph is pretty short as I note that you're using 1s guide exposures and the graph is at only 100 guide pulses, so less than 2 minutes. Have you used PHD2 log viewer to read a much longer guide session to see if the guiding holds up over a longer period?

PHD2 should be able to manage 609ms backlash easily. Run the GA and accept the recommendations for backlash compensation. PHD2 will continue to monitor backlash as it guides and update the compensation based on real time feedback from guiding. Be sure NOT to have any backlash compensation set in the mount as that will throw PHD2 off.

Sorry, I'm not sure, but I'm thinking flexure, but that is less likely with an OAG, unless there is flexure between the OAG and imaging camera. An imaging camera gradually sagging would be one type of flexure, but that would have to be in relation to the guide camera, so it would be worth checking that everything is tight there and that the cable to the guide camera isn't too tight and straining the OAG union. I asked partly to eliminate field rotation, coma, etc. which won't give elongation in the same direction across the FOV.

Ok, goodnight

Is the elongation in the same direction all over the image?

Hmmm, that's definitely a head scratcher. How long are the individual exposures?

Yes, that's not what I'd expect from the guiding stats. What scope are you using and are you guiding via a guide scope, or OAG?

It looks pretty good to me. RMS is well below 1” with RA and DEC pretty even so hopefully you should be getting round stars.

Lovely report of a fine observing session Paul.

Yes Miguel, I prefer the lighter background and less saturated colours. The detail is still there when viewing under zoom, so it was definitely worth reprocessing

I thought I'd give London a bit of a lift...... 🙄

Thanks Helen, great fun playing with this on what is a gloomy slow day 😁

An amazing image Emil, the depth is astounding - it looks like a portal to another universe out of Dr Who.....

Having a slow day today as the weather outside has turned, so catching up on recently posted images and this one is a gem.

Cracking image Rodd, the crop worked very well off that 5", but I do prefer the wider field view; it just looks more natural to me.

Superb

Good to see that you are making progress and I agree with @Erling G-P you should put a cover over the viewfinder to eliminate, or at least reduce the risk of light leaking in through there. What did the images from this latest session look like?

Well done Steve, that really shows what is possible. I haven't done any imaging the last few nights due to the Moon, so maybe I've missed a trick.....

Here is the last of several Messier galaxies that I captured over the past couple of weeks, Messier 98. The data was captured with my QSIwsg-5 through my C14+Optec telecompressor lens. Total integration was 6 hours comprising L=18x10m, RGB=12x5m each. As well as M98 itself, NGC4186 (top left corner), several PGC and other faint galaxies are also visible. Thanks for looking, feedback, comments, etc., are welcome.

Thanks Donal, there are so many interesting targets up there and some of the Messier targets aren't particularly photogenic, especially these elliptical galaxies. However, M60 also being part of Arp 116 is worth a look, even though I didn't know that until I checked it out for my Messier collection 🙂. Cheers, Geof

Had excellent views tonight with my 22x85 binos, which made up for me missing out last night.

Thanks Rodd, I generally go for a soft approach with my processing, so am glad that you like it. I have an ongoing issue with my flats that I haven't been able to resolve, so I had to work harder than I'd like on some parts of the image - in fact not just this image. I think the problem is to do with the Optec lens producing a circular artefact which mainly affects the red and green flats, but after shooting various different flat settings without any improvement, I've decided to live with it and just capture some images.

I've looked out several times this evening, but could only see Venus through the clouds. Decided to process some image data instead of waiting outside for a clear spell, so with Venus now setting it looks like I've missed out on this event 🙁

...nor did I until I set about to image it..... 🤫