geoflewis

That's pretty impresive from the UK, probably about as good as it gets I'd say with Saturn at such a low elevation. Have you tried using the red+green stack as a luminence layer to sharpen the RGB? It can really make quite a difference and you could also use the IR data as L, but I find that IR can throw the colours off. Well done, Geof

Hi Lucas, another superb image from you to go with that brilliant Jupiter that you posted recently. I am not at all envious, I'm not, really I'm not.... Cheers, Geof

Hi Lucas, this year both Jupiter and Saturn were at max altitude of 16 degrees from my 52N location. I tried a couple of times but gave up ☹️ Geof

Hi Lucus, It is a superb image, far better than anything I could even dream of from the UK this year, hence I did very little planetary imaging in 2019. Best regards, Geof

Hi @jinchuriki, As others have said, in my experience a one size fits all scope is likely to leave you disappointed and frustrated. FWIW here is my experience with some of the options you are considering... I previously owned a 10" Meade LX200 on a wedge - it was great for visual and planetary imaging, but just didn't cut it for DSO imaging. At the time I owned it I used a DSLR for DSO imaging with a separate guide scope. The drive mechanics of the LX200 were dreadful with huge periodic error and the accuary of polar alignment adjustment with the wedge left a lot to be desired. If you are considering imaging with a large SCT then whichever scope you get, be sure to spend as much if not more on a high quality equatorial mount, such as AP, Mesu, 10Micron. I now own a classic C14 permanently mounted on an 12 year old AP1200GTO mount, permenently set up in a RoR observatory. As you mentioned in your opening comments, the C14 is HUGE and HEAVY, so much so that in my case it is only usable because it is permanently mounted. I've had it 3 years and have NEVER been able to mount it on my own as I need two hands to hold it in position and at least a third hand to release/tighten the dovetail mounting knobs. The first time I tried it I had my wife to help me and we nearly dropped the scope, so now I ask a friendly neighbour whenever I need to take it down, or set it up again, but it is something that I avoid and it hasn't been off the mount for 2 years...!! The thought of repeatedly setting up and breaking down the C14 on cold winter nights when my fingers are frozen to me seems a certain accident in the waiting....! I had no such problems with the fork mounted 10" Meade, so would think that the C11 is comparable, but the C14 is something else..... My C14, being the classic version suffers from coma, so I only ever image DSOs with it using an Optec telecomressor lens (combined field flattener and focus reduced), which gives me an effective F7, which is great for most small targets, e.g. PNs, individual galaxies, etc., but still too small a FOV for any larger galaxies, or nebulae. For those I have a 4" APO (TSAPO100Q) piggybacked on the C14. I know that you said you'll use the Hyperstar with the C11/C14, but from everything I have read about them, this is not something that you'll want to chop and change if switching between visual, planetary and DSO as they take a fair bit of configuration to get them accurately set up - note I've never used one so this is just heresay on my part, but experience regularly collimating SCTs suggests that is likely a true statement. The AP1200 mount is a beast and handles the C14 with the 4" APO piggybacked without breaking sweat, but please be assured that guiding a C14 even with a high quality mount remains a challenging experience. I now image with a QSI583wsg, so OAG with a Lodestar X2 and I would advise that an OAG is essential when imaging with anything the size of a C11, or larger and possibly even a C9.25, or C8. I suggest you work out what are your main interests and get a couple of scopes to give you different options and a high quality mount to future proof you. It might also be worth waiting on a large SCT if you are thinking planetary, as both Jupiter and Saturn are very difficult targets from northern latitudes for the next few years, though Mars should be a reasonable target in the latter half of 2020 with it's opposition on 13 October 2020. I hope this helps, Geof

Necessity is the mother of invention....!! 👌

Bryan, I completely get it as I too love imaging the planets and can get a bunch of data in minutes rather than hours or days reuired for DSOs. Planetary is pretty much all I've done the past few summers. With them so poorly placed I decided to try for some summer DSOs this year, but family stuff got in the way for much of June through mid August. I'll be ready for Mars next year hopefully without a huge dust storm 🤞, then by 2021 Jupiter is once again gaining altitude.... 😀 Geof

Absolutely gorgeous, well worth the 3 nights I say.... Geof

Bryan, That turned out pretty nice, so well done for persevering with it. I gave up on the planets this year after just a couple of tries, in fact I think I only took one run at Saturn...... Geof

That's really good Gina, thanks for sharing it. I do think that the hubble palette works better than RGB for this target, but I don't have the NB filters for that (yet)... Geof

Thanks Steve, I appreciate the feedback. Geof

Excellent solution Paul, thanks for the lesson - definitely one for the astro toolkit Geof

Thanks Ciarán, you are too kind, but it's good to see it through other folks eyes 😀. Cheers, Geof

Thanks Brian, if you do recall the technique for blending the edge colour of stars into the star centers I'd love to have that please. I've also seen that process described previously, but like you can't lay my hands (or memory) on it. I seem to recall it was was using a mask and blurring the star layer, or something.... 🤔. Cheers, Geof

Ok Luke, no worries. I tried a couple of things in astrometry.net advanced settings, but as you reported it doesn't want to play, so I'm not sure that I can help further, sorry.... Geof

Hi Les, My bet is that yes, you'd be able to see Saturn's rings. My first scope bought for me by my parents in 1971 when I got good grades in my 'O' Levels, was one of these and it gave me my first view of Saturn's rings.... https://www.gumtree.com/p/binoculars-scopes/charles-frank-saturn-astronomical-telescope-4-inch-diameter-mirror/1300999639 Give it a try.... Good luck, Geof

Hi Dave, Luke said that Astrometryt.net wouldn't solve it in his original post. I tried it and it failed for me too - now trying advanced settings with expected coordinates, but it's not looking promising (UPDATE - it failed again...!!). I no longer have Astrotortilla or I'd try that and PS2 needs very accurate coordinates, so that's probably not going to work either. Luke, what is the image scale, e.g. degrees radius? Geof

Nige, In my experience an Ha clip filter definitely makes a significant difference on Ha rich regions, e.g. Rosette, Heart and Soul nebulae, etc., but my modded Canon 600D did pretty well on it's own for many targets. I don't have a wide field lens, so I never tried for Barnards Loop, hence can't advice on that one. Good luck, Geof

Thanks Neil, It's a darned tough target from here, but I wanted to have a try at it. Cheers, Geof

Thanks Alan, I’m reasonably satisfied with it, but I’m never going to get a great result from 52N. I generally prefer RGB/LRGB to NB Hubble palette, but I do think that this target looks much better in false colour NB. Cheers, Geof

Hi Ciarán, As discussed a couple of weeks ago, I did have a go at M16 and have just posted it, so here is a link to my version. Cheers, Geof

Here is my look at the 'Pillars of Creation' made famous by Hubble. As expected this proved to be a challenging target from the UK, especially as I was trying for it quite late in the season when it was already setting as astronomical darkness fell, hence most of the data was captured before the skies were fully dark. Imaging at such a low altitude and in a less than dark sky contributed to bad seeing, made worse by lots of horizon hugging haze and cloud, consequently guiding was erratic and generally poor, resulting in somewhat weird shapped stars, but I'm still pleased to get this in the can. Thanks for looking, Geof

An excellent image Göran with lots of colour, well done. Geof

Many thanks Daz and Bryan. I did wonder about extra saturation boost for the star colours, so may take a look at that, but I'm encouraged that you like it as Bryan. Geof

Here is my first look at the Deer Lick Galaxy Group. The data was captured over 3 conescutive nights 30 Aug - 1 Sep 2019. C14 + Optec x0.63 telecompressor; QSI583wsg; Astronomic Type 2 LRGB. All subs 300sec bin 2x2. L=42, RGB=18 each. Total 8 hours. Thanks for looking. Geof