Craney

Better than an Apollo orbital photo !!!

Your shadow looks like you are enjoying a fine malt whiskey, as you survey the task ahead....

Is there a collective noun for Observatories.... ??? 🤩

Our you using "Dusk" or the older software ?? I am imaging with "Dusk" in the garden at the moment and when I was faffing I noticed a checkbox that wanted to know which type of image I was taking..... LIGHTS or DARKS ? Just wondering if you have inadvertently pressed something like this and are getting featureless images. Just a suggestion. Hope you solve it.

That second image had me batting my laptop screen thinking I had a visitor in the room....... Did the 365 cover do the job ?? I am thinking of getting one myself. I am a similar position to you in terms of leaving gear out, although my aspect is not as scenic or as open to the elements as yours.

Loving those close up spot piccies. How many frames do you stack on average Charl ??

Leaden grey mank with a bit of blue near the horizon..... my new pier is acting as a sea-side pier at the moment with all this water about !!!!.... grump...grump....

So, the big question..... is a 1300D better than an 1100D ??

Yes , me too I'm interested in how workable this set up is. That's some leverage from the Evo- focuser towards the camera...... would a non-cooled ZWO be easier ... or maybe a quality diagonal ??

Better than a cup with Ocean's 11 on it.....

That detail is something else. Amazing. I wish my pictures got better when I zoom in ..... !!!

Yes I have been thwarted by the weather. I always thought the correlation was anecdotal but it is true.... new kit ready to go = cloud and rain

The 120mm is certainly a sensitive little beastie. I use one for guiding, and I am constantly surprised at how much detail and sensitivity I get from when looking at my PHD2 screen. Your major drawback will be Field of View, it will be pretty small with most scopes. But...... with small Planetary Nebula and small bright SNR you could still get a result. Having longer exposures may reduce the noise /heat on the chip but I may be wrong.....Give it a go.....

Thanks Adam. It's a step forward in the grand plan. Keeps me out of trouble

Like a kid on Christmas Eve....!!!!

Nice one Adam. I only twigged last week that this is the galaxy that the 'famous black-hole' picture came from. Did you do a lot of processing to extract the jet ??

As a pre-cursor to an actual roofed structure, I thought I would attempt a permanent pier on the patio section of the back garden. Being nearer to the house is preferable at the moment. My imaging routine is far from perfect and I tend to make many journeys up and down the garden finding the right adaptor / widget and getting everything to work. So, it is a small step. .... literally. Well I started it a week ago, and have just finished it tonight, plus I managed to extend the patio, make it level and partially remove the old cracked, weed infested concrete path at the same time. BTW, yes, you are correct, the original patio slabs were not laid at right angles to the path. Of note, Harrogate clay !!!!...waterproof and removes the hairs off your arms should it become attached. I polar aligned the pier on a clear night before digging the hole, and then marked the new and old permanent slabs with the orientation. The parallel sides of the shuttering are in line with the Polar axis. Use a cement mixer. Make all the hard work in the planning, not the implementation. The pier is quite tall, so I had to sink it 25cm below the patio to make it useable with the 10" and 12" F4's I have. It is made from an old lorry jack and weighs about 80+ kg !! I bought it second hand with the adaptor attached. Found some anti-vibration foam used for washing machines which might stop any resonant twanging of the metal. Denso tape on the bolts. Artistically, I should have placed the pier centrally on the intersection of the slab lines on the patio. This suddenly dawned on me as I tried to get a 'square-ish' symmetrical finish with the gravel section. Hey-ho. ... and since completion, it has not stopped raining !!!. All the best, if you are embarking on such a project. Sean.

Excellent. I hope the dog didn't christen the pier in the usually canine manner !!!

Have you tried a CLS filter for the DSLR ??..... May change the colour balance a bit, but hey ho ! .... it might cut out the artificial sunset effect !!

Has somebody cut a brassiere in half ??

Yes, I have had cardboard packages deposited by a hedge on a rainy day !!!!..... even after I left a plastic box and brick by the entrance to the door..... and told them as such on the invoice notes 3 days in advance !!!! Doh...!!!!!

Agree, it looks very swish... Is that a hand tightener on the polar axis ?? 18kg is a lot to have levered on a hand tightened knob !!..... especially with a 'cheap' expendable Tak swinging around on the end of it. Lets hope the big manufacturers take note and get the price down.

OK, so my latest edition to the telescope menagerie...... Orion Optics 140 Mak. Bought from @Stu. Many thanks. It produces sharp lunar images and is no slouch on the odd bright DSO as well. Both focus and collimation have remained extremely stable through several nights of use.

You could shorten one of these... an outdoor patio heater cover. It has more or less the correct shape for just a mount head and pillar..... and will make it all look like a ...errr. ..patio heater.

I have often wondered if the Quark eyepieces or adapted telescopes (like the Solarscout) have a known lifetime in terms of use ?? Not being familiar with their internals I not really sure if they will keep on going forever, providing the electrics etc are all functioning......