Adreneline

Very dramatic Lucas. You've really brought out the depth and structure of this region of nebulosity. Great framing too - that's a really eye-catching central region. Adrian

Thank you Steve - for so little integration time they turned out far better than I expected - truth is I expected nothing - certainly nothing worth sharing.

I decided it was time to bite the bullet and try to improve my 6" RC collimation with a star test; it's still not perfect but it's better than it was! Having stressed myself out I pointed the RC+ASI1600 at M101 (for 50 mins) and M13 (for 30 mins) and this was the result. This is my first GC so I am fairly pleased it worked out reasonably well: I've imaged M101 many times in the past but not at 1100mm - for such a dim target this turned out better than I expected. Due to my own failings calibration has proved to be a challenge but that is sortable with more time. The RC might have a reputation for being 'slow' but it's definitely capable of surprises. Thanks for looking. Adrian

That looks very nice to me. You've managed to keep the core really well defined. The full resolution images shows really good stars all the way to corners with lots of colour. Nice even background too. GC's are the hardest thing to image in my opinion and this one looks excellent to my eyes. Thanks for sharing. Adrian

The extra time has certainly paid off Tristan. The level of detail you've achieved with sympathetic processing is just amazing. A beutiful image. Adrian

Thank you Göran. I think Cepheus is such a rich area to image and so well placed most of the year from this location. My skies are not quite as dark as where you are - I'm more Bortle 4-3 - especially after midlnight when all the street lights round here go off! There are many amazing images from the ASI2600MC revealing a lot of colour and detail. Might have to start saving my pennies! Adrian

I’m amazed the Squid is so clear with just 10 hours of subs; @geeklee and I combined 1600 minutes (over 26 hours) of OIII data last year and it was a real struggle to tease it out of the Bat ( https://www.astrobin.com/ceh9fs/ ). Your combination of Samyang 135, ASI2600MC and IDAS NBZ filter are doing an amazing job when combined with your dark skies. Thanks for sharing. Adrian.

Not sure I've seen an HSS before of this nebula - it reveals a quite different structure to the normal HOO or H(HO)O. Very interesting - thanks for posting.

A wise choice in my experience. The DeNoise can be very helpful, especially when used with a mask, but it can still be a challenge; I rarely go beyond 5-10%.

I really like the framing, field of view and the colour you've achieved with the false SII Tony. Something a little strange seems to be happening at 1:1 in the nebulosity: Could this be to do with Topaz? I use Topaz DeNoise AI and find it quite a challenge to not introduce artefacts especially with sharpening. I also find the DeNoise, although very effective, needs to be used with extreme care. Adrian

I used to get something very similar to this with my Samyang135+ASI1600 mounted on a CEM25-EC - I know this is a different scale in terms of size of scope/mount but the effect was just the same. It turned out that when the flip occured the OTA was moving a very, very small amount because the mounting arrangement I was using at the time was not as tight/firm as I thought it was. I improved the mount of the lens and camera and the problem went away. I was essentially only using a 'central' mount on the Vixen bar which was holding the lens with camera attached. I revised it so I was mounting both the lens and the camera separately on the bar and it stopped the small amount of twist that was happening when the mount flipped. Hope this isn't a red herring!

Haha! Fair enough! To be fair my mosaic was not actually planned - it kind of evolved over a period of time - hence the fact it is not a nice rectangle so favoured by the astro-imaging community. It's all a bit random - like me really CS Adrian

Nice one Göran. Does it count that it's on my Cepheus mega-mosaic? - from May 2020. https://www.astrobin.com/full/uxip1w/0/ I have a plan this year to revisit this region (and the mosaic) and hopefully start to get some OIII and maybe even some SII - who knows?! Adrian

Yes, I use the 11mm ZWO ring but no ZWO EoS adapter. I replaced the EoS lens fitting with an Astrojolo 42mm threaded connection as it is much more rigid and less prone to 'droop'. I have spent what seems like a very long time getting the spacing as close as possible to ideal and I can achieve focus with the foot of the 'L' on the lens when I use my Astronomik Ha, SII and L2 filters. If I use my Baader OIII the focus point moves to about 3mm before the 'L' due to the Baader filters being thicker (2mm as opposed to 1mm for the Astronomik). The spacing is very sensitive - the additon (or removal) of a 0.1mm spacer will have a profound effect on the focus position. HTH Adrian P.S. I use a TS Optics manual filter drawer for 2" filters.

My experience exactly; it wasn't just the fit - the operation was far from easy - frustrating in fact. In the end I decided to buy a second EAF as I too did not want to disrupt my RedCat setup. I did try an old SW DC focuser I had going spare but as I wanted to use the ASIair that was not really a workable solution. Sorry I cannot offer any alternative suggestions. 😐

When I first started out with PI I found these tutorials invaluable in terms of establsihing a basic workflow for OSC, especially the fully processed example based on M31. Later I found them equally valuable when I moved on the LRGB and ultimately NB. They are a bit dated now but the basics are still true.

I've got these apart in the past by putting them between the soles of my house shoes and pushing and twisting - always works for me and does no damage at all to the spacers. I've even used this approach to separate filters from spacers, etc. HTH

P.S. On my 6" RC I use a Baader Click-Lock - provides total flexibility of camera angle but I still position mine in 'portrait'. C.S.

To get my ASI1600 in 'portrait' with respect to the mounting bar I ended up introducing a single 0.2mm spacer between the camera and the EFW; my EFW is offset to one side of the RedCat to counter the weight offset due to the EAF in the BlackCat mount. The RedCat rotator is a manual rotator and very, very stiff to move even with the locking screw fully withdrawn. The Samyang was much more problematic as 0.2mm spacer (even a 0.1mm spacer!) would have thrown out the focus position completely. In the end I was lucky and was able to orientate the lens+EAF+camera assembly in such a way that I could still slide filters in and out of the manual filter drawer. Phew! Good luck - I hope you get something sorted that meets your needs.

Just to offer a counter-view. I've been imaging for just six years now (not long really) and have never felt the need for a rotator. I have one built into the RedCat 51 and have never used it other than to help align the camera sensor orthogonal to the mounting bar when I don't want to use spacers to achieve the same end. Anything that just might introduce 'droop' into the image train is a complication I can do without; any droop or misalignment will seriously compromise the image quality, especially star shapes. This is especially the case with my Samyang 135mm setup where I have done everything I can to minimise alignment issues and keep everything rigid between the camera (ASI183MM) and the lens, even to the point of replacing the EoS fitting with an M42 precision thread. If the target I want to image won't fit in the field of view then I would rather do a mosaic to make it fit than rotate the camera, e.g. Sh2-240 in the RedCat + ASI1600 setup. If ever you go back to a target in the future to add more data it is just one more thing to setup and adjust. I also ensure both my cameras are aligned in the same orientation - in my case 'portrait' with respect to the mounting bar. That way I can easily combine data from the SY183 or the rc1600. My advice is keep it simple. Sorry - probably not what you want to hear.

I use a 77 - 49 sdr and I have seen only benefits from using it with my SY135. I have not noticed any deterioration in images and star shapes are better across the frame, especially in peripheral areas. Personally I don't want diffraction spikes on my stars so would rather use a sdr than stop down the lens to f2.4 as many users choose to do.

Hi Nik, Indeed it does show it quite well that Polaris is well removed from the NCP. I was quite pleased how well the star colours show themselves - I really didn't expect that. Adrian

I know star trails are two-a-penny but this my first Astro image using my new “second hand” Canon 6D and my new 50mm, f1.8 lens. Comprises 250 x 4s images at iso1600, f1.8 captured with BYEoS. Focussed manually using the FWHM feature in BYEoS. I didn’t take any calibration frames. All stacked in StarStaX. I’m quite pleased really. Adrian

I don’t normally like green in an image but this works really well! The colours give a real sense of depth and highlight the structure of the nebula. Thanks for sharing. Adrian

I've bought a few AP books in the past and have passed them all on (on this forum) for nothing. The problem in my view is that they go out of date so quickly because the tools we can buy (hardware and especially software) move and develop at such a rate. I am very much a 'book person' but I am now of the opinion that for AP the web is the best source for up to date information. Apologies if this is not what you want to hear