Adreneline

Using an EvoGuide+ASI290mm-mini - works a treat. The counter weight at the front is my CEM25 standing behind my AZ-EQ6. Adrian

Sorry to jump in but in my experience it is not easy to rotate the focuser without loosening about eight tiny screws - you can see them in the photo below. The much easier solution is to use a Baader Click-Lock. This is my arrangement: I chose not hang the EAF on the focuser spindle - I'd rather use a belt drive. I also find it easier if the EAF is on top as it gives plenty of clearance for the ASIair and TP-Link wifi extender. HTH Adrian

I've found the Auto exposure works very well to find the best exposure time, but then I tend to go to the nearest whole second and take Flats and Flat-Darks at the same time - I just prefer 5s to 5.13s. I line up my pens on the desk too.

A very pleasing result for I guess 100 x 27s subs. I started with an ED80 - almost wish now I hadn't sold it! Do you have plans to get guiding up and running? You will be on to a winner if you do Adrian

It is always a surprise when you manage to collect enough NB data in one night to make a finished (if there is such a thing) image. This is 20 x 300s of Ha, OIII and SII taken with an ASI1600MM + 6"RC mounted on the AZ-EQ6-Pro guided with ASI290MM-mini and EvoGuide - all managed by the ASIair PRO. Pre-processed in APP and processed in PI. As always C&C welcome. Thank you for looking. Adrian

I decided to add some Lum and Ha data to the OSC data obtained last week. In total there is 90 mins of Lum and 150 mins Ha taken with the ASI1600 + Astronomik 2" filters. Fully processed in PI. As always comments and feedback are most welcome. Thanks for looking. Adrian

Haha! Well the problem is Steve what little bit of hair I have left is not up for splitting - the thatch has disappeared on most of my roof line - which is only beneficial when I am moving at speed. "Onward and upward" as my mother used to say

Thank you @Sunshine for your very kind and generous comments. You are of course correct - imagers can become obsessive because even if you don't think it can be any better someone else will think differently. I've just taken some real Luminance (as opposed to creating it from my osc image) and some Ha so I am hoping I can tease out a little more detail in the arms and, you never know(!), maybe a little more detail in the core. So many images of M81 appear quite planar and 2D and I was trying to reveal some of the depth (3D) structure of the arms. Thank you again - I'm delighted you like the image. Adrian

Quite possibly! The central core lacks detail - definitely blown out I'm afraid. I didn't really plan this image - it just kinda' happened. At the time I was more taken with making sure the guiding was working and the comms between the ASIair and mount were all behaving - collecting data on M81 was almost a side show. I do need to go back now though and get some shorter exposure subs and also some Ha and L, in fact L alone may help reveal the core detail. There's a few other issues in the image as well with some rogue stars which I think are probably down to some inept processing. Glad you like the arms though Adrian

Whilst still trying to fine tune (still some way to go) and get used to my new AZ-EQ6 I decided to point the 6" RC at M81. This is 24 x 300s with the RC + ASI294MC. I think I need to add some Lum and some Ha; I might need to attach the ASI1600 to the RC next time it's clear. I think I also need to fine tune my flats for the RC - and tweak the collimation if I dare. Thanks for looking. Adrian

... and the fact it is so low down in the sky! I think you should be well pleased with what you've captured - this is a tough one. Adrian

Glad I could contribute to a great image. You have done an amazing job with the processing revealing the extended nebulosity. A👍 & J👍

Excellent - good luck! Adrian

Hi Ray, Sky Safari connects to the mount via the ASIair but you have to ensure the two are on the same network. I control my ASIair from my iPad so once the ASIair has started up I go to Wifi in my iPad Settings and choose the ASIair wifi network/hotspot - so the iPad is connected directly to the ASIair. Once that is done I start up SkySafari and connect to the mount. You need to ensure the settings in SkySafari are set up for the mount type and I have to input 10.0.0.1 as the IP address and port 4030 for my iOptron CEM25-EC. For my SW AZ-EQ6 the IP is the same but the port is 9624. For reasons that are way beyind me I also have to set SkySafari to use a Meade 200 Classic as the mount type and not a SW - that requirement comes from a pop-up that appears on the ASIair. The ASIair itself is set to use EQMOD Sky Safari from the available mount types. Weird or what?! Took me a few goes to get it all working. The connection between ASIair and SkySafari has only ever failed me once and that was on the first night with my AZ-EQ6 and may well have been my fault anyway. With the iOptron it is rock solid. The ASIair has the Search/GoTo function but sometimes I want to slew to a nearby star to check focus with a BM and then SF is a real bonus. HTH and makes sense! Adrian

Thanks for posting this David - very interesting especially as I have just bought an AZEQ6 and just installed NINA with a view to maybe trying it out. I’ve been doing AP for five-plus years and never heard of GSS before. I might need to give this a go! I would be interested to hear how you get on. Adrian

Hi Everyone. The weather gods were smiling on me yesterday and after a cloud interrupted start I managed to achieve something with the new mount - a SkyWatcher AZ-EQ6-GT - order placed on Tuesday and @FLO did an amazing job getting to me Wednesday lunchtime, securely delivered by our resident DPD, ever-happy, driver - a man who clearly loves his job. Spent Wednesday p.m. and all of Thursday refining mounting the RC and trying to organise cables to avoid snagging - I failed on this one, it being fortunate I was standing by the mount when it slewed to NGC 2359 and almost got itself in an awful tangle. Thursday night and with the Moon making itself known it was a case of Ha only. Rather than go for my short focal length Samyang 135mm or 250mm RedCat I decided to go for it and put the 6" RC on the new mount. The RC was fitted with the AstroEssential reducer and the ASIair reported a focal length of 1104 mm. (I have owned the RC for nearly two years but it has seen very little use as I feel it is too much of a load for my CEM25-EC). I also decided it was necessary to get guiding working for the first time with the ASIair using my SW EvoGuide and ASI290MM-mini. Focussing up the RC it was apparent I needed to refine the collimation but that said the focus was better than I expected. Guiding also worked remarkably well with typical guiding of 0.5" rms. First up was NGC 2244, the heart of the Rosette - this is 8 x 300s: I was delighted to split the three stars in the centre of the cluster: Second up I decided to cast caution to the wind and go for Thor's Helmet, NGC 2359 with just 6 x 300s. Guiding was not so good with this target not getting above ~23.6 degrees and barely clearing the house roof next door - fortunately a bungalow. The low elevation and heat haze coming of the neighbouring roof gave rise to quite a lot of noise and poor star shapes but at least I got something! Finally with the skies still clear this is 20 x 300s on the Fish Head Nebula IC 1795. All in all not a bad night! As for the mount, other than a communication glitch between the ASIair app and SkySafari it all worked faultlessly and coped with the 6" RC plus EvoGuide with ease. More time is clearly required to sort the collimation on the RC and refine the guiding but the mount was amazing. Thanks for looking. Adrian

It’s great to see these objects in context. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you both for your generous comments. Adrian

Thought I would add a revised palette version - a more conventional HOO image. Adrian

I've got to say I could barely detect any difference between with or without the extra data, in fact I was more than a little concerned the extra noise might be going against me. When it comes to PN's then size is everything! Do you think my CEM25 would cope with this? FLO have one left in stock! Adrian

Thank you! I am really pleased to be able to share data capture with Lee - having virtually identical equipment makes it so much easier too - and it certainly helps when it comes to combating the weather!

This image was another collaboration with @geeklee where we shared our Ha and OIII. It comprises a total of 21 hours of Ha and 18 hours of OIII. The Ha data is a mix of mosaic data and "all in one" where our differing setups attempted to cover the whole of the nebula. The capture for this was started on 17th November 2021 and include subs from 17th Nov 2021 through to 21st Jan 2022. Most of the data was captured by both of us with the Samyang 135 @ F2.6 (with stop down ring). About 7 hours of OIII data was collected with my RedCat+ASI1600MM. Processing has been a real challenge. A little more detail has been squeezed out by using Ha as L so the image is really LRGB : (L)H(HO)O. The star field in this region is particularly 'busy' so I have suppressed the stars a little to let the nebula and fine detail come through. Thanks are due to Lee not only for the data but also for critique and advice in the processing trail and for being a shoulder to cry on when the technology, or the weather, or the Moon conspire to spoil your night. Thank you for looking. ... and a starless version for those partial to these things (like me!): ... and an annotated version revealing a planetary nebula for those with mega-focal-length scopes: Adrian

Excellent job Lee. Your processing skills have once again produced an outstanding image; as with all of these faint targets the OIII is a real challenge. Pleased I was able to contribute. Adrian

The EFW on my RedCat contains both Astronomik NB and Baader LRGB filters. I very rarely do any LRGB imaging so I won't be changing any time soon - also spacing is not an issue in the same way with a RedCat. If I were starting afresh I would definitely stick to one brand of filter.

In my case I use regular filters, in particular the Astronomik 6nm Ha and SII (both 2") and the Baader 8.5nm OIII (2"). I intend to replace the Baader with another Astronomik not because I am unhappy with the results but because being a different thickness the focus point ends up well before the 'L' on the lens. The Astronomik Ha and SII are very nearly parafocal and although I don't expect the Astronomik OIII to be "as parafocal" I hope it will certainly be better than the Baader. [Tip: Stick with one brand/type of filter and don't mix types or brands as you will make finding the optimal spacing really difficult if not impossible]. I am sure you already know this so apologies if you do but the spacing is incredibly sensitive. I currently have a 0.1mm spacer between the camera body and the 11mm spacer provided by ZWO. With the spacer in position the lens focuses almost exactly on the 'L'. If I remove the 0.1mm spacer the lens focuses about 2-3mm before the 'L' - if I add an additional 0.1mm spacer I cannot achieve focus at all. The Astronomik filters are 1mm thick - the Baader filters are 2mm thick. If I introduce spacers to achieve optimum focus with the Baader I cannot focus the Astronomik filters. In my current configuration (photo above) the OIII focuses about 3mm before the 'L' but at least the Ha and SII both focus "within the 'L'". HTH Adrian