newbie alert

21 hours ago, simondodd said:

Thanks, I eventually found MS ICE. Worked a treat! Unfortunately I didn't quite get my panels lined up enough so will be going again when I next get a good run of clear skies  

Here is what I managed though!

 

Good to know Microsoft ice can do deep sky..but with any mosaic you need abit of overlapp 

Any more ideas?

I did a rough test to see where the focus point was and yes it's at 55mm as far as I could tell

4 minutes ago, Adam J said:

Your saying that you cant see any stars on a Ha image and that you think that is caused but the spacing?

I very much doubt that is the case, you should be seeing stars even if its way off.

Adam

Initially I thought I had the filters back to front so I had a quick search and it says there's no direction..could it be this?

2 hours ago, Adam J said:

That's a small sensor it's very unlikely to be crytical. 

Enough to make it not see any stars in HA 

Very nice, that's the camera that I'm after once I've saved enough... impressive ..

8 hours ago, dtastro said:

Can anyone suggest a reducer for the Esprit 80ED?

You want it shorter than 400mm?

Great start to ccd imaging, which camera are you using?

If he's using dss then he's not stacking moon shots..

So far thou I've processed the panels and then stitched together..  mosaic mode sounds good if it works, there is something in Photoshop  that does it but only seen it done for solar data

48 minutes ago, Anthonyexmouth said:

What camera and what flattener are you using?

It's an old atik 16hr,  flattener is the esprit one

Thanks guys, but I'm at 56mm( 1mm for filters thickness) at the moment, stars look nice and round at all distances that I've tried with the luminance  although I've not just yet taken an image with it..

I'm using Artemis capture ,and the only thing I've changed is the filter wheel and lrgb,  the HA is the same..can't see a star in a 30- 60 sec sub with the HA filter for focus..it's not going to be too far away from the luminance even if they're not parfocal

Here's some darks just taken and shows roughly the same as pointing at the sky..to get a star to show on the screen I have to adjust the log in the -7 range..I used to use -1 and even then I need to have some white showing by adjusting the white point slider 

Hi Guys, just going around in circles here..

I purchased a second-hand esprit 80 a few months back where the guy said the spacing was 65mm, I've looked in a few places now where the spacing differs from 75mm down to 55mm with most figures in between.. Skywatchers manual says 66mm but that's incorporating the removal of the 6mm adapter to allow extra backfocus should it be needed..

I read something on I think was on cloudy nights where someone says if you take the 6mm spacer off it's 66mm and leave it off it's 61 which don't add up unless a 6 mm spacer is 5mm? 

I'm at a loss, I initially put it at 65 as the previous owner says, then I read it should be 55mm so changed it again, I 've also had the same issues with atik as their manual says the sensor is "approx 18mm"

If you look at it it's not looking that far back so I think it's 15mm..

I'm thinking if I shine a torch down the front, remove the camera and filter wheel and see where the light comes to point of focus, would that work?

55 minutes ago, Adam J said:

The real reason to do that is the micro lens diffraction issue

Yep, my main reason for not wanting one..

Also a friend has a 1600 and a 183, he creates superb images with both but his 1600 has stopped working, and repairers say there's nothing wrong with it..

He has a terabyte of data on 1 target..!

I'd have a 460ex in a heartbeat and currently saving up for either a 460 or 490..I've looked at others with the same sensors but you know where you stand with a Atik..

Various cmos issues stop me from considering  them until the issues are resolved, so I'd be happier with a ccd at the mo..

There are some awesome pictures out there taken with the 1600

Great image Emil, with the Hubble pallet it always comes out very green until you merge the colours to your own taste.. 

Looks great from here

1 hour ago, madMARTYNmarsh said:

I grew up on Stanhope so know Washford farm well.

Do you attend the Ashford astronomical society at all? I wanted to go for the first time on Friday but my brother has tonsillitis so I didn't get to go.

Sent you a pm Marty

Hi Marty, my in laws aren't far from you then..I'm Washford farm area which is bortle 5, can see the milky way when the moons not about ..but some times I venture out to hamstreet area which is bortle 4 and the milky way is highly visible 

Beautiful image..at full resolution it looks even better, fantastic job, very well done and thanks for sharing

Welcome Marty,  I'm from Ashford  in Kent also...  if you ever need some help or just want to meet up send me a message..not too sure if I'd have the answers thou..best of luck and enjoy

6 hours ago, MartinFransson said:

Right after imaging the O3 here I had a go at O3 for the Veil Nebula complex. It blew me away, almost stronger than the Ha signal! 😮 Don´t know if there are more areas like that...

Can't wait for that one then 

Very nice..

Looks smooth, was it easy to process?

On 19/06/2019 at 22:25, nikolav said:

Auckland, mate.

Sorry, correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought 2 star alignment refers to the GOTO function, not PA?

You're quite correct Nikolav, quite how you do a 2 star alignment on a SA I don't know..

Maybe sharpcap/ polemaster will help with PA? 

That's what i planned to do with my 10 inch...I've only looked through it once in 2 years as the forks and it's in the box is far too big to put in the car..

Deforking and putting on a losmandy plate will make it far more portable  

10 hours ago, DavM said:

Hi Andy, at the bottom of the actions palette there is an action called "as layer on top". If you use this after your action, you can use the layers adjustments to control the strength.

I use it all the time!

Dave

As a add on to David's advice, you can use the layer underneath and use the erasure tool to sharpen what you want..as in the hard lines of contrast

My phone won't open this file..

Depends on the subject for me , some targets go look over cooked but if I do use it it's always nearer the end..

Maybe you over sharpend it initially?