Icesheet

Thanks Interesting, I never paid much attention to the snow but now that I look I do notice something on both images. At first I thought it was hot pixels, then I thought it was light reflecting off the snow, but could it actually be stars reflecting on the snow?? It looks like star trailing but I can't imagine stars would reflect on snow. Am I going crazy haha.

I'm not sure if this has always been the case but lately I've noticed a significant colour balance difference when I look at images I've edited on my laptop from other devices. Mainly iphone but also other tablets. I'm pretty sure it's the calibration of the screen on the laptop Does anyone know if there are any reliable ways to calibrate a monitor without an external device? I see there is a windows program but I get this message when I start and I'm worried I may make things worse. Could it be that the wide colour gamut of the screen renders the colours differently onn other devices? For reference the laptop is an Asus ROG Flow X13 and the specs say it has >100% sRGB and 85% DCI-P3.

Thanks, and again fair comments. I went one extra round on the HDR Multiscale transform and they introduced them. It was either that or Alnitak and the Flame were completely blown out. I just had a look at the RGB version (below). Still overworked on close inspection, but ringing artefacts are not as prominent. Appreciate the comments, I’ll put it aside for now but I will go back and see if I can dial it back a bit without losing too much. Will probably not crop as much too.

Thanks for the feedback 😊 You are right, it’s not one for close inspection. I did push it as hard as I could and quite a significant crop doesn’t help matters. Like you say, hard for me to go back. Some more data and better control of the stars might allow me to bring out the fainter stuff without over doing everything else. It’s one of those targets I’ve never been completely happy with, hence the time sitting on it.

This has been a labour with very little love! With trying to control the bright stars and halos to finding the right balance between Ha and RGB, I have been sitting on this for so long that I feel I have to post it so I stop fiddling. This is around 6hrs total data 4hrs RGB 120s 2hrs Ha from l-extreme 300s Shot with Askar FRA400 and ZWO ASI2600 MC Processed in PixInsight but final touches on iPhone as I seem to have a calibration issue on my laptop Definitely happy to take some feedback on this for future edits. Hope you like 😊

Thanks. Yeah the more muted reds were my preference here. Need to work out why the difference from laptop to phone though. Seems like it may be the laptop.

This is the winter constellations over Bjørnafjorden in western Norway. Used the PlanItPro app for the first time to plan out this composition. Seems like a really neat app. I nearly packed it in a few times at -10deg C but glad I persisted. It was a tough one to process and when I was finally happy I noticed quite a big difference from in the saturation of the reds on my computer screen and phone. I’ll post the other version below. Be interested to hear if the difference is apparent on your device also and which one looks best. Thanks! This was shot with a modified EOS R and a Sigma 28mm. Sky was tracked with a Benro Polaris and blended with the foreground shot.

Don’t want to stray too far off topic here but do you have a link as to what the issue is? There’s a used one for sale near me that I’m interested in and would be good to know 😊.

Have they stopped selling them?

Apparently $4000. No thanks. I really hope they release a RASA 6 OTA.

https://www.celestron.com/products/celestron-origin-intelligent-home-observatory Smart Rasa 6 it is then

It would be such a waste if they built a robotic RASA 6 and did not then offer just a standalone RASA6 for those that wanted it.

Here’s a short timelapse of my rig in action 🔭 rosette timelapse_1.mp4

Cracking image and from an enviable equipment list!

It could be. If the picture hints at anything then it does look like a reflector of sorts. A fully automated RASA6? If it was something like that they would need to pitch it right as their market would be intermediate to advanced users and I feel many of those are still skeptical of smart scopes in general. Especially if it limits use of the equipment you already have. The SeeStar has been a success for sure but I feel a lot of that is the low price and the appeal to the beginner market.

It would be great if it did cover apsc but I wonder if that might affect RASA8 sales? Suppose it depends how they might price it . I should add I’m only speculating based on the 335mm FL I see in the background here. It could be something else too.

Celestron have just posted this announcement 📣 Could it be a RASA 6 f2.2?. I would be on the list for that!

Sky-Watcher must be losing market share in the mount category rapidly. Some pretty uninspiring releases and seem to be falling behind others that are introducing Harmonic mounts etc

Got treated on my way home from night shift today! Polar Stratospheric clouds and Noctilucent I think? Just gutted I didn’t have my camera. I suppose I should be thankful my phone has one! iPhone does make them a bit vibrant but they were very colourful. Such a great sight!

Yes, the tracker and guide set up can act independently but then you lose a lot of the benefits of an integrated system. So, you will need to manually trigger each exposure? If so that is really going to test your patience and sanity, especially if it’s a cold night! How are the vibrations when releasing the shutter? It’s something you might want to consider, particularly at longer focal lengths. I’ll be honest, overall I feel your equipment might not be best suited to your intended goal and may be a source of frustration. For sure give it a go but if this is likely to be something you pursue further it would be wise to budget for a dedicated astro camera with lenses/ small telescopes. Good luck with it. Would be interested to see some shots if you are able to share them!

Vlaiv nails the technical stuff, but to answer your question the ZWO mounts or other harmonic mounts in that price range, e.g iOptron, will do the job you want. Rainbow Astro is a consideration at a price notch above. There are several with encoders that are worth a look too. However, I would caution you that these are not professional grade premium mounts either. In fact the strain wave mounts have a higher (albeit smoother) native periodic error than the HEQ5. It can be easily guided out (as it can with an HEQ5). What you’re really paying for here is the weight to payload ratio which has really revolutionised the beginner/ intermediate mount category recently. It’s still fairly new technology in this arena though so there are also quirks and bugs that need ironed out. Take a look through the forums and you’ll find numerous examples. That being said for your use case at the moment I think they are the best bet, although I would still consider the Fornax LT2 as well. Just a note on the camera. Is it a must to use it? The fact you can’t turn off the in house noise reduction is a real time killer and it may lack support for astrophotography software you would likely use. Believe me there’s many an astrophotographer that’s thrown in the towel from frustration when one piece of hardware does not communicate with another. I suppose as long as you can program multiple long exposures in some way it shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

As Vlaiv stated, astrophotography bears little resemblance to day photography. For example you mention conversions of focal length to full frame equivalent. The focal length is the focal length and that’s what will test the precision and accuracy of the mount you choose not the size of the sensor. Of course you should consider sensor size, FOV and pixel scale when considering the framing of your object but there is no crop factor as you commonly hear in landscape type photography. Also, it’s unlikely you will be shooting anywhere near ISO65. I’m not familiar with the PhaseOne’s but it’s unlikely to be under ISO800. It’s not clear to me exactly what you would plan to shoot. Is it landscape milkyway type photography or, do you plan to do deep sky astrophotography? You mentioned a 240mm lens with 2x tele-convertor. If you really plan to shoot at 480mm then one of the strainwave mounts mentioned would probably be your best bet as you would have to guide anyway. As an aside I wouldn’t use that lens with the tele-convertor as f9 would be slower than you want for night sky photography. If it’s more widefield work then there are a plethora of sky trackers that would work for you. The Fornax Lighttrak ii is probably the most accurate on the market and will handle the 240mm lens without guiding. It lacks GoTo though. The Star Adventurer GTi has Go To and seems to be popular. Or you could consider the Benro Polaris if you will only shoot at shorter focal lengths as it negates the need for polar alignment and you can shoot fully automated panoramas which may be of interest to you. There’s likely to be some great advice on this thread but also use YouTube as a resource as there are plenty of content creators doing a wide range of astro work. Edit: Apologies, re-reading, I see you mention deep sky. Then, I would not recommend the Benro Polaris for that. Probably a strainwave mount would be best but factor in what else you need for guiding and polar alignment. I would also look for another option other than using the 2x convertor with the 240mm lens.

You know, I actually haven’t even compared to see if dithering has made a difference in my images. In the main I’m dithering for drizzle integration in PixInsight but I haven’t checked the difference between a drizzled and non drizzled. I really should but just accepted the general consensus that it was worth it. I think a small polar alignment error may not provide enough random movement to replicate a true dither but I’m no expert either. May be time to make a comparison of what I have!

I imaging at 1.94”/px with <5kg on the Sightron carbon fibre tripod so I don’t think tripod stability is the issue here. At least it shouldn’t be. I do have a Berlebach uni tripod I could test. The power supply is something that keeps coming up so I should definitely check that out I think. How is your guiding with the RC6?