Swoop1

This project is making me smile with joy, anticipation and exitment! Mr Franklin- I salute you sir.

Another run from the other night- Celestron C6, ASI290MC, HEQ5PRO. Best 45% of 4000 frames stacked in AS4! with levels tweaked and sharpening in GIMP Bottom left to top right- Campaunus then Konig on the edge of Mare Nubium, Bullialdus B, A and Bullialdus, ghost crater Luniniezky with A and E above and then left, Darney and C with their bright inner walls, Montes Riphaeus, Lansberg with the central peak, Reinhold with B to the right and smaller A at 9 o'clock on its floor. For scale Reinhold B is around 26.26km in diameter. Copernicus is at the edge of the frame at top right. Just visible to the lower right of Copernicus, near the top of the right edge of the frame is the ghost ring of Stadius (the lower tip of the mountain range traces part of the edge of this crater. The small bright crater just above is Stadius B. The chain of small craters running towards the top of the frame are I believe Rimae Stadius. Bottom right side and towards Copernicus- Mid bottom is Davey with A intruding on its rim, Herschel further right with G at 8 o'clock, ghost crater Sporer at 2 o'clock with Flammarion the larger ghost above- A the bright edged crater on its rim. At 12 o'clock is Mosting and just after 8 o'clock, equal distance beyond the small crater between them is Lalande. 11 o'clock of Mosting is ghost crater Sommering. Just after 11 o'clock of Sommering is a pair of similar sized craters with a smaller one adjacent to the lower. These are Gambert B (lower) and Gambert C (upper) with the smaller crater being G. Gambert is the shallow, almost ghost crater just after 9 o'clock. Barely visible directly 12 o'clock of B is a faint darker smudge. This is possibly the volcanic dome that has been identified in that location. Draw a line from Gambert C directly to the tip of the Stadius crater edge and you see a small dark crater. Just over mid way from C to that crater is the crash site of Surveyor 2 (23/9/1966). The bright rimmed crater between Gambert and Reinhold is Gambert A. Nomenclature courtesy of Ronald Stoyan Duplex Moon Atlas and Robert A Garfinkle Luna Cognita. Apologies for lack of accents on the names.

If using a OSC and either an LP filter or Dual Band (L Extreme for example), is there a best location in the train to put it? Is it better to have it closer to the scope and optics, better closer to the sensor or, does it not really matter? The rig I am thinking about is my RVO Horizon 72ED, the dedicated flattener for the scope and a ZWO AIS533MCPRO.

I used GSS before I got my ASIAIR PLUS and it worked well for me. I liked the ease with which it synced with Cartes du Ciel and found it to be very intuitive at the level I used it. Once I have another EQMOD cable, I will return to it when using my lunar/ solar/ planetary scope which I don't have an ASIAIR for.

Celestron C6, ASI290MC, HEQ5PRO Best 45% of 4000 frames, stacked in Austostakkert4! and tweaked in GIMP

Here is another version of the same data, this time with Green Noise Removal in SIRIL before tweaking in GIMP. Very different colour profile as a result. I think I prefer this version-

Celestron C6, ASI290MC, HEQ5PRO. Best 70% of 4000 frames stacked in AS4! with levels tweaked and sharpening in GIMP Bottom left to top right- Montes Riphaeus, Lansberg, Rehinhold (plus A and B ), Fauth, Copernicus, Gay- Lussac sitting in the Montes Carpatus (with T. Mayer in the distance towards the teminator) , Pythus and then Lambert with Euler towards the top centre. Montes Apenninus and Eratosthenes at bottom right.

Revisited the DSS stack just now and paid more attention to GIMP-

Just noticed that the stars have become quite square.... I will have to revisit the processing

RVO 72ED plus flattener, ASI533MC PRO, HEQ5 PRO 100 x 80sec lights, 20 x 4.6 sec flats, 10 x 80 sec darks and 20 x 1.0ms bias. Stacked in DSS, levels and colours in GIMP, further colour tweaks in SIRIL and Raw Therapee. Quite an aggressive crop due to the focal length of the scope. As previously stated, still learning.

RVO Horizon 72ED, Dedicated flattener, ASI533MC PRO, HEQ5 PRO 60 x 80sec lights, 20 x 4.6 sec flats, 10 x 80 sec darks, 20 x 1.oms Bias Stacked in DSS, stretched and tweaked in GIMP, colours tweaked in Raw Therapee. Still learning!

After finishing my lights (M1 and 42) and flats and parking the scope prior to darks and bias. The rig sparkled with frost in my red light.

The type of pier I mentioned are like the ones sold by Pier Tech- https://piertechinc.com/telescope-piers/pier-tech-2/ I remember a thread on here somewhere where someone detailed their conversion of a similar unit from an old NHS surgical table riser or similar?

Keep the original paint scheme and watch the locals head for the shelters when you roll out and deploy for an evenings dark sky observing! I once did a dog sledging tour on Llanjokull Glacier in Iceland and, a similar vehicle modified with a passneger cab and balloon tyres was used to get people from the meeting point to the dogs. Great bits of kit and an interesting project idea. Would one of the electronic extending piers set up on a locking pivot (pier could lay flat and then be erected upright when on site) work? Like the unit in this reddit- https://www.reddit.com/r/EngineeringPorn/comments/hwjx27/using_a_linear_actuator_column_i_designed_a/?rdt=46225

Hi @Ksamyui and welcome to the forum. The 200PDS looks to be at the limit of your mount weight wise for imaging (the scope is arount 8.8kg without camera) with the payload limit of the EQM35 PRO being approx 7kg for imaging and 10kg for visual. You could stick with the 200PDS for visual for now and perhaps either upgrade the mount in the future or go down the route of a smaller, lighter imaging scope that would work with the current mount. Knowing what imaging you would like to get involved in will also help you understand what your equipm,ent requirements are or will be later. You are not a million miles away from Maidenhead Astronomical Society - why not come along to our January meeting (This coming Friday evening) with your kit for a bit of friendly advice? http://www.maidenhead-astro.net/public/Meetings/index#group0