Datalord

And with the latest beta update it is really, really good. The previous versions didn't implement ASCOM, but now it is a great piece of software.

Not at all, it was in the context of the quote right above the sentence from @ollypenrice

Fair point. And correct. In fairness though, the RASA is less than half price of the Epsilon. I think you are right and so are they. There's a reason I went to a slower galaxy hunter in the RC, simply because it actually is a galaxy hunter. As such, comparing an f/10 to an f/2 at same aperture is complete nonsense. However, if you are more flexible in your target acquisition, the faster optics make a gigantic difference in utilisation of the precious clear skies especially here in UK.

Uhm, for putting someone off a very fast optics system, that didn't work well. He basically got to focus with an LCD screen, a bathinov mask and processed it in 10 minutes. With that kind of result. If anything, it shows what kind of impressive images you can take with short exposures with such systems.

This is obscene. Both the astroporn and the simplicity of getting your setup to produce this. Well done!

I would think of it as more photons per pixel on the camera. That will ultimately get higher SNR.

As an owner and user of the RASA for a year (which in UK means about 15 nights), I have a few things you need to know. The filters have to be specifically fast filters for f/2. Make sure you get them in a bundle for your order. When I ordered mine, I accepted them to be sent later, but it turned out Baader didn't make a new set until last fall. Focus is harsh. I didn't have a motor and I think that caused me some grief. I would buy the celestron focuser they made specifically for their scopes. Because of 1 I only used a one shot colour. Oh the ease of use, I miss that. The short exposures are real. Really real. Not only do you get faster to saturation of your camera's pixels, it also means you get more photos in a stack, faster, which means you have better noise control AND guiding becomes less of a pain. Because of 1 and that I wanted to use NB, I got upgraditis and didn't get to really tune the RASA well enough. My pictures shows it, I'm afraid. It could very well also be because I got better at processing I now look back and don't really think they are awesome. Here's a few from that time. The M106 below has some history. I had 4 hours of data, processed it quickly and posted it here. Got some feedback and asked if more data would make it better. Obviously yes. So I ended up having 17 hours of data on this one and I kinda like the outcome. There are two quasars visible and NGC4231 and NGC 4232 are easily distinguishable, both being about 330M ly away. It's a fun picture to go digging in. NGC4226 at 380M ly is also quite clearly visible. It also shows that I never mastered coma correction properly. I will set it up again this summer and get some proper tuning on it. So, the RASA is not an easy scope. It is also bloody heavy. But it has some very unique benefits and the potential is huge if you can tame it.

I never mono imaged with it. When I bought it, I got the baader filter drawer system, but for over a year they didn't produce their high speed filters, so I only used one shot colour. I see now that they have made new batches of the f/2 filters and I think it would make an epic system for nebulae season. The light gathering power is staggering.

I'm very happy with the box it is sitting in under the kitchen table. Now that I will get the CGX back home, I will decide whether to set up the CGX+RASA in my backyard or to put it up for sale. In hindsight, with my foray into long FL, mono shooting with filters and all the fun that entails, there is an attraction to the RASA combination with the color CMOS. It is magnificent to take 30 second subs, slap them into DSS and get a processable image in 5 minutes, which includes detail you can only dream of with other scopes.

He is from http://astrograph.net/

Thank you and thanks for your help! I agree that this process definitely improves those two parts, but I'm not sure I like this second one better. I'll have to tinker around with when I do NR to get the best of it.

Well, I definitely see a lot of points that are better in your process. I still need to get a feeling for how to get the best out of it. Here's my first attempt. Ironically, I think the drizzle somehow manages to give better nebulosity with less noise, even though it theoretically should be worse. Or maybe I should have done more about NR before combining.

Yeah, he just sent me a message as well for my mount. In order to avoid shipping mayhem around brexit he wants to hurry. Can't blame him.

The benefit of saving the crop and doing it for all at once is that I can reuse masks and DBE processes across. also I'll try, but my experience is that the gradient will be slightly different between the colours and only by individually running DBE can I get a clean colour master. Thanks, I had no clue. Will do. Maybe my sequence wasn't clear. I stretch colour and lum separately and do MLT on masters separately before combining. Should I wait until I have combined? Other questions: Should I do decon colour master before combining? Not at all. Thanks!

Absolutely, I hope to learn. I thought I had dialed it back so far that it enhanced the overall image, but maybe I still miss the perfect settings. I start with the lightvortex tutorials and have experimented from there. This is actually a strong possibility. I used MLT with different settings for light and dark areas in lum. This is my master lum before LRGBCombination. Looks like I lose detail after combining. I shot this with bin2 at 1.05"pp, so drizzle brings the resolution up a bit. I guess I should reconsider, as I just took a side by side of the clean stack next to the drizzled: seems like the non-drizzled has more detail. Both are nuked with STF. pretty much. I thought I had to calibrate before stretch. pretty much this. I didn't do decon and MLT on the colour master, except for MLT noisereduction on the galaxy as I read somewhere the colour is less important in sharpness. Yeah, here's full lum in one-third. Help much appreciated. No reason to do all this work half arsed.