scitmon

Found the answer here: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/564252-polar-scope-not-on-12-position-eq6/ Sounds like adjustment of the reticle is not worth the hassle.

I've been using my Skywatcher AZ EQ6 for a good while now and have successfully used the polar scope a good number of times now, but something is still bothering me which I'm not sure is correct... When setup in home position and DEC axis rotated 90 degrees to open up the polar scope, should the clock pattern be orientated correctly at this point? i.e. 0 top and 6 at bottom. Mine isn't and I have to rotate the RA axis significantly to put 0 at top before I start adjusting. The manual is useless imo.

How on earth do you not get blownout images on ISO800 with 8 minute exposures? Are your skies really dark or using a filter? Great picture.

To my knowledge, Sharpcap is not a guiding tool. Polar alignment aids are a minefield in my opinion. There are lots of different ones that use different methods. I've tried PHD2's tools with no success, wouldn't work for me. I've also tried Astrophotography Tool's DARV once and was impressed with it, but found I didn't really need any of them because my AZ EQ6's polar scope is actually really really good. I just spend 5 mins carefully getting it in the right spot and tracking is really good. Sorry if that doesn't help you. If you can see Polaris from your imaging spot, I would just polar align it the traditional way and see how you get on with guiding (the PHD software will tell you how good your alignment is).

PHD2 does have polar alignment utilities as well if you want to avoid sharpcap. ASCOM is a platform that many planetarium applications (Stellerium included) use to interface with your mount. You would have the ASCOM EQMOD program running along side Stellerium. Personally I just use Astrophotography Tool (https://ideiki.com/astro/Default.aspx) to control my camera and mount (with EQMOD running in background), and PHD2 for guiding. I might occasionally load Stellerum to see whats in the sky when picking a target.

Had another attempt, I think this is as good as I can get it for now: If anyone wants to try and get a better result, I've attached the unaltered stacked image. I've be very interested to see what experienced imagers can do! stacked2.tif

Yes you are right, which is why I am wondering if my expectations are too high. Time will tell.

You are correct, it was taken with a modded Canon 700d. I have used the colour matching tool already but with the galaxy as the target. Perhaps I'll try with the average of all the stars instead. I'll also check the colour balance settings. Thanks!

Hello, I've just started using a trail license for Pixinsight and going through some tutorial videos and applying what I'm learning to some data on m81/82 I shot last weekend. Its all going quite well except that i'm not sure how to get the vibrance I see in other peoples images. This is mine: https://astrob.in/346588/0/ I would like is something more along the lines of: https://goo.gl/images/eEaZGU Perhaps I'm being unrealistic? Would really appreciate any tips! I've attached the tiff file if anyone wants to look at it. m81 attempt 1.tif

The ED80 is about as good as it gets for it's cost in my opinion, but there are other better small refractors out there if you have a bigger budget?

Bigger always better? Definitely not. The main 'benefit' the quattro gives you is the longer focal length. This will give you more zoomed in pictures: https://goo.gl/fchVvi But this is not always a good thing for some targets: https://goo.gl/KrWppn The longer focal length also makes tracking more demanding, and you will need a big sturdy mount for the extra weight of the Quattro. Something like the ED80 is a much better entry into the astrophotgraphy world.

I think main thing to improve the image is to get a lot more subs.

have you done any post processing on the image with something like photoshop?

Sorry I have just realised I'm actually class 5 Bortle, my bad

I still see an orangey glow in my skies, which makes me wonder how much a filter would help. I'm certainly not willing to take a £180 punt on it at this point anyway.