jjosefsen

I don't know actually. But I think it has stronger motors, so one could argue it would be better.

Yes absolutely! I have the non goto version, and even though it is fun to find objects without goto it cuts too much into my imaging time. This is especially true when imaging over multiple nights. If possible save up some more and get a heq5 or maybe the eqm-35 instead.

That's quite nifty!

That setup looks very cool! What kind of mounting plate is that? Also what a great image, making me reconsidder getting an HA filter for my modded 600D

I have no doubt.. But it would be interesting to see if for example there was a noticeable drop in average fwhm.

@Stub Mandrel I'm very interested to hear what you think about the heq5 vs the EQ3 when you get a chance to use it. And congrats on the upgrade. ?

Finally finished a decent edit of some of the data I have gathered lately, this time it was M53 and NGC5053. 21x30s and 31x200s processed in pixinsight and captured with APT. It looks like I have more severe star halos around bright(ish) stars when I don't have a filter in front of my modified 600D (not a fullspectrum mod). I have read that the remaining anti aliasing filter should be an adequate IR/UV filter, does anyone know if this could be causing the halos? I don't have it as bad when i use the CLS-CCD clip i filter.. /Clear skies..

Wow im pretty impressed with how many actual stars you have resolved! Im also looking hard at other mounts at the moment, but still saving up.

That is pretty awesome! ?

And this right here is why im still torn about mono vs OSC camera. I understand all the technical details about why a mono camera is better. I even get that due to better sensitivity, in theory you would need less frames to get the same kind of data. An OSC camera just seems simpler and "faster" to me, the part where I still think maybe a mono cam is better, is because of narrowband imaging. When doing NB imaging you can image in really bad light polution, and even during a full moon. So potentially you can get more imaging nights because you can image all month and not just around the new moon. So many decisions! I just try to forget it and save up for a better mount first.

I'm saving up for something else non-astro related as well, so it will be a bit of a project tbh. But with a non-goto mount a lot of my time is spent finding stuff, particularly when doing multi night projects, and not imaging. So I see it as an investment in not only image quality, but also quantity. I'm also a massive gear/tech head so I enjoy playing with new gear.

Well a long time since I posted anything here, but not because I haven't been dabbling, I just haven't been satisfied with the results I was getting. The last 6 months I have used a dark corner at the back of my house for my imaging spot, but it has a very limited view of the sky. This has been problematic for me, in getting lots of time on an object, and in finding objects to image as a whole. I have now moved to a new spot in front of my house, I have built some screens to take the worst of the direct light from my neighbouring building (a small cinema). Coupled with a "new" 2nd hand astro modified EOS 600D, a CLS-CCD clip in filter I feel like I can now enjoy AP a little more, while I save up for en HEQ5. The new camera does not like the BPP script in PixInsight at all, but if I follow a manual workflow the results are decent. Here is last weekends efforts on The Rosette Nebula: It's not perfect, but I feel like it is my best work yet. I would love to add more data to it, but it is getting low in the sky now.

Wow! Certainly not what im getting at the moment.. Did you sacrifice many goats to get such great guiding?

Good job Art - it looks like it has some stacking artifacts on the right hand and bottom sides, maybe crop those away?

@Stub Mandrel Do you have any plans to upgrade either mount or camera? And if so, which one first? If you don't mind me asking. Gonna peep pixels when I get to my pc later

Sounds like one of those nights! ?

Only problem is the very limited fov, but I guess that is why it is so reasonably priced. ?

I've unscrewed that screw altogether. Mine is about a year old, and it didn't really perform ok until after I had stripped and regreased it. The little bubble level on mine is also way off! It's honestly a little embarrassing for SW if you ask me, that the EQ3 has so many problems. The internet is chug full of reports of badly made eq3's.

I have one of those as well. ? but mine is getting sold of. Again - nice images, I particularly like the M51..

That would be the focal ratio. fratio=focal length/aperture. is it a skywatcher explorer 150p?

Nice! Those seem a lot better. What focal length are you imaging at?

Aaaah ok..

I dont know what you use to process images, but PI, Star tools and I even think PS has tools to help remove this, could be worth as shot as it is very invasive.

Im not sure that is something flats can cure (assuming it is the bottom right you are talking about), looks more like light polution to me..

Last weekend I had an amazing 3 nights in a row to image - so I almost doubled the number of imaging sessions I have had since trying AP. Lots of lessons learned: Not having a goto system and having to "man handle" the scope to slew it to targets, has a very negative impact on PA. I suspect the flimsy tripod of the EQ3 has something to do with this.. I had achieved a very good polar alignment with Sharpcap before imaging, at the end of the session I did a test with Sharpcap again and the PA had gone from "Excellent" to "Fair" (the actual numbers are lost as I can't find my notes from that test..) Securing the drawtube with the focus lock screw on the SW ED80 shifts focus a bit, otherwise it holds focus quite well! Another reason to get the motorfocuser.. I need to get better cable management!! APT is a pretty good piece of software..! The pointcraft utilities in APT are so handy for someone like me without goto, as when I'm starhopping to my targets, I can solve a 10 sec snapshot and have the coordinates and FOV shown to me in Cartes du Ciel or Stellarium. Got some valuable experience on getting data over multiple nights. GOTO will make this much much easier. Saturday and Sunday were particularly good, monday had quite a bit of wind, but I managed. Gathered some more data on M33, initial measurements by PI seems to show it being superior to my original data, so my capture is progressing. All in all I managed to get data on: M33 (Triangulum) B33 and NGC2024 (Horse head and Flame) NGC7023 (Iris) NGC7380 (Wizard) Quite a haul that is.. Unfortunately I have a very limited view of the sky from my site here at home, so I can't get as much data on one object pr. session as I would like. I have attached a preliminary edition of my Flame and HH image, because we need more pics dammit! Found this one quite hard to process, it was very noisy, possibly because it is so low in the horizon, and I completely mucked up the framing and had to crop heavily. Good night!