Space Bat

M51 is fairly large and noticeable...a modest scope would pick it up even with small subs.

Better?

Still getting to grips with this new camera....this was 0 gain offset 10 and 25 subs LRGB L 60 secs RGB 90 secs and Ha 180 secs. Ha to me looks overcooked. M51_RGB_Ha.bmp

Welcome

Welcome Jeff. 🙂

RGB_H.bmpRGB_H_clone.bmpHeavy going trying to tease out some detail within this tricky object. Taken with the CPC 925 and 1600mm Pro, Processed in PI

You have a powermate so you need to look at better spacing of eye pieces so can combine it...without overlapping and being close to the others like the 9 & 5.5 and the 25 and 9. Unless using the powermate for imaging.

Take a look http://astronomy.robpettengill.org/blindSmartPhonePolarAlign.html

Polar alignments can be a daunting task.. it takes practice! If you persevere eventually you will be aligned in minutes. You can get pole scopes for forks btw

Wow

Wizard nebula,

Welcome back

Hi Pietro, it would help to know what scope you have

Apologies if this has been covered... Like many downloading the new CFM and trying to open it has been a real pain.....looking for solutions here and CN had some useful guides but like am sure for some proved no use. Anyway I found this site https://windowsreport.com/jar-files-not-opening-windows-10/ And basically skipping down to solution 3 clicked the link and downloaded Jarfix - now it comes up real quick as a splash and its gone again...I thought not again. However when you now click on your extracted download for CFM it now opens.....happy days can now fix the GPS bug and updated some stuff which is annoying the heck out of me and I will now be ready for 2022 (our next clear night) Space Bat

How accurate are you polar aligning?

Hi Neil, Unfortunately our eyes are the weakest link when it comes to visual Astronomy we can not see colours like a camera 🙂 however a good dark site and dark adaption your scope will give terrific views. You just need to hone your skills and visual awareness. Hunt for the brighter deep sky objects Orion Nebula will blow your socks off as will Jupiter and Saturn.

The slew in PHD is miniscule compared to the mount control. Do you have a hand controller that can plug into mount and computer?

Have you seen if manual guide function works in all directions? Also all Ascom drivers need to be installed first. Then any others such as guide camera , mount and PHD etc

Nice image. Some excellent rift detail.

I set everything up with laptop this is left by the scope. I then use tablet to operate scope through sky safari on the Celestron skyportal plugged into the CPC. Everything else is controlled by using Teamviewer I can run everything from my tablet accessing the laptop from wherever in the house or out. You can be out with the wife and take images at the same time 😁

Possibly see what societies are near you, find out it there is a viewing session planned in near future and see if can pop along. Dependant on numbers you could get to look through a variety of scopes and budgets.