geeklee

Excellent Pete and very strong OIII. Was it an even split of filters over those 11 hours?

Thanks again everyone ( @Adreneline @Laurin Dave @vlaiv @michael.h.f.wilkinson @mackiedlm @Stuf1978 @scotty38 @nephilim @Sp@ce_d @jjosefsen @clarkpm4242 ) for your comments and feedback, it's really appreciated and I'm glad each person could enjoy a particular FOV / image (or everything). Some feedback from Adrian (@Adreneline) on the "big picture" mosaic got me thinking and onto an interesting way of bringing together these recent images.

Thanks @Sp@ce_d! I had completely missed the image inspection icon under "Image Control". Thanks for pointing me in the right direction 👍

The whole thing feels very polished, no doubt about it. It seems the normal PI interface is locked when the script is running (like most in PI). With that in mind, is it possible to include a zoom and pan ability @mike1485... or have I maybe missed something already? It's easy to ask for things like this without realising the effort involved 😅

Thanks for the explanation Dave, I'll persevere. It's just that missing contrast I need to bring back. I guess I can do that after with other tools if needed.

Definitely the first one for me @groberts While it looks great at most FL - a wide(r) Pleiades can offer a great framing opportunity and there's a lot of faint dust too.

This is interesting Michael as I have unusual behaviour with my 294MM but nothing as severe as you've described. After a fresh restart I'll launch my capture software (Voyager) and connect everything up. I'll start cooling and after a few minutes I'll see the cooling has flat lined. I disconnect everything in Voyager and see the camera pausing for a while like it's trying to disconnect. Voyager will then crash. I'll start up Voyager again, connect everything and see the camera temperature is obviously rising now but it must have carried on cooling by the values I see. From here - usually - everything just works like normal - cooling happens fine and images download consistently. From the troubleshooting I've done I think - for me - it's the USB configuration in my system as there seems to be correlation to PHD2 and it's connectivity. I need to do more testing. If I'm creating calibration files I use APT (just APT, nothing else loaded) and this usually connects OK and cools OK first time. More hinting at trouble elsewhere in my system. Do you have anything else connected while using the 294MM when using APT (for example) for calibration frames. This sounds similar to what I'd see though, when it's not working. Apologies, this hasn't been much help. In both Voyager and APT I use ASCOM drivers. My cooling is also a little less stable than my 183MM (and 533 before I sold it). They were rock solid when they hit -10. The 294MM floats between -9.4 and -10 - not sure if this is an issue - it doesn't seem to be. I got my 294MM around end of August.

As @tomato mentions and @vlaiv states above, why risk it? I'll stick with dark flats for now. I want to ensure I'm doing everything I can to make calibration successful - even at the cost of extra time capturing these.

Thanks @Gunshy This helps (me) a lot! I can definitely see the improved stars but feel I'm losing contrast in the steps I'm taking (likely incorrectly) - I need to try again and also on some different images So it's normal for the first stretch (1/5 - 1/4 along) to need the black point adjusted significantly? Just checking! Thanks to both of you (inc @mike1485) for sharing this. Example: One other image:

A recent run of sessions (mainly short ones) has allowed me to accumulate a mixture of data - primarily focused on the Heart and Soul nebula. First though, lets start off with the big picture. This is a 24 pane mosaic of the Cassiopeia constellation in Ha. Taken with the Samyang 135 @ F2 and 183MM - just 5 minutes per pane. Here's the annotated version showing the wealth of objects around this region: Coming in a little closer, here's a 6 pane SHO mosaic of the Heart and Soul nebula together with the double cluster. Taken with the RedCat 51 and 294MM. Each pane has 2x600s Ha, 1x600s OII and 1x600s SII. Taking just the Heart and Soul nebula, here's an image taken with the Samyang 135 @ ~F2.8 and 183MM. It's around 11 hours of Ha and 4 hours of OIII. Palette is from here. Lastly, in the centre of the top "big picture" there is IC59 and IC63. Here, it's taken with the RedCat 51 and 294MM - an HaRGB image (90m Ha, 60m R & G, 27m B). It's such a rich region and I'm barely scratching the surface here. Thanks for looking. Additional technical detail can be found via my Astrobin link in sig.

Absolutely superb Dave - both versions. Balanced, full of intricate detail and the stars are super. A treat to look at full resolution. Good luck with the other half next year.

Superb Adrian, excellent detail at 100% within the Heart and IC1795. The wispy nebulosity sweeping off the Heart at the top and also all the way down the right looks great too.

Fantastic Mike!

Great post and also great image(s). A good example of how important processing is. What may have appeared as a good start was soon eclipsed by much better versions that more knowledge allowed. It's almost hard to believe to believe that first image is the same data as those latter ones. I like various aspects of 3, 4, 5 and 6 - with 5 probably being my favourite. I don't see too bad ringing but it's always easier seeing flaws in our own images! 🙂 With #4 perhaps some SCNR with the amount reduced to maybe 50-75 could have left some green in without being too much? Super journey to read though.

I often wonder the same @scotty38 "They are in the same UK as me right?" As mentioned above, it's been a case of grabbing those elusive few hours here and there recently. I'm still waiting for that (only) one 10-11 hour clear night that usually graces us before year end. Maybe!

Good framing and capture Mick. Glad you got a chance to test out the camera so quickly even if it was fighting clouds the whole way!

Great image. Whatever you prefer is the right answer to this question. I like the colour & brightness in the second, that lower level of green (but still present) looks great. Good depth to it too.

Geoff ( @Spitfire ) - In my Samyang, also stopped down to ~F2.6 was an Astronomik MaxFR 6nm Ha and OIII filter. Here's a comparison of 1x300s OIII pane and an integration of 25x300s from my Samyang. This was taken around new moon from Bortle 5/6 skies.

Hi Dean - I recently found the AZ-GTI lacking for my requirement so went for a CEM26. These newer versions seem to be a slight revision - the two most obvious things are a different saddle (no knob anymore) and the CW shaft just screws in - no additional knobs around it. I don't know if this also means they tweaked anything internally from the first release. I've had mine out a few times now and have had to ease the gear mesh on DEC (a simple job described later in the manual). I've also tweaked the RA but not sure I have either in the sweet spot yet. Saying that, it's currently performing well for my imaging scale. It's unbelievably smooth with the clutches released, just completely free moving - making balancing both easy (as it's obvious when it's out) and tricky (as it must be very precise). It's obvious when it's off in 3D not just 2D. I find polar alignment fairly quick and always end Altitude on a "down" movement as this is the movement under tension. I noticed the power port is very close to where the RA will swing past - thankfully this isn't an issue for my cabling but can see how it could easily be. It's quiet in operation, with slewing hardly noticeable above normal tracking. I haven't seen the communication error you mention in question 2 yet. I've had mine hooked up to an ASIAIR Pro (via the hand controller) and nothing else. That reminded me of when I lifted the flight case out the box and thought "wow, this is supposed to be light?!" forgetting the 4.5Kg CW was also in there! One other thing I remember was expecting a really big hand controller. I don't know why - perhaps the 4 line screen description and photos I'd seen out of context. It felt like a mini hand controller when I finally saw it

Superb image and processing Adam. Bags of detail from the modest focal length.

Great images @david_taurus83 Excellent detail within the Crescent and the OIII shell looks good too. First one for me, looks more natural and I prefer the overall saturation (of crescent, background and stars)

Superb image Alan. Thanks for the description and annotated copy as well, helped pick up those faint galaxies.

Beautiful Adam. Great processing and the dust & stars look superb.

Fantastic @mackiedlm Love the blue reflection area on the shark's "head" and the dust looks great too.

If you're passionate about a particular mosaic project then you should carry on - even if you're chipping away at it over a few years while imaging other things in between. Just keep the mosaic realistic! If you've got the equipment, hopefully the time will come back to you.