Maxrayne

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Possibly not the cleanest image of it. M51 captured with ED72, modded 450D on the SW SA. 324 x 60 seconds @ ISO 1600 plus darks/flats/bias. Stacked in DSS, cleaned up in LightRoom

Hehe thankfully I don't have that issue ? And thank you so much

Awww cool. You'll have to post it up once you've got it done ??

Thankfully not yet run into that issue, although I'm anticipating it come warm summer nights lol

Sorry, yes, you're absolutely right (was late and I'd just done a 13 hour shift.) Slewing the old fashioned way, ie by hand, lining up in the finder and guide cam and then removing the finder

A place called Black Frame Optics. They're online and on FB. The extra cw is a little... unusual...but it works for me ?

Slightly less than 3 hours with this setup although non guiding as it kept dumping the camera for some reason. Was getting up to 90 seconds at one point though which I'm happy with. Added an extra counterweight to help with the balance. She's a little east heavy but I'm fine with that

I use a converted 9 x50 finderscope and ZWO ASI120 mono, if thats of any use? Cheap and cheerful and does the job quite nicely. Lightweight too

Money can't buy this kind of happiness and joy. That smile is my whole universe This is her having a blast with the Celestron Nexstar SE mount and ST102T ?

I really am. My own first ever astro photo was appallingly bad and this is a far cry from that. Seeing her so happy and pleased with herself, and seeing her enthusiasm too, isn't a feeling I can articulate (in a good way.) Literally adore her to the stars and back

This was my 7 year old little girl's first light tonight. Yes she had help from me (lining up and focusing), but she's the one who pressed that button at the right times. Fast moving clouds and moderate winds made for semi challenging conditions. This was further exacerbated with her complex medical condition (she was born with half a functioning heart.) She's so into her astro atm, and although I know these won't win any prizes, but I'm literally SO proud of her she completely melts my heart First image is a single frame. 1/40 at ISO 100, taken with the ED72 and stock 700D on an SW SA. Second image is a HDR merge in LightRoom of all 11 images.

This thing is a bit trickier than I expected to find, not having the benefit of GoTo etc, and this was my third go at it. Pretty glad I stuck with it and didn't default to M42 as per usual! 60 second subs x 71, plus 42 darks, 30 flats, modded 450D through an ED72 on an SW SA. Quite obviously more data needed but I'm more than happy with this as a first go.

Managed a quick grab at M42 last night between clouds. ED72/modded 450D on the SW SA, 60 second subs (37 minutes), plus darks and flats, ISO 800. Biggest complaint is that bright blue star on the right, but I'm guessing there was still some high level cloud. Other than that, considering the lack of time on target, quite chuffed with this. Even managed to not blow the core totally.

I'm sold!! Especially at that price point too. I'm almost wanting to sell my full SA kit to fund it...almost. Kind of attached to Miranda (I'm that sad, I named it!) You guys rock That video is excellent, very informative. If it's truly that easy to use via the SynScan app and, say, Sky Safari, is there even any need to involve PHD2? But I'm guessing thats the crux of the questions being asked above. Atm, with the SA, ED72 and 450D I can get 1 minute subs before trailing (yes I know, but in my defense, I ask a lot of my setup.) If the tracking/guiding on the AZ GTi is coming in at less than that, would it be worth the upgrade? But then I guess that's where PHD2 would come into play. It has the same payload capacity as the SA, which I already push, probably beyond the recommended limit (the ED72 alone is just shy of 2kg) I'm just thinking out loud at this point now, but from my understanding, alignment is carried out via the 2 star method as opposed to polar aligning via a polar scope. If I were to keep both the SA and AZ GTi then that's essentially two (relatively) cheap mounts, one with GoTo functionality, without thinking about up or downgrading any OTA (currently have the ED72 and ST102T), both of which would be interchangeable with either mount and the modded 450D and unmodded (for now) 700D can also go onto either OTA. I'm converting my 9x50 finder into a guidescope (already have an ASI120mm mono) to be used as a guidecam or planetary/lunar work. Jeez, the possibilities....