Vroobel

9 minutes ago, Whistlin Bob said:

Big thanks to Steve @Saganite for getting this in the post nice and quick. Really looking forward to having a play with it, as it's quite a while since I've bought a new eyepiece, and this feels very solid and well made and looks to be in excellent condition.

Despite Steve recklessly leaving a FLO sticker on the otherwise excellently packaged box, the weather gods don't seem to have noticed my new astro accessory, so I might even get a play tonight 😃🤣

🤞

Every post I'm more excited. 🤩

I highly recommend making a kind of collar protecting your light source from falling. This collar prevents the 'flat field panel' from any unwanted movement which may affect your flats. After all, it's recommended to collect at least 30 of them. 

Three different apertures, one flat field panel. It doesn't need to be the 3D printout, can be even cardboard, it's just an idea. 

It is. 

16 hours ago, Kinch said:

I blended HST palette with Foraxx palette....at least to the point where the detail is OK. 

Yes, it's very nice picture. 

Thanks, you just gave me the idea. 🙂

As you use Nina, set the Flat Wizard at 1/2 ADU Max +/- 10-15%, then it doesn't matter how bright is the screen - the wizard adjusts an exposure time on its own. 

Edit. 

ASIAir does it automatically. 

The Sigma 40mm and 2600MC got another chance. 🙂

A few days ago I received a custom made 24.5mm long (!) Canon EF / M42 adaptor. That means it's 2mm shorter than the ZWO filter drawer. Hopefully will test it tonight at F/1.4, I'm very curious about the result. 

57 minutes ago, TiffsAndAstro said:

... about 50% brightness.

What does it mean? 

What about flat frames? 

45 minutes ago, Norris Adams said:

Even though the quality is much better than anything I can produce with my own kit, the finished output didn't feel like I owned it....since I hadn't put the effort in the acquire the image - I'd done it through a middle-man. 

Maybe I'm just too 'old-school'! 

Yeah, I feel the same and fully agree. Yesterday I published the Crab Nebula while data wasn't mine. I cannot be fully proud of that because it's not captured in my garden using my stuff. I like the Crab, but what's the fun if I didn't need to spend hours on removing a gradient? (Bortle 2...) 😂

🤞 😊

5 hours ago, Vroobel said:

WO RedCat 51(?) ring matches in think, moreover, it has a shoe for guider. 

 

Look at the second picture.

1 hour ago, TiffsAndAstro said:

is that an intel nuc i see screwed on? because one of those or maybe a mele quieter is on my list.

It's Astro Gadget AstroPC. Good enough, but originally the antennas are very fragile, I broke them exactly like Cuiv did, but I was the first.  Now it's fixed and much more solid than earlier. 

I also think about the Mele 4C, but shouldn't think too loud as long as the AstroPC works.  

I see in the second picture that you didn't use side tapped holes, which I did. 🙂

I have this 0.8x Altair reducer:

https://www.altairastro.com/altair-08x-m92-reducer-for-altair-102edt-x-wave-series-refractor-12453-p.asp

I can unscrew the knurled part and there is the M48 filter thread inside. Check your flattener, perhaps there is something inside.

Just now, tomato said:

Wow, now that is one colourful Crab Nebula.

Well, it always was the most colourful nebula, but the HOS palette makes a difference.  

WO RedCat 51(?) ring matches in think, moreover, it has a shoe for guider. 

12 minutes? That's really impressive! 😲

I'm bored, so it's best to play with other people's shared data while waiting for the complete set of my own. I found a website on the Internet describing so-called Moana Project: someone from Texas (or just in Texas) built a decent ATM Newton 10" F/4.5 and mounted it on an Astro-Physics 1200 GTO mount. A common camera and filters, probably for now or when subs were being collected. The data is decent and presented as a set of subs plus masterDark and masterFlaty for SHO and RGB.

https://erellaz.com/moana/
https://erellaz.com/moana/open-datasets/

The Crab Nebula (M1) - 2022.12-2023.01 - HOS

MOANA 10" f/4.5 Newton, Baader 6.5nm 36mm SHO + RGB, ASI 1600MM @ Astro-Physics 1200 GTO;
almost 13h of integration in SHO: 48 x 300s Ha, 52 x 300s OIII, 54 x 300s SII;
almost 7h in RGB for stars;
acquisition in NINA, my post-processing in PixInsight plus minor retouching using Affinity Photo;
near Fort Davis, Texas, USA, Bortle 2.

https://www.astrobin.com/qzel27/B/

The Starless version is rotated at an angle of -35° according to telescopius.com.

Why HOS? I was charmed by the colours after using this combination, because it looks like some surrealist painting. The colours are not modified manually.

The higher class of the purchased stuff the longer period of clouds and rain? 😏

Wow, that's much better and useful than a quick start guide. 😲👍

8 hours ago, TiffsAndAstro said:

i was tempted to ask if anyone knew a good source for data to play with. this is really handy ty

I think it's an overkill for you at this moment. You should try to find similar source but containing the OSC data. 

8 hours ago, Elp said:

You can have the best data in the world but without PP the image will be black.

Regarding the good data...

I'm bored without my data to work on, so I downloaded free SHO & RGB data sets to process them for the first time. 🙂 The M1 goes as first, then the M16, the Helix and M8 as 2-tile mosaic.

https://erellaz.com/

59 minutes ago, Norris Adams said:

I am blown away by many of the images that serious astrophotographers show on this site and other comparable astronomy portals. I cannot (and do not) expect to achieve similar results. My equipment, my patience and the Yorkshire weather place stringent limits on what I can realistically hope to do!

I live in Merseyside which is called 'a cloud generator'. I think the only thing which differentiates us is patience.  

10 minutes ago, Elp said:

I'd say it's 20-30pc data acquisition, the rest is PP. You can have the best data in the world but without PP the image will be black.

OK, 20-30% is the acquisition, so 10-20% are the skills directly related to it. 🙂