michael.h.f.wilkinson

I never push my APM 80 mm F/6 APO triplet over 140-160x visually, anything higher I distinctly see blur, stars are no longer pinpoints. It may be down to having a high visual acuity (1.75, or 75% higher than average, last time it was measured), I would never use 400x in an 80mm. Even in my 8" scope I rarely if ever push that far (on Mars and the moon if the seeing is really great, sometimes on other planets).

Some nice improvements there. One thing to note is that the 75-300 has a reputation of being rather soft, compared to the 70-300. The lens makes a big difference (apart from seeing etc). I would avoid video modes on the moon with DSLRs as the uncompressed 1:1 pixel modes have fairly low resolutions, whereas the full sensor video uses lossy compression This was shot hand-held with a Sigma 150-600 zoom

All's well that ends well

I have both the mini and the full size EFW, and both come to 20 mm give or take a gnat's whisker. It almost looks like the back plate isn't screwed on the right way round, as the screws do not seem to be recessed properly. Might that be the cause of the problem? If so, that is easily fixed

+1 for the XW10. I have had it for years and it is brilliant.

I got the C8 out last night, and before hunting the supernova in NGC 4647 I had a bash at some lunar imaging with the ASI183MC camera. I took 7 1000-frame SER files and stacked them with AS!3. Seeing was so stable I could stack 50% of the data. I feel I pretty much nailed focus as well. I stitched the panes in MS-ICE, sharpened the result and applied curves in ImPPG, and combined the unsharpened colour version with the sharpened grey-scale version in GIMP, by doing an LAB decomposition of the former, replacing the L channel with the sharpened grey-scale image, and recombining the channels. For some reason SGL doesn't allow me to upload the whole image, so I have posted a link to Flickr. By all means check out the full resolution version. I may play around with saturation a bit for a mineral-moon version.

Got the C8 out tonight, at first for some lunar imaging (data being stacked on this machine as I type), but afterwards for some DSO viewing. I first picked up M53, just because I like globulars, and to get my eye in. Then swung over to Vindemiatrix, and star hopped to M60 and M59, both fitting easily in the FOV of the Nagler 31 T5 "Panzerfaust". I then focused on M60 first with the ES 17 mm 92 deg EP, and could make out NGC 4647 quite readily, despite moonlight. I got some fleeting glimpses of something stellar in just about the right place, but switching to the ES 12mm 92 deg darkened the background enough to remove all doubt: supernova number 16 spotted! Would love to have a longer session, but I have to get up early for work tomorrow, so will content myself with these few objects (although I might have a peek at a few more globulars).

My APM 80 mm F/6 triplet sees a lot of use for solar imaging, and for DSO imaging. The C8 is my main observing instrument at night, and is the best lunar and planetary imager, the Meade 6" F/5 Schmidt-Newton has done a lot of imaging of smaller DSOs. The Coronado SolarMax-II 60 mm gets a large amount of use observing the sun from my work. It much depends on conditions which gets used most (oh, and then there are the Helios LightQuest 16x80 bonoculars: brilliant for travel and quick informal DSO viewing)

Had some fun with the APM 80mm F/6 with the Beloptik Tri-Band ERF fitted, in white light Ca-K in various renderings and H-alpha (14-pane mosaic in this case): Some lovely proms, and the detail in the big AR is magnificent Clicking for full resolution is highly recommended. I am still working on data captured with the 8" Tri-Band SCT

That's brilliant

very nice indeed

Superb set of images

Captured some solar data with the APM 80mm F/6, first with the Lunt Herschel wedge, wich revealed the huge active region that has just arrived. Next I used the Lunt B1800s Ca-K module, to capture the inner chromosphere. Grey scale: Pseudo colour: Part inverted, revealing some proms: Part inverted with pseudo colour: I then switched to the Solar Spectrum 0.3 Angstrom filter, Baader TZ-4 tele-centric, and Beloptik Tri-Band ERF for H-alpha. I captured 16 SER files, of 1000 frames each, stacked no less than 50% (stable seeing or what?) in AS!3, sharpened in ImPPG, and stitched in MS-ICE: Grey-scale: Pseudo colour: Part inverted: Part inverted + pseudo colour: Loads of activity to be seen, lately

Or it's simply part of a cunning plan

Looks great! I generally get my astrophotos printed on aluminium using an online print shop, and am generally quite pleased with the results. I also get decent results with the Canon printer I have (only up to A4). I think the missus might frown upon another (bigger) printer being added to the arsenal of astro gear

I combine data from several sessions regularly (how else could I collect 12h+ on the Heart and Soul). Often these sessions are just a few days apart, but I don't see what difference the time delay makes. I have even combined my data with that of others (with permission and due acknowledgment). Happens all the time

New toy! Should make life easier, I hope.

I have used an EQ3-2 with quite a bit of success with my APM 80 mm F/6 triplet, usually with a 0.8x reducer. Bigger, better mounts certainly exist, but even if you upgrade the mount, the EQ3-2 can readily be used with e.g. a Samyang 135 F/2 or other short lenses as a neat tracking mount.

Lovely collection

Ever since MS-ICE was no longer available

Four pane mosaic taken with my Celestron C8 and ASI183MC. Stacked 150 frames out of 1000 for each of the panes using AS!3. Stitched in Affinity Photo, sharpened in ImPPG, combined sharpened grey scale with unsharpened colour in Gimp. Not the best I have made, but given the bad seeing not too bad,and certainly worth clicking for full resolution

I have a feeling I can spot a little of that spaghetti right on the edge of my 12 h of Heart and Soul at F/2 image. I might try a shot at it with the ASI183MM-Pro and see what I can get

Fascinating stuff!

Cheers, I was only using 60s subs, both because this is unguided, and tracking was ever so slightly off, and because the dynamic range of the camera is limited. With the ASI183MM-Pro I was using 120s.

Did a little stretch to see if I could bring out more detail.