Laurin Dave

Indeed it is.. What cameras are you using ? It'll make life somewhat easier if one camera has a larger sensor than the other as alignment will not need to be so precise. I was also wondering whether you could get a bespoke thicker Losmandy bar made up that would extend the full length of both saddles and also move the scopes closer together. The intention being that this would benefit both stiffness and scope alignment with the shutter aperture. Dave

Very nice.. the reason for the long bolts is now clear.. space for your cuppa! Dave

Very nice Goran and Happy New Year to you too Dave

Amazing Goran.. and great tracking! and a very Merry Xmas ! Dave

I have one although not used it more than a handful of times, and yes I have found it difficult to remove. The solution I found was to unscrew the adapter with the lens attached and then take the lens off somewhere warm. The button to release the locking pin looks more substantial on the website image than on mine so that may help. Also I've suffered with tilt with a Samyang 135, although not with my slower Nikon lenses even though the Samyang is fine on my D750. Dave

I'd give it a go Goran. 35mm will get Crux through Eta Carina for a spectacular wide field.. Dave

I think that quite often! and yes it does but once you have it sorted its very rewarding. Another thing to bear in mind is that just because the stuff looks black doesn't mean it doesn't reflect certain wavelengths.. IR can be a particular nuisance with anodised surfaces. If you have the time before Xmas eve I'd suggest sorting the light leak.. Dave

Hi Craig.. I'd think that you just need to cover the filter wheel to sort the light leak issue although the less ambient light about the better

Another great capture Goran.. What’s on your list.. if these aren’t can you add them please Eta Carina .. Omega Centauri .. Crux and the Coal Sack.. shame no wife field lens.. please remember next year 😊.. Dave

Hi Craig.. it’ll be the filter wheel leaking light..(there’s an old thread on here somewhere where another member has the same issue) also not sure how thick the filter wheel is, the reason I say this is because the correct flattener to sensor distance for your setup is 55mm, if different to this stars at the edges of the frame will be distorted .. looks like you are using the ZWO spacers which with a ZWO filterwheel (21mm thick) give the correct spacing.. can’t be certain but your wheel looks somewhat thicker so spacing may be out Dave

I'd look at some way of preventing light getting in through the manual wheel .. some sort of light proof photo bag over it perhaps. it doesn't take much stray light to mess things up. That ADU sounds fine and the exposure also with Ha. Dave

Maybe post some photos and a description of your setup.. what sort of filter wheel do you use? Are you using an OAG... maybe the lights getting in through these Dave

An ADU of 2590 is a tenth of what is required, are you sure its correct? Open the file in PI and hover over it .. the K value should be 0.4-0.5.. or use the Image Statistics. process. Perhaps try an Ipad set to a white screen (drawing app) with some sheets of paper to diffuse the light.... or if the sun comes out sky flats Dave

Hi Craig not sure what scale you are using but on a 16bit basis (0-65000) the ADU needs to be about 30000.. 5 seconds is ok. Dave

Both very good Rodd.. and not too red 😉 .. but number one.. just.... maybe have a play with the Oiii by increasing the magenta in cyan (PS selective colour) to make it a bit bluer.. Dave

That’s good, and there’s nice detail in the Ha.. i’d do as you and Carole suggest and blend the Oiii into the blue channel as well using blend mode lighten .. also I’d do this at 100% opacity and reduce the Oiii in green to 70% opacity . This will give the Oiii shell a slightly bluer colour .. allegedly more natural .. you could also try combining the Oiii and Ha (again using blend mode lighten Oiii over the Ha) to use as a luminance layer.. then apply in stages using the opacity slider Dave

Very nice and as Olly says a nice colour for the Oiii… the thing that will improve it is more integration time on Oiii to improve the SNR and allow you to stretch it more. If the weather plays fair there's still time to get it if you can start early enough and avoid the moon and I think if you got another 3 hours you'd see a significant improvement . Dave

Excellent … and a quite remarkable amount of colour for a DSLR.. well done.. and it does seem to be moving! Dave

Yes if you re do the dark flats and apply them to your existing flat frames it should be fine.. you'll then need to do another set of flats once the camera is back on.. Dave

I've had a look .. your flat looks ok (but read later) ... but your Dark shows evidence of a light leak and consequently has a high average value which when you subtract it from the light leaves nothing except the star centres. Did you take your darks and flat darks on the scope? The best way to take darks and flat darks is to take the camera off the scope put its cap on and put in face down on a bench.. that way no light can get in and mess things up. You'll need to figure out what exposures to take for your flat darks as you wont want to take the camera off to do them after you've taken your flats. Once done they'll last a while (Mine are14 months old and still work perfectly) . I've attached one of my 10 minute Darks so yo can see what it looks like stretched... unstretched its average value is 875 (16 bit basis) yours are 8300 … the Light has an average value of about 1500. I suspect your darkflats are also messed up so you'll need to re-do them... they look like they've worked as the average for the flat is so high but if done I the same way as the Darks they won't because they'll also suffer from the light leak. HTH Dave Mine Yours

Very nice Steve.. hadn’t thought of doing that.. I ventured into this section recently too as I’ve been experimenting with the SX-46 on the Esprit 100 so had the ASI1600 on the Esprit150 ( which makes quite a guide scope!) .. but when I swap them back I shall have a go using your method.. Dave

Do your flats work? Ie do they correct vignetting and dust bunnies.. if so all is well.. they generally look worse than they are (ie bright centre dark corners) because they are auto stretched so much. Measure the difference in intensities in the middle and the corners of an Unstretched flat I suspect it’ll be less than you’d think

Further to some encouragement from @Cozzy I've done some further tweaks.. stretching through a starless mask of itself .. and reducing the green a tad here's another version.. I think it's a bit better. I've found processing (and viewing) it in the dark helps with this one! Dave

It’s a Huion tracing panel..

Bright centre dark edges is quite normal and shows the vignetting.. that’s what the flats correct for as well as dust bunnies