Erling G-P

Second entry is M109, taken on April 15/16. Again 200PDS, 81 x 3 minutes = 243 minutes total (4 hours).

Some very fine contributions already and mine certainly can't hold a candle to them, but will post them anyway. Spring here just as winter has been abysmal, with next to no clear nights at all. Still have two images, made in April to submit, but unlikely to get more, given the quickly waning darkness. This first one is the Leo Triplets. Taken with the 200PDS on April 13/14, 74 x 3 minutes = 222 minutes total (3.7 hours).

Posted this before, but here is my best effort yet, from last year, with the 200PDS. Both cropped & full field. Rest of equipment as per signature.

Here's my attempt with the 200PDS from last year. Certainly nothing to write home about. Have cropped much of the image away - my full field looks much like yours. Equipment as per signature. Edit: 71 x 3 minutes = 213 minutes or 3.55 hours total

Nicely done! And it was hard not to spot, when using almost the same equipment - this single shot's field of view looks a lot more like mine

Very nice images for sure! Envious of your star colours in the Rosette shot; in my own with the 130PDS, the blue stars remain completely white, no matter how high I crank the saturation. Very nice Orion Nebula too, but am puzzled by your Andromeda Galaxy - is it a mosaic? In my own image, also with a DSLR 'crop sensor' & 130PDS, I can barely fit the galaxy across the image, so wondering about your much larger field of view.

It sounds like you're going to rely on battery power? If so, then keep in mind that a cooled camera has a fairly hefty power consumption - the cooled Canon I'm using is spec'ed as requiring a 12V 5A power supply. I measured it drawing 3.5A (nearly melted the thin wires of my multimeter!). I'm assuming the same goes for cooled, dedicated astro cameras, so others please correct me if this is not the case. I have the larger Skywatcher powertank from a couple of years back.; I believe it's 17Ah. Tried powering both my Heq5 & camera with it, but voltage dipped too low for the mount's

WOW and then WOW again!! Absolutely stunning image! If ever there was a sales add for this lens, your image has got to be it. Can't believe you used a modified 700D, as that's very much what I have. Looking at all the various image runs with different filters and exposure lengths going into it, I take it it was not a simple job making this however, but boy what a result!

I have a 700Da and yes, you can certainly zoom in live view. In the upper right corner of the rear of the camera body are two small round buttons which zoom in & out.

When you say you get no red at all with the nebulae, are you talking about single subs or stacks of several images ? Even with a modded camera, I get only very faint traces of red on single 3-minute exposures at ISO 800 of the Soul Nebula, with a SW 130PDS scope

Here's a couple of recent ones from me; Orion & Flaming Star nebulae

That's a very nice M109 for sure!!

Very very nice indeed!

You're very welcome Steve; I'm happy and humbled that you like my photos Sounds quite absurd that it would be cheaper to pick it up in person, but Brexit has certainly complicated things in some regards. I buy a lot of books in English, and have bought several items from FLO & other UK suppliers, but with customs processing fees of £20 + VAT of 25%, I'm now wondering where to source things from. Cheers, Erling

It does sound appealing, so something I'll have to look into. Thanks again Gaj & all for suggestions & info