Rustang

yeah it was nice to use, I will give it another go using any APT aids I can and try and get it better. Do you know what values mentioned above are low enough for good focus so I can use that also to help check through the night?

Nope, Polaris! I should probably use a brighter star to see the spikes better!

Thanks guys, purhaps my eye isant as good as I thought if two of you think it's out. I used Polaris, just been lazy but I've used it many times and my images have been sharper. I don't have the option to zoom in anymore as it's a CCD camera. I've not used the APT bahtinov mask so could try that to improve on. It's still strange as I've always just eye balled it, but I guess I've got it wrong this time I guess, maybe I should book an appointment at Spec Savers! 😁

It seems this is the case with lots of aspects of this hobby! I really wish one thing would just stay working so I could concentrate of all the other things to improve on. Anyway I thought it would be easier to start a new thread in regards to this issue. I have since day one of starting out doing astrophotography, used a bahtinov mask to focus. Ok so there might still be room to improve of focus but until now Ive been ok with the focus of my images. I now have a knew scope, WOZ73 with a built in B mask in the lens hood. First light on Friday just gone, took my time with the mask to focus, got focus and started imaging (see image below). Because I have always done this and its been fine, the stars appeard the size I'm used to seeing so I just carried on. Its not until you start to zoom in you can see that its not in focus. I took an image straight after the mask was removed and that is out of focus when you zoom in and contiunes to be that way through all of my data. So why? should I be worried about Collimation of the new scope? what else could it be? I know lots of people use a mask and get on just fine. Valv has mentioned about using the FWHM of HFD values on the APT focus aid, from his help and info I know the figures fluctuate and they need to be small but I dont know how small to know I'm in good focus. I have attached below 3 subs that I opened in APT and opened the focused aid on them, they have different sets of numbers so are any of them showing good focus or not? if they are then that's probably not good I guess and could still mean an issue with the scope!?

I've just looked at a sub in APT with the focus aid, I know you said the values will change but low numbers are good, these seem low but are they low enough!?

Yeah your probably right, my brain is just hesitant with change! The image below is where I thought I had achieved good focus, I think I'm right in saying that it should have been ok going off those spikes patterns but it's failed somewhere. One step forward, one step back! 😔

Yeah it seems the only hobby where we have to wait, and wait, and wait sometimes! It gets really frustrating especially with imaging when you just wont to make some tweaks to improve but again, you just have to wait for that next clear night, you cant just get up the next day and improve straight away. I would definitely be booking some breaks under dark skies as much as possible but as you say, you just cant predict the weather so haven't bothered yet.

I see, sounds like a lot of faff but I have just seen that where Ive gotten away with just using the focus mask before (probably could have still been improved) It now doesn't seem to be the case. Ive just looked at the subs where I was achieving focus on the last session and its not great. The last sub with the mask was good, the sub straight after with the mask removed, when zoomed in is not in focus, I missed this and so every Ha sub after is out, my bad but can the focus mask be that out when Ive never had it that bad before!?

Apologies, I meant what values to look out for when imaging, I use APT so is there away of checking values in that software?

Thanks, what values should I be seeing!? Ive always done it the lazy way so guilty on that one but Ive not had an image that to me has seemed as out of focus as above before.

Il will try and see what's going on then as I really took my time with the focus mask so can't think what's happened, maybe focus slip on the scope. Can there be anything else going on if the mask is good but the image is still out of focus?

Its definitely strange. I think I have seen it on the lights but will have to go back and check but there's obviously no sign on this recent stack of just lights. Do you also confirm the above images are a little out of focus? When you zoom in it dies seem like the stars go a little blury quicker than normal but as I say the b mask was good and it's now a threaded connection from camera to scope.

I use an LED drawing pad and paper. The focus between filters is the same so never moved it

The original flats had vignetting

I've just done a test with the last data from my original setup, stacked with no calibration frames and there's no vignetting either!? 🤔

So I had my first light with the WOZ73 Friday night. I also took the opportunity to push on to my first ever 20min long subs which Ive been recommended to do by a few people as I believe my particular camera (QHY-9) is better for it and that definitely seems so. Ive attached a J peg and Tiff of a quickly processed 2hr 20 min stack with NO calibrations frames and the results are interesting and also concerning. I'm really pleased that it looks like 20 min long subs have really brought the noise down, there's a big difference which is great. What is very strange though is that the stack has no Vignetting which Ive had to put up with for so long and thought it was down to the 1:25th filters either not being big enough or close enough to the sensor. So what's happened to cause no vignetting, the scope has changed obviously and now uses a dedicated WO flattener so could it have been the Altair x80 reducer I was using on the SW80 ED DS PRO? or was it the calibration frames going wrong? The attached images without any calibration frames seem much better than any of my past images with this camera and filter combo in regards to vignetting so I have no idea what has been going on. Is it also possible for calibration frames to add noise if not correct!? In regards to the image on the whole I'm really pleased, the stars are bright but i didn't do much to protect them in the quick process but they appear nice and round and not to bad in the corners so the flattener appears pretty good in regards to its distance from the sensor. I'm a little disappointed in regards to sharpness though, the B mask was spot on but its definitely soft so I need to see whats happened there. 20minSubteststretch.tif

I took a visual scope and we had a look at Jupiter and Saturn which is always a pleasure, my Sister in law and wife really enjoyed that. I also took my Canon 600D and camera tripod and took a few shots of the Milky way at 50mm. I'm not expecting much as I don't have a small tracking mount so I was only at 5 sec subs but you can see it so there might be an ok photo in there somewhere, il do it properly one day. But out off all of it, just looking up was a real treat 😊

Yeah pretty amazing. We were in Lamyatt near Castle Cary, its where my wife's family is. Now on our way back to Bortle 6 skies in Hertfordshire 😔

So last night I was under Bortle 4 skies in Somerset and for the first time I'm pretty sure I could see the faint strip of the Milky way across the sky which was pretty amazing to be honest. While staring up in amazement I also witnessed 3 nice Meteors so it was a great visual night 😊

Hello, not to far from me! 😊

Just think of the observatory I could have here, complete 360 views 😊

Well last night at home went well for the WO Z73's first light. I managed a good 2hrs on the Crescent nebula in between clouds. I've finally pushed on to my first 20min subs and the mount seemed ok with it. Looking forward to the possibility of a visual session under Bortle 4 skies tonight and possibly some basic milkyway shots.

Looks great, I'm surprised you managed 20 sec subs without tracking, that's pretty good going. I struggled with 3 a few weeks ago when having a stab!

Possibly but somethings better than nothing 😊

The weather has already changed down that way and looking rather cloudy so not a loss for tonight, hopefully it stays clear at home 🤞