rob_r

Considering the same for my Mak 127. I don't know much on this but I have read that the ratio between imaging and guiding needs to ideally under 4 and came across this Google Sheet will calculates this, https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jd9BPWaonZDCWXJVYFT3v0_pQX03QxPfceWfx0M_8G0/edit#gid=0. There is this too, https://astronomy.tools/calculators/guidescope_suitability.

I used Siril but I was finding it a bit complicated to use and I have Stellerium also. I have since installed Windows 10 via Bootcamp on my MacBook Pro and now trying out Deep Sky Stacker. Plus, it opens up a few more programs I could look at that are otherwise unavailable on Mac OS X. The only slight issue is the small in built SSD with the partition sizes needed. Bootcamp says it need 40GB to install Windows 10 but it seems it is actually closer to 80GB for a success install.

Looks good to me and I am on a similar train of thought and level. I have the SW Mak 127 on the same mount, considering getting the same guide scope and camera later this year. I have a Canon 600D (unmodded) second hand which has served me quite well so far, I have been told it has a decent sensor for astrophotography. Not used the mount all that much yet as it arrived at the back end of March and it is too light in the evenings now.

Hi James, I'm in Penwortham, just on the other side of the Ribble.

I'm glad I'm not the only one. Here, I have Bortle 6, a 5" f12 scope with a GOTO system which gets me to the right area. It was with a little luck I managed to capture it a couple of weeks ago (be it off centre in the frame), then struggled to find it again since. I see nothing through various eyepieces other than the stars but with the captures it was revealed as a ghostly image on the subs with a Canon 600D. I'm eager to find it again to get more subs. I might try my 0.5x reducer and see if that makes things any easier.

The only mention of 'binning' is on here, https://free-astro.org/index.php/Siril:Manual. It is under the 'RGB Compositing' tool. But, it looks like I need to split the image into the separate colour channels first. So, I'll have to figure out how to do that. I am trying to follow this, https://free-astro.org/index.php/Siril:Manual#Process_your_single_images to improve things but finding it a struggle to be honest. Anyhow, the linear file is attached. result_16-04-20.fit

Thanks vlaiv, your feedback is much appreciated. So the 'binning' aspect, is this done at capture or once you have stacked all the subs? I take it as in my mind from a simplistic point of view, it is image reduction but keeping the aspect ratio. Siril can 'resample' using a scale percentage using a bilinear interpolation which I guess is the same as Photoshop's Image Size tool. So if I halve the width and height, would that be a 2x2 bin and halves the focal length? I will certainly revisit this target with a lower ISO but with far more subs. To be honest, I got better than I was expecting out of the short exposure times. I'm eager to see if I can improve upon it. I'll try a 3-star alignment also to get better centred on target.

Not to worry about the dials for either question. I have the SW EQ5 with the SynScan GOTO and I just set them to zero and locked them. I use the `Polar Scope Align` app to help with alignment. Ultimately, I'll be looking for guide cam/scope and using PHD2 later in the year too.

Hi. Preserving is beginning to pay off a little. Even though I couldn't see anything through the eyepieces, trusting the GoTo on the EQ5 with an improved polar alignment, I got my first glimpse of a galaxy. I set up the polar alignment whilst it was still light with the small inconvenience of the polar reticle rotated on the SW EQ5 which I believe is quite normal, 12 isn't at the top. I may buy the Polar Scope Align app on my mobile to help further. I then one star aligned to Arcturus, keyed in M51 and had a look at various magnifications and nothing. Keyed back in Arcturus and the scope landed pretty much centre on the star. So I swapped out the EP for the camera and adjusted the focus. Test shot on Arcturus, 30 seconds, looked OK, slight trailing (again). Keyed in M51 and just thought just go for it. Quite amazed to see the faint spiral and two bright points for the cores on the exposure, be it slightly off to the top middle of the frame. Hope to revisit when I have more time and skies allow and try for extended exposures at 2 to 3 minutes and I know my scope isn't all that well suited for DSO's given it's focal ratio. But for me, it's progress. If I can get better definition I would be happy. I have a 0.5x reducer but cannot get focus with the camera but I have yet to try this without the diagonal mirror. Open to further advice, feedback and pointers. Scope: Skywatcher 127 Mak (f/12) Mount: Skywatcher EQ5 with SynScan GoTo Camera: Canon 600D (unmodded) Bortle: 6 Lights: 19x30 seconds at ISO6400 stacked in Siril No darks, flats or bias. Auto stretched (...too flat looking?) and removed green noise. Very much a work in process but thanks for looking.

Hi. Seems a while since I was last out with the scope last week and we had 3 clear nights in a row which is practically unheard of. All the data for this was gathered on Friday night after failing to achieve adequate focus on this target the night before. The night before that, I went galaxy hunting but failed to locate any. At least, I got some time with my new EQ5 mount but was still finding star trailing a problem above 20 second exposure, poor polar alignment by the user perhaps. It was auto tracked, is that the right term? There was no guide scope involved but that is on the shopping list for later in the year. Since Orion is now off to the Southwest, it has disappeared from view as houses block the view so I tried for M67 in Cancer which was bright enough to overcome the sky quality and does not appear to be all that often imaged. Scope: Skywatcher Mak 127mm (focal length 1500mm, f12) Camera: Canon 600D unmodded Mount: Skywatcher EQ5 GoTo Lights: 97 frames, 65 x 5 seconds at ISO3200 plus 32 x 15 seconds at ISO3200 Darks: 27 frames, 17 x 5 seconds at ISO3200 plus 10 x 15 seconds at ISO3200 Bortle: 6 Stacked and processed in Siril v0.9 (Mac OS X), removed green noise and auto stretched levels with further curve and level adjustments in Photoshop. Thanks for looking.

Thanks Peter. I will have a go at removing the diagonal and see if that makes any difference. Otherwise, I suspect the distance between the barlow and the sensor could be the issue as you have also suggested.

Hi again, I recently got a barlow 0.5x reducer for Christmas. I tried this out last week with my camera but could not achieve focus after trying both moving the focus to the min and max positions. I assume I have made a beginner error with the focal length. The camera is slotted into the back of my 127mm Mak with a focal length of 1500mm (f12) via a T-ring adaptor. The lens would reduce that to 750mm but everything is just a huge blur. The barlow lens is screwed into the front of the T-ring. There is also a diagonal in between with no other eyepieces involved between the camera mirror and the scope. Do I need something else to achieve focus, like some kind of extension or another lens to achieve focus without using an eyepiece? I can use the reducer with the eyepieces without any issue. Thanks in advance.

Just to update this, I sent the hand controller back to FLO and got a free replacement, this works fine. The LCD display functions as expected. Great stuff by FLO.

Thanks for the replies. I tried connecting the handset via the USB connector to my laptop, still no joy. I think I will try and find an adaptor to supply the correct voltage and current from the mains rather via the power tank.

Hi, I recently invested in a EQ5 GOTO mount from FLO. I eventually got around to unpacking it and building it. The issue is that when I switch it on, the Synscan hand controller lights up but the display is blank. I have not even gone through the setup as yet. In addition, I can move the mount head with the arrow keys but only for the first initial minute after the power is turned on. Subsequent presses to move the head just result in a buzzing sound and no movement. I am running it off a portable power tank that outputs 12v DC, I checked the power requirements for the EQ5 and it states 11-15v DC. Would I be better off running this mount from a mains supply? This is not a problem in the back yard as I have both the garage and garden shed have power, I just need to find a suitable plug adaptor and connection. Is it a low power issue? I left my power tank charging overnight and retested this morning but no change. I get the impression it is power related due to the tank not providing sufficient power but wanted to confirm this first. I have been using the AZ GTI mount for the past year or so now which only as a requirement of 7.5v DC. Is there anything else I could try with a view to narrowing down the problem just in case it is something else entirely. Thanks in advance.

Looks like this was the missing piece of the puzzle, tick the box and then restack. I have managed to save the image but it doesn't seem all that usable. I'll have a play around with it and see. Thanks for the replies and links.

Hi, I'm currently trying to use Siril v0.9.12. I have stacked some images, set the RGB channels to 'AutoStretch' then ran the 'Remove Green Noise' filter and I have a half decent RGB image in the 'RGB image' window, the 'rgb.jpeg' (the bottom) attachment taken via a screen grabber. The only issue I appear to be having is saving that image so I can take into Photoshop. I can either right-click on the image then save as either a JPG, BMP, TIF, PNG or FITs. Or I can go via 'File > Save as...'. It saves but when I preview this image in any other image program, it is the original stacked 'Linear' image as the 'jk.jpg' (the top) attachment. I managed to get a full RGB image out of Siril once but I cannot seem to repeat this feat after dozens of further attempts and I'm not sure as to why. I get the same result on two different Mac computers, just a near black image. Is it a bug in the software or I am just missing something plainly obvious? Thanks for any pointers.

I have the SkyWatcher AZ GTI mount for my mak127. I have also tried taking photos with my kit with a couple of decent results, nothing much worthy of posting here. From my short experience for just over a year now, I find that anything over about 12 to 15 seconds and field rotation starts to become apparent as the stars start to deform. 30 seconds and the stars definitely trail. I got some decent photos of M42 on just stacking about two dozen 2 second exposures. Planetary is all good, managed a few single shots of Jupiter and Saturn last year. I got EQ5 mount recently but still not had chance to unpack it as yet.

That's great, thanks for the link. I'll take a look at the information.

I got a 0.5 reducer lens and a couple of books Turn Left at Orion and Lessons from the Masters. I got a bit of cash too which I'll be putting towards an EQ5 mount I think.

Thanks. I thought the stars were a little blown out but happy enough with this as a start on the long road of astrophotography. The only issue with DSS is I am Mac based rather than Windows although I could go down the Boot Camp route. I have come across Siril which appears to be a similar program but not had chance to use it as yet but the images I got last night could be used as a decent test subject to see what that can offer.

Finally, a somewhat clear evening over Lancashire. Walking back from work at 6pm it was quite clear then as usual it clouded over again and I actually gave up on getting the scope out at around 8pm as it was fairly overcast. An hour later, it seemed to clear up nicely with just the odd sporadic fast moving cloud on an occasional brisk gust of wind. So this was the first time in a couple of months that I decided to take the scope out, fearing I won't get another chance soon. I only had an hour really so thought I would try out my novice photography skills out on the Orion Nebula. Taken with a Canon 600D (unmodded) attached with a T-ring adapter to the Skywatcher 127mm Mak scope with a diagonal mirror. The sky was Bortle 5 over Penwortham near Preston between 9.30pm and 10.00pm, the Moon was still just about under the horizon at the time. The mount is the AZ GTI. I took about 15 frames at 2 second exposures at ISO 6400, manually stacked them in Photoshop with a little curve and level adjustments plus flipping the image. I don't think it is too bad of an effort with the time taken as the Trapezium hasn't quite blown out although it's close to that. It seems a decent start anyway. It also seems to take just as long manually aligning in Photoshop on my Mac than taking shots the actual nebula itself! Hoping for more clear skies over the coming weekend when I should have more time so maybe I will try and add more data/frames to this or have another go at a lower ISO and perhaps try a 0.5x reducer. Considering getting an EQ5 mount soon also. Any pointers welcome.

I got this too for Christmas, not sure on the edition though but it is spiral bound. I agree with the telescope rating feature. I have only had my 127mak scope for a year and already this book has given me a better indication of what I should be capable of seeing. The only hinderances are persistent cloudy skies (not had the scope out for a couple of months). Tonight looks promising for partially/mostly clear skies in Lancashire though.

12,000? I thought the planned number was closer to 42,000.

Yes, with a SkyWatcher 127. It does a fine job in tracking objects with a good alignment going from my own limited experience as I have only had it for 12 months. But I am considering a motorised EQ5 mount (with the handheld keypad) for imaging but the price tag is putting me off for the moment. I have taken a few photos with the AZ GTi mount but find star trailing a significant issue on anything longer than a 15 second exposure, the stars end up looking like small arcs.