carastro

The joys of having a permanently set up rig though Olly. I am only permanently set up in the winter when I have Bortle 8 skies. Carole

I thought the Star Gazing Live Moon Landing Special was excellent. I liked the way they took the whole thing to America and the actual places where it all happened and the behind the scenes stuff. Normally I find Star gazing Live programmes far too rushed trying to pack too much in, but this was excellent IMO. Carole

I have to confess to using slightly trailed stars data on occasions when I don't have a hope of getting any more data in the foreseeable future or the target is really difficult for me to acquire needing a dark site in the winter, or even acquired abroad. In this case I just remove the stars from the trailed version before combining. But this will only work on slightly trailed stars because as stated above the nebulosity could be affected as well. If I had copious access to the target then of course I would not do this. Carole

I use the Synscan User Defined Object on the handset when the target is not in the synscan catalogue, i.e. a VBN or Sh2 target. But annoyingly Skywatcher Synscan does not let you name the target, or record and save more than 1 at a time. So I have to re-input every time I change targets, including any I have done at an earlier occasion but have since done another user object. Rather annoying I find. I also have to remember which target is recorded as all it will give you is the coordinates. Olly, it's in the menu where you select named star, then scroll down until you find user object. Middle button 8 if I recall without looking at the handset. While I am on this subject. I do find it a chore sometimes to find the actual coordinates of some targets - any-one got a good resource for this? I find myself scouring the internet hoping some-one has recorded it, often its in Wikipedia, but sometimes not. Am now keeping my own list of these targets that I have done so far and when I remember post them up when I actually image the target on my website so I have a permanent record, and also maybe it might help others. Carole

I agree, but I didn't have the time to go shopping around right at that time. Maybe I will be better prepared next time. Carole

You are so clever with this stuff Gina. I can only manage a bit of Blue Peter and perhaps a little bit of woodwork carole

I wouldn't use the ones where the stars are trailing. But the rest of them could be used, barring any with huge plane tramlines. Carole

Lol, the figures I quoted above for my longest image are in fact what I have achieved with a dual rig. I guess my problems are also associated with the amount of time I can be at a Bortle 4 location though as I only go there for 2 - 3 days once a month. Carole

Yes, setting up EQMOd and platesolving is not something that can be done in a hurry. Carole

Oh yes, I forgot that was the problem, and the eyepiece has both 2" and 1.25" openings. Surprised FLO hasn't replied yet, unless you've only just messaged them. Carole

You don't need to plate solve, I do this quite regularly without. The secret is to orientate the camera the same each time, or as close as you can get it. Then try to position the target as close as possible to the last imaging session, which may require an image to hand from last time. Look at the stars around the edges to try to get them in the same place. APT has a routine for matching images to a previous session, though I never got it to work very successfully. OK, Plate solving might be quicker if you can use it, but I manage just fine. Stacking software will handle this just fine, but if you have dismantled the camera from the scope since last session, you will need a new set of flats and then the stacks will have to be done separately. If you are using DSS there is a routine for stacking separate sessions. Otherwise I just stack each session and then stack the stacks. N.B. If you don;t have your camera orientated in the scope exactly the same as previously there could be a bit of rotation which will result in you having the crop the edges. Yes you can set up plate solving with the HEQ5, you would need an EQDir cable to control the mount from the laptop, and various software to make EQMOd work. Then to make platesolving work you need a whole heap more of software. Unless you are really confident with IT stuff I'd give it a miss. HTH. Carole

Yay!! You've used it! So how did you get around the 1.25"/2" focusser problem? If it's any consolation Jon, I find planetary imaging even when the planets are higher, much more tricky than DS imaging. Carole

Fantastic images Jose, I have already liked them on Astrobin. I do envy the ability to gather so much data, the skies here in the UK are too cloudy to be able to do such long images. You say "only 15 hours". That's half as much again as the longest image I ever took. I love the addition of the RGB stars, and the whole processing is quite perfect. Carole

Yes it sounds to me that this is a calbration failure as that is what it says when calibration fails. Are you sure it was actually guiding or just trying to calibrate? I don't use PHD2, I use PHD1, but I think this is the same in both. When calibrating, the cross hairs are yellow broken lines. When actually guiding the cross hairs are solid green lines. Also without live view I am not sure how you can select a star. Is this a suitable camera for guiding? Carole

I was thinking the same thing. Carole

You need to guide on a small star something to do with the centroid which I don't udnerstand. Check in settings that RA is actually switched on. Normally you get that notification when the calibration fails, so are you sure you had actually started guiding. Guiding is a minefield, probably needs some-one more technical than me to give better advice. Carole

Ah, did not notice your location. Yes I agree, get some practice with the camera you have and save up for a mono camera and filters. Early images are not going to be fantastic anyway they require practice, and experience, so just use this time as a learning time. If you did decide to get your camera modified, I still occasionally use mine for instance, Lunar eclipse, comets, Milky way, holiday travel with a mini mount when you can't take the full rig with you. Carole

Looks excellent to me, I can't think of any improvements. Carole

If you want to do imaging and £500 is the maximum you have to spend I'd try to get a second hand HEQ5, much better for imaging. It's what I use. Get one from some-one on here or some-one you know. Last time I looked the HEQ5 was around £750 new. Carole

Really lovely image. It must be so frustrating not to be able ti image at all during the summer months. We have short nights and probably not astronomically dark, but at least you can get a few hours of imaging done. Carole

That was a narrow escape with the scope, but glad you got it working again. The resulting image has come out well, to all is well that ends well. Carole

That's looking good. Carole

Looks great zoomed in which is the real test of an image. Carole

It's not as simple as that, I find I often have to fiddle around with various sliders, but start with the green slider and try to get the green changed to yellow/orange, that's a good starting point. Getting the blue however is more tricky and it's mostly moving the Cyan and Blue and using the magenta and yellow sliders that seem to make the most difference, plus you may have to do this more than once. Carole

You can get your camera modified much cheaper than what you have quoted Camera modification: £55 Paypal payment fee + postage (Royal Mail Insured Next Day Special Delivery) = £19.75 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grand Total: £74.75 If you require a Baader filter replacement, £60 must be added to the final price. https://www.cheapastrophotography.com/Customer-Modification-Service.html Personally, I would "cut your teeth" on your Modified DSLR camera since you already have the camera and get plenty of practice, and then when you feel ready go straight for a Mono camera and filters. Worked for me. Carole