carastro

Thanks for all the advice guys, have copied it off to show my friend when the time comes.

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I cut about 1/2" off mine.

Which end did you cut it off, the inner end or the eyepiece end?  I am not at all able to do this myself, but need to be able to give my engineering friend instructions if I ask him to do it for me.  

If you take it off the eyepiece end, is it easy to remove the bit that had the compression ring on and put it back on again?

If you take it off the inner end, I presume you have to unscrew the whole focusser assembly to get it out, so is there some sort of "stop" mechanism to take into consideration that might get cut off (i.e. that stops you from winding the focusser all the way out.

Any pointers and links would be appreciated.

Carole 

I have in the past before I got dithering working stopped the imaging for a few secs and put the slewing onto the slowest speed and pressed the button for a second or two to move the mount slightly, it seemed to work.  

Right, not sure if you can do this with only an RA motor.  But APT talks to PHD and tells it to dither between subs, I don't know how it works but all I know is I have done it when I only used a handset.  The APT/PHD commands somehow tell the mount to dither, the same as PHD tells the mount to make guiding corrections.

Carole 

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Yes. At the end of each exposure, nudge the mount a tiny random amount in a random direction using the arrow keys on your hand controller. To help the mount settle again, set a 30s pause between snaps. HTH.

See my previous post, can be done automatically with APT - no need for mount control or doing it manually. 

Carole 

Yes, I don't use mount control I use a handset. 

I used to dither with APT when I used my DSLR camera.  APT (Astrophotography Tool) also supports CCD cameras.

Very cheap and good support.  It talks to PHD so it knows when you are taking a shot and dithers in between shots.

Carole 

Interesting read and congratulations.  I don't normally read observing reports being an imager.  I really admire the perseverance of observers to find and see these faint objects that can be picked up so easily with a camera.  

I did a few years of observing when I first got a scope, but these days I image and the only observing I do is when my imaging is up and running and then I wander round looking through other people's scopes whilst it is "capturing data", this is when I am at a star party of course.

Carole 

Congratulations to the winners,

Carole 

Well so far it did not work, Ended up with a pink mess, so I went back to the original tutorial and Actions I have made which worked before and that didn't work either.   

So maybe somewhere I am trying to use the wrong data or am missing something, as it has worked brilliantly every time up to now.

Carole 

Thanks "Got em" I just missed out a step, needed admin permission for that too.

Will take a look at the new instructions.  

Carole 

Hi Mark, hit a problem.

Have loaded the curve presets in as you can see from the screen shot, but when I try to perform the action in Curves itself, the only presets that show are the ones originally in Photoshop (see lower screen shot).

I tried rebooting to see if that was needed, but it has made no difference.

Just to be clear Mark, does this go in place of step 8, or both step 7 & 8 in your previous tutorial?

Carole 

I have posted this on another thread, but it seems sensible and relevant to post it here to show comparisons.

This is my M20 image processed in my normal way a few months ago.

This is the same image I reprocessed today using Mark's Arcsinh method.  I am well pleased with the improvement, I always struggled with star colours, but it's even produced a better overall colour in the image.

Brilliant Mark, it works and I don't have to buy Pixinsight.

Carole 

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I expect that the fast optics I am using helps though.

Well maybe fast optics might make a difference, but I could never see nebulosity with my DSLR, even after doing a long exposure I might only see a faint hint of it.  Only processing would bring it out.  

I coped getting focus by marking the drawtube so I knew where the point of focus roughly was each time, but doing it from scratch I used to use the Moon to get rough focus.  Once I was close to focus I could actually see a star on live view and then could complete focusing.   Well that was my experience.  

Carole 

Having used both DSLR and Mono CCD cameras, my comments are as follows:

A DSLR is certainly a lot cheaper and probably a lot less to learn for a beginner.  In particular processing is probably more straightforward.

BUT  Apart from the fact that a Mono CCD camera shows much more detail, it is far easier to see if you have the target framed in the FOV and get focus.  

I have been helping a newbie recently with a DSLR and I had forgotten how difficult it was to find the point of focus with a DSLR, if you're not near focus you won't even see it on live view, and you certainly can't see the nebulosity.  So from that point of view Mono cameras are easier for a beginner.

Therefore in summary, I recommend a beginner (if they can afford it) should start with a mono camera and just do Mono imaging for a short while until they get the hang of it all.  A filterwheel and filters can be added afterwards.

Carole 

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Do I need a finder scope or would a guiding camera take it's place ?

The guide camera goes in the back of the 9 x 50 finderscope (with a cheap adapter).  This removes the finderscope as a "see through" finderscope, but if you use a laptop to capture images you can look at what the finderscope is looking at on screen and this is much more comfortable than all the awkward positions you might have to get into to look through it.  

As regards the 12D string link, I think they use standard images which enlarge and decrease according to the kit used, so am assuming that the box they are sitting in is the size of the FOV, I must say that has confused me a bit at times, but I find this an invaluable tool when planning targets and imaging sessions.  Planets will be small in an ED80 (as stated above), but input the barlow on the left side as x 2.  

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Firstlightoptics sell the 80ED on it's own or as an outfit, is it better to get the outfit or buy the basic unit and add my own diagonal eyepiece and finder scope ?

I'd get the outfit which comes with the eyepiece and diagonal and an aluminium case.  It's a decent eyepiece and if you buy the finderscope on it's own it could set you back around £80 and the eyepiece about £30, which in the end is going to cost about the same, plus you get a 2" diagonal and aluminium case as well.  

I re-sold my aluminium case as I didn't use it because of space storing and transporting, so re-couped some of my expenditure.

HTH

Carole 

I had not realised the ED100 was slower than the ED80.  In that case definitely go for the ED80 (make sure you buy the APOchromatic version).  Buy one that has a 9 x 50 finderscope as this can be converted into a guidescope, nice and light, no hassle with mounting and cheap to do.  I use one all the time.  If you buy the SW focal reducer @ x 0.85 will bring the focal ratio down to F6.37

Imaging and viewing DSO and the Moon with this scope you will not be disappointed (most DSOs are faint in any scope), but with a larger FOV - depending on what camera you are going to use, you'll get larger targets into the FOV such as the whole of Andromeda galaxy and M42, The Heart Nebula etc etc.  If you get a more powerful scope you'll end up not getting the whole of a target in and having to do a mosaic.

To be honest you're not going to be able to completely combine planetary with DSO when it comes to scopes, they need different scopes and you will just have to decide which is the most important to you.  Most people have more than one scope for DSOs and planets.

If you want to put your mind at rest take a look at this website, you can input the telescope and camera and select various targets to see what you can get in the FOV and how big things are.   You can also use it for inputting eyepieces. 

http://www.12dstring.me.uk/fovcalc.php

The ED80 is much recommended for people starting out and is tried and tested.

Carole 

Sorry, I meant to say I regularly use the ED120 at Astro camps with my HEQ5 and it works OK.   So an HEQ5 should be fine for an ED100.

An NEQ6 will only be necessary if you plan to get a heavier scope at some point.  

Carole 

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go for the ED80 or similar as it is a more forgiving scope due to it's wide FOV. At the begging you will be fighting every bit of your equipment

I think this is wise advice, imaging is challenging to start with and a smaller telescope places less demands on you and guiding than one with a smaller FOV.  However as you are keen to do planetary as well, why not compromise with an ED100 half way between the ED80 and ED120.

I regularly use an ED120 at Astro camp with a finderguider (this lessens the weight) and it works just fine.  So should be good for an ED100.  If you are getting a Skywatcher scope buy the Skywatcher focal reducer with it too.  

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reducersflatteners/skywatcher-85x-reducerflattener-for-ed100.html

Not cheap but nothing is in imaging.  

This increases the FOV for imaging and speeds up the optics and keeps everything nicely centred. 

HTH

Carole 

The HEQ5 and SW ED80 you linked will be excellent for imaging and visual as well.  Perhaps not so great for planets.  

The 200PDS will be a smaller field of view, so planets will be a bit larger than the ED80, but you would need a bigger mount than the HEQ5 for that, such as the NEQ6.

CArole 

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I found myself wishing that they'd do it for non-cataracted eyes!

I think they do but you have to pay for it.  When my husband had his eyes lasered at Optical Express there was an option to have replacement lenses.

Carole 

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My mother has had cataract surgery in both eyes. Seemed a bit strange to me at first, but the surgeon fitted a short sighted lens in one eye and a long sighted lens in the other (not at the same time)

I have the same set up with my contact lenses.  I have a sight lens in the right eye and a reader in the left eye, brain works it out and works a treat.  Also I think when my husband had laser surgery they did the same with the treatment of his eyes.  Otherwise you would have to keep taking reading glasses on and off all the time.  

Carole

Congratulations to both of you, I presume you're both into Astronomy then.  Amazing cake.  Have a lovely day with lots of photos to remember it.

Carole 

It's Melotte 15, the centre of the Heart Nebula and yes is it narrowband.   You can image it in broadband too, though not so sure if it is so defined in LRGB.

Carole