carastro

An impressive bit of kit for the money. I have been looking at a few images that members of my astro group have produced and the ones above are very good. l think the only problem with this is going to be getting sucked into imaging for real and all it’s costs etc Lol But certainly great to be able to get these sort of results with this kit.

Wonderful - lucky you.

The full Ha disks are absolutely stunning. They are all good, but these in particular.

I did this target not so long ago, but wasn't entirely happy with it, so I decided to see what I could get combining it with data from 2018 which was done just in HOO (also never happy with that either). With the differing orientations this necessitated a smaller image. 2018 Ha 2h 50mins in both 900secs and 600 secs with WO ZS71 2018 Oiii 15 x 600secs 2023 Ha 31 x 600secs 2023 Oiii 14 x 300 ninned x 2 2023 Sii 14 x 300 binned x 2 Atik460EX and WOZS71 in 2018 as HOO Atik460EX and SWED72 in a dual rig in 2023 as SHO Total imaging time 12 hours 50 mins. https://www.astrobin.com/8ukibj/

I took this image in 2022 but didn't get much data due to poor weather. Only 1 hour lum at Kelling, and 50mins RGB in the Cotswolds. So I decided to add data from 2013 (done in Bortle 3 skies at Olly's place as part of a widefield image as I can't see an opportunity to get more data in the near future. 8 x 600 + 1 x 300 lum 4 x 150 binned and 2 each of RGB ED80 and Atik460EX With data from 2013 this is now 6hours 40mins

Several of these small objects seem to have a smaller “companion” or attached smaller body. ie. Rosetta, Ultima Thule etc. must be some scientific explanation for why it happens and how they become attached. Interesting.

Quite stunning. Worth all the collection of data and effort combining. Carole

I had mine modded by Astronomiser some 13 years ago. Good to know he still does it.

Did you see the huge Explosion crater? also the Pseudo craters? Our hotel was about 50 metres from the latter. Carole

You're in a good location for the aurora. we landed there en-route to lake Myvatn. Fabulous photos especially the last post.

I use Photoshop and have been using it for 13 years. I have never found a satisfactory software that doesn’t also spoil the detail that you don’t want smoothed. l have devised and learned a number of processes that will help within Photoshop. If you would like to know what these are send me a pm as too long to put in this thread. But there is nothing to beat lots of data to suppress noise. carole

I only use PHD1. I have to tell it to recalibrate after a flip. There could be an auto-setting for this that needs ticking. Hopefully someone used to PHD2 will reply soon

Was only hoping to get Ha from home but will have to go to darker skies for any more lum.

Agree

Excellent, the dark nebulae show up very well.

Well done the winners. M57 needs to be zoomed in to really appreciate how fantastic it really is. Carole

Went to our little campsite in East Sussex this weekend as an impromptu session. I had planned 2 targets one for the first few hours and one later once it had risen, as my main aim was to image the Witch Head since I live in Bortle 8. It was one of those nights where so many things went wrong, and things that have never happened before. Consequently I never got the first target at all, I ended up having my dinner at 11.30pm having given up on the first target, and whilst waiting for Orion to rise. Then things continued to go wrong, so I never managed to get going until about 2,.30 am. So this is less data than I had hoped. My long term plan is to get Ha and some more RGB which I think I can do from home (either side of a miscreant tree next door!!), and if I get a chance get some more luminance at some point. So this is stage 1. Rigel is rather overbearing, but I did my best to reduce it as much as I could. Lum 10 x 600 RGB 10 x 600 each total 3 hours 20m Samyang lens 135mm @ F2.8 Atik460EX on HEQ5

Went to our little campsite in East Sussex this weekend as an impromptu session. I had planned 2 targets as my main aim was to image the Witch Head since I live in Bortle 8. It was one of those nights where so many things went wrong, and things that have never happened before. Consequently I never got the firsdt target at all, I ended up having my dinner at 11.30pm having given up on the first target, and while waiting for Orion to rise. Then things continued to go wrong, so I never managed to get going until about 2,.30 am. So this is less data than I had hoped. My long term plan is to get Ha and some more RGB which I think I can do from home (either side of a miscreant tree next door!!), and if I get a chance get some more luminance at some point. So this is stage 1. Rigel is rather overbearing, but I did my best to reduce it as much as I could. Lum 10 x 600 RGB 10 x 600 each total 3 hours 20m Samyang lens 135mm @ F2.8 Atik460EX on HEQ5

Very nice work Bryan

Excellent Adam.

I have to say it has been a really great guide camera.

I think it will also take some sort of basic images, I never tried it, but there was some software that came with the camera, which I only tried out on live view and can't remember whether it was planetary or otherwise. I think it ws called QGvideo or something, and most likely that means planetary only. Carole

Ah, l see Malc has beaten me to it while l was faffing around.

I took some photos of my QHY5. It is in the back of my finderscope but did come with a 1.25” nosepiece. Yours seems to be slightly wider one end but could be the angle the photo was taken at. The fact that there is a guide port on yours does suggest it can be used for guiding. Mr Qhy was always very helpful l recall. l have had this camera for around 12 years, it was superseded by the QHY5ii and doubtless some others after that. My drivers were supplied on a disc.

Looks a bit like the QHY5 guide camera. l have a QHY5 which l have only ever used for guiding.