fifeskies

I will be very interested to see how you get on with this.

I have a couple of EOS clip filters (for my 600D) so if they do in fact work I could use a 2" adapter with my other camera.

They are sold on the RVO site in UK but don't seem to have any reviews.

Astronomik 2" M48 To EOS Clip Filter Adaptor - Rother Valley Optics Ltd

There is a link where EOS clip filters were used in a filter wheel (with a DIY 3D print adapter)

Astronomik EOS Clip-Filter to 2" adapter - DIY Astronomer - Stargazers Lounge

but I can;t find much else about how well they may work.

14 minutes ago, Spacecake2 said:

I don't know if you will reply but with my celestron 127slt you can see star trailing at 10 second exposure times! so how did you get it to not slip? 🤔

I would have thought you should be able to go beyond 10 second exposures with this mount.

Have you made sure you have selected "sidereal" as the tracking rate, if lunar or solar are selected it will make stars trail.

Maksotov telescopes do have a long focal length however and for photography are more suited to an EQ mount for long exposures

On 19/01/2021 at 17:40, jacko61 said:

Thanks for that. Very interesting read. All sets of threads measure at 24 TPI with my gauge so I'm not sure what's going on. The Baader website states a 2" -24 thread on the clicklock, the celestron thread is 2" -24 and the meade  has a standard male 2"-24 sct thread on one side and a standard sct female thread on the other so there shouldn't be an issue with the fit. 

That does sound strange as they should be just connecting if that is the case, perhaps one of the elements has been stressed out of being exactly circular and is very slightly oval.

If you want to try some "thread lubricant" graphite powder might be worth a try , only use a touch however.

RS PRO Lubricant 50 g Graphite | RS Components (rs-online.com)

I have not used this myself but have chatted to others who use it for camera screw fit lenses and say it works well as long as you are very frugal with it.

I have just obtained a Ha narrowband filter. Initially I will be looking at making some monochrome images from the data.

I would also like to add this to OSC images from my Canon 600D , taking OSC of the target when there is no Moon around, then around the 10 days of so at full moon I will add in the Ha filter so I can continue to image despite bright moonlit skies.  With so few clear nights in damp cloudy Scotland , I wanted to not waste clear nights when the moon is up.

I have been using GIMP to process my OSC output after stacking in DSS, but am a total novice when it comes to how I should add in Ha data to the composition.

Does anyone have any recommendations for combining Ha and OSC (in GIMP)

2 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

Can't help much there - I have not done it myself so don't have workflow in place.

Thanks anyway

I will probably start just by making some mono images from the Ha data , these can be quite striking from others I have seen posted on the forum.

5 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

Here is workflow in Gimp that works 99% of time , but you need to have properly prepared data for it.

Data needs to be still linear, but wiped (background and gradients removed) and color calibrated (often referred to as color balanced).

There is only one step of difference between LRGB and OSC data in this workflow - way how Luminance is obtained. With LRGB - you already have it, but with OSC you need to extract it. I'll list OSC workflow and lum extraction step can be skipped for LRGB data (here you replace it with RGB compose to combine R, G and B data into color image).

-

Do you have any recommendations for combining Ha and OSC (in GIMP)

I have just obtained a Ha narrowband filter and am planning to add this to OSC images from my Canon 600D (taken at other times , ie when there is no Moon around).

GIMP is a complex bit of software if you want to drill down into all the bells and whistles it offers.

That said simply using the Colours-Levels and the Colours Curves settings are often enough to change a disappointingly blank image into a useful one.

Its very good for free software , and once you have done it a few times its very easy to do the basics in just 5 or 10 minutes , you can of course spend much longer to get the very best out of the image but I reckon you are 90% of the way there in 5 minutes so ideal to see what you have captured.

Help your friend through the simple 2 steps a few times (Levels adjust and Curves adjust) so they feel confident to do it on their own.

Its like many things , daunting at first but once you get familiar you barely need to think about it.

There are a range of ways to mount Binos on tripods 

Many binos have a hidden threaded screw hole under a cover that fits into an L mount , or you can use stretchy straps (or bungy cords) to fit them to it..

some ideas here   binocular tripod adapter - Google Search

Remember it is always possible to get very good condition used eyepieces at a saving from the new price.

The usual caveat of only buying from sellers who you can check are genuine applies here.

I have purchased all my premium eyepieces used , some on this forum. All have been well looked after and in pristine condition.

BST starguiders are a common item on this forum for sale page, (but you need to be quick as they sell fast).

The bundled 25mm eyepiece is usually the better one from the included pair supplied and is handy to get your scope on target , then pop in a higher power  better quality eyepiece to enjoy the detail.

Don't worry too much at first , get to know your scope and what it is you like to view best.

The best eyepieces for planets and globular clusters double stars etc will not be the best choice for nebula, so work out what you most want to spend your time enjoying.

(and if you end up with an eyepiece that you don't like then you can sell it again without too much trouble as long as you look after it well)

My first venture to the dark side

As another reassurance that buying from established members offers a good way to obtain quality used items (as long as you use common sense to avoid the scammers), today the postman dropped off my signed for package with an Astronmik 12nm Ha filter.

Thanks Andy.

Heavy gloomy clouds here but expected some clear skies this full moon weekend , so ideal for a first attempt at some narrowband imaging.

Will get my cleaning fluid out to remove the few bits of dust and get it clipped into my Canon DSLR then wait patiently for the clouds to part and the fun to begin.

It is a nice easy telescope to use , I am sure you will soon get the hang of it.

An excellent first choice , welcome to the slippery slope of buying telescopes.

Sounds like the threads are possibly NOT the exact same, there are differing thread pitches for the same diameter.

Some are 1 thread per mm , some 1 thread per 0.75mm (and a few other odd sizes sometimes),

Typically they go on a turn and then bind when mismatched.

Occasionally they will engage one way but not the other ,  (e.g. smaller pitch might go in a female bigger pitch but not the other way round if pitches are very close , eg a 0.6mm and a 0.75mm pitch mismatch. Especially if thread manufacturing tolerance is poor.

Never "encourage" them to screw in as they will be hard to separate again and leave the threads distorted.

DONT smear grease, it will only end up on the glass elements as smudges if you do and is a pain to remove.

(specialist graphite powder is better but I don't even recommend that, properly clean matched threads should screw in with minimal effort)

All is not lost however if they are differing pitched threads as there are a selection of adapters that have 1 pitch on a side with the other pitch on the other side , allowing you to convert to join parts together.

Also for adapting 50mm to 48mm , etc etc.

this is handy to read through    Astronomy Threads Explained (agenaastro.com)

various styles exist but they mostly look like below (this one also adapts diameter)

I have both 8 x 30 and 10 x 50 binos

you see a lot more in the 10 x 50 , great for scanning the sky for interesting objects , but they are a lot heavier and I tend to use then leaning on something if using them for any length of time.

For comet Neowise last year it was far far better in the 10 x 50

Also quality varies a lot so get a decent set , preferably ones you can try out.

Have you considered a small telescope , depends on how interested you are but Bortle 4 offers a lot to see and a small Dobsonian is not that much more expensive than a good pair of 10 x 50's but will reveal so much more.

the 8 x 30 are good for the odd walk up a hill however as they fit in a pocket.

Newtonian telescopes can be a little confusing when people have only seen refractors before , but they are good telescopes for beginners as they are such good value.

After all the recent very valuable warnings about buying second hand items lets not forget there are plenty reliable sellers on here who give genuine opportunities to acquire some well looked after kit at reasonable prices.

Just be sensible who you buy from.

Thanks Chris for the ZWO colour planetary camera , just need some clear nights to try it out.

1 hour ago, Hertford Stargazer said:

Disappointed to see that S@N is taking another 2 month break during peak stargazing season. I seem to remember this happening last year before the pandemic took hold. Looks like the quota has been reduced to 10 programs a year.

They must all be out observing under the pristine clear UK skies   🤪 and too busy to do presenting.

Guiding will make a big difference to what you can achieve.

My processed image is still a bit below what I would normally aim for and needs more integration time. 

I only spent about 10 minutes processing it (in GIMP) and there are a number of steps that can be used to improve it further that have not been done yet, but shows what you can get without spending too long on it.

It is worth cranking up ISO to get some quick exposures to have a go with , and early on with new gear it is better to get some enjoyable results fast to encourage you to keep going.

I only use ISO 6400 for initial setting and platesolving to a target, but it is always good to see your target pop out on the first test frame before setting off on a set of exposures at the better ISO settings.

ISO 200 is the best setting but will mean longer exposures which is fine if you have a tracking mount or are guiding.

My Canon has best setting at ISO 800  (600D) and at that I use 120 sec subs on the Pleiades (with my 4 inch ED scope).

at ISO 200 this equates to 480 sec (in my scope) , which I could do as I often image at 360 sec subs.

If you cant expose that long without trails then by all means crank up the ISO but I would limit it to 800 or 1600.

Remember you wont see a lot in the single frame and will need to stack then stretch to get a final image.

below is a single 120 sec frame (at ISO 800) compared to a stacked and stretched version (20 subs)

The HEQ5 works very well with APT and PHD2 guiding.

I use USB over Cat5/6 , never had any problems with it.

take a look here

StarTech 4 Port USB 2.0 Extender - For Sale / Swap - Stargazers Lounge

You don't say what mount you have.

I use Stellarium combined with APT (on my NEQ6pro)

Using Pointcraft in APT to centre on targets works extremely well , you can then platesolve and use the "Sync" button in APT to correct the Stellarium telescope crosshair icon to the exact target.

From then on I use the "ctrl 1 " function in Stellarium to select my target

(easier than going through the list in APT targets as I have a custom Stellarium horizon so can select targets not behind trees or buildings from the Stellarium Screen, and can also easily see how far I am from a meridian flip to decide if I want to image the target, the Stellarium Oculars function also lets me see if its a good target for the scope I have on the mount)

Once there if imaging I will use pointcraft again to get exactly centred so that images from sessions a few days or weeks apart can be stacked.

The Rosette will appear as long as you are on target but does need significant stretch and curve tweaks to bring it out.

+1 for using APT and pointcraft to get spot on target as there will be nothing in a single frame to let you see where it is.

90 sec is on the low side for the Rosette but here are 2 photos of mine from the Rosette at 90 sec exposures, Taken with my Skywatcher Equinox ED80 (with reducer flattener)

I used DSS to stack about 16 subs as I recall for the first dark image

The 2nd shows the nebula processed for 2 mins in GIMP , I did not process further as I could see I needed longer subs and more of them.

these tutorials might be handy

GIMP Astrophotography Editing Tutorial - YouTube

Orion Nebula (M42) with a DSLR, Start to Finish, Pt. 2b - DeepSkyStacker and GIMP - YouTube

Vixen SD103 S Canon 600D ISO 800

If you don't buy the 4 inch now you will only end up buying one later  🙄

Its very hard to stick to just the one scope because a range of sizes/types allows you to cover all the kinds of targets out there.

Either scope will get you into the hobby so don't fret too much over it. There is nothing wrong with either scope.

However in my opinion for visual use a good 4 inch ED is a great place to start and it remains portable enough to take out to dark sites (on holiday etc)

(remember when we could go places before Covid 😱)

I don't expect to ever sell my 4 inch ED.

Other scopes have been and gone until I got this keeper.