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mackiedlm

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Everything posted by mackiedlm

  1. Thats come out fantastic especially for a first with a dedicated cooled camera. I'd say your settings look about spot on.
  2. That is just fantastic. Really makes you stop and think about what you are looking at.
  3. This was way shorter integration than intended ending up at just 2 hours. With the 80 ED FL of 510mm its really a bit on the small side so a moderate crop included. I really struggled with the background - I think because of high haze and short time on target SW Evostar 80ED, NEQ6, ASI2600MC 40 x 180s C & C appreciated.
  4. That's really nice. This is not an easy target and you've done it well
  5. I really like that. The FOV is really nice, gives the feel of isolation but still with detail and structure in the Galaxy
  6. That's a really nice image. Brighter and less brooding than this sometimes comes out
  7. I seem to have great difficulty getting a good result on M101. It feels like it should be a relatively easy target - well placed for me, bright, nice contrast plenty of structure etc. But it just never seems to be that easy, for me at least. This was a bit of an experiment using lower gain and a shorter exposure (gain 0, 120s) as I was having trouble with my background in the previous image. I'm not sure it made much difference overall. Its better than my previous M101's but still not where i'd like to get to with it. This is 160 x 120s, with the SW Evostar 80ED on the NEQ6 and the ASI2600mc C & C appreciated
  8. Thats a really great first image. This is a wonderful hobby and with a start like that you have a great road in front of you.
  9. Catching up on processing of data captured before I rolled the LX200 out. This was taken on the easter week-end but this is about my 4th attempt to process - I'm not sure why but but I really struggled with the background. Also the stars are not great - looks like a bit of trailing but guiding was good, PA was good enough and nothing had changed to make flexure any more likely. So any suggestions as to what caused it would be appreciated. Anyway, its 55 X 180s SW Evostar 80ED, ASI2600mc
  10. Super image, nice colours and great detail
  11. Thats a fantastic image. I always find this a really difficult target to do justice on but this is right on point!
  12. I'm a bit dissapoined with this one, I think my sky was just not clear enough so I had to work too hard to try to bring out the faint outer ring and it just does not feel right now - background seems dodgy!. But anyway, This is the 8" LX 200 GPS, wedge, the SW 0.85 reducer and the ASI2600mc Gain 100 Bin 2x2. Came in at about 4 hours of 120s subs. This is a very light crop, just for edges, so the stars are clearly improved over the Meade 0.63 reducer right out to the corners. Below is a quick crop of one corner with the LX200 and the 0.63 Meade 4000 reducer - same camera (its the corner cropped from my M51 posted earlier). So using the SW 0.85 reducer for the 80ED seems to work, if not perfectly then certainly better than the Meade 0.63. I think another mm in backfocus may help a little too.
  13. really nice image Adam, the galaxy is great colour and detai - the stars are beautiful.
  14. Thats a lovely image, really nice colours and detail. Agree that the background is a bit dark but still a great image.
  15. Yes its been great. I've still a few from the short FL to do and the big scopes on the cross eye right now.
  16. I have been moaning on and on about the coma in the old LX200 GPS and how it is not fixed by the meade 4000 F 6.3 Reducer. Then I read post on here 9sorry cant find it now) which suggested that modern refractor FF / FR 's may work better than the specific Meade FF / FR . So I stuck the SW 80 ED 0.85 FF / FR on the Big Blue Trash Can last night and thought "in for a penny...." So bolted the ASI2600mc on and sent it off to find the Needle. Now its giving me 1700mm FL (although plate solve says 1900), and with the 2600 mc that comes to a image scale of around 0.4". So I binned it 2 X 2. I got this... about 4 hours of 120s (gain100, Offset 50, Bin 2x2 Now, the stars are still not the best but I think its now down to seeing and guiding because the horrible U shaped coma in the corners and the smearing as you come in further is pretty much gone. This is a slight crop (awful gradient) but not near as tight as needed when I use the 0.63. I am both astonished (the received wisdom is that refractor reducers will simply not work with SCT ) and delighted. With some better seeing and some tweaking on the setup for better guiding I think this is going to work!
  17. Thanks Richard - yes it was a great week-end and I had both rigs out for the three nights. . First time I've had 3 nights in a row since I started imaging. Still got 3 short fl images to processBut I saw your Iris Mosaic was spread over some of that time too so equally nice down your way I think.
  18. Thanks for that Gerr, The dual colour stars are (I believe) part of the coma effect of this 20 year old SCT -(the old model before before the Advanced Coma Free ACF was invented) and a Meade 0.63 FR which is known to be pretty poor at the FF part. Unfortunately there is not much I can do about it and just need to live with it. Which, when I can get the main subject as well as above I'm OK with - until I get around to (can affort) some more, newer FL. I usually explain in my posts that there is still some coma after I have cropped out the worst but was getting bored doing that so did not mention it this time.🥴
  19. Another from the easter week-end. This is the old 8" LX200 on its wedge again, EOS700D, 53 X 180s ISO800. Strangely my go to stacker APP made a hash of this for some reason that I dont understand, so I tried stacking in PI using the WBPP script and it did a great job. Post processing also in PI C&C welcome.
  20. that a beautiful image of a rather unusual target. - One to add to the list.
  21. Thats the ONLY way I can see an ape also - great image too, - you don't often see real star colours in this image.
  22. That is a fantastic M81. So much structure in the arms and fantastic colours. Brilliantly don.
  23. 🤣 your welcome! It was a good exercise for me as its something I've never done before but Alladin/Simbad made it pretty easy.
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