mackiedlm

That's a fantastic image. well done

I love the colouring!

Thats really nice. Great detail.

What Dan said!! Brilliant.

These are really super images. The widefields give a sense of space and distance.

I think that's superb. Great colour and detail and the ominous presence of Barnards loop just edging in. Nicely done.

14 hours ago, powerlord said:

Just noticed  that was with L-pro. Huh, that surprises me. I'd never have thought to use something like the L-pro on dark nebulas. But I'm looking at the proof it's a good idea !

I'm in bortle 4 and in normal circumstances I'd not use it. But I have a big sodium street light VERY close to my setup and it causes awful reflections etc. So the L-pro deals with that. I've seen all the words about how LP filters destroy colour and signal but I've never had an issue with it.

12 hours ago, tooth_dr said:

Again blown away by the nebulosity in this area. I like the way you are processing your images, dramatic but dont look overdone. 

Thanks for that Adam, I like a bit of drama me! 😆

While my osc and new 135mm was capturing away on the cepheus dust clouds My QHY163M was pointed towards Cygnus, west of Deneb. Again this is intended to be the start of a mosaic and again I'm not convinced I'll get it finished this year.

QHY163m
Sharpstar 61EDPHii
ZWO 7nm Ha and Oiii
about 2.5 hours per channel
Processed in pixinsight with a Dynamic HOO pallete

thats excellent. I really like the structure you have pulled out in both targets.

This is a really nice rendition of one of my most favourite targets.

very nice. I recently got an L-ultimate and have yet to relly try it ou. this is pushing me to give it ago.

That is outstanding. i'd no idea there was so much structure in there!

2 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

Deep, clean, sharp and well composed, with the objects seeming to race away from each other.

We don't stop down at all with our Samyang... Pedal to the metal!!! 

Olly

Thanks Olly.

I've read in so many places that it needs stopping down but to be honest, with this looking ok at only 2.4 I may give it a go fully open. My problem is clear nights are so rare here that I hate taking risks.

8 hours ago, Dan_Paris said:

Great image David with excellent processing! Did you use the Samyang at full aperture?

Thanks Dan, I brought it down to about 2.4 with step-down rings. I thought it might need to go to 2.8 but based on this image I think its enough.

21 minutes ago, geeklee said:

Fantastic image and first light David.  Was this just a single pane / FOV of the planned mosaic?  So much to enjoy already!

Thanks Lee - yes, the mosaic plan (laid out on Telescopius) has a panel directly below this to bring in the Iris and the dust around it, then the third panel will be directly above this one stretching nearly, but not quite,  to Polaris. But thats going to require several more clear moonless nights. Which here in the West of Ireland are a bit like Rocking Horse Sh....!

My skys have be really awful again, with over a month since my last night out. This is supposed to be the start of a 3 panel mosaic but honestly iIcant see me getting enough clear, no moon sky to complete it. As it is,this was limited to 5 hrs as cloud rolled in. I was hoping for at least 10hrs per panel. Anyway, this is;

First light of my new samyang 135mm, with the ASI2600, piggybacked on the LX200 with the L-pro in place. 100 x 180s for 5hrs total.

11 hours ago, tooth_dr said:

Top pick nomination on Astrobin 

https://astrob.in/jq6fcn/0/

And rightly so!!

Absolutely fantastic Adam, Wonderful processing.

1 hour ago, Peter Drew said:

I would start again from scratch with collimation.  Use the Meade visual back straight through with the eyepieces and nail the collimation with the test star as central as possible and always use a counter clockwise approach to the focus.  Next add the focal reducer and check that the image still has the same collimated appearance, ccw approach as before.  Continue the process with all additional components.     🙂    

Thanks for the advice Peter, sounds like a good method.

18 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

I reckon that when you changed over to the Crayford focuser and you said you had to turn the focuser for ages to allow focus with the Crayford you have slightly disturbed the primary mirror. Then when you reversed the procedure to return to the Meade focuser the mirror didn’t settle in its original position. I think all you need to do is to re collimate the scope properly on a bright star.

Thanks for that. I think, and hope, you might be right. I think I'm going to order a set of BobsKnobs to make collimation easier.

6 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

If that is tilt, then it’s extremely bad, worse than I have ever seen…I would say that is collimation, .check out the thread of correcting tilt in the daytime with a simple laser jig…

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/382323-chip-tilt-test-jig/

 

Thanks Stuart, as I mentioned, I dont think its tilt on the camera/sensor or even camera side of the focuser, I'm trying to understand if it could be tilt on, for example, the primary mirror or where else to look.

1 minute ago, Elp said:

The collimation is way off, and looks to be exasperated via tilt. Regarding the tilt, I'd look at the camera image, or use an eyepiece and try to nudge the rear setup to see where the play is. Clamped fittings aren't the best when imaging. When I use the F6.3 reducer on my C6 it's all screwed together from the visual back.

Yeah,  I did try to look for play, and with the crayford there was certainly a bit of "wiggle" which is why I moved back to the meade. With that, there is no visible movement and the abberration really does not change if I nudge things around. Even if I loosen, rotate and retighten the aberration does not change - i'd have thought if it was tilt at the nosepiece connection that sort of resetting within the focuser would have resulted in some change to the abberation? Yes I'd prefer screw connections but I cant get a way to screw it together and still have the microfocuser in place.

6 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

The last image in your post shows all the stars with coma and all pointing to the bottom left, so I’d say collimation is off and the sweet spot is off to the bottom left somewhere 

thanks Craig, yes thats my thinking too and I think supported by the donuts I just posted.

But I really am lost here so open to all suggestions.

6 minutes ago, Elp said:

As it's worse on the one side I'd say its tilt. Did you take an image of your out of focus donutted stars to look at the collimation?

thanks @Elp

This how it looked.

Which seems to suggest that theres a point in col in the lower left. and suggests, I think, its not simple tilt.

But if it was tilt, where in the sct should I be looking to adjust?