AstroMuni

If you see responses to most such posts, they start with users asking the OP - viewing or imaging, access to garden/area for setting up scope, weight, who is target audience & budget, etc. So I do believe folk ask for as much info as possible before recommending anything. And you are right that a few share the journey they went through and what they ended up buying. But thats what I like about this forum - you get the length & breadth of knowledge.

The telrad projects an additional ring of 4deg (besides the 0.5 & 2deg which the Rigel also has). HTH.

I prefer the first one. Great shot

Looking gorgeous. Try applying a bit of CLAHE in Siril. That should help make the dark patches standout. I would use a clip limit value of between 0.5-0.8.

Its just personal choice. I am just listing the Pros & Cons of Telrad here. Pros: Larger FOV, easier to view AA batteries ( I have listed this as a Pro as I normally have AA batteries lying around rather than button cells) Cons: Larger than Rigel and takes up more space on OTA Heavier than Rigel There is a good discussion here https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/17315-telrad-vs-rigel-quickfinder/

I have the 130EQ and I did compare it for observing against a SW 150P. At lower magnifications its comparable to the SW, but as soon as you up the magnification to get closeup views of the moon or planets, thats when the focus becomes fuzzy. The SW does a better job at higher magnification. I have even managed to use the 130EQ for imaging mainly DSOs and you can get pretty decent shots (see my signature). It does exhibit coma like aberration but couldnt test with my Baader CC as I cant achieve focus with this 😞 I am no expert on optics so cant confirm if mirror is spherical or parabolic.

We both share the same problem ...those fluffy things up there. 🙂 And I have noticed that they tend to disappear mainly on 2 occasions - mid week and when its close to full moon.

You should submit it to the astro magazines for publishing!

Thanks. I had installed py-astro in the past and then didnt find it quite as useful, hence deleted it. Perhaps a revisit is needed. You might wish to have a go with Starnet++ as well to help with star reduction and then layer with original in Gimp. May give better control over stars. This is what I get when I apply it to your image (the version I edited in Siril)

That looks awesome. You almost get a 3D effect where the pinks seem to sink deeper than the rest.

Great image Steve! Love it. You can also see NGC206 quite clearly. I esp like how you managed to reduce the stars to bring out the galaxy. What are the tools that you used in py-astro & G'MiC? I had a go at processing your first image in Siril and couldnt reduce the stars 😞

Its still available in 3.6.1

One more Kstars user here. Love it! You have the option of running - Kstars on the RPi itself and controlled via tablet/pc/phone - Kstars on a PC (win /mac/ linux) with indiserver on RPI/or an old PC running linux If you are going down RPi route then you have a few options there - install your own (if you are techie)/ astroberry/ Stellarmate. So take your pick 🙂

You have a very stable NEQ6 mount so you should be able to get 30-60s easily unguided. As you have the ASI120mc I would have used that instead of DSLR (without barlow) to capture M33. I have the same scope and here was what I managed to get using ASI224mc which has similar sensor size to 120mc. As I used 120s, depending on longest exposure you can get, you would need more images to get to this level of detail. Good luck!

Definitely in right direction. As others have said it would be useful to know what is goal of your project. Take a look at the free Siril software too. It has some tools in it to reduce background gradients etc.

Would like to add Kstars to that list. It has a great options that allows you to plan for the night, aids to star hopping & record your observations. I too prefer to use paper instead of the tool 🙂

For planetary imaging and the use of filters, I would recommend taking tips from https://www.youtube.com/c/RefreshingViews @MarkRadice the author is on this forum too

This is what got me interested. I am more into DSOs at the moment...https://satakagi.github.io/IR-imaging-of-galaxies-under-light-pollution/.

And the 150pds doesnt have that issue?

Just the aperture ....esp since I would like to try IR imaging

Sorry, didnt understand that bit. I am using a 130/650 scope at the moment and perfectly happy with the FOV with the ASI533. The Samyang is definitely on the cards but thats a separate parallel track 🙂 One of the reasons I want to stay with the reflectors is wider aperture and an ability to go down the track of doing IR photography. JWST has inspired me in that direction.

So are you suggesting I would get more bang for the buck if I opt for the 130PDS instead, and upgrade the belt etc.?

As this was equipment related I posted it here...but seeing the lack of response I guess it would be better suited for the imaging section 😞 @admin if you think this is more appropriate for Imaging section could you move it please?

Hi, I have some experience of doing AP with my Astromaster 130, ASI224mc/ASI533mc on HEQ5Pro. I have purchased the Baader MPCC Coma corrector and that should be arriving this week. The weak link is the Astromaster hence wish to upgrade. I DONT have an obsy so end up carrying the equipment in and out of the house. I have limited time to image due to work, lack of obsy and Clouds, hence need to make best use of the moments I get for imaging. So after a lot of reading (and getting confused) I believe I need to look at 6inch aperture. Anything larger would make it too heavy for the HEQ5. I have deliberately stayed away from refractors at this point in time. The choice that I have narrowed down to is between: - SW 150pds vs TS Photon 6 f5 (Chris from FLO tells me that TS has a better focuser) - SW Quattro 6 f4 vs Stellalyra 6 f4 (I would love to go for these but the question is what are the chances that it will lose collimation when I carry it in and out) I have restricted myself to look at products available on FLO at the moment, but open to suggestions. Need your advice please.

You can certainly get a scope in that budget range. Take a look at https://astrobiscuit.com/best-budget-telescope/