AstroMuni

If it wasnt aliens....could it have been a cloud patch and the flashes were stars poking through for brief periods of time?

Take a look at a free tool, Siril. https://siril.org/ or Pixinsight (not free) You can supplement this with products like Gimp, Photoshop, Affinity etc.

I would say that a computer is essential in this part of the hobby as it lets you do all the post image capture processing. It also can be used to manage your equipment - mount, camera etc. to let you point and capture your images. If you are familiar with Windows then I suggest getting used to NINA but if you are a Mac/Linux user then Kstars/Ekos is the way to go. For post capture tasks you can use Siril (available on both Win & Mac/Linux). All the above software are free.

Great images. Is the hot chocolate a 'Milky way' as well 😉

Good spot Peter.

Perfect match to my suggestion then. There is a HEQ5 pro + belt mod on sale for £750 in this forum, and one for £500 on https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=203343. So you will have some funds left from the £1800 🙂

Do you have a local astro club? They can be really helpful. Here is a suggestion based on my personal experience. I am of similar philosophy that once you buy you keep for ever - LOL. And dont buy multiple things that have same function. Lets keep this simple....Buy the following : HEQ5 pro, good camera with low read noise (eg. ASI585mc), an optional triband filter such as Antlia/Optolong (this will really help for EEVA) and I have the 130PDS Newtonion scope which is a great scope so I would recommend that! So that works out to be £1039 + £365 + £116 (Optolong L-enhance) + £239 = £1759 if you purchase them all new. I have assumed you have a computer and dont own a DSLR. If you do have a DSLR there is no need to purchase the ASI585. With this combination you can easily capture 30sec images without stars trailing and get very decent images. Good luck! 👍 Software for image capture + processing you can download and use for free, so all good on that count. If you wish to control your mount through the computer you will need to purchase a suitable FTDI cable too. Does this fit in with the budget approved by SWMBO? 😉 EDIT: Reasoning behind choosing HEQ5 instead of EQ5 is payload. The 5-6" Newtonions are close to 6kg or more.

At this rate I will forget how to use my scope 😞 As a fairly recent entrant into this hobby, its all newly learnt stuff so not yet ingrained into my brain -

Repeated message, hence removed

Oops, dont know what happened there and its uploaded my message multiple times 😞

Great image for a first timer. It just goes to show that you dont always have to ditch your current equipment to get better images 😉 A suggestion on post capture software - while GIMP is a great software, its cumbersome to use for AP. Try Siril (also free) as its been written specifically for AP. Good luck and look forward to seeing more images from the Mak & Redcat 👍

Its sad that you had a bad experience. I have been using Astroberry build on RPi4 for a couple of years now with no major issues. Fingers crossed 🙂 NINA is a great software btw. But my point earlier wasnt about Kstars being a very stable software, it was the aspect that the fewer the interacting components the less chances of getting config issues and lower the risk of failure. As an example when I only had a mount + camera I had fewer issues to deal. Once I got a guide scope, I have to worry about poor guiding too...And then I added the EAF and now more issues - LOL.

And thats the advantage with using a software such as Kstars which comes bundled with planetarium, control of mount, cameras, dome etc., platesolver & guider. There is no reliance of attaching external programs and getting them to all talk together.

Thats odd. If you had both running at the same time that may account for the conflict. I think NINA is meant to get coords from CDC and pass onto GSS which talks to the mount. So CDC --> NINA --> GSS --> HEQ5. CDC should NOT be connecting directly to GSS. This is from NINA manual : Currently N.I.N.A. supports Stellarium, Cartes du Ciel, TheSkyX and HNSKY. The connection allows a one way communication of coordaintes from the planetarium software to N.I.N.A. Perhaps someone who uses NINA can confirm.

Could you explain how you have connected 4 components - HEQ5, GSS, NINA & CCD Ciel.

Nice one. The bottom right image seems to show the curved roof folded downwards?? I am trying to figure out if I have understood it correctly.

Suggest you borrow a filter such as Antlia Triband and see if you have more success. I have a few friends who use it for EEVA and visual. I have seen the output of the EEVA and it looks great, so worth a try.

Wow. Yet another beautiful colourful image from you 🤩

Its undeniable and amazing about what ancient civilizations managed to calculate. Remember that they also didnt have distractions like internet, WA, phones etc. 😉 So while many would have been involved in protecting the group against predators, the 'geeks' of that day must have had more time on their hands.

Does this mean planetary imagers qualify as novices too?

Have you considered buying binoculars. A 50x10 will show you quite a lot and its a good start for a 6 year old in that they can hold it themselves. At that age they quickly change interests as well, so no point in splashing out unless you are keen to carry on with the hobby all by yourself

I thinks its the same reason why we look up when we think of God. Our idea of superior is always on a level above 🙂

I am not sure if they do. I was suggesting asking them if they keep the stats 🙂

@StuartT check out the link I provided in my edit. There is an option at the bottom of the page to download the data. Perhaps worth taking a look

Did you check with FLO if they keep stats of Cloud cover as part of ClearOutside? We are next to the gulf stream on the west, so I suspect the east coast maybe less cloud prone?? Thats just my guess, but as an island we are quite small so may not have much of a difference. Also the weather has been so unpredictable across the world due to global warming etc, that the next decade is probably going to be fluid. I know thats not good news for us astronomers as a whole 😞 EDIT: Here is a link that shows cloud cover over the years worldwide. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/global-maps/MODAL2_M_CLD_FR So we need to be a lot further south if we need those cloudless skies