CCD-Freak

Great work !!!  That has to be one of the best images of M101 I have ever seen. 

Here is a GOES-16 image of the eclipse as it passed over north Texas at 18:46.  It was just about when the Umbra passed over Bonham, TX where I ended up after looking for a hole in the clouds.  It started out mostly cloudy and cleared just before 2nd contact which I understand happens sometime as the shadow cools the air.  If that is what happened I am glad it did.  I just enjoyed the spectacle visually with my little AT60ED.  What a show. (^8

The Pivotal weather site looks like it will be very useful for the eclipse and for planning trips to the dark site.

I am hoping the forecast will improve for south Texas.  I plan to be near Medina, TX at a friend's observatory.

Thanks for posting the link.

The weather has really hindered my imaging recently but here are some Ha images I took the last time I was out at my dark site.

I used an ASI533MMpro with a SharpStar 150mm F2.8 hyper Newt with a Baader 7nm Ha filter riding on an iOptron GEM45 mount

Captured and processed with Astroart 8

These images were inspired by the fantastic work of E. E. Barnard.

I still have my Ultima 8 and an old orange tube that I just mounted on an iOptron GEM45 for galaxy season. 

Welcome to SGL.  you will find a great group here.  (^8

Welcome to SGL. 

I currently have 16 optical tubes that I use with 4 mounts that I have. OH....I forgot one so make that 17

1 AT60ED

2 Williams Optics 80ED

3 Orion 110ED

4 Explore Scientific 127ED

5 Celestron 102 F5

6 AT6RC

7 AT10RC

8 Celestron C8

9 Celestron Ultima 8

10 Meade ETX90

11 Sharpstar 150 F2.8 Hyper Newt

12 8" F5 Newt

13 8" F3.8 Newt

14 12" F4 Newt

15 Meade RG880 Newt

16 12" F6 Newt

17 8" F8 Home built Dob

Too many telescopes and not enough clear sky !!!!

I have no problems with the SS-50 which is introducing many new people to astronomy and EAA but it is just not for me.  I am a bit of a "gear head" and I like to fiddle with my equipment and experiment with various configurations.  When I can capture images like this with a single 5 minute EAA snap shot it is hard to think of limiting my imaging to the SS-50.  The cost of the setup is way more than the SS-50 but it is in line with the new Celestron offering and some of the others.  This setup can easily do regular long integration imaging by taking many subs and stacking and post processing.  It will be interesting to see what new scopes will be following the SS-50.  I'm sure ZWO is already working on the next generation SeeStar. 

Great image....I have NGC2403 on my target list for this year's Galaxy Season.  I hope I can close to this image. (^8

Hi Dan

Welcome !!!   I live in north Texas and we are not too far apart.   Are you a member of FWAS ??

That is the main reason I want to try the IMX432 sensor.   Sony also makes a color version of this sensor and I would love to see a camera based on it.

I have been looking for a used ASI432MM with no luck.  )^8

I guess I will have to buy a new one so that I can give it a go with galaxy imaging with my AT10RC or C8 at 2000mm which is .93" / pixel.

I have yet to find any DSO images made with IMX432 sensors.

I am also interested in trying an ASI432MM for imaging galaxies, planetary nebulae and globular clusters and such with my long focal length scopes. 

I am also looking at the Player One cooled version. 

I wish ZWO or Player One would offer a cooled IMX432 OSC version.

I tried the ASI482MC non cooled "planet cam" with it's 5.8um pixels and it works very well. 

Here are some images made with my AT6RC at F7 and an ASI482MC and I am planning to shoot more images with this setup during "galaxy season".

On 16/02/2024 at 14:01, Tom33 said:

" I would love a scope with a long focal length to go after some galaxies and the smaller deep sky objects but would appreciate some advice. I’ve looked at Newtonians, Cassegrain,s in all their formats but appreciate that collimation and other matters will come into play. If anyone has gone down this route I’d be pleased to hear from you."

Many thanks & clear skies

The OP said the above so here is what I have recently tried for imaging galaxies.  Due to the small pixel size of most modern CMOS cameras are quite over sampled.  After looking at the specs of my ASI482MC I decided to try my it since it has larger 5.8 micron pixels to sample at a better image scale and to get "up close and personal" with galaxies.  I used an AP67 reducer with an AT6RC to get NGC253 to fit the sensor so I ended up at F7 (which is about 1000mm) at 1.25"/pixel.  I shot 120 x 120" subs (4 hours) at gain 150 dithered every 3rd sub.  Since the ASI482MC is a non cooled camera I took a few Darks at the start of the run then some in the middle and some at the end and averaged them together.  I was not expecting much with the experiment so I did not take any Flats but since the sensor was fairly clean and is small enough there was not much vignetting.  

The images were captured and processed with Astroart 8  from my SRO dark site  (Bortle 2)

The result turned out way better than I expected !!!!!!

After this I am trying to lay hands on an ASI432MM with it's 9 micron pixels to use with my old C8 and AT6RC

I have used an RC6 and C8 OTAs on my GEM 45 for galaxy imaging.  The RC10 scopes are just too large and heavy for the GEM45.

Pictured is an RC6 with an AP67 reducer at F7 on a GEM45 and an image of NGC253 made with the pictured scope and a ZWO ASI482MC non cooled planet cam.

The other scope pictured is a Celestron C8 classic ribbed back OTA. 

This is not my scope but I get to use it occasionally.  When I was young back in the 70s I lusted for one of these Unitron 6" refractors after I saw an ad in Sky & Telescope but I never thought I would ever see one.  

My largest "Frac" is an ES127ED and it is happily riding on an AP900 on a Todmorden pier at my SRO dark site.  The guide scope is an old University Optics 80mm F6.25 "Kit Scope".

My understanding was that it was being used for an exoplanet search project.

It possible to have too much of a good thing ??? 8^P

Six !!!.....Count them !!!! SIX TEC 180  (^8

I missed that.  8^P   I will go back and take a look.

Does the software have a setting for EQ mode?

Some pretty good images coming from the SeeStar scopes.  

I wish they would give the option of mounting it in an EQ configuration so that you would not have to worry about field rotation. 

12 minutes ago, Louis D said:

Road tripping in the American Southwest is a lot of fun.  You can play it by ear and see where the road takes you if you don't like to do a lot of planning.  Just make sure to fill your gas tank every chance you get.  It can be hundreds of miles between gas stations.

This view around Animas, NM is a good example. (^8

I have been very happy with the 533MC so I recently added a 533MM to my kit.   The 533MM with a Baader 7nm Ha filter is awesome when coupled to my SS 150 F2.8 Hyper Newt.

This is a screen shot of a single 5 minute sub and a 300 minute image.

I will be having loads of fun if the sky will ever clear.

Check your RGB Debayering settings.  

It looks like you have some good data.