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Just my two pence worth but It might be worth having a look at cheaper Chinese brands such as 7Artisans or TTArtisans brands for instance if you want something budget and new. For second hand have a look at Ffordes, near Inverness, who are great to deal with. I guess you'll probably be tracking targets but I would still try and get the fastest lens you can as it does makes life easier all round.

Thanking you!

Thank you! I didn't realise the SAR was visible until I had a look at the shots this morning. You live and learn!

A few from the last couple of nights. A wonderful display of the Aurora over the late hours of the last day of 2024 into the early hours of 2025 with the reds easily visible to the eye. We had snow here yesterday (and still getting!) and the last picture is of the SAR looking to the south west sky at around 21:30 last night. All taken with a Sony A7iii + Viltrox f1.8 16mm at f2.0, ISO 640 and shutter speeds from 10-20 seconds. The second shot is a stitch of seven frames.

A couple of shots from early last night. Some colour in the clouds near to the moon and a straight shot. There were reports of nacreous cloud being visible here in Scotland yesterday but I'm not 100% whether these are or they are just caused by the glow from the moon? Aberdeenshire, North East Scotland.

Thank you. I’m not familiar with Heavens Above but I’ll have a delve on there 👍🏼

Here is a stack of the ISS last night in the southern skies at around 18:20 - 26/11/2024. It's a stack of 14 images, not tracked, but stacked using Starry Landscape Stacker. After a bit of processing I noticed that there is an almost parallel object passing above the ISS. The ISS appears as a white light but this object appears to be of a blueish tone. I've had a look back in Stellarium but I can't find anything that would match. I'd be grateful if anyone had any suggestions please! Sony A7iii + Viltrox f1.8 16mm. 14 shots at ISO640, f2.8, 20 seconds.

One from last night on the Isle of Skye. I had a break in the cloud at around 18:20 which fortuntely co-incided with a pass over by the ISS. Seven shots stacked. Sony A7iii + Viltrox f1.8 16mm. 20 seconds, f2 at ISO640.

Clear skies over Skye this morning. No aurora but a nice lunar halo with a bonus of Jupiter visible on the circumference. Sony A7iii + Viltrox f1.8 16mm. 2.5 seconds, ISO 400, f2.0.

Yet more clear skies and Aurora. This was Aberdeenshire last night at around 22:00 with the arc and columns easily visible by eye. Sony A7iii + Viltrox f1.8 16mm @ 8 seconds, f2.2, ISO 400.

Many thanks. I wasn’t too sure how the big stitch would come out but I’m very happy with the result even if I say so myself! 👍🏼

And thank you 👍🏼

Thank you 👍🏼

Clear skies in the north-east of Scotland last night. This is a stitch of 18 images taking in the view from the south-west to the north-east in order to encompass the Milky Way around to the eastern edge of the Aurora. All shots taken in portrait orientation, 15 seconds, ISO1600, f2.2 using a Sony A7iii and Viltrox f1.8 16mm.

Many thanks 🙏

Thank you. It was a real treat to be able to get the full arc without too much cloud interruption 👍🏼😀

Many thanks 🙏

And thank you 👍🏼

Thank you 🙏👍🏼

This is the Aurora seen last night at around 21:30 dominated by the bright green arc and the cerise glow - both visible by eye. This is a seven shot stitch in order to get the full width of the arc into the one picture. Sony A7III + Viltrox f1.8 16mm. 10 seconds each at ISO640 and f2.2.

A fair amount of sunspot activity today. Seestar S50 with ND10000 filter. 20second avi. stacked at 50%.

Doesn’t it just! Cheers again 👍🏼

Thank you. I was extremely fortunate to get to see this! FYI I was using a Sony A7iii with a Viltrox f1.8 16mm lens. All at f2.2 with the first two shots at 20 seconds and the third at 8 seconds. ISO on 1 and 3 is 640 and 1250 on the second 👍🏻

Thank you! The first and third shots are ISO640, the second is 1250. Exposure times 20 seconds for the first two and 8 seconds for the third, all at f2.2 using a Sony A7iii with a Viltrox 16mm f1.8 lens. No noise reduction in any of the three. The house is actually a rental that we have for the week. The nearest neighbour is a couple of hundred metres away, and is situated in a nice Bortle 1 part of the world 😀

I did catch myself with a few expletives….. 🙏