Kon

It looks nice for a single frame. Worth taking a video or several images and try stacking them, it should further improve it.

Very nice Ian. It seems you got Titan at the left hand side too. I feel you can push the sharpening a bit more. By the way, how do you like the new camera? What sort of FPS are you getting with it?

Possible military plane(s) in formation or bright satelitte?

https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3348310#/media/File:TandemX_TerraSarXduo_satellites.jpg

have a look at heavens above and see what satelitte might be passing at that time.

1 hour ago, simmo39 said:

Nice, Im collecting Data on this target but need more plus Im not realy using the right scope for it. Hopefully it will come out as good as this.

Thanks. I have not seen many images of this planetary but in my case the large aperture helped considering the short integration. I would love to revisit it and try get more of the outer shell. I am looking forward what you can get.

Another planetary nebula I got back in July.  NGC 6781 is found in Aquila. This nebula spans about 1.8 light-years in diameter. Stacked and processed in Siril and some denoising in Topaz. Skywatcher 300P Flextube Goto, asi462mc, UV/IR cut filter. 30 min of data. 

Excellent captures Reggie. I like how you have captured Jupiter's moons and the colour of Mars.

18 minutes ago, plkwo said:

Thank you, @Kon @Astronomist

I managed to recalibrate the laser collimator so that rotating it keeps the laser point steady on the wall. However, when I place it inside the focuser, the laser point still fluctuates, indicating an issue with the fixation.

If fixation were the root of the problem, rotating the eyepiece should produce different results, but the image remains the same regardless of the eyepiece's orientation. This leads me to believe it might just be a characteristic of Dobsonian telescopes in daylight settings and I have test it on stars tonight for further confirmation.

I think you are misunderstanding how/what collimation works/is. If your mirrors are not aligned, just rotating the eyepiece is not going to find the sweet spot as you will be way off along the rotation within the focuser. So nothing to do with daylight etc.  The focuser in the 8" (I have the same one) has some play. Using a cheshire you can tighten the screws evenly and then it will get you almost to perfect collimation followed by a star test. I use this method to collimate my Dob:

https://www.astro-baby.com/astrobaby/help/collimation-guide-newtonian-reflector/

The blurry view of the tree could be because they are too close to achieve focus (I have never managed to get trees in focus with either my 8" or 12"). How do the stars look with a low poer eyepiece without barlow? Do a star test with a high power eyepiece to check collimation and get a cheshire:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/other-collimation-tools/stellalyra-premium-cheshire-collimating-eyepiece.html

Excellent images and details.

Fantastic captures. Lots of nice details.

7 hours ago, Andy ES said:

Great images as usual! That goto scope will turn you soft though! 🤣😁

Thanks Andy. It's a great addition to the 8" (although it has not seen light since I got the 12" but the kids insist that the 8" is theirs now 🤣). The tracking is a game changer been able to add and adjust the ADC and do long captures. I still use it in manual mode for ISS so not completely automated yet 😜

2 hours ago, Roy Foreman said:

Considering all the negatives you mentioned you have done really well. I never use a mask when focussing a newtonian, the diffraction spikes on a bright star do just as well !

Thanks Roy. Yes I used the diffraction spikes but still a bit off.

24 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

That’s a really nice set Kostas, Mars jumps out, small but perfectly formed.

 

Thanks Craig. I agree Mars came out a lot better than I thought.

25 minutes ago, Space Cowboy said:

Nice collection Kostas! You'll be rocking when the seeing is good.

Thanks Stuart. I am really enjoying the new telescope and tracking makes life so easy. We need a tool for good weather 🤣.

1 hour ago, bosun21 said:

Good to see you got something out of your morning under the stars. I've been holding off on Jupiter and Mars for now. No wind, no Jetstream yet still we struggle. Damned skies eh?

Thanks Ian. I wanted to do some imaging before going on holidays again later this week. The planets looked pretty well at the eyepiece but I did not push the magnification too much.

Not my usual forum to post images but I imaged M27 back in July. My cameras are for planetary work but I could not resist imaging with the newish 12" to me. 30 minutes on M27. I think the nebula has come out well due t the large apperture, although the stars are not great (I do not have a mask for focusing as I always focus on planet features; collimation was slightly off too). Stacked and processed in Siril and some denoising in Topaz. Skywatcher 300P Flextube Goto, asi462mc, UV/IR cut filter. 

I managed a session with Saturn, Jupiter and Mars this morning. Awful seeing despite no wind or jetstream; it was like imaging through a pool. I think we had similar issues last year with air fronts. Despite this I salvaged a few images. It is nice to have Jupiter and Mars back. Mars is looking tiny and all images are to scale below so it puts it into perspective. Ganymede just about shows some details. These are single captures as derotation did not really help. Skywatcher 300P Flextube Goto, asi462mc, ADC, 2.5xTV powermate and UV/IR cut. 

11 hours ago, bosun21 said:

I abandoned the processing after looking at the quality graphs in AS4. The constant bouncing around with the wind is definitely not conducive to planetary imaging, or any imaging in fact. I would have been better using the 180 Mak on my AZ-EQ6. If it's not the Jetstream it's the damned wind. Why do we even do this Kostas? 😂

That sucks! I seriously don't know why we do it 🤣. I was up 230am this morning to be greeted by mushy planets. I will post them later.

33 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

I saw what you meant by less windy. It was just as bad here with Saturn bouncing around screen and sometimes off of it!. I persevered and captured a few shorter 60 second SER's due to this. I'll get around to processing them later and we'll see if PIP can do its thing.

I didn't bother to get out in the end.

Yes PIPP should sort it. I hope your perseverance paid off.

4 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

Nice image despite the poor seeing Kostas. Venus is always hidden from my observing area unfortunately. I'm going to have another go on Saturn tonight i think.

Thanks Ian. I was thinking the same for tonight too, but I think seeing should be better on Tuesday morning, less windy.

Looking forward to what you get.

1 minute ago, CraigT82 said:

 Nice clear phase there Kostas, what is the apparent diameter at the moment? 

Thanks Craig. It is currently 95%.

A quick session on Venus from this afternoon. This is my first Venus for 2024. I am looking forward to 2025 when it will be much larger. The seeing was awful and the IR filter did not help much. I did not attempt any UV. Skywatcher 300P Flextube goto, asi462mm, IR pass, 2.5xTV powermate. Resized 125%.

You need to give us more info on how you are collimating.

I have the same focuser on my 300P. I had similar issue but it was down to wobbly Cheshire. See p3 , 4th post down.

13 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

Yes i have a few which i will de rotate and  have another play tomorrow. The weather does not look good for the remainder of the week unfortunately. When is your next holiday?

week on sunday and I will miss the moon/saturn occultation.

Nice image Ian. Have you got a few captures to try derotation? I wonder how much of it is bad seeing than not being able to get focus due to the focuser.

I just got back from holidays but the weather is not looking good for the rest of the week to do any imaging before my next holiday.