Mr Thingy

Great question and interesting to see the great, varied responses. I think it's fair to say we are passionate about our hobby; frustrating as it may be sometimes, the good moments far outweigh the bad by a country mile. Like others, it's hard to pin down 1 or 2 moments. For me, I've been interested in the sky for as long as I can remember, and many moments stand out. I guess the most poignant moment for me though was during a holiday in NZ 20 years ago, middle of nowhere at Fox Glacier where it must have been Bottle 1. Sat on a rope bridge with my now wife and saw the milky way in a detail I'd never seen before. All of a sudden those fairy lights in the sky had depth and a perspective that made it plainly apparently that we're on a little rock in a massive galaxy. I recall a similar experience during the hurricane of '86 that knocked out power for a few days - no sky glow from neighbouring towns - what a delight, though I was pretty young so the experience was probably a little lost on me. I'm glad now to be sharing that magic with my kids. Saturn's rings blew my 8 yr old son's mind the other day and it still does the same for me tbh. My 2 kids also got to look at Andromeda earlier in the week and now my daughter constantly wants to look at Stellarium and see what else can be seen in the skies. Patronising as it sounds, I pity those that don't care/know/understand about the magic above them.

Nice Mr Postman (or more accurately, Mr DHL man) kindly brought me an SW 72ED and an Ha 7nm filter 😃 May the corrupt sky gods now bring forth the clouds, as is their cruel way.

I recently had a similar conundrum. So many options and so much information; I found myself with decision paralysis on a few occasions and also increasing my budget on a few more occasions. In my case I opted to separate astrophotography from observation so as not to compromise both. Since I plan to learn AP on larger DSO objects, such as Orion and some large galaxies, I decided to get a short focal length scope, which should also be more forgiving as I learn tracking and guiding. In the end I opted for an HEQ5 mount and a small ED refractor (72mm). I also have a dedicated astro camera and guiding system. Just patiently waiting now for my HEQ5 mount to be shipped from China (ordered mid-Aug). Worth bearing in mind when you order. I already own a 120mm refractor that I use for observation but plan to get a large dobsonian when I feel like there's a low chance my wife will hurt me for spending more money on astro gear. Good luck with your search and hope you are happy with whatever you decide to buy.

Early session this evening, before the clouds rolled in. My youngest taking her first look at another galaxy (Andromeda). (Seems my phone case casts a strange glow, hence the poor pic)

Aye, plus it gives me more time to research astrophotography. Thankfully I have a static mount so I can still observe during the clear nights we have at the moment in the East of England.

I feel your pain. I received the same news about mine 😔

Did the SW deliveries include HEQ5 mounts? I think these were due later but maybe my Xmas comes early this year?

I'm watching with interest. Fingers crossed it will be soon.

Anywhere my kids aren't

A really nice image. I would be pleased with that.

I also use one of these for my guidescope, running off mains. They are so cheap that I thought it was worth the punt. It seems to generate a decent amount of heat but so far only tested twice. Worst case, I'll rig it into my jacket to keep me warm 😀

A good tip. Thanks. I will add that to my workflow 😀

The image was not great, as you would expect, but my goal was purely to test my competence to run the camera and image acquisition in NINA. I was pleased that I managed to jump the first hurdle at least, which was a big relief for me. 😄 Nevertheless, I am still really pleased with my very first astro image (see other thread). 😄

Here's my crazy (temporary) setup.... Using the 50ed for imaging with the ST120 as the guidescope 😂 I'm awaiting my HEQ5 and imaging scope so this was just a quick camera test. It was "interesting" finding my target with a 24x magnification but it did the job.

Below is my first ever astrophotography picture! It's not much, but I am very chuffed with it. I took the plunge to buy some AP gear a couple of months ago and I was going to wait until my HEQ5 arrives to try it all out in anger, but it looks like it may still be another 1 month+ before it arrives, so I decided to take some short exposures to get accustomed to the camera (Zwo ASI 183 GT) and the image acquisition software...... Then the rain came and I've been anxiously waiting for a break in the weather ever since, which was finally gifted last night. I took 5 second subs, knowing that I would get star trials, but wanted to see if I could capture any detail of Andromeda, and was amazed to see how much detail I could get in such short exposures. So for me this is a major success as everything worked, and also that my camera seems to do a decent job. M110 also sneaked in for a little appearance, which was nice to see. Can't wait now to get the HEQ5.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...?

I think I will give the ST free trial a go. The cost looks reasonable too, which is nice to know after forking out an arm and a leg (plus the risk of a divorce cost) on AP gear 😁

The GPU part is interesting for me. I have a gaming rig, so my GPU is pretty powerful (GeForce 1080ti). I was wondering if any of the processing software utilised the GPU.

@autonm vid looks good. I just had a quick scan. Will have a proper look later this evening.

I'd not encountered Startools before. Very reasonably priced. In terms of functionality, how does it rate against Pixinsight or Photoshop?

...sorry for asking this as I imagine it's been asked a few times before. But I had a few specific questions, so I raise a new thread. I see a lot of people in YT use Photoshop but I really despise the subscription model and would much prefer a one-time fee (or no fee at all!) Pixinsight looked very interesting, but the price is heavy (£200 iirc). GIMP is free but I assume must therefore have limitations. Does anyone have a comparison of options, with pros and cons and details of what key functionality each has? Maybe some of you have tried a few and can give recommendations? Cheers

Thanks for all the superb advice. My checklist is going to be wonderful now and a great starting point to guide me through my first few nights. Whilst waiting for my HEQ5 I plan to play around and shoot some static images of Andromeda to get a feel for the software and camera settings. Now I just need those clouds to part...🥺

Thanks for all of the warm welcomes. It's clear that this a very pleasant and helpful community - just what novice astronomers need to help get the most enjoyment out of this great hobby 😁

Not done that one... Yet. I keep my rig set up and lug it into place when needed but that leads to my favourite trick of bashing it against something and playing the "which expensive thing did I just break" game.

Glad I asked this question. Loads of valuable tips. Thanks muchly. No doubt I'll focus so much on the details that I'll miss the obvious, like forgetting to take the lens cap off, but I'm looking forward to getting stuck in.