jacko61

Thanks for the advice Olly. I've not been imaging that long so all my results using GIMP are through trial and error. I'll see if I can find a tutorial on gradients. Luckily I still have all the data. Graeme

Mine just arrived at lunchtime. Graeme

Had a bunch of deliveries over the weekend - no pictures yet though. EQ8 polemaster adaptor and a William Optics 40cm gold Losmandy plate from RVO and a Nevada power supply and EQ8R lynx astro cable from FLO. The cable has had to be returned though - somehow it's been constructed with rings at one end and a cigar lighter adaptor (instead of an eq8r plug) at the other. Not to worry, the correct one is already on it's way. Anyway, the most exciting thing was a phone call from a courier in Coatbridge who have another package from FLO but it's so heavy it's on a pallet!! I've arranged delivery for wednesday so there'll be an update then. No prizes for anyone who guesses what's coming - there's plenty clues above Graeme

Both captured last thursday night. Perfectly clear all night above South Lanarkshire but obviously affected by a near 90% full moon. I took 3 hours of 4 minute subs on M33 but when I came to process the stack, I found I couldn't stretch the image to pull out all the detail without the image washing out completely. Pretty much the same story with M42 - an hour of 30 second subs - again if I try to stretch the data fully the image gets washed out. Obviously the solution would be not to image at full (or near enough) moon but I'm wondering if something like an l-enhance filter would have helped. WO ZS73 and ASI533MC pro set up. Graeme

Just to add to this, if you want round stars right to the edge of your image you would have to add the focal reducer/flattener which has a backfocus (i.e. the distance from the reducer lens to the CCD chip) of 105cm. Graeme

You'll need some sort of extension tube to fit between the camera's 'T' adapter and the telescope backplate. According to celestron the optimum back focus for the C5 is 5 inches!... What are the optimum back focus distances for Celestron SCTs? | Celestron Graeme

Most places (FLO , RVO etc) will sell you a 2 inch baader UV/IR cut for around 70 quid. Not sure why some sellers go over £100. for them but £70 seems reasonable (I saw a filter advertised yesterday that cost over £1000!!!! How do they justify that for a slice of glass? ). I bought my Baader second hand on this very forum and I'm more than happy with it. Saying that, after my results this week I think I need something different to control the ambient light from the moon - maybe an l-enhance. Graeme

A handful of goodies this week. ZWO filter drawer and dew strap from RVO, sct adaptor from FLO and a very rare lump of unobtanium* from Astoshop (germany). * Actually an adaptor plate to mount my soon to be ordered EQ8R-pro onto my observatory pier. Impossible to buy in the UK despite all the big name retailers selling the mount as a 'head only' option. Only Altair Astro would sell one but there's no indication (and no replies to emails) as to when they might start stocking it again. As the package was well under £135 there was no duty or VAT to pay. Result! (just needs 4 new holes drilling into the pier head). Graeme

9pm tonight DPD brought a dew strap from RVO for my C8. Not bad service - I only ordered it at 3pm the day before. Graeme

And here it is. The same day I received a couple of adaptors for my ASI 533.... No way was that 'roll off roof' rolling Graeme

Love the new sticker. My last one was 'May contain snow' - and it did! Graeme

ZWO Filter drawer from RVO. Solves the problem of how to use a filter with my SCT. Graeme

The Celestron and Meade .63 reducers are 105mm. However, a discussion on cloudy nights is suggesting the antares is 85mm... Help a brother out, what is the real backfocus spec of the Antares F6.3 SCT reducer? - Equipment - Cloudy Nights Graeme EDIT: Posts further down are confirming 105mm. Easiest thing to do would be to focus the sun through the reducer, measure that distance and halve it.

You have to do your flats at the same time as your light frames unless you leave your scope set up with the camera till the next day. Flats are a record of any dust particles or vignetting etc AT THE TIME THE IMAGE WAS TAKEN. Obviously if you move your camera or adjust focus, the dust bunnies will move and the flats will be useless (the calibration processing subtracts the dust bunnies from your image). I don't bother with Bias frames. I read somewhere that they're not needed (or even advisable) for modern CMOS astro cameras. I bought the ASI533 and can recommend it for ease of use. I quite like the Square format but if I need a rectangular image it's simple enough to crop the image. Here's the most recent image I took. 90 minutes of lights, 15 flats that took less than 2 minutes to record at the end of the session plus darks I used from the library I built up a month or two ago (cooled cameras are brilliant!) Graeme

yesterday, the postie delivered a replacement m43 male to male extension for my ZWO ASI533MC. One of my cheaper extension rings has 'frozen' into the original and nothing I've done will separate them. Also received a new 50mm SCT adaptor for my C8 courtesy of FLO and their usual superb delivery times. Less good, I received a 10m active USB 3 cable for my observatory - Camera to laptop. Unfortunately, despite the laptop recognising the cable, it doesn't see the camera unless I plug it into a USB 2 port. That's going back to the supplier. Graeme

Had a beautiful clear night from the central belt last night so I managed an hour on M42 and 90 minutes on the Rosette nebula. William Optics ZS73 with 0.8 reducer. ZWO asi533MC pro. 50mm uniguide. ASI290mm mini. M42. 60 x 60 second subs plus darks and flats Rosette. 30 x 180 second subs plus darks and flats Graeme

I was out imaging the rosette last night (albeit with an ASI533, not my DSLR). The subs look fine (30x180seconds) but I've not had the time to process them yet. I'll be very happy if I can get as good a result as yours. Graeme

I'm speaking as a Celestron user so not sure if your mount has these options BUT it's not something as simple as having the wrong tracking rate set on the mount (i.e. Lunar/solar instead of sidereal) ? Graeme

I'm planning on ordering an EQ8R soon @Nigella Bryant. Have you had much chance to play with yours yet? Any downsides to report? Graeme.

Hah! Thanks Vlaiv. Definitely meant Darks., Confused myself as I just bought a light panel to do my flats and I've been playing with it this morning Graeme

Since I'm now isolating due to my better half testing positive I thought I'd make a start on my Darks library. I'll be recording frames at 60s, 120s, 180s, 240s and 300s initially. However, Something occurred to me just after I set the first plan away in APT. I have three (potentially 5) telescope setups that I could use depending on the field of view I'm wanting to capture. These would be Celestron c8 with .63 reducer/flattener, WO ZS73 with flat73a flattener and WO ZS73 with flat73r reducer/flattener. (the other two might be the scopes without flatteners but unlikely). My question then... Do I need a separate set of flats for each set up or will one set cover all three? Graeme

The postie came earlier and dropped off a package from FLO - may contain snow - I wish! I'd much rather play in the snow than trudge around in the rain. Their package contained a lovely Celestron Losmandy plate to replace the vixen on my C8 in anticipation of me possibly getting an EQ8 mount in the not too distant future. (I already have my ASGT fitted with an ADM dual saddle so I'll still be able to use the C8. I'll be looking for a similar plate to fit my ZS73 soon. Also in the post was this SVbony UV/IR filter courtesy of @PeterCPC. This has now been fitted to the Flat73A santa left in my stocking graeme

Some wonderful images. Your M42 and B33 photo has made me realise that the vast majority of horsehead/flame photos (mine included) are upside down. Something I hadn't considered till now Graeme

For now I'd steer clear of trying to take pictures through your new scope and just learn how to use it visually. Most stars should appear as pinprick of light unless you're looking at one of the big ones like sirius or beleguese. If your stars are blobby as above when you're simply viewing them then they are out of focus. Once you've got used to the scope and figured out what you're looking at and how to get that object focussed properly, get hold of a decent mobile phone bracket to ensure your pictures are as vibration free as possible. graeme

I'd be interested in seeing a photo of the whole kitchen floor. This brief glimpse of your insert pattern makes no sense to me. Graeme