Doversole

I just tried CCD Inspector on some of the images. Surprise, it says the collimaiton is pretty good? Well obviously the image above shows the collimation is crap. So what do I do wrong? 🤪

Hi Everyone, Just got my RC8 delivered and after a few days of rain (again), I managed to get a very first image yesterday on M27 (14x300s, before the clouds rolled in...). I look at a defocused star and didn't find the shape too ugly, then took this image. It's clear that the stars, in particular and the bottom left corner are not round. What is the cause of this? Bad collimation? For info I can't tilt the focuser. Is a tilt plate needed? Thanks for your views and clear skies!

I just got my StellaLyra RC8! (sorry for the clouds....). What is your experience in terms of collimation? What would be an easy tool that that someone with no collimation experience could use without screwing everything up? I initially bought the TS tool for RC telescopes but FLO advised this tool couldn't be used on the StellaLyra RC8.... Thanks!

Sorry to resurrect such an old post, but having just invested in a Stellalyra RC8, I was thinking about the benefit of a focal reducer. It seems reading all of the replies above that: - if your object is small with no interest to increase the FOV, binning is preferable (the F ratio myth) - even if you want to increase the FOV, the preference would be mosaic and binning rather than a FR (that's something I need to look at!) If I didn't misread you, you just saved me some £££ and headache to fit the whole image train with the smaller backfocus of a FR!

So that's SH2-171, an emission Nebula in the constallation Cepheus. This image also include NGC7822, an open star cluster. I imaged this Nebula using a Redcat 51 on a Skyguider Pro using my new ASI533MC cooled camera and a L-enhance narrow band filter. I managed to get a total of 5 hours on the 23rd January on this region which is a first for me. I found it well adapted for the Redcat FoV. 60 subframes 300 sec. I used Siril, PS, Starnet++ and Topaz Denoise AI for post-processing. Thanks for watching, comments and recommendations welcome!

Nice @ampleamp. I discovered this Emission Nebula recently and also imaged it with a Redcat51 (although with a color camera and an L-enhance filter). This was certainly my favourite target for February!

Simply the moon, taken with my Nikon D7500, 200-500mm zoom, while I was imaging the Crhistmas Tree cluster with my Redcat51. Clear Skies!

Hi Shahid, The "Clear Outside" app (on Android) will not only give you the weather forecast in the UK but also sunrise and sunset times.

I have been lurking this forum for some time now, it was time for a more formal introduction! After 30ish years gap in astrophotography (that was back in the time of TP2415, staying sometimes for one hour the eye behind the guidescope and using a razor blade to make accurate focus!), I decided to come back to the hobby last year when we saw the comete Neowise. I started in September by investing in a Skyguider Pro and a Redcat51, and greatly enjoyed coming back to the hobby! The learning curve has been steep again (I knew nothing about post processing!) but the feeling is great. I am now stepping up to an RC8 as the Redcat is not very useful during the Galaxy Season! Happy to be here. Clear Skies!

I would second the question on a reducer for the Redcat51. Some nebulas are huge (The Spaghetti nebula - SH2-240 for example) and having the option of using a reducer would be nice on this scope.

Have you resolved the issue? Not that I could help myself but I am interested in the same equipment!

Quite interested in the 6" or 8" RC. What do you guys use for guiding? OAG or a guide scope? Thanks!