Astro Waves

Got the William Optics Dec adaptor with vixen saddle for the iOptron sky guider Pro, not a huge upgrade but oh my days its so much easier to use than the one that comes with it and is way more precise, I would definitely recommend the upgrade to anyone. Also got the saddle as well because I'm eyeing up a guide scope (finally).

Hiya, Just wandering if anyone has any info on the differences between the quality of guiding on the things mentioned in the title, I'm looking at getting into guiding but wanted to make sure I was going down the right road. Wasn't sure if it would be better to invest in a dedicated astro laptop to use when shooting or just use a tablet or phone for out in the field when shooting but then just edit on laptop at home. Any info would be very helpful, fanks.

Well, been a while since I've posted seen as how its been a while since a clear night up here in Edinburgh. I've been wanting to try the Veil Nebula for bit, I had a go at it over 2 months months ago on my birthday which was a super clear night as luck would have it. I didn't have my laptop with me as I was out and about shooting so just had to use the camera screen to see if I could find it, did some star hopping and thought I had it bang on......turns out I didn't (first pic). Pretty disappointed but nae bother, its not going any where. Fast forward over two months and the holy trinity happened, it was a clear night all night on a Friday (as I can only shoot Friday/Saturday due to work), got to use laptop with shooting and I wasn't that tired. I know that to get anything super ace for the Veil you need a lot of data on it but I more just wanted to see if I could actually get it and you know what I bloody well did. I only managed to get a total of abut 42 minutes, I was having a lot of problems with star trailing so re-set up everything a couple of times. I tried to do a few different edits but still struggled with star reduction but this is the best I got for now. Really need to get into guiding due to the holy trinity being so rare here. Let us know what you think. Final Image: Redcat, iOptron Skyguider Pro, Canon 750D astro mod Lights: x92 - 45secs Darks: x20 - 45secs Flats: x20 - 1/26secs Biases: x50 1/4000secs

From the UK here so we don't have to worry about wild animals which is always good. I definitely share your concerns when I'm out and about but in the ways of personal protection I'm not sure that's the best route to go down, if anything did happen it could get in you a bit of hot water. If you're taking gear out then just make sure its insured, would be a hassle to replace but probably the better option.

That doesn't sound like a great accumulation of things at all. Had a stunner of a day yesterday and was super hopeful for a clear night but then the clouds rolled big time, it seems to be a clear night tonight but sadly can't stay up on a Sunday night due to work tomorrow

Hi everyone, Thanks for getting back to me. Had a busy weekend and only just had chance to sit down and have a read through this. I've tried this technique (but I'm using Affinity Photo) and the result don't seem particularly smooth even if I play around with the settings but I don't think you get as much fine tuning options really. I'm more than happy to share my data on this, whats the best way to go about doing that? Also I'm using Affinity Photo. Yeah it is a bit out, I was shooting another target then the cloud rolled in so though I'd switch but didn't refocus as I was a tad tired but wanted to have a go at the heat nebula. The skies actually cleared last night which is a bloody miracle (for up here at the moment any way) so I was excited to shoot and thought I'd had a go at the Eastern Veil but sadly I kinda missed the majority of it but yet again tons of stars in that as well. Definitely need to figure out how to get the reduction on the go. Due to lots of faffing and trying to get a good place to shoot from/it being dam cold, I didn't get any way near as much data on it as I wanted to.

nice, you got any images? I have no idea what either of those are.

I did kinda meant targeted, but if its in the background its still super interesting to learn about other peoples knowledge and also get my mind blown by it!

Hahaha, joining the cloudy nights club! Bit frustrating isn't it.

So couple weeks ago I managed to get a decent shot of the Heart Nebula which I was really happy but the thing I'm struggling with is the amount of stars. As soon as I start processing they just pop out like nobodies business and take over the image, this makes it a struggle to keep teasing out more detail in the nebula its self, is something like this more down to camera settings or processing for star reduction or a bit of both? This image has been stacked in Siril with a few adjustments done in that. Bortle 4, no filters x42 Lights - 210 Seconds x11 Darks - 210 Seconds x30 Flats - 1/25 Second x50 Biases - 1/4000 Second

I know, its been like this for weeks! had one clear night and guess when that was.....full moon and then couldn't find any where to go shoot which was more annoying.

what even is green? haha

Nicely done. I like the biro doodle, makes it feel more scientific!

Out loud I just went "wooooooo...[removed word].......that is stunnin" haha.

Moved to Edinburgh from Norfolk, the skies there were just amazing and the skies in Edinburgh really not so much......at all, it actually makes me sad (mainly due to light pollution). I think there has been one semi clear night in the past 3 weeks and it was on a full moon. The weather up hear changes so drastically as well and I find it a bit difficult to know when to head out as I have to go find some where to lug my gear to go and shoot, I also have to get up really early for work so I'm even more reluctant at the moment and relegated to Friday/Saturday nights.

I was meaning the first one but either is pretty interesting to know really.

I hadn't thought about polar alignment helpers but now you mention it I might have a look into that. If it doesn't take much doing then I might see if I can find a tablet to run it on to save weight whilst having to cart everything around each time I need to shoot. Always sadly on a budget. Thanks for the links, I'll have a goosey at them now. I kinda thought guiding would be the better way to go at the moment, I know the filter would help pull out more colour etc but the camera is modded so that helps. Thanks for your input on this.

Hiya everyone, So looking towards my next purchase, its not going to be anything too massive but just was a bit unsure really as I'd like both eventually but wasn't sure which way round would be the best. I have sadly moved back into a city (Edinburgh) and its about Bortle 7 (6 in places) and was thinking about the L-extreme to help with the ol' nebulas but also light pollution but then as I'm not guiding and would have to take shorter exposures (I think the longest I've had out the iOptron Sky Guider Pro is about 2/3 minutes), would this be collecting enough data to warrant the filter ooooorrr would it better going for a guide scope first then I would be able to get those longer exposures then work towards the filter? I would also need something to control the guide scope with which bumps up the price again but was taking about getting an old laptop/tablet if I can get PHD2 to work on it. Think that all makes sense, might a be a tad rambly but you get the idea, hah. Cheers

Ta very much! ooohhh nice, let us know how it goes.

Thanks Mark, its definitely nice to feel some progressions over the past few weeks.

So. I'm getting much better with star hopping which makes shooting more fun and I've also found that trying to find targets is easier at dusk because the brighter stars pop out more then it makes it easier to reference that with Stellarium (as I still haven't figured out plate solving yet). Good news, I managed to get about 2 hours data on new moon night....oooohhhh baby...down side, I was slightly out of focus which was annoying but its not going any where so I'll try again, but thought I would post the result anyway as I'm still really happy with it. I should have stayed on it longer rather than switching targets as I now have two out of focus images rather than one, haha. Also I had to used darks from a previous session a day or two before because even thought I knew I took them they weren't on the memory card I hadn't touched from the night before, weird....maybe I didn't take them who knows aye (not me). Let me know what you think. Lights - x65 140 Seconds Darks - x11 180 Seconds Flats - x30 - 1/25 Second Biases - x50 1/4000 Second Bortle 4

You're not messing around there at all! it is indeed a super clear night which is amazing, I've even managed to outlast the cat in staying awake!

Hiya, As the title says I'm looking for both of those as I feel its something I probably should get, haven't had and issue with the lens foggin up yet but probably shouldn't push my luck. Any recommendations for both? is it not much of a big thing and just get some kinda cheapish bits and pieces? Cheers

I'm super happy with how this came out, it has rather large crop on it but still not bad at all I'd say. There's a couple other cheeky galaxies in the background as well which is nice. Please do let me know what you think and what I can improve on. Lights - x47 180 seconds Darks - x12 180 seonds Flats - x30 1/80 second Biases - x50 1/4000 Second

This is bloody lovely! I'm still trying to wrap my head around the technical aspects of AP and just been reading about binning and still not sure I fully follow, I'll definitely have to read through all the stuff above again to try and get a better grasp on it. I heard about Drizzle and was unsure what it was really. I had stacked some data earlier which I was super happy with (even though you might secretly think its a bit substandard) and did an edit and it was not bad but I wanted to do better so then noticed there was a script in Siril with drizzle so thought I would give it a go and oh my days, the quality difference was just mad! way more detail and clarity and I had to do so much less processing on the image with drizzle, I'll post it in a new topic as its my finest work yet (of my limited experience).