EntropyTango

With most DSLR's and lenses I found dark frames and bias frames to be most important. Flat frames less so So when starting out just go for light, dark and bias. Most DSLR lenses cover their frames quite well Generally you settle for ISO speed which is a compromise between noise, colour and gathering those precious photons I find I use ISO 1600 mainly

Most lenses are pretty good these days And if you buy new at least you have a warranty just in case it doesn't perform I use an old Pentax 135mm F2.5 with good results

Not sure what your budget is so i won't make any specific suggestions. The zooms always seem like a good solution as they cover a wide range of focal lengths But the field of view is quite narrow at lower magnifications and this is usually where a wide field is needed the most. I have 2 zooms but find I really don't use them for this reason, optically they are also a bit of a compromise like zoom camera lenses. My suggestion is that you go for fixed focal length EP's of reasonable quality There are plenty of choices out there Perhaps consider joining an astronomy club (covid permitting) Then you can look through a range of EP's and decide what works for you Some ppl want eye relief, others field of view, others value and others just the best money can buy It's a bit like food, some will love something others will hate. The best solution is to try as many EP's before you spend your hard earned pennies

Most of the scopes you are considering are just slightly bigger refractors. I understand as I am a big refractor fan as well. But how about an RC or Newt-Mak, something that gathers more photons and a longer FL?

I haven't tried the Baader but did have the Lunt 2" used only visually All I can say is that it was a great unit used on a 130mm refractor but generated a lot of heat

Might be time for a service if it's under warranty, or a DIY checkup Sometimes gears slip or there are lubrication issues

I think you are going to have to adjust longer focal length=higher magnification=more sky movement in the EP Wait till you pump the magnification, you might be nudging every 20 seconds Something that helps here is eyepieces with wider fields of view as your object will have more time to traverse your AFOV

I mount an ED80 on and EQ6 pro, but I am unsure how much everything weighs/load capacity But I also use counterweights that are much lighter than the stock standard EQ6 weights from previous mounts So I am not sure that there is a lower limit assuming you can balance your scope

Focusing can be a real pain. Some suggestions include adding a weight to the bottom of your tripod Something as simple as a plastic bag filled with sand. this will help dampen out vibrations If I am unsure of focus I take a few shots close to the focus position and slide forwards and backwards If you try around 4 or 5 of these you will probably get close. Or after each shot magnify your image and adjust according to that You produced some nice images, congratulations

I use the contrast booster and find it works well on the planets and Moon I haven't tried the semi apo, so its a one sided opinion

Sorry to hear that, some is better than none I am impressed with your finderscope setup

Very good start, and nicely guided. All I would say is keep that ISO to 400 or less

Very nicely done in the Dutch weather and overall light pollution

Yes its pretty good for a Dob with basic tracking Well done

Well the Hubble maybe dying but the news isn't all bad

Sounds like you had a great time and a good reference work is a good investment I also find the solitude very refreshing and the heavens reminds you of how small your problems are in the scheme of things Clear Skies

GOTO can be great but also has a greater chance of technical issues. The weight can be a big factor if you don't have a permanent setup Most users often under estimate what their mounts will carry Its tempting to add larger guide/finder scopes, EP's, imagers etc I like to stick with a rule (often broken!) that your scope should be around half the carrying capacity of the mount That leaves the other half for your accessories and not using it near capacity AP is much improved with reduced loads

Hi, they can work well assuming you have enough back focus I prefer them to filter wheels which usually need even more back focus And its easy to tell what filter you have loaded, as opposed to...position 3...mmmm... What did I do last week? I guess lastly they are also cheaper than filter wheels (generally)

Thanks for your suggestions I tried a number of images with different shutter speeds and ISO settings as trials of a different sky region I am using an unmodified DSLR and found the colours were better at lower ISO speeds Edges maybe better with slower F ratio's but there are also artifacts from stacking as the sky moved a bit over the range of exposure times. Slower F ratio's also produced smaller bright stars, even to the point of them hardly being noticeable, But I don't like their blobby appearance And yes they were taken at F1.4 So I will try it again shuttered down and try a longer shutter speed (being quite far south rotation is much less than on the celestial equator) Lastly I have three different versions of the 50mm F1.4 so I will try them in comparison as there maybe differences between them Thank you both for your great ideas

Looks very creative, how does it perform?

Yeah I got all excited when it seemed like a hifi thread. I can help with zircon dating

Great colours

Pentax K3, 50mm F1.4, 89 Light frames, 30 darks, 70 bias, DSS & PS9 elements I'm just learning to stack and process, only a tripod with 5sec exposures

The postman dropped off an Astro-Physics 2" barlow not to long ago. I'm generally not a great believer in barlows, but this one is just to ramp up the FL for imaging

All the above is sound advice. Try the easiest items on the messier list, refine your vision by finding the fainter satellites around Saturn For the brighter objects you shouldn't need a LP filter, but once you have found one, try with and without filter. Naturally always use your lowest power EP first. See-ing is a skill that is learnt