Ags

1 hour ago, Alan White said:

sometimes, less is more

I usually find more is more...

Epsilon 130! 

ZWO filter drawer and spare slider.

The photo also features my new elasticated filter securing device, I Don't Trust That Magnet (TM), available for only $99.99 from any reputable astro retailer.

Keeping on trying...

Still playing....

https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/astrophysics/breaking-the-scaling-limits-new-ultralow-noise-superconducting-camera-for-exoplanet-searches/

Superconducting cameras are the future!

Drift unfortunately is not random, so it results in walking noise. Dither is random, so it reduces noise overall.

So much information there! Many thanks @WolfieGlos!

I'm curious, what settings and AI model do you use in Astrosharp?

Thanks for the heads up. I will try grab some pictures this week.

I have hovered over a 183MC for long time now. The 071MC is not much more money for a lot more sensor though... I wonder what's the catch?

On the subject of the 183, what is the sensor like? Does it have significant amp glow?

9 minutes ago, Rusted said:

I think it is very unlikely with your registered locations being so far apart. The sun is very small on the sky.

Aaaah, but was it the same sun? 😂

I hope Ms Apricot makes a swift and complete recovery. Forget the southern hemisphere - imagine the fab views we would have if we could relocate to the Large Magellanic Cloud! It’s a big universe, always somewhere with a better view 😀

I understand mono cameras are more sensitive, but really didn’t like the fuss involved when I had a 178MM.

I do wonder if the 183MC might be a better option than the 533MC. It’s got the same diagonal length, but a bit more width for a little less height.

or maybe I just carry on with the 485, it’s doing nothing wrong really. Rather than chasing equipment upgrades, I should just upgrade my skills!
 

Flats added. Reprocessed with 60% of the subs (75 minutes of data). I tried to thread the needle between the bright, noisy and colorless second version and the less stretched first version.

Obviously I need to add flats and also more data to calm the background... Unfortunately I could only use about 30% of subs because of tracking issues.

Version 2 also omits AI sharpening, which seems to have significantly improved the star shapes.

More data, more stretching less color. Looks like there is more detail hidden in the data. but can I get it out?

Very well indeed. The denoise is amazing, it's like tripling the integration time 😃

Yes 3.0.2 is working fine for me, but so did 3.0

I am still capturing subs for this target, but here is a quick preview of this year's M3. The stars came out of Siril oversaturated so I dialed down the colors in Gimp. Having trouble getting consistently round stars tonight, so just using 30 second subs.

- GraXpert - gradient removal and noise reduction

- Siril - photometric color calibration and stretching

- AstroSharp - AI sharpening

- Gimp - desaturate and selective sharpening of the core

The 533 doesn't add much over the 485 in terms of chip size - a lot more height but no more width. A flattener is fine, but finding one with a 28 mm image circle is an issue.

Looks like my stars are rounder now I have gone through a meridian flip. Whereve the vibrations were coming from, it seems they are not picked up so much in the new orientation.

I am really really enjoying my RC6. as I write it is snapping away at M3. It's nice to be using a mirror scope rather than worry about the optical imperfections of refractors! Although as I say that I can see half my subs have imperfect stars tonight - not sure why, there is hardly a breeze. It's a good thing I opted for short 30 second subs tonight, or I wouldn't be gatherinbg any usable data at all.

I'm currently using an uncooled ASI 485 MC for all imaging activities. Later this month I will finally get my hands on an old KAF8300 CCD, but that mono chip will be for Windows-based spectroscopy/photometry only, as of course it is absolutely incompatible with my beloved ASIAIR. So I am looking for the ideal next cooled ZWO camera for my setup. I am looking at the 071MC and 294MC as being at the upper limit of what I would spend, but I am a bit confused as to the difference between these two, why the 071 is so inexpensive given it's large chip size, or which pixel size is right for my scope, which would operate between f6.5 and f9 (focal length 960 to 1370 mm).

2.7 mm is all eye and no relief!

1 minute ago, JeremyS said:

…and lovely olives 

Winter weather is a mite cloudy though...