Troubleshooting weird imaging anomalies

[Notty]

I wonder if anyone can help me troubleshoot something clearly amiss in my imaging train. It's a SW ED80 DSpro with a lakeside astro motor focuser, with a SW FF/FR and I have LRGB Ha filters in a ZWO EFW and shot through asi1600mm pro. The anomalies have been going on a while and I'm really trying to home in on what's causing the problem. Ivo from Startools kindly helped me with my data in this thread below and pointed it out again, but it definitely wasn't dew or cloud.

I know I shouldn't, but I have now cleaned my refractor lens, and the FF both ends and reshot and stretched flats in order to try and see what's going on.  To my knowledge flats should show vignetting and the odd bunny but not the odd patterns I get. Also, I seem to have different bunnies on each filter, which is annoying since I fitted them straight from the box and they look spotless to me. I've posted stretched ones of the flats here, hopefully in LRGB order and I'd be really grateful if anyone's got an opinions on what might be going on, as I've run out of ideas. I've reshot the flats in daytime using my flat panel and also a t shirt but they don't change anything. The bunnies (if that's what they are) look too big to be on the filters, but I don't understand why they change position between filters otherwise, but it's the diagonal criss-cross banding that is really twisting my melon! Anyone got any ideas? Help gratefully received. 

Andy

 

[MarkAR]

Not really much help but it does look like something is smeared on a lens somewhere in the image train.

[Notty]

2 hours ago, MarkAR said:

Not really much help but it does look like something is smeared on a lens somewhere in the image train.

I'm beginning to think it's reflections, but I'm now bust on ideas. I've now cleaned the inside of the front objective, I've painted the 3 retaining screws which hold on the focuser to the tube black and added matt black paint to the (faded) factory matt inside. I've then reshot the flats. Same result, with B & G sporting the same noticeable disks. Just to make sure it's not the camera or filter wheel I've shot another set of flats through my brand new 135mm camera lens, and they are perfect, in the sense that there's nothing other than vignetting with no weird texturing or shapes.  I've spent two days trying to track this down now and I've nowhere left to go.  Maybe my glass is permanently stained in some way that I can't see that resists my baader optical wonder cleaner?

If anyone has ever experienced this and found the source I'd love to know.  I'll share here if I ever get to the bottom of it.  

[happy-kat]

Take flats using the gear but without a filter.

[Notty]

Hi thanks for the reply. I did think of that, but then I got a sensible set of flats through the camera lens. I might have a go tomorrow, but say I didn't get the patterns what would you say that pointed to, apart from my camera and f/w being completely incompatible with my scope? Or are you thinking it points at some kind of tilt issue maybe?