Actually that’s the easy part I write an action in Photoshop to color and crop and then I batch apply.

Much improvement! You have battled, fought and clawed your way through more gear malfunctions that most and have not given up! For that you deserve and "standing galactic ovation!" M81 is one of those targets that (at least for me) is a tough one to expose far. What helps me is to take very short exposures, 15 seconds or less and then blend them with longer exposures 180 seconds or so. I process both independently and blend in photoshop. This helps me to keep the core from appearing overexposed and to hot and the longer exposures bring out the detail in the remaining galaxy. I know there are easier ways to do it in PixInsight with Pixelmath, color and luminosity masks....I have tried that but end up falling back on PS where I feel more comfortable.

The "Hog" has processors that may have some better ideas on getting good detail out of these kind of targets.

"Stepping Beyond" great job!

No eyepiece projection and yes, I am cropping. With the Quark Chromosphere on the AT65EDQ using the ASI120MM camera, I get about 1/5th of the sun in my FOV. With the Daystar SCOUT mounted on top, I get almost the entire disk using the ASI174MM-C.....and I can get the entire disk with the ASI1600MM-C but the frame rate sucks on that camera.

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No...And it’s a good question!

I used the Quark Chromosphere to image the sun....along with the Daystar Scout solar scope to do a timelapse of the surface. There are several steps used to get a TL....if anyone is interested in doing these I will post the process. I am not sure I am doing it the best way....probably not, but it works ok for me. All of the software I am using with the exception of Premier Pro is free. But I know there is free software available to do the same thing that Premier Pro does.


This link is a vimeo video of the very interesting solar telescope, Big Bear!
https://vimeo.com/92456688

The "Hog" will not let me upload the Surface image ..but here is a link to it on Astrobin

https://www.astrobin.com/users/Nikonshooter/

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Quick TimePro

Gotcha! Our HOA just recently approved "outbuildings" provided it looks like the house with the same roof. That kind of roof would be too heavy to roll, I think so I keep my gear outside.....but I cover the scopes with TELEGIZMOS 360. I also use a patio umbrella to help keep the sun from bearing down. They have done an awesome job of protecting my kits....through two hurricanes, multiple rain deluges, cold freezing and blistering heat plus the humidity of the south. I should be the TELEGIZMOS poster boy. I have kept these kits out year around for several years - no rust, no moisture - perfecto.

I had a pier made for the AVX last year but haven't had the time to set it. A member of our astronomy club has offered to buy it and I will probably let him have it. A photography friend is about to get rid of his AP mount and I am trying to justify buying it. When you get up in years (age 75) it becomes harder and harder to make sense of any purchases.

The kit on the far left is for solar only ......or serves as my grab and go scope. It is an iOptron ZEQ25 (discontinued) but I love this mount a tracking beast with a .25 RMS rate on a good seeing night.....80 RMS at it's worst.

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I was experimenting with video editing trying to get the stars to twinkle while masking out the comet but that is the last time I plan on spending time doing that......unless someone wants to pay me for it....and that is unlikely to happen.

Not too sure if I can get by uploading a large MP4 file of Panstarrs but it did have a little more resolution and if it works may be easier to see.

Attached file:
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Clouds and rain have been more the rule than the exception for Stepping Beyond and myself. I was hoping C/2019 Y4 would be lighting up the sky about now but .....the sun did it's number on it and now it is in pieces. I imaged Panstarrs - nearby and fairly bright. I was put the Hyperstar on the Edge SCT and was too lazy to remove it ...so I ended up with a every widefield - hard to see short GIF timelapse of the comet. I am not sure they it will play on the HOG but will give it a go. The early part of the run was screwed up with a crazy lyrids meteor shower so I ended up deleting a bunch of subs ...which explains the jump in the video as it begins.

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It looks like you have a good system for managing the SCT without help. Are you planning on taking the kit down after using?

I have not used DSS since using Sequence Generator Pro but I did like their "drizzle" algorithm though it taxed my CPU. I used this for widefield undersampled images as in the ASI1600MM-C camera on at SV70T (336 mm) with reducer. I will vouch for the "drizzle" process in SGP. It does an awesome job. It would be pointless to use in oversampled cases, IMHO as there is really no loss in resolution - just unused pixels.

Where to start - the mount was returned twice within 1 year of purchasing - and I have bought two hand controllers (boot error issues) in addition to the ones provided with the mount. The electronics (board had to be replaced) the first time....after months of waiting on it, it arrived and also didn't work right. It was returned and i received a new/refurbished one.....the RA and DEC are so bloody stiff this mount cannot be balanced conventionally - neither of the three moved like a normal mount. You can balance in DEC by taking the OTA with all attached equipment off and using a fulcrum to mark the center point but RA is nearly impossible. I even had a celestron tech tell me all AVX mounts are like that and balancing doesn't matter...just get it close.

What I have now is working fine - you get what you pay for and this is a low end mount - but as it should work and my first two mounts did not.

I have a procedure for balancing all of my mounts that is a bit tedious and time consuming but it is the only way I know for sure - I have it right. Let me know. It will be a labor to write it out so it makes sense but I will give it a go if anyone is interested. If your guiding is working....don't mess with it.

I was able to image last night - as it turned out the collimation was the issue. Unlike a Newtonian or at least my Newtonian if you get the collimation reasonably close you can image away. Besides a perfect collimation on a Newt is close to impossible because the collimator (if you use a laser and I do) also has to be collimated and that is a pain in the _ _ _! I have two laser collimators and they both render different settings and I have both collimated. Go figure. But a SCT is a different beast - I fiddled with it for an hour on an artificial star to days ago and got it dead center and tonight - walla - my round tight stars have returned. I am afraid to touch the SCT now for fear I will knock it out of collimation. Glad it is on a pier.

So my "take a way" on this adventure. If you own a NEWT and use a Laser collimator - get it perfect and then fine tune on a star or artificial star to get a perfect collimation.

If you own a SCT - expect fat stars regardless of your focus precision until you get that perfect collimation and that is a fiddling nightmare - even with Bobs Knobs.

But the fun is in the trying!

Clear skies and happy Sunday!

I can see clear advantages using an artificial star.

No tracking needed (unless using Polaris)

Atmosphere turbulence eliminates the dancing star

Can do in daytime as to no waste imaging time.

Choose the star needed for focal length of scope

Fast recentering of star between adjustments

.......but like most people, I have only used a star prior to using my home made artificial star. I did order one from Hubble Optics that will offer more precise choices depending on the reflector I am using. I have three SCT's and a NEWT so I think I will get my 24.95 worth.