IGBTQ2 Loc: California

Thanks for the kind words. Yes, buying a telescope was indeed tough, money aside. I literally spent six months learning the pros and cons of the various designs and deciding what would be the best fit for me as a first telescope. Once I got it I learned a few more things; like the lack of proper instructions and need for countless gadgets and accessaries to make it do what I wanted. Now I understand why people who are 'in to this thing' own more than one telescope, and the quest continues....

IGBTQ2 Loc: California

Thanks. Sometimes I feel like I'm transitioning from novice to intermediate, then I see the work of pros, and once again I feel fully novice. At least I'm finally 'seeing' what's up there the way it's presented on the boxes of cheap telescopes sold in the big box stores. That only took about 45 years...

IGBTQ2 Loc: California

Thank's for the encouraging words. My abilities are definitely improving, and I'm having a good time at it. A few years ago I lost my life's passion (musician) to an autoimmune response that robbed me of my exceptional hearing in a single night, as I slept. As I've sold off my music studio, I've purchased amateur astronomy gear and turned my interests to this. I've always enjoyed landscape photography, and had a couple of small telescopes as a kid, so it was a good fit.

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Nice series of images, looks like you are definitely getting the hang of astrophotography. Have you started using any Dark, Flat and Bias frames on your images?
On the horsehead you mentioned that you took one 5 minute exposure at 400mm focal length. How did you get rid of any satellite trails in the image. Normally you can take multiple images and average them out, with a single shot I would expect it would take a lot of manual correction to remove them. I have seen as many as 16 satellite trails in one 30 second exposure at a 500mm focal length. (see the following link)
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-721446-1.html

IGBTQ2 Loc: California

Thanks... I guess I got lucky, there were none as you can see. All I did was a bit of adjustments in my old stand-alone copy of Lightroom6 and added the diffraction spikes in Topaz Studio, because I like how they look and an SCT doesn't cause them. I shot it around February - March of this year, just after I got my camera. I'm just now beginning to shoot darks. I'll need a light panel to shoot flats as I use an OAG and finding a guide star often requires rotating it, thus changing the alignment of the optical elements in reference to the camera (even though I try not to). None of the images I posted used any calibration frames.

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

A lovely suite of images. You're well on your way in astrophotography!

bwa

IGBTQ2 Loc: California

Thank you. I find it quite fascinating, sometimes frustrating, always fun.

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Hi IGTQ2
I have found that strapping a white pillow case tightly over the front of the scope can be used to take flats during the daytime fairly easily. Just make sure the that the histogram of the flat image is somewhat centered (no clipping of pixels on either end of the histogram). I would also make sure you are aimed away from the sun at fairly evenly illuminated part of the sky, evenly hazy clouds or blue sky has worked for me.
Normally if I need to find a guide star I will rotate the offaxis guider attached to the camera, or decenter the object a bit to find a bright enough guide star. As long as `the camera is fixed to the same axis on the offaxis guider, any vignette associated with the prism from the offaxis guider always ends up at the same location on the sensor so rotation doesn't matter. (I have found no issue with rotation on the scope as the vignette seems to be rotationally constant within the telescope itself ). I have also found that Dust specs also corrected with flats only show up from dust on the sensor and on filters near the sensor or barlow lens, not from the main objective lens of the scope.

IGBTQ2 Loc: California

Interesting. Not sure what you're shooting with, my 8" Edge's FL is 2032mm. I do not use a reducer. I've used the 'white T-shirt method' to take flats. After rotating the OAG I shot again (I held the camera steady as best I could). There was a definite shift in the location of the 'doughnut ghosts' in the image circle. I believe these to be on the corrector and the smaller, solid spots to be dust on the camera/sensor. This also results in a change in the vignetting. If I rotate the OAG and camera together, the vignetting is unaffected, but the doughnut ghosts move a lot. A target like the Bubble Nebula does not present a problem for me, as there are lots of stars around it. Bodes, by contrast, not so much. I always have to work at finding one. Some targets just don't have that many stars around them at 2032mm. I'm learning. For instance my next attempt at the Bubble Nebula will include flats and darks, flats via the T-shirt method, as I know I'll have a lot of guide stars there to choose from. Eventually, I'll get a light panel.

Marc G Loc: East Grinstead, West Sussex, England

I would say that you are well on your way
Some really really nice images
To me acquiring the data amounts to a third of work required to capture great images
Post processing being the biggest challenge
But the more you practice the easier it becomes & you will develop your own routine
Marc

Paul Diamond Loc: Atlanta, GA, USA

The first obstacle is not so difficult. I bought a Celestron CPC800. It's the rest of the gear that I'm struggling with. And getting to a 'dark sky' area while living in the Southeast. Plus, in my '70's, I'm beginning to wish I had a less than full time day job.

IGBTQ2 Loc: California

Fearing buyer's remorse on the telescope, nailing down the best fit for me was tough. So many designs, each with their own pros and cons. Once I picked a telescope, I had no problem with the rest of the gear. As for dark skies; I live under Bortle 4 skies, only an hour's drive from Bortle 2 skies located at 8000'. In 5 to 7 hours I can drive to some of the darkest places on Earth.

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Hi IGBTQ2
I haven't noticed any of the doughnuts ghosts following the correct plate, but I'll stretch the images a bit and see if I can find any. Currently I'm shooting my many of my shots with a 16 inch Meade Schmitt Cassegrain and some with a 500mm Canon lens, using an ASI 6200mm pro monochrome camera.