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Well it was a load of hard work today but it has been worth it. The new scope is finally installed in its new home. Now it is fixed I can start on the OTA. Trying to work on it free standing was hopeless. Got a shed load of repainting to do on the fork as well. Going to collect the mirror on Monday. Then it will be get the drive sorted and I will be in business. Oh yes got to build the new obs round it 😂 The beast. Sorry about the old fart in the photo but it was the only way to give it some scale.

This is probably a personal best for me, as far as total integration time goes. 320x 60s Lights 265 Darks 327 Flats 324 Bias Imaged over the course of 2 nights (well three, counting the extra calibration frames thrown into the mix) Baader BCF modified Canon 1100d 250mm Soligor F/4.5 prime @ F/5.6 Skytech CLS Filter Star Adventurer (Unguided) Stacked in DSS (2x drizzle) Processed in Startools (Binned 74.63% to achieve correct image scale) Finished in Gimp First light with my new-to-me vintage lens, and to say i'm pleased with it is an understatement, considering I paid peanuts for it. Regards, Kev

Two for the price off one. Had to be quick on this one.

I recently was in the market for a small portable set up, something I was able to throw in a small case and take with me on holiday. I decided to go for the TS APO 65Q, little Quad Apo refactor. The first night it arrived believe it or not was clear, Orion was in a reasonable position to try it out. I wanted to see how wee it performed on a full frame sensor, I wasn't expecting much from it So I just threw on my Sony A7s focused it in and did a single 20s unguided shot of M42. My first impression was it looked okay with a slight bit of astigmatism as i brought it into and past focus. When I took a closer look i had little triangular stars where there should have been round. A classic sign of pinched optics...... Pinched optics are really nothing to worry about and something that is quite common and very easy to put right. After three mins of tweaking the result was nice round stars with no sign of astigmatism. To be honest it really corrects quite well across a full frame sensor across a large format sensor especially for such a for such a cheap small scope.

Just for info Dr Bec's has now passed all her exams and is now an A & E Consultant 😁 Last exam I had to go look after the baby at 3 weeks old, whilst she took exams in London 😷 Well chuffed, it has taken her a very long time and a lot of exams

C11 x 2.5 pm chamelen cam binned 2 x2 and a few mins later

Tak 102 from keswick

Finally finished the Pier off today, just machined some rotary countersunk slots in the adaptor to allow a little movement, over engineered really! All the decking is finished off and added the side deck and the shed turns up Monday. Fingers crossed by Monday evening my kit will be undercover.

Although not common knowledge, I was diagnosed with an inflammatory joint disease a few months ago so haven't been able to do anything in the meantime. After months of treatment, I'm finally able to get out more and start doing the things I enjoy. Astronomy next? I hope so! Today I visited the National Memorial Arboretum. It's a superb place, I highly recommend a visit to it. WWI Tribute. Shot at Dawn... Lost at Basra, at only 18 years old. The Armed Forces Memorial, in early morning sunlight. And again, slightly later... A tribute to a fallen soldier, which really brings it home... A section of the Burma railway, which was built using slave labour under horrendous conditions. I ache...

I've taken my Ha data for this image and combined it with the data I shot back in May. Quite pleased with the final result.

I was a bit worried about the various comments about the GTI tripod on the internet, after hours of searching it seemed an even spread of 50% dont buy and 50% buy...i couldnt make my mind up...but what i did have was an unused AZ-EQ6 doing absolutely nothing in the shed as my mount is fixed...soooo.....fettle time I wanted the GTI for what its made for, an easy to set up chuck about but i wasn't worried about the weight, it will happily sit in the back of the car for holidays/weekends away for use with the ST80 and Hyperion zoom. Its a simple setup, 300mm of stainless 60mm tube blanked off each end and drilled with 13mm holes, through this is 500mm of threaded bodge job, basicly 400mm of 12mm stainless bar with 50mm of M12 thread welded to the end, other end has 50mm of 3/8 16 unc thread welded on which sandwiches the whole lot together with a M12 thumb wheel already on the original tripod set up......so all in all sturdy as hell.. but just as heavy. And a quick hit, best 20% from a 1000 using this setup and a ZWO290 in daylight....

A quick hit on the two before my house jumped in the way...i wonder how much it would cost to move it 10ft 😕 I was struggling a bit for focus, they was all over the sky as usual.

WIP 15 x 600 ha with the 132

Pleased to announce I bagged a picture slot in this months Sky At Night Magazine "Hotshots" section🌛. Chuffed😁😁

60 x 600 secs 132 & QSI

Well who would of thought it, clear sunlit and starlit skies in the UK? Its been more like the med these past weeks than dear old blighty and you folks have taken advantage of the conditions which is great to see. Apologies for the second late POTM roundup but holidays beckoned J Deep Sky Ibbo started the Deep Sky off this month with a belter of an image of the galaxy NGC6946, great to see the 132 performing so well. https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/14513-ngc-6946/ and a very detailed Crescent nebula in Ha with the same scope https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/14623-ngc-6888-ha/ A nice Tulip (SH2 101) from Graham in Ha https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/14483-sh2-101/ A good start by Alec on M13 https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/14549-m13/ and a nice M92 with his new pier https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/14591-m92-first-test-on-the-home-made-pier/ Chris P used itelescope in Nerpio Spain to go for M51 https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/14570-m51-taken-from-t18-itelescopenet-in-spain/ and then the Triffid from Aus https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/14600-m20-the-triffid-nebula/ I had a go with ngc3586 with itelescope in Aus https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/14585-ngc3586-wip-restart/ Brady gave us a nicely coloured Elephants Trunk https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/14613-updated-trunk-image/ and a pelican https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/14617-pelican-nebula/ 8472 posted this image of the NA and Pelican in widefield but I think it deserves a place in DSO. https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/14595-220618-north-america-pelican-nebulae/ A good image with a 250mm lens and unguided. Lunar Bottletopburly gave us an 88% moon https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/14611-moon-88/ ibbo gave us a 1st quater with the Tak 102 https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/14627-luna-21-6-2018/ Planetary A nice sharp Saturn shot from Ibbo A first from Alec with his Jupiter https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/14631-jupiter-first-ever-picture/ Brady gave us a double with Jupiter and saturn https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/14640-jupiter-saturn/ Solar Ibbo has made the most of the sunshine giving us 11 images, these are my g=faves https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/14553-sol-14-6-2018-ha/ https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/14625-sol-27-6-2018-ha-7-pane-mosaic/ https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/14630-sol-28-6-2018-ha/ Graham took time out from building his monster scope to give us a shot https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/14510-solar-from-today-02062018/ Widefield I like binoviewers southern stars image, very atmospheric https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/14545-a-few-southern-stars/ Peter Shah gave us a breathtaking image of the Milky Way over the Herschel Telescope https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/14562-milky-way-over-the-william-herschel-telescope/ wow what a view. So to round up I have 2 images which do it for me, there is Peter Shahs Milky Way over the Herschel and there is 8472s image of the NA and pelican. Whilst Peters image is gob smacking and I just wished I could get to see those skies I reckon the POTM for June goes to 8472 with an unguided image of the NA and Pelican using a 250mm telephoto on a Staradventurer mount. For that combo this is a really good image and shows what can be done with classic lenses and a staradventurer, well done Kev. https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/14595-220618-north-america-pelican-nebulae/

I spent a happy evening last week watching, listening and trying to photograph Skylarks on the North Norfolk Coastal path. They are so quick, too fast for my AF on the camera so these were manual focus. There were at least 6 pairs in this meadow right on the headland. This fella flew straight down and landed on the path then legged it, proving that they land away from their nests to confuse predators. After many failed attempts to capture one in song on the wing this was about the best I could get, at maximum reach of the telephoto so a bit grainey

Spoonbills were a nice surprise when I went there last week, there were 4 there altogether, a bit of a success story for Cley. No they arent fighting, they were grooming each other apparently

I haven't got a scope again yet, but I will pop along to say hello. It's been far too long.

Thanks Ron. I am surprised you can smell anything after using that stuff for 50 years. All brush coated Ron. Did some more this afternoon. You have to love this hot weather dried that undercoat a treat. Managed to top coat today as well -- bargain.

Brushed the dust of the Mak 127 and ZWO 120MC

Last one for a while and please excuse the elongated stars on the edges, these subs were taken before i nailed the spacing between the ZWO1600 and reducer, the spacing was only 4mm out but what a difference.. Anyway around an hour each of the 3 filters, processed in PS

C11 x 2.5 pm rgb ir filters binned 2 x2