NEQ6 Pro Sky-Watcher & EQM 35 GOTO Sky-Watcher

This is my second Look at the QHY Polemaster under the stars but the first on a darkish sky. Northern hemisphere www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfEOVy0tBHI Southern hemishere www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_LgUFZLqIM my first look was close to home in the city with my 14mm time went from 3 min up to 15min but under total moon light so I never posted. this is two shots because I looked at the wrong night on the chart and moon came up at 9 pm not 10pm so I only got the two shots. the other method I only got a time of 40 sec with the 420mm but this has jumped to 4min 35sec. this is only the second time I have ever seen the octans in real life thanks to the Polemaster. for any one doing this type of photography the QHY Polemaster is a real God send and more so for those in the southern hemisphere where you would never get alignment properly. the only down side is I have to take out my laptop but results have made it worth it and it fits in a slot in my larger camera bag so it been easy to take. I had to buy a cordless/wireless mouse to be able to use it made the process a whole lot easier. I admit that once I realised my time mistake I did not focus with my Bahtinov mask I just focused in my view finder to save time so I could get a photo. ISO has come down from 4000 to 400 and a huge drop in noise. I can recommend the set up as easy the result worth it. worth the money to get a total alignment in the South some thing I could never have done before. My wife came out to see this in action for the first time and enjoyed a very cool but short night under the stars. I certainly look forward to some clear dark nights in the future.

This was a shot the came from December one I was not happy with for two reasons. when I was setting up to get the photos of Orion I felt the Head move (Horizontaly) as the lock handle came up underneath the level bubble on the head. what I thought was tight was not, so I moved head back the amount I thought it had moved. the time was short as it was moon rise in 2 hours so I wanted to get 1 hours with of shots in the dark if I could. then a second set of darker photos to blend and balance out the bright spot but when the camera stopped after the hour then I noticed the movement in the frame of the Nebula. I went no further with the shots. the noise was also not very good but I have recently purchased the new edition of Topaz DeNoise AI the shot is totally noise free. for people doing a lot of night shot highly recommend the program for its ability. on sale at the moment.

I was deleting shots on my phone when I found this. I took this first night I actually found the octans for the first time on the laptop. This is one of the steps that you have to go though to line up First its find the stars that make the 4 Octans in the like dish. gives you some idea just what you see so far it has not let me down I have found them first time each time . It requires 10 steps that need doing none of it hard but plenty fiddly like moving the head about to line up to the projected south up or down or side to side. my set up has not changed but one thing I noted when I deconstructed my first night. If I was at latitude 32.1 the correcting to South added 0.6 to it so it was at 32.7. going forward I have added this first up and found them bang in the middle of the screen. In all takes me from start to finish 10min to run through and line up. recommend it 100% percent as a good investment. more info see info on the PIP photo.

This is a shot to see just what I can get under the very worst situation With a full moon /Light pollution. not much of a shot. 42 shots as the house was starting to appear in the shots. I was able to use the Elements in Sequator to remove all the light and moon pollution from the shot. I also used my Benro geared head and spacer for the first time much easier to adjust when trying to find stars than a ball head. I can not wait for a night where there is no moon. Canopus is the very bright star 2/3 of the way from the left next to the large white cloud. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canopus

This was the unit I was going to buy over a year ago but I went with the more portable Star Adventurer. Of late I have noticed my bigger lens the unit was not able to track properly so it was bite the bullet and start all over again. The good part all the learning will come in real handy and all the parts are interchange able. So starts a whole lot more learning not the manual parts I know from the other tracker which is just the same. I want to set up the camera and lens much like a Telescope completely supported. This is not the final set up as I started this at the wrong time in the middle of Covid 19, parts I need are all over seas. As there is not much movement I just have to wait so dont think there will be images tomorrow. once I get the battery to run this unit I will try from home moon or no moon or pollution as well. Plus it helps me see just how the electronic parts work as well. I believe in two months I will start having fun again with the 300mm F4 and the 150-600mm Tamron lens the heavy lens. As you can see I am planning on being around a bit longer....

I wanted to give the unit a go to see what It could do but I knew i was fighting clouds. Set up polar alignment with the polemaster was easier but took a bit to understand the adjustment of the two screws is one moves forward the other moves back In unison. all night long I had the polemaster screen on and watch south track it hardly moved. the biggest movement was when the clouds came over. this shot, the moon is out, the star sit 100% above the city lights, the bright star is Rigil Kent bottom star of the pointers this time of year. ISO 100 tracked for 3 min 35 sec but even the 4 min track looked ok but for the clouds. clouds won but I feel a whole lot happier. this is 8 shots clouds and all stacked there was no movement across the frame what so ever. This was shot as set up in the photo before...or in the PIP.

I was able to get a few shots last night before the clouds closed in. 11 stacked photos 3 min photos 3/4 moon and high above the city lights well polluted out. I can wait to head south to try some of the other ones . My biggest difficulty in getting use to use two axis to find the stars but no help tonight to have a learning play Clouded in for the next week. {:o( PIP 200mm above 420mm

www.space.com/23563-rigil-kentaurus.html The first shot first night, I took this is 11 shots second night at 4 min a slightly better look at the bottom star of the pointers. no third night just clouds but I did get a small glimpse at the workings.

After Last night attempt I thought I would try again in the city from home. I was foiled by clouds 36 shots 3 min subs ISO 500 and back files Edited in Lr. these are not guided YET just set up and tracked. finally feel I am getting some where. PIP shows where Carina is in the sky.

It was not much of a night try the tracker with everthing for the first time a lot did not work as it should. I turned the camera to Jupiter I thought at first I was getting very bad vibrations from the plate all the dots in a line. From the Top Io, Jupiter, Europa, Ganymede And Callisto. If you look at the setting that was trying to dim the planet Jupiter down but lost all the stars in the sky at ISO 64 and F13

While we did not get every thing working correctly this is a huge step forward 98% of the computer running of the mount and camera worked perfectly. The one that did not work was the Guiding which will give longer times. This was 100 shot 80Sec each as it was a long day cleaning and going to be just as long today. The net result a very big step forward in detail. This is the first look at The D810 as a Deep space camera so far I like it . Enjoy a rare clear night. PIP first look with old tracker.

Some time you are fighting dragons you just can see. Electronic

While the computer program side Still has Glitches. This is done old fashioned 88 shots SD card and Remote. The Mythical Dragons are the Black parts in the Shot. The Unlimate Dragon Fight. www.flickr.com/photos/130286344@N07/50048955002/in/faves-33814724@N03

This was made out of the same shot as the first one all this detail is behind the stars when you remove them. The trick is adding back some stars took me all afternoon ( Well Its Bucketing down with rain why not). Enjoy a real part of hidden space. PIP the original photo with all the stars.

The last and I believe the best of the three so much hidden details compare with the original shot. I am enjoying this shot as it should be full screen as my background.

Looking at one of my older set of photos With Starless, panorama made of three photos and in space that is not easy. Hint the horse is top right and upside down Jupiter on its back. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Horse_(astronomy)

Another fruitless night to get the guide program working. So as not to end the night totally fruitless 20 Shots Before the clouds came in to the shot and closed the night down done old school as I have been doing for a while already. just a little bit past the range of my lens.... you can see the eagle quite clearly in this shot. 600mm and a small crop on the edges The largest orange nebula at the bottom Left.

With the program that removes stars I had a look back at the 10 shot I Took with the 14mm lens 4 min each 4 had clouds. To this I have done not one colour edit this is straight from raw files. What you see is all the Nebulocity that is in the core all the detail and all the colour that make this up. I will add all the PIPS that go with this shot. There is Lots my fav part of the milky way. Just out of view To the left in order Running Chicken Nebula, Carina, and the Fighting dragons. Running chicken ( still cant find It) Found the chicken on it head Carina Fighting Dragons All of this will get a revisit next year once Guiding works as it should.. In the mean time Enjoy a Heavenly View. All this is captured on Normal photographic gear And a lot of determination.