Hi all, I'm looking for a good telescope with more focal length/aperture for shooting the smaller, more distant objects. My RedCat is great for nebulas but not strong enough for the distant stuff. There's a lot to consider, it looks like. I'm wondering if anybody has ideas on a good scope for this. Price range is probably no higher than 2K. I know reflectors are cheaper but I'm scared of collimating. Any thoughts would be helpful. I also shoot with ZWO ASI1600 monochrome camera. Jim

I'm having trouble getting descent subs. I'm new so I haven't had a full year of weather and seeing conditions to work with. I know there are a lot of variables and I'm working through those as I go. But I'm wondering if anybody has any thoughts. My subs are incredibly noisy and very difficult to work with. Here's what I'm doing - I'm in a Bortle 8 area. Canon T7 ( I have a cooled ASI1600MM on the way, but still on backorder) Optolong L-extreme dual band filter tracking and guiding are spot on. I shoot anywhere from sets of 300 sec to 600 sec subs. I'm only able to get 20 or so. Low number of lights could be part of my problem. 20 Dark 20 Flat 20 Bias Seeing and Transparency might be another huge factor. Temperatures in the 100's during the day, so the Canon gets pretty hot. I'm thinking a great deal of the noise is just heat. I also live in California near where all the fires are burning. While it isn't too bad where I am, I'm sure there is some residual smoke in the air. I'm attaching one of the light subs as a reference. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance, Jim

I'm working with the ColorMask Script in PI to shade parts of the nebula. I find that often times with masks, there are areas in the mask that I would like to not use. It might be some wayward nebulosity or something like that. I've used the CloneStamp tool to actually paint out those little "bad spots" but I'm not really happy with the the CloneStamp in PI. I much prefer the one in Photoshop. At any rate, does anyone know if there is another tool in PI to finesse masks? I hope that makes sense. Apologies, not sure which forum to put this in.

I have bunch of new equipment on the way. One item is the zwo 1600 pro monochrome camera with filter wheel. The filter wheel comes with 7nm filters. I live in a Bortle 8 zone and I'm looking forward to taking advantage of the narrowband filters. I know that 3nm is much better than 7nm when it comes to things such as halos around stars. I'm used to imaging with a Canon 5D mark IV and no filters. What can I look forward to with 7nm filters in my 8 zone? With the 7nm filters, will I still see a marked difference between what I'm currently imaging with and the new camera and filters? Am I in a situation where I am just going to have to upgrade to 3nm? I'm sure I will have to eventually but I'd like to think that the 7nm will do for now. Thanks for your patience with all the newbie questions. J WO Redcat 51 250mm f/4.9

Does the guide cam act as an eyepiece in your guide scope? I have a Williams Optics guide scope with standard 1.25 eyepiece. Can I just swap it out with the guide cam? I’m sure I’ll want to get the ZWO guide scope at some point since my Williams guide scope is big and heavy but in the meantime…

I've noticed that when you launch PreProcessBatch in Pixinsight, there is a warning that PPB is being discontinued and replaced by something else. Is there a tutorial for the new process out there?

Here's my next newbie question. I'd like to invest in a designated cooled deep space camera. There are so many to choose from, it makes my head spin. The camera I listed in the subject heading fits my budget but I have no idea whether it would be a good choice for me. I have the Redcat 51. What questions do I need to be asking before I pull the trigger on this item? J

Hi, Newbie here. I'm looking to upgrade from my omni CG-4 mount to a reliable GoTo. I can't spend a ton of money this time out so I'm looking for the best value. Here's my question. Is the difference between the EQ6 and the HEQ5 mainly payload limit? What are the other differences? I'm currently working with a Williams Redcat 51, so it's a light scope. I'll probably be upgrading to a cooled camera with a filter wheel. I'm sure I'm leaving out needed information, so let me have it. Thanks in advance.