SharpCap Forums

Thanks for the explanation Robin.
I’m always eager to learn more.

Cheers,

Ron

Hi Tim and Robin, Robin, correct me if I’m wrong please. I understand that using the FWHM limit helps keep star size consistent during the livestack process. Once stacking begins successfully, say 3 or more frames, I then activate and carefully watch the FWHM tab for a few more frames to set the lim...

Thanks Tim - give it a go- live stack makes it easy. My ZWO has such low noise at 5-deg C set point temperature that I can run the gain up to 350 if needed. I attached a screenshot of my laptop screen showing the histogram during live stack. I have so much light pollution that I keep the left limit ...

Thanks. The main issue is field rotation after about 2 minutes. The rocker box tracks very well for visual observation for hours, but since it is an Alt-Az Mount, the whole field rotates. So, all my deep sky work is done with SharpCap live stack, which aligns and rotates the frames as they are stack...

Thanks Brian. Your annotated image inspired me to learn and take a deeper look. I see there was some interest about color differences among the clusters. I applied an analysis using software by Prof Doug Brown (Physics) at Cabrillo College in California, Tracker.jar, LRGB region analysis. Qualifier:...

Thanks again Brian for your annotations on my image, and your note regarding Robert Gendler's excellent documentation and images for the globular clusters in Andromeda. I have pulled up my original image as acquired, without enhancements, rotated and slightly cropped it, then added annotations for a...

Thank you Brian. This is a fantastic reference. Your review and added annotations are much appreciated and indeed very helpful.

All the best,

Ron

One more look with image rotated, cropped and further enhancements with Digital Photo Professional to see the star clusters in the core dust lane. Ignore the foreground stars and focus on the small luminous features in the dust. Some may be stars, some appear to be globular clusters.

Here is a section of Andromeda’s core dust lane that I enhanced where it appears I may have captured some globular clusters

For collimating the f4.3, I’m lucky to have it in a Starmaster hybrid truss Dobsonian reflector. The hybrid truss remains fully assembled with it, the upper tube, and the secondary mirror all as one unit. From one session to the next I just separate the truss section from the rocker box, and then pu...