I really should post here more often. Oh well, here’s an update for the last 18 months.
Firstly Equipment
The ES ED80mm is really superb and I’ve been having fun with that but my dream of only buying reasonably priced equipment is a distant memory.
First off I bought a new mount, a Skywatcher HEQ5 which has made things easier. A belt drive kit is currently on the way so I can upgrade the drive train.
Then I brought a new camera, an AltairAstro Hypercam 183c PRO.
And finally I’ve also splurged on a Skywatcher 200PDS as a bit of a light bucket.
Secondly Image Processing
Most of last year I was using Siril and GIMP to do most of my processing.
Again, I’ve taken the plunge and brought a copy of PixInsight which seems to be working out OK.
Below is a picture of the bubble nebular that I took. Compare this to the one a couple of posts/1 1/2 years ago.

M27 – Bubble Nebula
- Skywatcher 200PDS
- Hypercam 183c PRO
- 78 x 60s exposures
- 216 x 30s exposures
2hr 6min Total Exposure