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Hi Graeme, thanks for the encouragement. I don't know if I can go longer with the subs - my raw exposures at t 3 minutes are quite red all over, which I assume is sky glow? (although I don't know if it is or isn't) - I haven't tried to go beyond 3 minutes, but it is worth a try - maybe 5 or 6 minutes.
I like the idea of leaving everything set up for consecutive nights, only that the weather never seems to co-operate. I do have a method of achieving reasonable polar alignment at each setup. I have 3 steel right angle brackets hammered into the lawn (purchased from Bunnings) - these already come with 2 holes through each face which allows the end of the tripod legs to stay securely in the holes. I spent a long night initially leveling everything and a couple of hours of drift alignment. In the end I was aligned quite well. If I don't collapse the tripod, I can plonk it into the appropriate holes, set the telescope and other bits and pieces on it and I'm ready to image - I call it my poor mans pier. These brackets were not my idea, but a good friend of mine, Mel, who is responsible for me taking the plunge into astronomy after a virtual lifetime of interest in the subject.
I guess the only other thing I need do to ensure correct registration of the 2 sets of images is to leave the DSLR on the scope and the scope on the rings - although I'm thinking "align and rotate" would correct that (am I correct here?).
Thanks once again for the advice - I need as much as I can get.
Cheers,
Bruce.
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