[asimov (John)]

Thanks guys.

I'm not one to keep any secrets in this game Mark, quite the opposite in fact.

There are a few golden rules that I adhere to but I think most know about them..

1 - Have that scope collimated to the best of your ability.

2 - The scope must be left out to cool, & the longer the better before imaging.

3 - Everything like cameras/barlows/extensions/FW's should also be left out to cool.

4 - I've got my mount permanently on a concrete slab, but I tarp the whole slab, mount included. Heat from concrete slabs while imaging is a killer. I'll usually hose the slab down as well several times before imaging. Lawn is very good to setup on but I haven't got that luxury at my place. Wouldn't hurt to tarp a 3 or 4M section around a mount even on lawn in summer..

5 - Spend plenty of time getting optimum focus, but do it at 2X your FL via zoom in your capture program, with the laptop screen some 4 or 5 ft away..

6 - Don't shoot at big FL's that the seeing just doesn't support. I understand the idea of oversampling & filling chips/pixels etc. but there's a limit & the seeing on each given night is lord & master here.