Whilst waiting for paint to dry........

 A progress update - after three undercoats - here is the coaming repair  - just three top coats of International Toplac gloss to go

Can barely see where I had to cut out huge chunks of wet rot and insert a new piece of ply!!

(see previous posts for that saga)

The split oars are in the same place - three undercoats and now awaiting three top coats and then a sanding of the varnished looms before three coats of new varnish

In the meantime, whilst waiting for paint to dry (not really but hey.....I need a weak excuse for posting the stuff below), I have been trying to get to grips with more astrophotography. On the one hand I am getting better at taking images with my small star tracker and a DSLR. Sadly, my two telescopes were not designed for doing astrophotography and whilst I really enjoy doing the observing bit, it is frustrating not being able to use them for any imaging other than a few grainy shots of the moon. 

Above my table top beginner's dobsonian - Skywatcher Heritage 100

and below

my 150mm/750mm GOTO newtonian telescope - a skywatcher discovery 150i WIFI 

The real steep learning curve though is in the learning how to post process the images I collect. I am trying to get to grips with specific stacking software such as Deepskystacker and then with general photography processing software - affinity photo. I am getting there and have learned heaps in the last few days but it is hard work! 

Taken on the Heritage 100

I managed to botch together my basic DSLR, the end of a x2 Barlow lens, a small moon filter and a universal 1.25" T tube 

Taken on my 150mm scope using my DSLR and a x2Barlow lens

My first effort at processing the Rosetta nebula taken on someone else's telescope.

The pink colours are wrong - it should be more reddish due to the hydrogen gas clouds. 

This is where I still have lots to learn about workflow and skills using affinity photo

Shouldn't be too hard on myself - I managed to get this on my small star tracker.

It is processed in affinity photo but since I did this one a few months ago - I have learned heaps - so I might give the original data another going over. This is M45 Pleiades  by the way 

Life long learning eh? 😀