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  2. Welcome back Louise! It might not be what you are looking for exactly, but I recently invested in an ultra portable setup based on the HEM15 and AsiAir Mini. Both are really impressive and the Air would be my recommendation for armchair imaging. Coupled with a small scope and guidescope and a lightweight tripod, the setup is an easy lift. The Air can do all sky polar aligning so you may not need Polaris.
  3. Hey everyone so I have an Apertura 6in f/5 Newtonian and I cannot seem to find a solar filter for it, I decided to just buy some solar film and make my own but it may not be large enough, any ideas?
  4. I've previously spent a ton of money and years trying to image through an open window. Had some success but it was very limiting. Now that I've moved there is a small possibility of carrying a limited amount of stuff downstairs. It might still not work very well for me but I'll give it a go. Louise
  5. Handily the app doesn't let you save a corrected file as a fit. I'm just about to try as an unstretched, auto WBed tiff. loading an un-autostretched but auto WBed tif into affinity now shows all three channels but they’re too far from the left (which makes sense…I guess…if they’re not stretched). The pain in the bum thing is you can only load the fits in singly to the asi viewer before saving them out…
  6. This is one of the reasons I've kept my setups so they fit into one bag, tripod in hand. Totally understand. It's so frustrating at times I might even consider a ZWO Seestar for total hassle free imaging within it's limitations.
  7. Louise, if you want the luxury of sitting in your room and imaging on a low budget then the RPi is the way to go. You can purchase an RPi for less than £100 and get either a free build such as Astroarch (astroberry has stopped providing updates hence didnt recommend) or Stellarmate ($59) which comes with an app to run on your phone or tablet. If you dont have a computer I would suggest getting a tablet and connecting to the RPi with browser. Its possible to do this with a phone but I find the screen is too small. I use the HEQ5 pro with the RPI and have been using this combo for a few years now.
  8. I used to use APT but then switched to Sharpcap. At the moment I don't know if wifi will work between my flat and downstairs, and outside. I think I'll I'll try the Synscan wifi module first as it's cheap and is a low power device. If it has to be remote then setup will be a bit of faffing around (polar alignment etc.) though, as I say, I'd prefer standalone if I can get it! It's mainly about not having to carry too much down two flights of stairs, through the security door and then back up again. I really want a single journey to take everything. I'll just have to try things and see, I suppose. Louise
  9. Not even if you save the corrected WB flat as a new file?
  10. Discounts are available on selected StellaLyra, StellaMira, Ursa Major, Sky-Watcher and Celestron telescopes. FLO Spring Sale 2024 sale ends 12th April. Subject to availability. We hope you find something you like 🙂
  11. When I was taking the flats the histogram looked ok on ASIImage. When stacking in affinity (and viewing them in several fits viewers)when the flat frames are loaded prior to stacking they have just the green and red in the right place. If I use the ASI fits viewer the flats also show up as yellow and looking at the histogram the blue is there but seems to have been clipped from the final image. If I then press the auto wb button in that app all three channels line up and show a mid-grey(ish) image. It seems like the image is capture and balanced but when saved something goes wrong and the WB is off although the image thinks it’s ok (maybe). Changing the WB options in Affinity don’t seem to have any effect.
  12. With a 32mm plossl in your heritage 130 (assuming the plossl has a 50 degree FOV) the circle you see in the sky is about 2.5 degrees in diameter. That star Hamal in josefk's helpful Stellarium screen shot is a shade over 3 degrees from the comet tonight, so find Hamal with the 32mm, shift your dob so Hamal is on the edge of the view, nudge the 'scope a bit further and you should see a fuzzy thing ... centre the fuzzy thing then try some higher powered eyepieces. The main problem (apart from clouds !) you need to consider is that the view in your dob is upside down, so rather than putting Hamal at the left edge of your eyepiece, (around 10 o'clock if you think of directions that way) you want to shift the 'scope so Hamal is between 3 and 4 o'clock.
  13. Brilliant response mate. Thanks so much for the help. Yes it has a red dot finder and I use stellarium so know the basics area. I didn't know I would be able to use the 6mm as I thought so that's great to know. Thanks again.
  14. When I've occasionally experienced truly excellent seeing conditions, while the scope that I happened to be using at that time (different designs over the years) showed superb planetary views, I got the feeling that practically any scope would also be excelling under such conditions. It always concerns me a little when someone is looking for some sort of "guarantee" of what they will be able to see or image. There are so many factors involved and only a few of them relate to the telescope used. Suiters "wobbly stack" concept illustrates this I think, even if we debate the relative impact of the various components within it. Make a decision, acquire the chosen equipment, familiarise yourself with it's operation then devote everything you have to using it as often as possible on a wide variety of targets / uses and under a variety of conditions. Practice, practice, practice, there is no substitute for it 🙂
  15. Just watched Ed Ting's review. I think he is right on so much - in particular it's not great image quality and much better is coming. But, I believe his conclusions are biassed. I'm a visual only observer. I go after really difficult objects and work actively to improve my own visual performance. Never gone to the 'dark side' (what I call astrophotography), since why not just look at images on the web! But I've bought one. Costs less than an eyepiece (my Ethos at least), or a week away at a star party. I'm enjoying the technology. It's a good package and must not be compared with astro-photography rigs costing £1000's. No doubt we will see firmware upgrades (post processing and mosaics). Meanwhile I'm having fun and it's something I can share with my grandchildren without them getting bored, cold and disillusioned. Heh they might even get interested in astronomy! I design telescopes and tracking systems, and ZWO have hit a good spot. Almost everything Ed wanted could double the price. Except better processing which is almost free. Even a bigger sensor might sound affordable, but it will impact the optical design (size of flat field) filter apertures, etc and prices will spiral upwards quickly. Next time I'm out with my 18" Dobsonian, there will be little friend nearby on the ground busy imaging. (Albeit with gaffer tape over the LEDs!)
  16. Hence my point about seeing. I've read it a few times that UK skies are suited to 8 inch or so, don't know if there's any truth to that as people are using larger.
  17. You could test out APT or NINA and see if it works for you. If it does you can then use a mini pc mounted on the rig and connect to it over WiFi. I've been using asiairs for over four years having tried astroberry previously. It took all the faff out of setting up and automation I can concentrate on acquiring images. I can also control it from an upstairs room with my phone (again I wanted it simple, no traditional computer). Whatever you decide, go for what works for you as there's multiple ways of doing it. The mount, I know, I went for a hem15 over an am3 as couldn't justify the additional 500 or so.
  18. I think Damian Peach does a lot of his imaging from some of the premium seeing sites all over the world ?
  19. The ASI mount is quite a bit more expensive compared to the Ioptron one that Steve has and posted about - that's all I was comparing to. Yes, FLO is advertising and also mentioned they had a return going at a discount in their reply, but I don't want to buy something that's discontinued. Ideally I'd like a standalone setup that will work with my EQ3 pro and portable, and which partly automates a lot of functions. I'm an old lady so can't carry much - do read my op, it explains where I'm at. I might try the Synscan WiFi - at least it's quite cheap so if it doesn't pan out, it's not much to lose. I just set up the EQ3 pro with the 300mm F4 Takumar, Canon DSLR and qhy miniguider with an Altair Astro GPCam. I need to be able to control everything remotely from my 2nd floor flat i.e. via wifi or, ideally, change it to be standalone. Louise
  20. Today
  21. You need the aperture then. There's a reason Damien Peach is one of the world's best. But you do need good seeing to support the aperture and I believe the larger you go the more problematic it becomes and you'll hit a limit depending on the sky conditions.
  22. OK, so I would like to be able to see the Encke gap. I won't use the word resolve, as I think it may be correct, but if you look at Saturn images, you will see what I mean. I have seen C8 scopes do it, but usually it is most obvious from images taken in C9.25 and larger and Newts at 10" or higher. Now, taking your point, I often see a wide range of images with same scope, some better than others, and that will be where the user comes in, and to some extent the seeing, although I understand this has much less effect in planetary AP. Going to jupiter, similarly, I'd like a scope capable of showing the various festoons, e.g. the white oval ones in southern hemisphere. Hope this gives you an idea of what the scope should be capable of: whether my processing skills will be good enough is another matter. 🤔😉
  23. The saddest part of it all is that it takes well meaning beginers or some long time dabblers who know nothing about astronomy and makes them think they are instant experts ! And fye to those long time players that disagree with them, lol ! True experts like Ed Ting for example !
  24. Especially if you didn't understand what he was saying, lol !
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