Tony Acorn

Thanks Kon, I'll investigate your leads buty I hate the idea of giving a Windows OS access to my Macs. Tony

Thanks for all that Pat. My iMac is a 27" 3.6GHz 8-core i9 Intel with 128GB of RAM and a Radeon 580 8Gb graphics card - a nice device for photo editing. My portable toy is an M1 MacBook Pro with 16GB Ram and a 16" screen, much faster but the smaller screen means I generally stick with the iMac. Until I get the imaging rig completely set up, I'm not sure how far ASiStudio can be worked - I've only used it with my 120MM guide camera so far. I ran VMWare's Fusion on a previous MacBook Pro and found it (or the Windows OS within it) gobbled resources and of course you need Windows specific AV software too - hence my reluctance to go that way. I've heard of PixInsight and it seems to be popular, if a little tricky to a newbie. Once again, many thanks for your prompt reply. Tony

Hi and I would appreciate any advice and experience from Mac users on the following: I have no Windows computers and don't want to run Windows partitions on my MacBook Pro or my iMac. Most image processing software seems to be dedicated to Windows operating systems and I'm looking for guidance on what I can use on my Mac OS machines. I am imaging with either my Nikon Z6ii mirrorless camera or with a (new and untried) ZWO ASi 585MC - both on my new (and also untried) StellaMyra 80ED f/6.25 refractor which sits on a Star Adventurer 2i wifi Pro mount on top of a sturdy Manfrotto 055 tripod. I use a ZWO ASi 120MM guide camera in a 50mm f4 Astro Essentials guide scope to control the mount via ZWO's ASi-Studio. I know that the 585 isn't the ideal camera for DSO or Planetary work but it seems to be quite a good compromise. Until now, I have been stacking single images that I took with shutter openings of up to 15s for individual objects but both the cameras can do video capture. If shooting planets, video recording then single frame extraction seems to be the right way to go according to various experienced and learned posters, hence me asking which software can I use? I already use Starry Sky Stacker moderately successfully at the moment on any series of individual images captured by the Nikon. Thanks for at least reading this and I would welcome any advice although I may not be able to reply until 24th June unless circumstances change. Tony

Welcome Martyn from a fellow newbie who lives in a significantly mpore polluted area. I suggest that you get a flexible clamp to secure on the focus knob and extemd th eleverage - that gives you much finer control of your focus. HTH Tony

Hi Rakesh and welcome - nice stacked image of star trails around Polaris but I can't help in identifying the meteor shower! I did similar stacks in winter here. It seems to me like you are "heading into the abyss" when you look at that sort of image.

Welcome Martyn from a fellow newbie who lives in a significantly mpore polluted area. I suggest that you get a flexible clamp to secure on the focus knob and extemd th eleverage - that gives you much finer control of your focus. HTH Tony

I'm going to try the Perseids 10-12th August and the occultation on 21st August as I'm a glutton for punishment!

A nice starting point Jonathan. Does that Bresser come with the solar filter too? I've found that putting levers on the base and on the telescope gives far more fine control over a Dob's movements - if you didn't already know that.

Didn't someone once say something like "there is no such thing as a stupid question but there are plenty of stupid answers!" Welcome back Stuart from another returnee who is similarly keen to drop several bundles of 💰.

Hello Ron, welcome and particularly it is nice to hear from another self-admitting GAS sufferer 🤣 I am also somewhat new to "focussed imaging" stargazing and have recently spent more ⏰ and more 💵 than I though possible on this fascinating hobby. Prior to my recent burst of GAS, I used Samyang / Rokinon 14mm f2.8 lenses with my Nikon APS-C and then full frame Nikon mirrorless camera. With both of those set-ups I've previously got half-decent Milky Way / Meteors / Planetary conjunction images but, if you are like me, that will never be enough. The difference between the light gathering capabilities of the APS-C and the Full Frame was staggering. Whilst you may be resident in NYC, upstate NY seems to have plenty of locations better than my Bortle 5 location north of London so you may need to direct your GAS towards mobile rigs and there are plenty of suggestions on here. I am currently assembling one such rig and will hopefully post images for assessment and suggestions / correction by forum members this week. Tony

Don't forget the Lunar Occultation before dawn on 21st August. We seem to have been having such cloudy weather we may not get to see it here in the UK.

I bought a StellaMyra 80 ED f/6.25 scope from our sponsor together with a ZWO EAF. ZWO didn't list my 'scope under their installation guides but I was told it was like the Williams. Fitting mine was reasonably easy. 1 - I undid the grub screw to expose an inner screw on the adjuster wheel that is accessible through that hole. 2 - I then pulled the coarse adjuster out without too much of a problem and was able to fit the smallest diameter flexible coupling onto the bare shaft before locking it down through the hole mentioned in 1 above with the smallest of the supplied hex wrenches. 3 - The bottom of my focuser includes a tension adjuster / lock knob which gets in the way of the bracket so I used a half-round file to remove some of the bracket until it nestled snugly against the tension / lock knob. When the EAF is fitted, this tensioner is not required as the EAF acts as a brake. 4 - There is an M4 screw hole very near to this knob and I aligned the central slot of the bracket with this hole and the smaller M3 hole that accesses the coupling. That results in the bracket lying along the same axis as the adjuster axle. The central slot is too narrow to take an M4 screw so I eased that open with a flat needle file until the M4 screw could be fitted through it. 5 - I secured the bracket using an M4 socket head cap screw from the kit in the middle screw hole and an M3 x 12mm screw and washer from my box of bits. 6 - I adjusted the perpendicular (motor) mount plate to shorten its offset and bring down the holes that align with the EAF motor using the supplied smaller hex wrench. 7 - I then secured the EAF to the bracket after inserting the shaft into the coupling and finally tightened the outer (exposed) flexible coupling grub screw onto the EAF's shaft. Job done! This is my portable rig so I have to be able to easily pack it away and take it to different locations. As the StellaMyra came in a nice sturdy case, I will remove the EAF motor before stowing the scope away so the scope's focuser and the EAF are protected by the foam and not pressing against any outer surface of the case.

Regarding your SWSA, I use a pair of slip-jointed water-pump pliers to grip the Altitude knob on my SWSA 2i to extend the adjuster so that a small movement is easier to achieve - if that helps. I wish I had bought your mount rather than going down the cheaper route of the 2i wifi Pro bundle. All my IT kit revolves around iOS - I've iPads, iPhone and Macs as I didn't buy any new Windows style kit since retiring a decade ago. Although I have a Sony laptop, it can only run Windows 10 and I prefer the security of the iOS system. That limits me to a certain degree as I don't want to put a WIndows partition on any of my Apple kit. I've had a mirrorless Nikon camera for a couple of years now and a Nikon DSLR cropped frame camera before that. I have used the Z6 with a 14mm f/2.8 Samyang and a 70-200mm f2.8 Sigma but the images I got with those - although satisfactory - only made me want to do better. I finished the temporary build of my portable rig an hour or so back although there is one potentially weak point that needs a better fix - a visit to on-line junk stores should solve that 🤣. I had hoped to get it out tonight but clouds are coming on the wind - WSW - so that invariably means seeing will be poor or impossible here.

I'm new too - just rather long in the tooth (as you may have guessed). For the past few years I've been trying to get better using my traditional cameras and lenses before a bout of The Big C cramped my experiments somewhat but I'm supposed to be clear (although with a few side effects) now so determined to make the most of it for as long as possible. I went the ZWO route almost on an impulse as I was studying various YouTube content to try to improve and saw several users of that kit together with the Star Adventurer mount I bought. I ought to know by now - more haste, less speed!

I thought it was renamed the (un)British Bull**** Corporation a few years back. 😂 But then again, I'm of a generation that is a real pain in the posterior to all political institutions - I've seen it all before and the outcomes their idealologies spawn too.

That looks extremely similar to the ZWO ASi585MC that I've just bought - and a good bit cheaper of course. However, as I use the ASiAir-mini and ASiStudio, I think I'm tied to ZWO stuff - or I have to sell this lot and buy yet more "stuff" which would probably result in my demise. 🤣

I can't give you any direct info yet - my package was full of clouds in addition to the expensive stuff. Sadly, I found I was short of a few accessories so ordered them today and they should be here tomorrow - hopefully few if any clouds will be included and then I can get out on Saturday night - it's looking reasonable atm.

Thanks Fegato - I've just splashed out on the 585MC but the basic version as I'm rather new to this and don't have the time / budget / clear skies to invest in a big AP set-up. I'm pairing this camera with a StellaMyra 80mm ED f/6.25 on a Star Adbventurer 2i wifi Pro and a Manfrotto 055 tripod as a trevlling package but, as the camera and refractor only arrived on Tuesday, I can't say how good it will be. Others may well comment that such a bundle is only as good as the idiot driving it. Two events I particularly want it to capture are Comet 2023/A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), for which I'm heading off to The Lizaard in Cornwall in late September and on The Isle Of Wight in October, and 21st August's Lunar Occultation of Saturn.

I've learnt over a lifetime to always over-provide when in comes to power supplies and you haven't mentioned dew heaters. The device you have selected is quite like the one I have, a Beaudens B-1502 166Whr unit that provides 230V AC at 150W (more than enough to power my set-up all night), it has two 12V 5521 DC outputs providing 10A between them - this means that either output could supply your 6A demand easily but don't add a second ASiAir Plus! The unit Has one QC 3.0 port providing 5V 2.5A, 9V 2A or 12V 1.5A respectively plus two USB ports providing 5V 2.4A each. It weighs less than 2Kg and hangs nicely under my tripod to add stability and powers an ASiAir-Mini to which I connect my ASi120MM guide camera. My Star Adventurer 2i wifi Pro mount is powered from the QC USB Port. The two other USB ports I use for adjustable dew heaters. New - and as yet untried - additions include a ZWO EAF and a ZWO ASi585MC camera which of course I will run off the ASiAir-Mini. This may solve you dilema, search for it on Amazon.

Hi Nerf-caching, That looks a nice mobile set-up and is similar to what I am trying to assemble right now. It looks like you are using ZWO cameras, 120mm as a guide and a cooled one as your main camera? I'm using the 120mm as a guide camera but have limited my budget to buy the 585mc as the imaging camera. Although you say you have a SkyWatcher Star Adventurer Pro (as I do) the picture is of an iOptron isn't it? Was that because the Star Adventurer isn't a full Equatorial mount? I intend to overcome that later by upgrading to the Star Adventurer GTi. I was shopping for a (relatively) lightweight refractor and chose the StellaMyra 80mm ED f/6.25 from FLO - what I call Black Beauty as I hope this will be a mobile work-horse. I'm currently thinking about the most secure and compact way to mount the guide scope onto the main scope in a way that I can assemble and dismantle quickly and I feel I need to push my guide scope and its camera well forward to compensate for the focuser / field flattener and main camera weight being behind the Star Adeventurer 2i Pro's centre of rotation. This is to limit the amount of balancing I need to do. If anyone reading this has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. My new rig was delivered yesterday and I was hoping to be able to see Comet C2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) tonight or tomorrow before it gets too low in the evening / night sky but FLO's delivery certainly included local clouds 😪. Good luck with your bundle - share what you capture please.

Welcome tro this fascinating hobby from another (probably much, much) older newbie. I'm not sure whether you will get it but this week we have had a "parade of Planets" just before dawn. Look to The Ecliptic intersecting with your eastern horizon immediately before sunrise to possibly see it. Here in my little corner of England, clouds have been the order of the day (and night) for seemingly months although I did get to image some of the Aurora Borealis on May 11th. I'm hoping to catch a glimpse of Comet A3 (Tsuchinshan- ATLAS) around midnight on Thursday into Friday with the new rig that was delivered from our sponsors this morning 🤞.

Hi Duncan, I too am something of a newbie. My suggestion would be that, in order to make greater use of the mount subsequently and maybe even later some AP work, you might want to have something that can be run through an auto-guider and with a handset. That would push you towards the Star Adventurer GTi which has the same paylod but is somewhat heavier. I bought the Star Adventurer 2i wifi Pro and, whilst it works fine with my ZWO ASiAir Mini, it doesn't have the capability of connecting s SynScan or similar handset. The AZ GTi mount you mention has the handset port but no other guiding input. If you won't be ever trying any AP over the life of this mount, it is probably fine.

I too have a s/h Manfrotto 055 that I bought with Manfrotto's matching gear head and the pair cost me £150 IIRC. It is a rock solid combination that I use for a range of photography, sometimes with a Star Adventurer 2i wifi Pro bundle for astro work. I've just bought an "open box" StellaMyra 80mm ED f/6.25 from our sponsors to go with that pairing as a portable astro rig - once delivered, I'll let you know how well it is all suited.

Thanks CentaurZ. This is one of the events that pushed me into "splashinng the cash" on a new "mobile rig", partly because with recent housebuilding around here we've gone from Bortle 4 a decade ago to Bortle 5 now and I susp[ect that will only get worse. I'll be off to Nortj Herts / South Cambs to escape to darker?? areas on August 21 Tony D

I too am looking forward to late September - October for this although we may get a bit of a show later this week too. I've even bought a "travelling rig" because I'm on The Lizard in Cornwall at the end of September (new moon) and on the Isle of Wight late October (last quarter) - both should be areas where there are "better" skies than the Bortle 5 skies where I live. The "travelling rig" comprises a StellaMyra 80mm ED f:/6.25 with 0.8x field flattener, an ASi585MC camera and ASiAir-Mini module, an AstroEssentials 50mm f:/4 guide scope with ASi120MM guide camera all sitting on a Star Adventurer 2i wifi Pro mount on a Manfrotto 055 aluminium tripod. All this can be run from my iPad using the ASiStudio software bundle. The refractor, flattener and 585 camera are all new toys that I need to learn whilst I'm fairly comfortable with the rest of the bundle. I'm hoping to practice on The Perseids between 11th-13th August then on the occultation of Saturn by The Moon on 21st. Let's just hope for clear skies! Tony D