RayWUK

I don't know about Astroberry, but the ASI Air Pro was a game changer for me. Instead of spending what seemed like hours trying to find and centre a target I can now carry the rig out, PA, slew to target and be imaging in 10-15 minutes. I don't bother with SynScan app. Bought mine S/H off eBay.

How did you adjust the meshing?

I thought that 'EQ Mod Mount' in the ASI AIR assumes the AZ-GTI is mounted on an EQ wedge. I may be wrong but if that's the case it could be the route of your issue if using in the AZ-GTI in ALT/AZ mode. Also ditch the SynScan app, it just confuses things when using the ASI AIR.

Thanks Lee, the one standout difference from my settings is the Guiding rate. I'm currently using 0.5s so will give 0.9s next time I'm out. Oh, and your aggr for RA and Dec are lower. Time for a play.

What camera were you using for this? I'm thinking of selling on my Canon 600D (Mod) and getting a dedicated camera. Only thing stopping me at present is which one, 183MC, 553MC or 294MC. They all have their merits, i kind of like the square format of the 553MC. That guiding you have is something i can only dream about at present. Would you mind sharing your settings?

I'm working on it, still getting to grips with StarTools.

First attempt at the Rosette Nebula. Only managed 70subs of 120secs over two nights as its getting low in the sky now by the time it becomes visible from my backyard.

How long do you have to allow between subs when dithering? I only tried it once and the guiding failed after each dither and took ages to lock on again. I was wasting almost half my imaging time waiting for the guiding to settle again.

I'm no expert but at that magnification i would say yes.

Thanks, i'm using AstroPixelProcessor for calibration and stacking and StarTools for post processing. Being colour blind doesn't help 😀

Out again tonight, although guiding not quite up to last nights effort. 1-2RMS. I did tweek some settings which i thought may have improved it over last nights 0.8-1.5 guiding but it didn't pay off. It's a bit breezy tonight so that might account for it. Anyway here's my first attempt at the Orion Nebula from last night. Although its getting a bit low in the sky now i'm quite pleased with the result. 60x120sec subs. Still a lot to learn especially with processing.

Over 2 hours it seemed to hover in the range 0.8-1.5 with the occasional excursion out to approx 2. The RA axis seemed to take a bit longer than the DEC to recover so i might tweek the max RA timing from 500ms to 600ms and see if it improves.

Ah, i bought one of these from FLO 'Astro Essentials Vixen-type Photo Dovetail Bar' they come in different lengths, mine is about 13cm long and does the job. I think having a bigger knob without addressing the imbalance will put a lot of strain on the threads and may eventually strip them. Better to balance the load IMO.

I had exactly the same problem. The solution i found was to move the plate carrying the mount further up the wedge so when in the 'home position' (pointing towards Polaris) the mount and scope balances more over the centre of the wedge. Makes altitude adjustment a lot smoother and less strain on the bolts.

At last a nice clear still night, a good chance to see if the stiffness in the mount is affecting the guiding (previous attempts were all quite breezy and non conclusive). So far looking good (i think).

I'll have another go with flats with a different light source, I also have another DSLR that will fit to my scope (although not the ASIAIR) so will try a few flats with that and see if i get the same problem. Looks like it might be clear for a bit this evening so will try and get some more subs of the Heart nebular.

Yes the above frame is a bias frame with the lens cap on @0.001 sec. Below is a dark frame @120secs.

Yes, that's what i thought, the LED panel well covers the scope and using the auto flats exposure on the ASIAIR gives a histogram peak at the halfway point on the graph (32000). The other thing is the level of the bias frame at around 8200 (0.001sec exposure) which seems high to me, but i don't know if i should be expecting anything lower.

Yes, i did take bias frames along with the flats. Looking at the jpg of the flats makes me think there's something wrong with my setup for this. I have a small LED panel that i placed on the end of the scope and let the ASIAIR do its auto exposure for flats but the results have a distinct gradation down both sides. But this is nothing to do with the AZ-GTI so i might post something on the Beginning Imaging section.

@powerlord here it is. I didn't manage any further subs as it turned out too cloudy. I made use of the time to shoot off 50 more dark frames this time at the same temp as the subs. I'm also not convinced my flats are up to much either so I'm going to redo them as well tonight. IC1805_Heart_Nebula.tiff

I had a reasonable imaging session the other night as it was the first clear night i've had since purchasing the AZ-GTI. I was hoping to image Orion Nebula but it was going to be obscured from garden for a few hours and as i didn't want to waste imaging time i elected to image the Heart Nebula. I got just over 2 hours in of 66 x 120secs subs. Guiding was mainly ok at about 1-2 arcsec RMS which was within my imaging scale of 3.5 arcsec using the Redcat and Canon 600D. However after stacking and a quick post process i was a bit disappointed with the result. It all looked a bit noisy. Still i'm very new at this game so i'm hoping there's more to be had once i get my head around what i'm supposed to be doing. Looks like it might be another clear evening so i'm thinking of collecting some more subs of the same image rather than trying something else.

First clearish night for god knows how long and its blowing half a gale. ☹️ Hoping to get a good session with the AZ-GTI on Orion nebula before it disappears. Tomorrows weather looking less windy and clear (hopefully).

One use i can see is using the 'Field of View' options in SkySafari. Theoretically one should be able to 'see' the target in SkySafari as i would appear in your images. I've set this up for my equipment but waiting for some clear sky to try it for real.

Hi Adrian, many thanks for that. All working now, had to use Port 9624, other searches i made all suggested 4030 as for your iOptron but that never worked for my mount. Wish manufacturers documented these things. Ray.

I've been playing with the AZ-GTI-ASIAIR-SkySafari setup and after a lot of head scratching and surfing I think i've cracked it. The problem (or maybe not) i was having using the SynScanLink within SkySafari (as Suggested by LaurenceT)is that it uses the SynScan app to connect to the AZ-GTI and the AISAIR also connecting to the AZ-GIT. So there seems to be some conflict when switching between controlling the mount via the ASIAIR and SkySafari. It sort of works but gets confused occasionally. So the setup I have now connects SkySafari to the ASIAIR and the ASIAIR controls the mount. Theres no need for the SW SynScan app. To do this the ASIAIR needs to be connected to the AZ-GTI with a EQMOD cable. In the ASIAIR app under the mount settings select 'EQMOD SkySafari' (instead of EQMOD). If you use Station Mode in the ASIAIR you will also need the IP number from WiFI Settings - Station Mode - Info In SkySafari - Telescope - Preset - Add Preset. Mount Type - Equatorial Goto. Scope Type - Meade LX200 Classic. Next - IP 10.0.0.1 (If Using Station Mode the IP from ASIAIR above). Port Number 9624. Next - Save Preset SkySafari should now connect by tapping 'Scope'. It's all pretty seamless, SkySafari will follow any GOTO selected on the ASIAIR and vice versa. A nice feature of SkySafari is the FOV box you can setup in Observe - My Equipment and Scope Display. Hope this helps anyone else going down this route.