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Astrowl

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Everything posted by Astrowl

  1. Hi @Bivanus, the ST4 is still to be tested. Unfortunately this feature can only be tested outside and I have no (even one) correct night during my available time for 4 months... Never seen that before! So software is ready, hardware is ready (new astrowl boxes are sold with the ST4 port installed) but not tested... Regarding the IMX462 sensor. It is really sensitive on nearly all light wavelengths, not too big and not too expensive. That's why it is the same sensor in Seestar 50 and Vespera Vaonis. But I am also looking for new sensors and at present working on running the Astrowl box on Raspberry pi 5 (quite faster).
  2. At the beginning I start this project to fullfill my own requirements, in short a small, portable, fully autonomous system with simple and essential EEA functionalities (live, stacking, timelapse now, popular filters : stretch, deconvolution, contrast enhance, wavelet sharpen, frame quality filter). No need a separate camera, install another box to control the camera, lot of wires to plug everything,... I know that Asiair is really popular for very good reasons. It is cheap, really powerful if you learn it, but installing everything just bother me, switching to visual during the same night is boring... The Astrowl box is in your pocket, just install it in the eyepiece holder plug it to a power supply and enjoy. You want to come back to eyepiece, no problem remove the Astrowl box and you can do it in less than 5 seconds. The user interface is quite simple and of course far less complete than Asiair or Seestar application. The reason is because I cannot develop applications for Android and IOS and want portability (so html pages are the fastest and easiest way). I found all existing solutions not satisfying and too heavy to set up (again for me and apparently some other users that get the Astrowl box). I am not looking for big commercial success (at present I won't be able to manage it, if it even ever occurs). I want to keep small production, stay in touch with my users and add functionalities they ask me (like recently timelapse, request by a solar observer). Continue to learn and improve the software, the hardware by recently adding a ST4 guiding port, for example, refactoring the box are my pleasure. And the reason why the Astrowl box could live longer than any other products (like the Dwarf scope that will diseppear in few months, maybe Unistellar and Vaonis will also have some issued to fight against chinese unfair business) it is because I don't need it to live, pay my home, my holidays. Except if a big company like ZWO produces a similar product, I will probably buy it immediatly and stop the Astrowl Box. But, I think it will never happen. Maybe one day I will decide to put everything in public domain and let astronomy community use it (or not) like it wants. But not yet 🙂 !
  3. As explain by @Stephenstargazer that exactly the way the Astrowl box works. You connect to the box through wifi and use the user interface from your connected device. The pictures catch by Astrowl box are displayed on the onboard screen and can also be displayed on your connected device (smartphone, computer, whatever run a web browser). I decided to add this onboard screen because it was closer to an eyepiece than only looking to your smartphone screen. But you can also display the image on a computer connected to the Astrowl box and with a video projector share it with a large audience.
  4. Really, have you ever tried it by yourself ? Setting up this solution is painful, full of disapointment and far beyond common competencies. This is a really beautiful cooperative project, but who care about difficulty and hours you will spend to set it up ? And if you ask for help, the answer will probably that you need to invest yourself and need some technical skills. Following is the testimony of an amart regarding Astroberry which says long about this solution "I thought about Astroberry at one point. I have a a computer science degree (admittedly from 1975) but I'm not afraid of technology. One of the most painful decisions I ever made was to lease a support-free Virtual Private Server for a website I'd built, despite the fact that I had zero unix experience. I managed it (barely) but it only worked because I could find hundreds of response to any Google query I formed for something I needed to configure on Apache or the PHP shell, or whatever. It was painful. You won't have that luxury with Astroberry... so echoing some other folks, I suggest staying away from Linux administration unless you have a background in it." Astroberry does not offer live stacking by its own, you will need external software and computer also. That's not my idea of ultra portable EEA. I am not looking to compete with smart scope like Vaonis or Seestar (far from my skills and means). They are absolutely incredible products and I had one eVscope in the past (sold it few years ago) and recently one Seestar. I sold the Seestar after just 4 months (and use it twice). This is not my cup of tea. You are passively making astronomy, no more contact with the sky, just push a button and look at your smartphone, really boring... But if I consider how many Seestars were sold, it is a commercial success. Regarding price of Astrow Box, well I am not living in China and can't be as competitive and not willing to. What do you think about price difference between Vespera and Seestar ? Seestar is absolutely not suited for planetary (like all smart scopes as far as I know)I think regarding attached image catch with the Astrowl box and a Mewlon 210, result is interesting and not so ridiculous for EEA (for sure not perfect and still hardly working to improve it) Astrowl box is more for observer that want to mix visual and EEA easily and keep their astronomy items. Using a flip mirror to install both an eyepiece and the Astrowl box is a perfect solution to switch between this two kind of views.
  5. Hi everyone, A quick update about the Astrowl Box, a new feature has been added with the last release of the internal software to easily make timelapse videos. Timelapse videos is a functionality that is well known by solar observers to create an animated sequence of fixed pictures to see evolution of solar flares for example. You can also use this features to create a video of any dynamic astronomy scene like planets and satellites. Following is a screenshot of the availble settings : - Nb Stack : is the number of pictures stacked to build any individual image that will be added to the video, - Nb Pictures : The number of individual pictures that will be added to the video, - Snap Interval (sec) : The number of seconds for the process to pause before taking a new image - Video Interval (sec) : The number of seconds to display any individual images in the video. - Videoname : The file name of the video that will be created. It is mp4 format.
  6. It's been a while since I last kept you informed of the latest developments in AstrowlBox. I worked quite a bit on the planetary shooting part by integrating a frame selection system to keep only the best ones. I was able to test the system this evening, but unfortunately these f... clouds came to interrupt the transfer. I am still posting an image of Jupiter which uses contrast enhancement and a Richardson Lucy deconvolution (these filters are part of the filters that you can activate on the fly on the AstrowlBox). This is 170 stacks. I would have liked to push further, but once again the clouds came to spoil the party. I also upgraded the box to integrate an ST4 auto-guidance port which allows the AstrowlBox to be directly connected to a mount via the ST4 port and send correction pulses. I was planning on testing this tonight, but that will have to wait 😁. When it is ready, it will keep the targeted object indefinitely on the AstrowlBox sensor and therefore stack without time limit.
  7. I also make planetary live stacking on the Astrowl Box (live aligning also), but the main issue is realtime filtering of frames to avoid adding blur rather than adding details. I don't know if this what offers SharpCap, if not this will be useful only on very very stable nights. But IMO I think this is a new promising direction for visual (or EEA) observers.
  8. Hi guys, the new release of the astrowl box internal software increase a lot sensitivity. Following are some pictures done with a 130mm apo refractor with total exposure around 2 mn (M13, M17, Dumbell and M16)
  9. Hi guys, I come back with some feedbacks about the Astrowl Box. First the official website is now opened : www.astrowlbox.com and ready to give you informations. The full documentation is available online and will give a full view of Astrowl Box functionalities. Last release of internal software brings new great features : - Lots of parameters are now managed automatically by the internal software, so Contrast, Brightness, Saturation, RGB colors are not anymore manually set. You just need to set Gain and Exposure if you switch to expert mode. - From stack view, the software will continue to automaticaly align and stack frames, you can on your hand decide to apply some filters like sharpen, blur and more sophisticated filters like Wiener Deconvolution or Richardson Lucy Deconvolution. If you are interested to get ones or want some more informations don't hesitat to contact me.
  10. Thanks Stephen, here is my advice to improve view of your M35 (and any other targets). From 'Star Field' mode switch to 'Expert Mode', then increase 'Gain' to 100, and exposure to 1500 or more to start, use 'Smart Sharpen' filter and increase 'Nb Stack' to 50 or 60, and let me now what results you have. Using 'Expert Mode' is the best way to get the most of Astrowl Box.
  11. Hi, attached is a snapshot of M3 done a few days ago with the Astrowlbox and the near full moon in the sky. I also take advantage of this post to announce that the project is taking a new dimension with finally a dedicated website and an official launch: http://www.astrowlbox.com You will find on this site several information and information on the operation of the box, including the user manual which will allow you to know in detail the functionalities of the box. Picture made with an Intes M703 scope, using around 40 stacks of 1.5 sec each and a deconvolution Wiener (all this processing were done with the Astrowlbox).
  12. Hi guys just to let you know that the astrowl box prototype is now available with a brand new case which allows to screw T2 adapter, so now compatible with lot of astro accessories like corrector, eyepiece projector, ... The last software release also improves the autoalign frames algorithms and include a light pollution corrector. Feel free to contact me to get one the last prototype.
  13. @Stephenstargazer To help you focus there are two ways. First you can use the Magnify option on the Astrowl box which will display on the onboard screen a small square inside where the image is magnify x3. Second way, you can zoom the image display on your phone (or tablet or pc) from the Astrowl user interface (which runs from web browser). The advantage of Astrowl box above Asiair is it includes everything in one box (camera, wifi, post processing images, screen, need small external battery...). WIth Asiair, you also need to add a camera, display can only be done on external screen, some cables and when setup is installed is not really to switch to an eyepiece. In my opinion displaying image on the onboard screen of the Astrowl box is really important : you can immediatly see the result of settings modification on the image, and you do not spend your night looking at your smartphone. Maybe you think that looking at the onboard screen or at your smartphone is the same and for me it is not. However with the last release it is possible to do both (see image on onboard screen or on your smartphone , pc, tablet, ...
  14. Hi guys thanks for your comments. It is still a prototype but I have already sent several Astrowl boxes to beta testers in several countries and regarding feedbacks they have fun with it (I just would like them to post a little bit more, for good or bad experiences). The prototype is fully functionnal and offers lot of functionalities. There was also an article in french astronomy newpaper Astrosurf in september issue. The main idea is to onboard EAA functionalities in a small and really portable box (live view, stack view with autoalign frames, save images, modify camera parameters, share live image on other devices, ...), install it quickly in place of eyepiece and make it work in less than one minute. A new box with a more professional design is also under construction and should be ready in few days. A rechargeable battery include in the box would be a very nice feature. I have already thought about it but I have other tasks before working on this point. I am also thinking about adding plate solving and polar align, but... still need to learn, it is not small developments.
  15. Hi guys, just to let you know that I have added a new useful functionnality to the Astrowl box software. It is now possible to also display on the user interface the frame displayed on the 4" internal screen of the box. It is not a live streaming, interface auto refresh every 5 seconds and you can also force refresh by clicking on the 'Reload View' button. This functionnality can be useful if you want to share on bigger screen with other people the live view or stack view of the Astrowl box.
  16. Thanks @saac, you are right, I am an old owner of eVscope and one of the reason I started this project was to have similar functionalities but be able to use it on any telescopes. So at present I don't know yet what will be nexst step. I still have to work on improvements on software and box. One important point is to have a fast and precise auto align frame algorithm. I already have excellent results as you can see on sample stack pictures. It is not astrophotography of course, but the purpose is to see objects and details hard or impossible to see with unaided eyes through standard eyepiece and nearly as easy to setup as a simple eyepiece. I am working on the next release which will offer a fast and really precise auto align algo for DSO. @StevieDvd, you are right, a better case well finished would be more attractive, but it is still a proto commercial project and at present I just propose to send few prototypes to interested users to get feedbacks. And then I will see what will be next step. I already have shipped several boxes and have very encouraging feedbacks. If you are interested to get one, please contact me
  17. This is not a diy kit, the purpose is first to send few prototypes to people who are interested to get one and receive feedbacks, before deciding what is next step (maybe a commercial version, not yet decided). I have already sent 4 boxes to USA and 7 to France, Germany and Belgium. I got very good feedbacks on what people are able to do with the prototype, which is already fully functionnal as previous pictures done can show you. One important point is you can get good results on DSO and planetary. There is also an article about the Astrowl box in september issue of french astronomy newspaper 'Astrosurf' . I continue to work hard on the software and release new versions on regular basis. There are lots of functionalities I could add to make it easier and funnier to use, like plate solving, some people suggest auto guiding, ... Maybe it will come in future releases, but some ideas are beyond my competencies. And you can already access to lot of targets that are easy to center in an eyepiece using goto of your mount. Then by increasing the exposure in live view you can get very impressive view of globular clusters, nebulae and galaxies (as you can see in some of posted pictures which are taken in Live view). Switching to stack view will increase faint details, sharpen the image, darken the background, vanish noise, ... So if some of you are interested to get a prototype version don't hesitate to contact me.
  18. Hi guys I would like to share with you a project I have started several months ago which I called the Astrowl Box. To explain the historic of this project, I must say that I am doing astronomy nearly exclusively visualy. I had used lot of different scopes : Dobson (18"), big refractors (150 to 180mm of aperture), small refractors, Mak Newton, Maksutov, SC, unusual optical system (Clavius 166), and so on... But never find the right instrument, sometimes I have aperture fever and sometimes I want portable system. However I always had this frustration not to be able to see deep sky objects with great details, colors, ...., and even in dark sites with large aperture looking at faint nebulae, galaxies was a bit frustrating (gray cloud). That's why I was interested by new products like Unistellar or Vianis scopes. I tested one eVscope for several months and it was a great pleasure and easy to use. But as experienced user, I already had my own materials and scopes and it was a bit frustrating not to benefit of my large aperture scope to get the full benefits of the CMOS sensitivity. That's why I decide to work on a project where I could get same functionalities but in a very portable system (don't want to bring big camera, computer, big power tank, table, chairs, ....) and continue to use my own astronomy materials and scopes. It takes me nearly one year to get a fully functionnal item and I am very pleased to show you what it looks like and see what you can do with it. So what is exactly Astrowl Box ? It is a very portable system using a very sensitive IMX462 sensor, integrated a 4" display and manage lots of realtime imaging processing. You connect through wifi (using a browser) to the Astrowl box and can change lot of parameters to be able to catch sky objects. With attached pictures you will see what the box looks like, what the browser interface looks like and some samples of sky objects. There are two main modes : live and stacking. In live mode you can modify camera parameters and get up to 15 sec of exposure. You see in realtime deep sky objects, you can change gain, saturation, contrast, ... The Astrowl box performs also very well on planetary as you can see on attached pictures. Some pictures are taken with a 100mm apo refractor, some with a 200m newton. In stacking mode, you will get the best of the Astrowl box, you will stack pictures, virtually getting more and more long exposure, benefit from autoaligning frames, applying some filters (sharpen, denoise, ...) and even increasing red, green or blue stack. And at least you can save on the Astrowl Box the live or stacking pictures you can see on the 4" display and download them. The Astrowl box prototype is packaged in a 3D printed plastic box. My attached pictures were taken under a very light polluted sky and with a not so good tracking precision. Some are coming from other Astrowl box users. You can see discussions on Cloudynights about this box and feedbacks from other users. I am working hard to improve the software installed in the box and continue to deliver new version on regular basis.
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