gcooksley

23 minutes ago, Elp said:

The resolution is correct for that camera. The image is blurry because your focus is off, did you use the focus routine as it's the first item on the list on the asiair on the RHS menu options so should be done before anything else. Try to find a medium sized star (not a tiny one or a large one), click on it and the app will zoom in to that star, and focus until your FWHM is as low as you can get it. Focus then step back as any vibration or touching of the setup will affect the result, keep looking at the graph and FWHM numbers until it's approximately settled due to seeing conditions, and it's as practically low you can get it, you'll know if you're very close as the tiniest of stars will appear within the starfield.

The dob should give sharp views but an apo refractor will be sharper still and you can get lower FWHM values all things being equal. Longer focal length also affects the achievable FWHM so you have to focus to the best you can get it. You could always try a bahtinov mask to check focus on a bright star but I find the asiair focus routine so good it's not necessary.

 

okay cool, thank you for responding! I have just been using the preview setting with around 5 second exposures to see if i was in decent focus or not. I will have to try that focus routine you mentioned instead

Hi, I might have a dumb question but I will ask it all the same. 

I am using a ASI533mc with an ASIAIR mini with a 750mm focal length dob telescope on an EQM35 mount. I use my phone to control and capture the images from the mount. Last night I captured M31 for the first time ever which I was very excited about. The images on my phone looked really good for my first time capturing it (I did 204x60s captures). When I connected my laptop to transfer the images over, it says the image size was 3008x3008 resolution but, i suppose I am wondering if this is what the image should like on my computer? I would have expected a bigger image to be honest. I will attach two screenshots from my laptop that shows what i am seeing. The first image is what my screen looks like when I first load up the FIT file (not the jpeg). The second image is what happens when i make the image size 1:1 and its pretty blurry and does not look good at all. 

Is this what I am supposed to be expecting? (maybe my expectations are too high?) Or potentially just error by me for not being in focused enough? Or maybe just another equipment thing. I do have a newer AP refractor telescope that I will be buying shortly so maybe the quality of the lens in my current telescope could be a reason? What do you guys think, I just am not sure what to expect quality wise for an image on my laptop and any feedback would be appreciated, I am trying to learn as I go in this hobby and it can be tough lol. 

Thank you all for the feedback, I will try it out tonight 

Hi,

long story short, I am in the process of finding a telescope dedicated to astrophotography, but money is tight, so it has to wait a few months. In the meantime I have a heavily modified heritage 150p that has been a beast. I have made many modifications to it, and honestly works very well. I decided to move into taking astrophotography now. I got a second hand ZWO533 (color) from a close friend, and I just wanted to see if it worked, so I threw my telescope on my mount (EQM35PRO) and attached the camera. I took 15, and 30 second exposure pictures to see what it would like it and here is what the image looked like (will attach below).

Why does it look like this? It should be properly collimated, and I let the scope sit outside and get acclimated to the weather. I let the camera cool itself. Am I out of focus or something? It would be nice if I could get this telescope to work for photography tbh, I’m honesty lost, any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I’m sure someone has experienced this before or maybe I’m dumb, honestly prob the latter. 
 

thanks in advance 

Hey!

I will preface that I am EXTREMELY new to photography, especially Astro photography, so I hope this is the right spot to ask this. 
 

I am currently in the process of getting a new telescope for Astro photography, but I have to wait a few months, so I’m the meantime I am using my first scope I bought and trying out what I can do to make it work, which is a heritage 150p, and I have made some steller modifications to this beast. Anyways, I got the ZWO533 color version camera, and I wanted to test it out and see if it works bc I just got it. So I went out and threw my telescope on the mount and attached the camera, etc etc. 
I did 15 and 30 second exposures and got these images. Am I out of focus or ? Something seems odd to me and I have been scratching my head trying to figure it out. It looks like my mirror is being reflected back into the image? It was pitch black out when I did this and I have a made shift shroud cover the sides of the telescope. You guys would know wayyyy more abt this than me and I would appreciate any feedback to a beginner like myself. Any help would be awesome, thanks 

Hey y’all. So I recently bought the 150p after a year of deliberation and decided to just pull the trigger and order it. So far it’s been working amazing and I’m so glad I finally got myself into this. I only bought the manual version not the goto version because the price difference was too much for me because I just wanted something to get my feet wet. Now after I have been using it for a few weeks I’ve now decided I’d like to try my hand in astrophotography. My questions are 

1. Would it be possible to turn this telescope into goto? So I can follow stars/nebulas/etc. And if so how or what would I need? 

2. Can I attach a camera to this telescope? Or maybe my iPhone to take pictures? 

and yes yes I know I should have bought a telescope that does this from the jump but look it’s expensive to get into and I’m just glad I was able to get into this. Any help/ guidance would be so appreciated