CheshireChris

That's very good! Chris

Yes, l downloaded the trial versions of the XTerminator set. You'd think there would be a discount if the whole set were purchased at once but there we have it. I've got a month before making any decisions on buying/not buying PixInsight. What has surprised me in the short time since starting imaging is the huge combination of packages to control equipment and process the captured images - frankly it's beyond bewildering and l consider myself to be good with most things technical. The problem for a beginner like me is knowing what the best combination is - as far as l can tell they are all good. That's the problem too many choices; at the stage I'm at l like to think l am open minded about what to use but neither do l want to spend too much time trying the many available packages. It's why I'm leaning towards PixInsight for processing - it's all there in one place, albeit at a cost. Chris

A quick adjustment with SCNR ~0.8 - made quite a difference. Chris P.S - I think l can feel my bank balance being reduced a bit to buy a PixInsight license...........oooh. this is an expensive pastime

Can't argue with that 👍Done! Thanks to all for the encouraging comments. Chris

Clear Outside says Bortle 5 - looking North there is light pollution from Wilmslow then from the sprawl that is Greater Manchester but it's not too bad. Chris

This is my 1st ever image - NGC7000/North American Nebula. I stacked and processed in PixInsight (downloaded the trial version - along with the RC Astro tools). I played around with DSS and Photoshop but the result from PI seems better and l like the idea of a 'one stop shop' for processing. Not displeased with it although l have no doubt i can do much, much, much better. ASI533MC Pro/ASIAir Pro/SkyWatcher StarAdventurer GTi Samyang 135mm FD 40 x 60s Lights, -10C @ default gain and same number of Darks. No filters. No bias or flat frames. The green cast in some parts of the image looks odd and is probably down to me not understanding PI very well - yet. However it's a start. Questions - should l add a Light pollution filter? Chris

That is very spectacular - nice work. Chris

Last night was not so good - rain from about 5pm onwards. Ho hum.... Chris

Last nights detected stacks from my cameras - another fairly busy night UK00A3 (NE) UK00C2 (East) UK00C1 (South) UK00CD (North) Chris

Detected stacks from last night - quite a busy night. UK00A3 (North East- 200 meteors) UK00C2 (East) - 157 meteors UK00C1 (South) - 137 meteors Chris

Wikipedia is as probably as good as any if you want a simple list of each object, it's constellation and more detailed info --> Wikipedia Messier Object List. Chris

This is last nights captured and detected stacks from one of my GMN/UKMON Cameras - UK00C2 (facing East) - intermittent cloud but still quite busy. The Global Meteor Network has an updated status page and is a big improvement over their old one --> GMN UK RMS Cameras My cameras are : UK00A3 (NE), UK00C1 (South), UK00C2 (East) and UK00CD (North-ish) Captured Stack Detected Stack

Oh dear, this sort of image really does test my resolve to not buy a SeeStar s50. Fantastic work. Chris

I acquired my used ASI533MC Pro at just shy of £250 below list price off ebay; it was advertised as 'having had little use''. l had no way of verifying that of course - it would be useful if these devices recorded the number of hours they are used in the same way you can see the shutter count on a DSLR. I decided to take the risk. However having the 2 year warranty, especially if you buy from a retailer like FLO counts for much. It would be impossible to say if a given item is reliable or not - even new ones can fail. Comes down to whether or not you want the safety net of a warranty. Keep in mind with items like this how can you tell if it's reliable or not even if you have it in your hand? In short 'Caveat Emptor' when buying used. Chris

Something similar is on at Jodrell Bank between end of August & mid October ---> Jodrell Bank - Dark Side of the Moon 50th Anniversary we're going in September. Jodrell Bank is just a few miles away from home - it would be rude not to go. Dark Side of the Moon is, in my humble opinon, one of the best albums ever released. It still sounds as fresh and innovative as it did in 1973; some albums, great though they are, don't and many sound 'of their time.'. Might be cool if they managed to squeeze in 'Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In a Cave and Grovving with a Pict' as part of the show. Chris

Yes, l hit that problem almost immediately. Partly, I suppose, due to me not being familiar with the equipment. All part of the learning process. Chris

Thanks all. I don't think it has a park option after PA, although it does once a plan has completed. I'm sure I'll have subsequent questions.... Thanks again. Chris

Thank you. That makes more sense to me. If you do it manually then you may not position the scope accurately back to what the mount thinks is its home position.? Chris

This one --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KovCJRcZkDA&list=PL_tFhWHSOW5p7Vraet9c59JNAP3E6uPGT about 22 minutes in. He sort of explains by saying if you don't do then guiding may not work. Chris

Thursday was a good clear night which gave me my first real opportunity to try my equipment. First job was to try polar alignment using the ASIAir. It all went OK although the fine tuning of the mount position gave me a few issues but l finally got it done. What I'm not understanding is the last step: moving the mount back to its home position - why is this needed? It seems counter intuitive to me, after aligning the mount, to then release the RA/Dec clutches then swing it back to pointing north. Watched several YT videos that show this but none explain why. It's also in the manual but again, no explanation. Chris

Is it possible to download earlier versions? The ZWO site only has the latest version (2.1.5) available to download. I'm beginning to think this is just a 'feature' of the ASIAir app and is something that hasn't been implemented well. I've been searching ZWO's support area --> ZWO Support Forum - not found anything yet. I might post the question there as it is monitored by ZWO support. Chris

No, if my ASIAir is in station mode and working and i then restart the ASIAir l can no longer ping its WiFi ip address. I then reconnect the ethernet cable and reconnect to the ASIAir. Station Mode is still set to on with the same IP address it had before the restart. I can then ping the WiFi ip address. Disconnect the ethernet and restart the App (NOT the ASIAir) l can then connect via WiFi. The main reason l wantted to use Station Mode is l have a good outdoor WAP: using that means one less cable to trip over in the dark . Chris

Nope - not that. I always bind IP addresses to a devices MAC address so that l always know what IP address they will have. First thing l do with any new device on my network. Chris

Hmmm.... You have to restart the app (as described in the video) after Station Mode has been activated; then a connection can be made. Trouble is an active Station Mode connection doesn't survive an ASI restart (can't ping the Station Mode IP) - you have to reconnect the ethernet cable or connect to the ASI's own WiFi and do it all over again to connect via Station Mode. Bit of a pain but not a show stopper. I wouldn't mind so much if this was made clear in the ASIAir manual - it isn't. Mind you, very little else is made clear in the manual either. Chris

I have a ZWO ASI Air Pro - latest firmware & App Version (Android) I can't get Station Mode to stay active. I have the ASI connected to a hardwire ethernet connection and that all works as expected. I then turn on Station Mode, connect to my 2.4Ghz WiFi - all ok. The ASI connects and gets an IP address from my router that l can ping. However when l disconnect the ethernet cable l can no longer ping the Station Mode IP address, plug the cable back in and l can ping the Station Mode IP address again. Am l missing something obvious ? Chris