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Great picture! Out of interest, is the  blue on the contour of the right side visible through the eyepiece as well or just in the picture?

I see that through some eyepieces but not others and wandering if it can be eliminated

3 hours ago, PeterStudz said:

All of this is a bit of a dark art and I don’t know if what I’m doing is the best. Most I’ve discovered by trial and error. But it’s basically:- take video (adjusting settings) > edit video capture > VideoStack > WaveletCam > SnapSeed and/or Lightroom to adjust colours, colour balance & fine details. But yes, WaveletCam first, otherwise you risk losing details by passing through another app. l’ve tried to describe things in a bit more detail below…

For planetary I take video on my iPhone at 4K:60fps. Depending on which phone you have you might not be able to do this. But you want the maximum setting for video on your Phone. However, default is set lower, so ensure it’s set to the max. I also use the phones x2 “optical zoom”. Not sure if that makes any difference, but it makes it easier to focus. Having focus spot on is very important. I also put exposure right down low. On the stock iPhone camera app exposure settings are rather hidden, but they are there. Go for the maximum length of video you can get. The EQ platform that I use helps here. 

I then edit the video as best I can using the stock camera app. Try playing with contrast, shadows, colour balance, exposure, brightness and definition until your video looks the best you can get. 

After that put your video through the VideoStack app. 

Put the exported VideoStack image through the WaveletCam app. This app takes some getting us to. It’s  powerful for what it is, but It’s far too easy to over sharpen and stretch your image far too much. If that happens there’s no going back and you have to start again with WaveletCam. Generally the longer your video the more details you can potentially pull out. With practice you get a feel for what works and what doesn’t.

I then use Lightroom, sometimes SnapSeed. I find the interface in SnapSeed annoying and difficult to use but it has some good features. Lightroom (I only have the free version) is really good for adjusting colours, white balance and minimising any atmospheric dispersion. With these apps make sure you export at the highest quality. Using defaults often means that it exports at a lower quality and each time you export some details can be lost. Sometimes I go back into WaveletCam just to adjust sharpness in order to finish off. Once you have a workflow established, it’s relative straightforward and quick.

A couple of points - sounds obvious but good seeing is very important. On some more iffy nights it just doesn’t work well. And make sure your planet is as high in the sky as possible. You could also try something with Jupiter that’s a bit more widefield, ie an image that has all four moons. You’ll need a night where the moons are relatively close in, but with more feeling of space Jupiter itself doesn’t need to be quite so sharp. Even though I was still experimenting I tried to do this last year and it worked quite well. Something to try again. 

Thanks Peter, that is very useful and much appreciated. I am sure others will benefit too.
What you have show to be possible with a phone is amazing and perhaps this could be pinned in this section as a sort of guide?

I always check the mirror during and after a session for collimation purposes  but only noticed the marks inside under the light.

Thanks for the advice, silly thing to do but views have been good so I would tend to agree that luckily it has not created major damage

I think that explains it as when I had the mirror out what dust could not be blown off with a puffer I tried to gently pick up with a cotton bud. I also must have touched the mirror thorough the re spotting template

I was embarrassed to say as I had repeatedly read that you should never touch the mirror and thought it was fine until it got cold, I just did not understand why it was not visible until it was cold but I think the above explains that.

Learning by mistakes 😬

Thank you for the reassurance.

the marks did indeed clear up that same morning as soon as things dried up as I always leave all the caps off to let things dry.

It’s obvious where I went wrong but not particularly worried as all looks good and this week I have had my best views of Jupiter yet at x 200, hopefully no need to re coat!

Also, I think it’s nicely collimated, it’s just some picture are taken at an angle 

In what order did you use the various apps for processing?

I had a quick play around but cannot figure out whether it’s better to use waveletcam first.

it was cloudy this morning but I have never seen the Great Red Spot so clearly and managed to ramp up magnification to x 200. Resulting video is not very good but at the beginning and end of if the weather bands are visible without processing so there might be something worth using

stunning!

I think it goes off as per number of exposures but not 100% sure 

Still struggling with processing but just wondering if I have managed to pick up nearby galaxies in this image or are they processing errors?

Update, the streaks are disappearing. I am assuming this could be something to do with moisture? Did dew form as I left the scope out which made wipe marks visible and as it dries they disappear?
Apologies for what may seem like silly questions but in over a year this has never happened to me

Last night I left my dob out with all the caps on so that when I went out at 4 am it would be ready to go. After a brief session this morning, I have noticed these strange marks that I have never seen before. The scope was probably outside for a total of 8 hours.

The only thing I can think of is it looks like contact I might have made when re spotting the mirror a few months ago which is the only time the primary has been exposed. I can only think that that perhaps I applied too much pressure in parts when I used a re spotting template, hopefully I am wrong.

However, like I said, this was some time ago and I have no idea why this would not have been visible before (could the cold be something to do with it?).

Both last night’s session and this morning were successful with nice clear images, even at high power.

If anyone could tell me what these marks are and wether I need to be concerned and whether/how I need to get rid of them that would be much appreciated.

I recently purchased a tv dioptrix that matched my prescription (2) and was really happy, the quality seems much better than my glasses and I enjoyed the freedom of viewing without.

I had read that many users prefer a slightly stronger dioptrix than their prescription so when I decided to purchase a second, to have 2 eps with them in all the time, I thought I would try a 2.25.

Having just spent 2 hours comparing them in 2 eps at x 66 and x 109, I really don’t see a massive difference. This does not surprise as I often feel that during my eye exam I get to a stage where I cannot make up my mind between 2 images as to which is sharper.

However, if I was to say something, it almost felt that the stronger dioptrix (2.25) was better at lower mag (x66) and the dioptríx that actually matched my prescription (2) was better at the higher magnification (x109).

As astigmatism becomes less apparent at higher magnification, could it be that the stronger dioptrix is more suitable at lower magnification or am I just talking rubbish? What has been your experience ?

I have recently tried not wearing glasses at above x150 and realised I might well be able to get away without.

5 hours ago, PeterStudz said:

I can see why you have a problem now. You just want a way to get in a bit more light! I might have a play around (without my EQ platform running) the next time I’m out.

Sorry to hear you have been unwell, a lot of stuff going around. I just got given 2 different antibiotics one after the other….

that’s a massive improvement you made, what did you use to process? ( thank you!)

Same image as above, processed differently (still with the AS app). Colour is a bit more natural and the core’s glow is a bit more visible. Please do not zoom in otherwise you will see the worms 😬

9 hours ago, peanutcol said:

Love the image you took. I have only managed the moon really so far on my dob and phone.

Thank you, the person to watch is @PeterStudz, absolutely amazing pictures taken with a phone and a dob

1 hour ago, PeterStudz said:

Yes, they are a bit dark! Have you played with the ISO setting in AstroShader? I’ve circled it below. The camera lens on my iPhone 14 will be wider than yours, so let in more light. But I would have thought that the difference would be small. 

I’ll have a play with your images. Thanks for posting.

The iso has to be set almost to the max, otherwise I can't even see the target! I will quote from the app creator's reply, (who seemed very willing to help, he seemed to insinuate I may struggle because of the phone:

"Making a few assumptions... FL 1200mm (8" Dob), 12.5mm eyepiece, 1.22 μm pixel pitch (iPhone SE). Then using the NPF rule calculator (https://sahavre.fr/wp/regle-npf-rule/) the estimates are in the 0.2-0.3s range"

"A challenge with the SE will be reducing the exposure time down enough to remove star trailing but also capture enough light. I would try setting the exposure time to 0.333s. I think you will get a max of around 50 exposure before M13 drifts out of the FOV, but this will depend on your exact setup.

Then try to recover some of the detail in editing. Specifically stretching histo/curves and try out some light sharpening (e.g. radius 0.5 or 1.0 and amount ~5.0)."

Apparently there is also an astroshader facebook group which may provide some pointers....

8 minutes ago, PeterStudz said:

Ahhh.. I see what’s happening now. My Dob is on an EQ platform which is giving me longer exposure times! Mind, I think you should be able to get better.

Have you got the original image that came out of AstroShader? Not sure if you can DM it to me, or just post it here. I could take a quick look.

I was wandering about adding tracking to the dob but it really doesn’t seem worth it, plus I like it for visual. A good eq platform seems too expensive at this stage so I was wandering if I managed to pick up a cheap table top with goto whether that would allow me to significantly extend the exposure time to get better images (still with a phone).

Anyway, below is the original image plus another two of the ring nebula ( processed an unprocessed), it would be interesting to see if if processing out of the app would help). Thanks for taking a look .

Great picture,  a lot of time , work and effort has gone in to take a picture like that

It was difficult to process as the original image as it was very dim due to the low exposure time, the app creator advised this might be necessary to avoid the star trails which I could not get rid of initially . Any comments on how to improve would be appreciated 

M13 at 2:00am from bortle 9 with a morpheus 12.5, IPhone SE and AstroShader app. 0.3 sec exposure x 50. Got a long way to go as I know little about observing and nothing about photography but much better than my first few attempts 😬. No tracking.

Just wandering if anyone if anyone can tell me what I am doing wrong. I am trying to capture images using an iphone se and the astroshader app but cannot get rid of star trails. As someone has noted, it would appear the app is not aligning.

I have tried all manner of settings and combinations, including: reducing time and number of exposures, changing the iso, setting a delay on the shutter, different eps (from 9mm-to 30mm), no zooming, alignment set as "strong"...

I have also tried 3 different targets: m13, ring nebula and the double cluster in Persus (thinking the amount of stars I could frame would help).

I am observing from a very light polluted area but nonetheless expect that better results are possible.

I have also posted on CN in case the app developer picks up on it. 

Any help would be much appreciated

(thank you @PeterStudz for your help so far)

Yes, I think I will give it another go before I got straight to the developer, there are a number of different things I could try. I will also try not zooming in. Let’s see

4 hours ago, PeterStudz said:

Thanks. Although after you post I went back to see what I’d done and realised that I’d over-sharped M27. I’ll give it another go!

For M27 & M57 it was definitely a 12mm eyepiece. M17 25mm I’m almost certain. I find it best to use a low magnification (at least at first) and get in as many stars as you can. Then crop after capture. With only a few stars the app can struggle to align. So the more stars you can get in over the FOV the better. Obviously M13 has a lot of stars, but ideally you want some spread over the FOV. I’m using an EQ platform, but that’s only for visual and there’s a little drift. With this I can get a single exposure of around 30 seconds using the stock camera app, but here AstroShader was giving a total of 2.5 minutes without significant star trails. Much more than that then I do sometimes have problems with odd star shapes. 

If you can’t see stars on the screen then it sounds like your exposure is too short. For the above DSO’s the app setting I used were…

Number of exposures: 25;  Exposure time: 6 sec;  ISO: 1310; White Balance: 3277K; Alignment function: Light

I’ve also included a screen shot of the phones live view with AstroShader running. It’s of M13 when I was testing the app just over a yr ago. It has improved since then but you should see something like this on the screen as you are doing your capture. Hope this helps. Please let us know how you get on. 

That is super helpful, thank you. What I expected (I was using a 9mm) so will back off to 11-18mm and see what happens.

here are the two photos I took ( unprocessed and processed), it’s only an IPhone SE but I know it can get a lot better. I did not bother cropping….

Thanks for the advice

lovely images, what focal length ep did you use to capture the dso?

I am struggling a bit with the app to get rid of star trails, even when I limit the number of exposures and length as recommended by the app.  In fact, I can't even see any stars if I limit exposure. Perhaps I should use a longer fl ep? At the moment I am trying to image m13,  would you be able to suggest a focal length and some settings on astroshader please? (I have seen some great pictures you have taken previously...)

Caught a bright meteor of some sort between 12:30 and 1:00 just below the big dipper heading south west. Lovely orange tail, must have been in the sky more than a second, can anyone tell me what that was? Did anyone else see it?