Bobby1970

15 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

A lot of image for such short data.

Was the mount in az or eq mode and how did you process the image. Was it stacked files or sharpcap capture?

The mount was in AltAz mode. And the image was livestacked. I processed the image in Startools, such as my processing skills are. Lol. 

Managed to hook up and old 200mm film lens to my 178MC with an adaptor I 3d printed. 

Stuck it on my AZgti and grabbed 15mins of 15 second exposures at 400 gain (I think)

Wasn't sure if this should be in here or the EEVA area so apologies if its in the wrong place.

Its not amazing I know, but for 15mins on an AltAz mount, I am fairly satisfied.

Thanks for looking

I have only had a very brief go with my newly purchased wedge. I have previously only used solar filter film and made my own filter. 

Despite there being little to nothing to see when I had a look with the wedge it was clear that more granulation of the sun was visible. Much more so than I had noticed previously. 

I'm looking forward to summer when I can hopefully get some longer sessions in and fingers crossed there will be more activity to see. 

1 minute ago, Sunshine said:

You've inspired me to have a go at imaging Venus.

That's very kind of you. I have had a crack at it previously and always been a bit underwhelmed. I think the camera I now have is definitely the difference here. The seeing wasn't too good to fairly pleased how it turned out. 

Decided to have a crack at this as its well positioned at the moment.

Skywatcher 127 Mak, ZWO ASI178MC,2x Barlow, AZGTi

2000 frames processed in PIPP, AS and Registax.

Thanks for looking :-)

I may still have a full tripod leg with clamps somewhere. I'm away from home at the moment tho. Can check at the weekend and let you know? If that's any use?

Sorry, just seen the post where you got one from astroboot. 

Glad you got sorted. 

thanks for posting, I really enjoyed that. Some amazing images, well done 🙂

I don't see "canon utilities" in the google app store?

Its available for windows/mac 

thanks for the tips guys.

DSLR controller seems to not be supported anymore, from reading reviews on the app store. I don't want to waste £8 if it doesn't work with my 450d 😞

Most of the other apps seem to be wifi/Bluetooth. or crazy money imho.

The search continues

47 minutes ago, Stu said:

It is a useful function, even hand holding but even better when using a phone mount as it avoids all vibrations. I feel a bit of an idiot standing in the garden yelling 'Shoot!' or 'Cheese!' at my phone repeatedly but it does work.

If you have a manual or Pro mode, best to use that. Exposure on the Moon will depend on the phase, scope and magnification, but this is what I used last night with my 4" at x36. Set it to manual focus at infinity if possible, although auto may work on the Moon. For handheld shots, if you wear glasses then do put those on to focus before holdingbthe phone up to the eyepiece as that helps. With a phone mount, you can also just zoom in on the terminator then focus that way which is probably the most accurate.

Check out the Smartphone imaging forum for more examples and info.

https://stargazerslounge.com/forum/279-imaging-smartphone-tablets/

EDIT We seem to have survived so far with our usual level of destruction 🤣

Devastation and destruction

#prayforstu

🙂

Just popped out and grabbed this, bit hazy here in Wiltshire.

Single frame, Sony A57, Minolta 75-300mm lens at 300mm. Handheld.

I was wondering if something exists which will allow me to use a tablet as a live view screen for my EOS450d. It would also be awesome if I could do remote shooting from it. 

It just that the screen on the 450 doesn't tilt so being able to use a tablet would be great. I am away at a potentially dark(er) location in a week or so and was planning on taking my Star Adventurer and modded 450d along with some old M42 fit lenses.

Don't want to take my laptop as I need a suitable power supply.

Any suggestions? That don't cost a fortune ideally 😉

Thanks everyone, I am really impressed with the camera so far. Think I might need a new astro laptop though as mine is only USB 2 😞

20 minutes ago, PeterCPC said:

It might with an extension tube. You really don't want to be using a diagonal with a camera.

Peter

I don't have an extension tube. :-(. 

So I really do need to use the diagonal. 🙂

With my 178mc I need to have the diagonal in the scope, then the camera into the diagonal instead of eyepiece. It won't focus without the diagonal. 

Only the second proper play with the new cam.

 Both images were best 1500 frames of 2000 stacked and processed with PIPP, AS, Registax and GIMP

Copernicus:-

Gassendi:-

Thanks for looking, i think (hope) i got the crater names right. :-)

Hello Alison

Welcome to SGL, always nice to see a fellow East Yorkshire lass/lad joining this awesome community. 

I am from Hull originally and lived in Beverley until a few years ago when I moved down to southern softie land due to work commitments. 

I also have the AzGti and Skymax 127. 

🙂

Also had a play around with the "ROI" function in sharpcap.

Managed to have a spell with my new ZWO ASI 178MC camera tonight.

This was around 1300 frames using my Altair 72ED-R scope on the AZGTi.

Processed in PIPP,AS and Registax.

Thanks for looking :-)

9 hours ago, Deflavio said:

Hi Bobby,

My setting is similar to yours, ASI224 + SW72ED or SW130p on a AZGTI. I  often use plate solving from SharpCap to refine my gotos and to adjust the alignment (plate solving and adjusting before "confirming" the star aligned in the Synscan Pro PCc app...). It is quick and works.

Maybe if I better level the mount before or play longer with start alignment I may need less plate solving later, don't know... The truth is I usually want to get to a target quickly and to be completely honest, I really enjoy to see the magic of plate solving in action and see the object sliding into (the rather small) view of my camera.

In AZ mode with a quick and not perfect alignment I can still do EAA, stacking 5 to 10 secs subs for few minutes without problem. I'm about to try the EQ mode of the GTI, maybe things are getting even better, let's see.🤞

So, you platesolve on your alignment stars, rather than aligning "by eye" then platesolving your target? 

I think I will try your method myself next time I'm set up. 

I'm also planning on trying EQ mode with the AzGti at some point. But I want to make some sort of adaptor for my iPolar to attach to the AzGti to use for polar alignment. Then maybe some longer stacks during EEVA or some "proper" astrophotography. 🙂

1 hour ago, AKB said:

I’m not sure I’ve come across anyone using plate-solving for EEVA, but I might be wrong.

It seems to me that EEVA is more observing-like than imaging-like, so some manual navigation is not unnatural.  I certainly use go-to mounts, usually in combination with software like Stellarium, so just use whatever you need to get near enough (within FOV, for example) and then manually browse around.   I do sometimes use guiding if my exposures are more than 15 seconds, or so, but mostly so that I can dither to improve the noise with live stacking.  It’s so quick to do that it doesn’t really get in the way of spontaneous enjoyment of the view.

However, there’s really no right or wrong, just what’s easy for you  

Tony

As I say. Maybe I've got it all wrong. But if I want to ensure I get to view several targets, without panning around for them if the goto is slightly off, I was assuming platesolving could be used to improve the accuracy of the Goto. My ZWO has a smaller fov than my DSLR, which I knew when I decided to get it, so just wondering what others do. Maybe next time I will use a focal reducer. See if that helps. 

I want to use my AzGti, 72mm Frac and ZWO 178 for some EEVA. I also have sharpcap and APT 

Given this equipment what should my set up procedure and subsequent navigation using Goto on the AzGti be?

So:-

Alignment - how many stars for alignment from the synscan app? Can I or should I be using platesolving via Sharpcap or APT to improve each alignment stars accuracy? 

Or should I just eyeball the alignment stars then try and use platesolving for each subsequent target after alignment? 

Sorry if it seems a dumb question but I just wondered what others do with similar set up. 

Many thanks

Weekly episodes by the looks of it 😞

I used to have the GPcam up until just recently. I have replaced/upgraded it with a ZWO ASI 178MC.

I would say, based on my limited knowledge, the ZWO will be better. Theres loads of videos on youtube about the ZW0 120, some of the results are amazing. Looking at the specs it seems to me that the ZWO is more sensitive and has faster frame rate as its usb3.

I'm sure someone with much more knowledge and experience will be along to confirm or refute my thoughts 🙂

That's awesome. Love the saturated shot at the end.