bomberbaz

I really get this, the tiniest smudge visually gives you nothing but satisfaction of finding it and telling your mates about it, oh erm wait! 😉

oooh challenge. Define real astronomy!

NV = night vision

Sorry NV, did I miss something. Just gone back and can't see a reference!

Come along but bring your passport. I will stamp it for you for a safe return at the cost of a pint of greyhound beer and a hotpot buttie!

Late to this party but here goes a potential solution for live streaming to an audience. You need a live USB connection to your chosen webcam to a laptop or PC but that is already established. From there your guest audience should have received a prior invite to a ZOOM conference. (You may need a licence for this but that's another matter). Use the zoom share screen from there, simples.

This is based oop north (Lancaster) but there are others in the UK apparently! https://portal.lancaster.ac.uk/intranet/news/article/lancaster-university-chosen-to-showcase-first-ever-colour-images-of-early-universe-in-morecambe?fbclid=IwAR0JDxWZcFd9T3RRsuL_lJw-SwD3RK5TC87pVRT1Cv1D_xy509SuNk2WDrg

Sorry I probably missed but is yours v1 or v2? Reason I ask is one would presume the times to resolve a decent image should be lower if the v2 sensor is superior!

meow meow 🤣

I think there are some very interesting aspects of it which do appeal to me other than my fandom of ingenuity and geekiness. The citizen science aspect is of some interest to me ( I admit I haven't really looked into that aspect in detail yet). My levels of understanding of science related matters, particularly physics has and indeed is still growing steadily boosted by my involvement with astronomy. Mainly via youtube and science documentaries from streaming sites. (There are plenty) Something which allowed a more interactive experience could be of interest to a guy who is rapidly approaching that time of life when one has more time on their hands. I do agree with other contributors in that this is not a replacement for "at the eyepiece" astronomy but it is imho simply a different way of revealing the wonders of our universe. It compliments existing methods, don't look upon it as a replacement. Lets be fair, a single piece of kit that can be shifted hand held, involve up to 10 people including yourself and show more detail than you can ever hope to achieve in the traditional fashion is no mean feat. It has it's place.

I have read a lot of reviews and other info about this and if like me you are into technology, you cannot fail but be impressed by it's versatility, ingenuity and general geek appeal. I could quite easily be tempted into buying one of these for all the reasons above. However I worry that all of a sudden my other gear becomes surplus to requirements and I really don't like the idea that something so good could turn out to be so cruel. That said, there would be some happy people looking through the for sale section on here. 😄

Has anybody come across one of these yet? Unistellar eVscope 2 Smart Telescope with 7.7Mpixel Electronic Eyepiece by Nikon with BACKPACK - Rother Valley Optics Ltd The previous version had only visual access by connecting with a phone/tablet or other smart device. This version goes a step further by having a digital EP to enhance vision by Nikon (Quality goods usually) which has an optical native view at x 50 but you can digitally zoom up to x400 (x150 max recommended) Think this would be a brilliant outreach bit of kit although somewhat expensive. Also seems it also works for light polluted areas so maybe this has found a niche in the market for city dwellers!

Thanks, thinking back I overused background equalisation tools using py-astro, this clears gradiant but if over done kills nebulosity too. Less is more is certainly the key on nebula. That said, I think I really like SiriL, just started going through user guide but I think I pretty much get what the automated process was doing that you put up, cheers steve

I think I may lay out for one of those, the addition of the filter drawer and reduction factor are both attractive options. Can you send me a pic of the focal train please cheers steve

Hello all. Well managed to grab another 30 minutes data last night and the difference was very noticeable in both terms of star shape and more over, the end result. The tracking seemed to be behaving itself much better last night but I just wish i would learn to leave well alone, haha. Anyway, I did push the data through SiriL first and then had a tinker in Gimp after that and end result is below. I am still learning a lot and when I have the patience to sit down and learn it some more no doubt results will get a little better.

Are you using a reducer, I can only just fit the veil into my view field, just.

Got my 30 minutes worth on the crescent, tracking improved for sure. Just trying to grab some additional M31 data when power pack gave out, dohhhhh 😅

Hoping to get a half hours worth of imaging tonight after tinkering and tightening everything up on the rig. Hopefully it has improved but just going to try adding another 30 minutes to my crescent data. Sky looking reasonable and cloud clearing nicely.

Thanks @herne for that, I shall give that a go later on to see how I get on. I still intend reading this too as it should hopefully give me a better understanding of what is actually happening Siril - Manual pre-processing However in the interim your walkthrough will come in very handy. 👌

I have heard nothing but good things about SIRIL. And I do have Siril, I also have the webpage which walks you through it's use. So I think given what you have shown me with it's use it's about time I learned how to use it 😅.

I think that maybe I need more processing assistance if I am honest. And I also think your right in that perhaps my data is better than I am thinking it it. (I do tend to be too personal critical) For sure there is room for improvement, as there always is, but maybe not to the level I am thinking. thanks all Steve

Be my guest, I take it you meant the autosave from DSS which includes the calibration files. If not I will attach a copy without calibration files. Also it is actually 60mins data, not 40 as I first thought. (I was very tired) Autosave.tif

I get what your saying but it the mis-shape seems to follow the RA axis and given the slight movement in that axis it gives me that hunch. The last readings were in DEC around 0.8 but RA 2.5, this after spending a long time sitting and staring into my phone at the tracking error and tweaking away. Thanks for the advice though. I will bear this in mind after my next data grab, hoping to get another hour or so data again on the crescent and will see how that data looks.

corking effort that to say it's largely unprocessed

Can't do this Lee, I have already seen this but when I tried to undo the screw marked 2, the screw head sheared off. I am going to see how I get on with things as they are but if the star shapes are unfixable I have to decide do I put up with it or buy a new mount and use the existing one for solar.