Richie092

This is my first ever Nebula shot on my new to me set up of NEQ6, W/O Star 71 and Atik 383l. I have a very light polluted back garden so am pretty much limited to NB at the moment. This is made up of 18 x 900 Ha, 12 x 900 OIII and 9 x 900 SII captured over 4 nights in July. Relevant darks and flats @ -15c- couldn't get bias to work in DSS for some reason. Also my first attempt at processing and I have chosen Pixinsight. That was fun.... Would really appreciate any critique especially on the processing. I think I may have gone a bit bonkers with the saturation. Thanks for looking.

Got it. Thanks for the explanation. I will stick to my 10 or 15 min subs.

That's interesting, as a newbie with just a single image under my belt I understood it differently. Using your analogy I thought we needed 10 min exposures to get detail of the fainter stuff. If we could do it all with twice as many 5 minute exposures do we really need to worry about great guiding etc. I'm not arguing as I have no experience it is a genuine question. Why would someone risk a 30 min sub if they could play safe and capture 6x5 min subs and just reject the 1 with star trails or shakes etc and keep the other 5? I have been trying to get good 15 min exposures and probs reject 20% for one reason or another.

Ta, can you remember sub lengths?

yes, just don't tick it and it wont get included in the stacking.

Just looking through some M31 images as it is my next target. Really like this one could you share capture details please?

Ta. I was careful to spec the right one so pot luck I guess. It is still probably a few weeks away judging by the last comm I had with them.

Another vote for the Lakeside. Currently using it with it's control box but as soon as the UPB2 turns up it will go through that. Only odd thing I have noticed with Kstars/Indi is that you have to enable backlash every time you set up. for some reason it doesn't remember that setting but other than that, great.

Thanks. Will go in and check that now. Appreciate your help.

I use the internal guider (not PHD2) through a separate guide scope/cam. Would you call that an auto-guiding set up?

Thanks for the replies. I was going to use DSS to start with. I already have PS but have been reading up on peoples opinions of PixInsight and it does look good it also does everything on the MAC. I will download the trial. My subs I have now aren't dithered so clear skies permitting I will capture enough data this week to process both and compare. Dithering is just a tick box in Kstars so that bit is easy!

Morning all. Have captured my first set of subs this week and to be honest I am really pleased with them. I only have Ha & OII at this point with 10 minute subs, guiding looks like it is good and the stars don't seem to stretch in the corners (to my newbie eye) but they are a little square. As I understand it my imaging resolution is 3.2 (Atik 383 and Star 71 4.9) so I think that is undersampled? Probably making the really small stares square? Does dithering cure this? If so, will I need to stack them differently if dithered? I haven't stacked anything yet but was just going to use default settings. All I have at the moment is 15x10 min Ha and 12 x OII but hoping to add more this week. Thanks in advance Richie

OK I must have an early one. What you have just described is what I ineptly have been trying to say for the whole thread 🙂 When the Pegasus turns up I am going to try with the cables I have and if I have no luck I may just buy a later 8gb version now Stellarmate supports 8gb.

I really like this. Thanks for sharing.

ordered one, will let you know. 🙂

MarkAR - yes, that would bypass whatever it is in most USB cables that stops them working properly with the RPi Terry McK - from what I can gather, most USB cables allow a max of 2,5 amps whereas the RPi needs min 3 amps. Just what I have read, as yet I don't has a USB - c cable in the house that powers it.

Sorry, missed these replies. UPBV2 Still not in stock so no testing done yet. I am going to try it with the USB type C cable that came with my ZWO 120 when it arrives. It isn't the power supply that is the problem but the type of lead the RPi 4 will take power from. It wont accept power from any of my apple cables for instance. Last piece of the puzzle then I will be happy with my setup.

Apart from a DSLR shot of the Orion Nebula years ago this is my first DSO Single Ha sub of the veil. I know it won’t excite anyone but myself but after buying a second hand set up with a few bits needed, a Raspberry that you can’t eat with a whole host of software “bits” that need to be set up and a back garden surrounded by streetlights I was pretty thrilled to see this load at 2.00am this morning. next stage is darks, flats and a lot more integration but I have everything working nicely now so set up should be 15 mins next time 😬 stars are a bit blocky, lots of noise and I still need to nail PA but I’m really happy with this. just need a run of clear nights now! NEQ6 Star 71 Atik 383l+ eFW2 Baader 7nm Ha 1 x 15 mins Stellarmate Patience of a Saint

Another vote for Raspberry with StellarMate. I’m not really technically minded so probably took me longer than it would most people but after last night I now have it set up to focus, plate solve, guide and capture. Really like the Polar Align feature on it too huge sense of achievement when that first sub comes through. Although by the time I had it all working I had about 15 mins of darkness left but next time it’s plug and go. another advantage in my opinion is that you can upgrade the hardware cheaply so not stuck with what is basically an RPi3

My 2p's worth. As an owner of the Edge 8HD Evolution I wouldn't want to be carrying it set up. Mine came with Starsense so All I do is turn it on and use the app to connect and align. It really is a lovely bit of kit. Haven't used a 6 but am blown away by the views of the 8. You need sunglasses for the moon! Yes, it wobbles while focusing but it is 2100mm FL so I guess that is to be expected. Battery lasts for a couple of nights easy and the tripod feels nice and sturdy. I thought about the 6 but then after reading tons realised I would always be thinking about the 8 whilst using it so... Could you not sell the battery tank and WiFi adapter to get you closer?

It is the V2 the problem is going to be cable I think. I just tried to buy one and after a bit of research have discovered an issue with the RPi 4 that it doesn’t like peer from a USB cable. Something to do with incorrect architecture. checked Pi hut for a lead and they aren’t advertising one so may need a work around.

I’m currently powering my Pi4 from a 3 pin power supply but once my Pegasus power box (finally) arrives I will want to power it via a USB port but apparently you can’t. anyone got round this?

That worked great last night. Between the polar alignment and the plate solve I recon it must have been 10 - 12 minutes quicker in total. Just got to sort the problem with the Lakeside focuser out, get the guide scope and camera delivered and sort out the cats cradle of cabling then and I am ready to image.

Sorted it thanks, easy when you know how eh?

Excellent, thanks for your help Avocette. I will give that a go later.