happy-kat

Are there any other differences to previous images like lens or exposure length?

The phone app can be used in emulator mode which gives quite a lot to fiddle with while not connected to an actual mount

Start the app go to settings then connection settings and there's emulator listed as a connection option

You're getting a lot of use from your gopro that's great, could try it on a meteor shower too

in addition to the tips above could also after register select the light with the highest score as your reference frame and review any very low scored lights and deselect them and when stacking use sigma clipping which might help your star shapes, hope that helps

Lovely to read your report. The star discovery mount has freedom find so with the clutches loosened the mount can be moved by hand manually with no power useful if batteries go flat when out. Once aligned freedom find means if the telescope is knocked when say viewing then can select the target again and the mount is able to slew to it again. When aligning the mount tends to automatically select a slower slew speed but you can choose a different rate whenever you like on the app the rate is shown in the centre of the movement arrows pad and can be adjusted with the little left and right chevrons. While in use if you centre a target in the eyepiece after a goto action you can confirm the position this adds to the goto accuracy.

between 0:31-:34 you caught a meteor I think, could check the video stills to see

Lovely group, I haven't looked at the vlog yet but did you identify what the two bright objects were in the first time lapse?

Mud flats give me the hebegebees but the wildlife and location sound amazing

I've yet to get clear night and early enough to meet, with your mention of astro dark perhaps I'll have to do IR as a try instead on bright stuff as it doesn't get dark early enough

If you don't want my to spend time post processing images then live stacking with an astro camera might work for you. 

Rechargeable batteries don't quite give enough power as they are 1.2 each not 1.5 as none rechargeable batteries

The is an owners thread for the star adventurer gti, it might be helpful

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/398856-sw-star-adventurer-gti-owner-thread/

Ok curve ball thought az-gti tracking, freedom find and goto plus optional (not supported) skywatcher eq firmware update which has the option when run to either be alt-az or eq mode for the days when Polaris isn't visible. Synscan pro app (mobile or computer) even has camera trigger cable tie in. There's a long owners thread where members share setup progress the good and any bad.

I've used a piece of snapped laytex exercise band to get a steadier purchase.

Have you tried sequator, you can drifine the foreground area

Oh I see, I'm assuming your tripod bolt still has a way to thread in, as a stop gap while identifying if the issue is with the extension thread or the tripod thread you could pad the gap with a washer or two to see if that is then firm fixing. (Just as temporary test/fix while identifying where issue is)

The star adventurer is an M8 thread you'll want an M8 to M12 adaptor, perhaps someone has a link to one to add to the post (az-gti hole you thread to is M12)

The extension needs a full size bolt UNC 3/8 to fit the extension thread, I don't know what size is on your tripod

Looking at satellite I'm cloudy but far west looks clear, hopefully it'll be captured by some

Hi

ISO your camera might peak at 1600 ISO anything above might be just too noisy.

Given your short exposures I would start with bright globular clusters, galaxies can be pretty dim.

Raw is raw the white balance is referenced when camera LCD viewing or to jpg when saved as far as I've read

Possibly lose the darks and bias with a Canon they can add noise. If you use SIRIL (free) for stacking you can play with a synthetic bias using the numeric 1028 (from memory I think this is the value) though you may find a different number works better for your camera specifically.

GIMP s free so would be an ideal place to start for post processing your DSS output.

you were fortunate it was clear (hardly any here) even if windy, perhaps when windy now you've seen your reject list % you could cut the individual exposure time further to see if that increases your keep rate, a kappa clipping algorithm can help round the stars a little, set your highest scoring frame as your reference.

It's just had a big update recently including the star datadase

I use it for platesolving mainly tied into sharpcap

edit: I also used it to try stacking a comet, liked how it scored my images very different approach

unfortunately the experience didn't go so well, tracking was pretty much none existent so first step as nothing to lose flashing the eq version and using in altaz, I will see how that goes before fishing around for the next resource to try as holding off for now opening it up as free movement is a bit tighter/stiff then I think it should be

the AZ3 tripod accessory tray mount worked great very stable

Checked the version on the mount, 3.36 (released Oct 21) so updated just now to 3.40 not EQ mode though as want to test it in az pure to start. Update went smoothly.

I'd like to see the percentage of recycled metal used in construction being part of product specification details going forward, especially as aluminium has such a high purity in re-meltdown I've read.

That's great, do you recall what your guiding was managing when you first got the mount before tinkering?