darthvader

28 minutes ago, dobblob said:

I like and use StarTools also. 

I am a budget AP'er and a little lazy. If I can't figure out how to get a decent image within a few hours of experimenting the shine wears off.

Shelling out for PI at a cost of more than my scope makes no sense when ST gets me there at the cost of a cheap eyepiece and without days of study.

I tried a trial version of APP but  the basic stacking process took 12 hours before I quit (at 32%) ,unfinished. To be fair I may have made some error in the parameter selections but there was nothing to tell me about it. Even when I stacked far fewer frames to arrive at the processing steps faster it didn't do a better job of stretching etc.

So DSS and ST is the way to go for me.

 

I agree, I'm a bit impatient so that combo sounds good to me !

I just downloaded the trial version of Backyard EOS - its cool that you can control the camera from your laptop although my camera doesn't have wifi so I think I'd have to trail a VERY long USB cable from the camera to inside the house (not keen on using my laptop outside, it cost a lot of money !)

2 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

GIMP or what you have is fine no need to Have to buy anything, depends whether you want to and how much you want to spend. 

There are several stargazine videos shared to get going with and many other videos that can be fairly well followed that use say Affinity photo or Photoshop. 

Chromatic aberration can be minimised in editing, coma get rid by cropping the edges.

 

thankyou, I don't mind spending a few quid on some software if it's good (I object to these software monthly subscriptions mind 😬 e.g. photoshop ! )

17 hours ago, wxsatuser said:

 

thanks for all the info, much appreciated.

more questions ! 😃

What image software do you recommend to use for editing astro photos? GIMP ? (I do have an old copy of Photoshop Elements if that's any good?) I'm fairly IT savvy but useless at photography 😃 if that influences choice of software)

Can chromatic aberration / coma be corrected in the editing phase? not sure I even know what coma is ? ( I used a Canon zoom lens EF 75-300 which I bought a few years ago fairly cheaply, I guess higher quality lenses would have less chromatic aberration?)

2. Some of the red stars appear a little artificial? is it just me or is there an issue with the photo/camera/setup

Some are artificial, to the left your have an aircraft trail, a diagonal of red navigation lights

That did make me laugh, I thought they looked a bit odd 😝, i thought if it was an aircraft there would be a line, but thinking about it, if the lights are flashing then that's not the case !)

Took a few more pics tonight, seeing wasn't great I don't think, seemed to be a lot of misty clouds about round here.

 Anyway, I think my polar alignment was a bit off tonight as the stars appear to be a trailing slightly, although the focus appears a little better.

I've got loads of questions !

1. If I'm uploading a picture onto this site should I load the .jpg or the RAW file?

2. Some of the red stars appear a little artificial? is it just me or is there an issue with the photo/camera/setup

3. I noticed the camera lens was misting up a bit, how do you folks keep it clear, 12V hairdryers or is there a better way?

4. A lot of the stars appear to have shadows of themselves - is this just because of the tracking not being quite right?

5.... not gonna ask any more for now, I don't want to take liberties with  your kind help.

(I've attached one of the photos - from the constellation Cygnus (I uploaded it to Astrometry.net which was recommended previously, great tool for identifying objects -> I'd never heard of the Foxhead Cluster before !)

I bought the every photon counts book about a year ago but have never really looked at it, must dig it out from the bookcase, I'm sure there must be some good advice in there...

thanks again folks for your advice and help 👍😃

7 hours ago, maw lod qan said:

Nice image. The more you practice, you'll get better and better!

Dont worry about anyone laughing at this image, I still provide all the material they need for that!

With no tracking mount, I've only managed the core of Andromeda, but even that made me smile.

As much as we all like the compliments from those who are more talented at this than we might be, I'm certain everyone will say the important person to make happy is ourself.

I suffer with this insanity for my own pleasure!

The dummy battery is a wonderful thing. My Canon SL1 just sits there clicking away all night long plugged in to it.

 

Hey, I made myself very happy getting the Adventurer to work at all 🙃😝 even the Mrs. was impressed with the galaxy and she don't impress easy 😜 mind you the dog didn't seem too impressed he was more interested in my packet of wotsits 🤣

5 hours ago, dobblob said:

 Darthvader,Yes those items you link to are exactly what you need. A little more expensive than ones I ordered some years ago but you will thank yourself.

just found the little hole next to the battery cover for the cable do go through. Never realised that was even there 🙄😝

5 hours ago, happy-kat said:

What was your ISO?

A bit bright is better than too dark, as long as the light histogram is clear of the left edge that should be ok.

it was set to 800, do you think 400 would be better for a 3 min exposure? 

10 hours ago, dobblob said:

Darthvader, I am surprised that no one ( OK tomato has hinted) has yet mentioned dummy battery packs for your Canon.

For most (if not all) Canons there are dummy packs that replace the battery that can be powered via a Canon DC adapter from mains 220 vac ( needlessly expensive!) or much cheaper generic brands powered from a 12 vdc battery. They may need a converter to get from 12 vdc to whatever the camera dummy pack needs, often 7-8 vdc.

The combo can be found on Amazon and will probably run 20-30 GBP.

Really worth it to be able to operate all night for several nights without changing battery after battery , touching your camera and spoiling your alignment.

It was a major downside for me to have to swap batteries every 1 1/2 hours, if that. Just a big worry not to have .

is this the sort of thing you mean? 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ACK-E8-Adapter-Replacement-Coupler-Battery-Single-USB/dp/B07C21NT92/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=dummy%2Bbattery%2BCanon%2Beos%2B700d&qid=1603445503&sr=8-3&th=1&psc=1

I already have a couple of these 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B076KS92ZT?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

which I assume would be OK to power it? 

thanks for all the kind words and the tips about the batteries - I shall look into that, I do have 3 batteries, but like you say it's a bit of a pain to keep changing them. 

Just now, tomato said:

Well done for grabbing Andromeda if that was just a random point at the sky.  The great thing about widefield imaging is modern  kit is so sensitive you can point it just about anywhere and you will capture something.

The tracking looks pretty good, and nice colour capture. The star adventurer is a great piece of kit, just need to sort out your focusing.👍

definitely a case of beginner's luck catching Andromeda !  I literally just pointed it vaguely upwards away from the house lights and hoped for the best 😀 I expected to see bad star trailing but was pleasantly surprised as the tripod was on soft grass, not the most stable base 😐 Also need to take some spare camera batteries out next time as the camera battery ran out really quickly.

19 minutes ago, Paul M said:

Even more cleverer is AAS Worldwide telescope, it's linked to in the bottom right of the astrometry.net link I sent above. It takes you to a sky map with your image overlaid. You can fade and zoom and have all kinds of fun:

http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/webclient/?wtml=http%3a%2f%2fworldwidetelescope.org%2fwwtweb%2fShowImage.aspx%3freverseparity%3dFalse%26scale%3d10.534610%26name%3dIMG_5971.JPG.c44a2aff8a8b740f56fef9d038879c39.JPG%26imageurl%3dhttp%3a%2f%2fnova.astrometry.net%2fimage%2f9413058%26credits%3dAstrometry.net%2bUser%2b(All%2bRights%2bReserved)%26creditsUrl%3d%26ra%3d13.081508%26dec%3d48.727464%26x%3d2744.0%26y%3d1331.4%26rotation%3d-92.05%26thumb%3dhttp%3a%2f%2fnova.astrometry.net%2fimage%2f9413060%26wtml%3dtrue#/place=Open_Collections.IMG_5971.JPG.c44a2aff8a8b740f56fef9d038879c39.JPG.0&ra=0.87210&dec=48.72746&fov=40.00000

cool, I managed to locate M110 in my image thanks to that 👍

6 minutes ago, Marvin Jenkins said:

You captured a galaxy. Might not be an award winning shot but a ‘galaxy’. 
 

Think about it..... how many ordinary people have seen a galaxy? They are clearly visible in the sky, like globular clusters etc.

99 % of the population have no idea that what is in your picture exists, except in a text book. It is now up to you to improve your framing, and use the gear you have to great effect.

You are at the beginning, but no longer a beginner. Keep up the good work, the night sky is yours for free.

Marv

definitely still a beginner 😀 although I was quite impressed with myself that I got the setup to work on the first attempt ! (mind you I did read the manual about 37 times and watched a couple of youtube videos too! -> thanks to Kamil Pekala)

Fingers crossed for clear skies this weekend so I can have another go

that's a very clever tool, will add that to my list of astro bookmarks 👍

thanks, am I right in thinking the tracking looks like it's working ok? there  doesn't seem to be any obvious star trailing, although it's difficult to tell because it's so blurred 🙄 

I was a little concerned that I had nudged it out of alignment when attaching the camera and then loosening the clutches to re-direct the camera. I think next time I won't tighten the clutches so much as I struggled to get them undone without moving the whole assembly.

that is stunning ! 

Took my first photo this evening with my new Skywatcher Star Adventurer... finally got round to working out how to polar align it ( it turned out to be not as complicated as I thought it would be - i'd been putting if off for weeks as it looked so complicated in the manual !)

 I think I messed up the infinity manual focus on my camera (Canon EOS 700D) so it's a bit blurred but I did grab a galaxy in the bottom left (no idea which galaxy it is as I was just pointing the camera at a random spot in the sky to see if the tracking was working).

Definitely need to adjust my camera manual settings too (exposure was approx. 3 mins) - seems a little 'bright' - less ISO ? 

any tips very welcome ! 🙃