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Hello everybody,

I have a SkyGuider Pro (which I really enjoy), and I wanted to have a very quick way to find my selected target, since I noticed that sometimes it takes me a while to locate it.

Quick overview:

1. I made a semi-circle with degree markings for the RA axis.
2. I have a panning head with degree markings for the DEC axis.
3. I made a JavaScript calculator that takes my selection from Stellarium and tells me to which degrees I need to set each axis.

If anyone is interested in the calculator, or in any of the STL files, I can upload them somewhere.

Here is a breakdown of my DIY "SkyGuider Pro EZ Aim" project 

The "Hardware":

1. DIY 180 degrees semi-circle with degree marking (90° to -90°).
   In my case, I 3D printed a semi-circle that I made in Fusion 360, and stuck numbers onto it.
    
2. DIY "needle" (also 3D printed) that is mounted/clipped onto one of the Skyguider's RA block ribs (movable).
   I noticed that it's much easier to get a good look at what degrees I am pointed at when the needle is mounted on one of the side ribs instead of on the middle one (where the camera gets in the way of the view).
    
3. Panning head with 360 degree markings.

The Software:

Stellarium: 

1. I select the target (in this example, the North America Nebula)

My homemade RA/DEC calculator (JavaScript):
Initial Settings

These settings don't change unless I either unscrew the panning head or/and unstick the semi-circle.

The background the the current NASA APOD.

1. RA Offset
   When the SkyGuider RA axis is pointing at 0°, I move the needle to one of the ribs to the side, and see where it's pointing at (in this case, a 72 degrees offset).
    
2. DEC Base Degrees
   Simply the degrees that the panning head is set to when the camera is pointed straight forward (in my case, 132°).
    
3. Stellarium Server
   An option to enter the Stellarium server address (using the Remote Control plugin) so that the calculator can automatically take the needed coordinates (HA/DEC Apparent) from Stellarium and perform a calculation.

Main Calculator

This is the view I'm usually seeing, since my setup doesn't often get completely disassembled/reassembled in regards to unscrewing the panning head, so the settings don't change often.

1. Load from Stellarium
   This button will take the active selection from Stellarium and feed it into the calculator and run a calculation.
   It's also possible to manually enter the coordinates and click "Calculate RA/DEC".
    
2. Results Area
   At the bottom, the calculator shows the DEC degrees that my panning head should be set to,
   the RA degrees that the Skyguider should be rotated to, and those same degrees but when putting the needle on the correct rib (offset).

Pointing at The Target

1. I rotate the panning head to point at the correct degrees (86.4 in this case).
2. I rotate the RA axis so that the needle (which is on the left rib) is pointing to the correct degrees (21 in this case).

At 200mm, the object will most probably already be in frame, with just very minor adjustments to frame it perfectly.

At 400mm (I tried with a 2x teleconverter), although the DEC axis is usually accurate enough, the RA axis sometimes need a quick push of the button to bring the target into frame,
but that's still far quicker than manually searching for it.

Thanks for viewing my project

Hopefully I managed to explain it clearly.
If there are any question, or interest in the files - leave a comment below.

Have a good day!

@drivera

This might seem really silly, but it happened to me with my SkyGuider Pro until I realized my mistake:
Polaris should be placed on the inner dial of the polar scope (in the northern hemisphere). 

I use an app that shows Polaris' location on a single dial, and at first I assumed it was the outer one. 

I decided to try and see how the ASI120MM Mini that I bought to guide my SkyGuider Pro can perform photographing planets with my SkyWatcher 250px Manual Dob.

• ASI120MM Mini
• SkyWatcher 250px Manual Dob (10")
• 2X Barlow

The planets were a bit low in the sky, and I'm not sure I managed to get perfect focus, but it's close enough

I recorded videos of the planets drifting from one corner or the frame to the other, and then aligned in PiPP, stacked in AutoStakkert and processed in Registax.

Thanks for viewing.

Hello everybody!

I decided to try and take a shot at shooting a small galaxy with my 70-200mm f4 lens + Canon SL3 (250D) + SkyGuider Pro + Auto-guiding.

I've only recently started auto-guiding my SGP using ZWO's mini bundle, and so far I'm really enjoying using/testing it.

To mount the ZWO guide-scope to the camera, I've designed and 3D printed a clamp-mount for the lens. It seems to work well. I might do a detailed post about it in the near future.

Some details: 

This image was taken from my front yard (Bortle 8-9), under a street light.

Integration:
1h10m (28x150sec), ISO-400
10 darks, no flats because I accidently touched the focus ring when putting on the lens cap.

Filter:
SVBony CLS clip-in.

Equipment:
Canon SL3 (250D)
Canon 70-200mm f4 USM (@f4.5)
SkyGuider Pro + ZWO ASI 120MM Mini + ZWO Mini Guide Scope
NINA + PHD2

Processing:
PixInsight (Cropped).

I used a combination of auto-dithering on the RA and manual dithering on the DEC.
Basically, I auto-dithered every 2 frames, but every 5 frames I would pause the sequence in NINA, stop the guiding in PHD2, move the DEC very slightly, then resume guiding and the sequence (re-calibration was not needed in PHD2 after stop/resume).
While the final image is noisy, the noise doesn't seem to be aligned in any direction (no walking noise).

I'm pretty happy with the result, I thought it would turn out much worse

Thanks for viewing.

1 minute ago, MylesGibson said:

Great images, and I really like the animation. I need to learn how to do these! How far apart were the 4 images?

Thank you.

The entire session was an hour and a half, during which I took many videos of Mars drifting in view (and then realigning the scope, and repeat).

Although when stacking, I chose videos that were all taken within 5min, so that the rotation won't mess up the stack. I was left with 4 decent stacked images, so I decided to make the gif. I didn't have a set interval in mind for the animation frames.

Hello everybody!

This is my second attempt at photographing Mars. I'm fairly happy with the result.

I was using my Skywatcher 250px + a 2X Barlow & a Canon 550D (T2i) using Movie Crop Mode.

Aligned in PiPP, stacked using AutoStakkert, wavelets using Registax.

Side-note: After the wavelets edit, there was some sort of a bright brim around the planet (mostly on the left side). I have cropped out that line of pixels. Not sure if it's considered "appropriate" or not.

I also stacked some more frames that I took that night, and made a nice little animation (using 4 stacked images)

Thanks for viewing! Have a nice day.

21 hours ago, Iceman120 said:

I will definitely be keeping your work flow for further reference

I gave Siril a try and came up with the attached result.

This is what I did:

1. Background Extraction: I think I used the red channel, and I did an auto-generate of samples and played with the tolerance so it will sample around the galaxy)
2. Color Calibration: I sampled a small part of the background and clicked 'background neutralization', then sampled the core of the galaxy as the white reference and 'apply')
3. Deconvolution (helped with sharpening a tiny bit)
4. Then I did another Background Extraction, because there was still a bit of a noticeable gradient. This time I manually placed the samples)
5. Histogram Transformation: Clicked the auto-stretch button (gear), but it was too stretched for my taste, so I played with the middle & black sliders a bit)

Then I saved the image and did a bit more processing in Photoshop:

1. Noise removal (with a lot of color-noise removal)
2. Curves: did a slight S-Curve for more contrast
3. Levels to make the background a bit darker

Looking at both results, the Pixinsight photo now looks too beige for my eyes (and this one not beige enough) hehehe So I'll need to work on my color calibration skills a bit more.

Best of luck, keep us updated!

17 minutes ago, Iceman120 said:

yesterday you said about making a bahtinov mask, when it comes to the aperture, am i using the size of front lens and dividing that by the f stop number?

In the Bahtinov Mask Generator website? The "aperture" in this context means the diameter of the lens. (I think that's the name that stuck in the astronomy field because telescopes can't change their aperture, it's always wide open to the diameter of the scope, but I'm not sure)

So you can set 300mm as the focal length and (I assume) 67 as the diameter ("aperture")

2 hours ago, Iceman120 said:

heres the original stack from dss, let me know how you get on, will be interesting to see the result from someone who knows how to tackle the post processing.

Autosave003.tif 116.09 MB · 4 downloads

Thank you.

I think that Pixinsight did a great job, and you took very nice data.

Sometime later I will try Siril for the first time and try to replicate this result there.

Here is what I did in Pixinisight:

1. Slight crop of stacking artifacts at the edges of the frame
2. Dynamic Background Extraction (By selecting different background samples, it creates the overall gradient to be removed by division and then subtraction from the original image)
3. Color Calibration (By selecting a white reference, area-of-interest and a background sample)
4. EZ DeNoise (with a background sample)
5. EZ Soft Stretch 
6. Range Selection (which is basically creating a mask of everything other than the background)
7. With the mask: Curves Transformation
   1. De-saturated the background to get rid of some color noise
   2. Saturated the foreground just a little bit
8. Then, without the mask: Curves Transformation
   1. Did a small S-Curve for added contrast
9. Export to JPEG

14 hours ago, Iceman120 said:

there is some vignetting that i presume the flat frames will eliminate? and maybe slightly oversaturated but on a whole, i think a better image.

Yes, flats should help a lot with the vignetting and also with some of those dark patches which are probably dust on the sensor.
The color in the new image looks so much better. Is there any chance you could upload the stacked tiff somewhere so I could play around with it in Pixinsight? I wonder what more can be done with that image of Andromeda (and I'll list the steps I've taken).

1 hour ago, edarter said:

Doesn't the 600 do that as well? It's certainly capable of some kind of crop for planetary imaging. 

The 60D is the other camera with a 1:1 movie crop mode according to this website: https://www.astropix.com/html/i_astrop/eq_tests/canon_one_to_one_pixel_resolution.html

Welcome aboard! Wonderful start. I had my Skyguider Pro for some months now, and it's a lot of fun indeed. (and I also use the 550d and a cheap tripod with an annoying center-pole).
Polar alignment gets much easier as you get more experienced. What is your polar alignment routine?

It looks like you are a bit out of focus in your images. I also had a difficult time reaching 'perfect' focus with my 70-200 lens using just the live-view 10x.
Eventually I 3d-printed a Bahtinov Mask that fits my lens hood (but you can also make a DIY one) and I highly (HIGHLY) recommend it. Even-though it's not easy to rotate the focus ring by a very small amount, it is possible.

Also, am I understanding correctly that these are stacked images without any post-processing outside of DeepSkyStacker?
If that's the case, then there is much more you could get out of these image.

I've used the free-trial version of Pixinsight along with many tutorials on youtube to remove gradients, color balance, noise reduction, stretching, etc., and it makes all the difference.
I later purchased the software, but there is a new (free) alternative that is emerging now called Siril. 
Cuiv The Lazy Geek did a nice rundown of it here.

I also noticed that Flat frames are very important for the final stacked result.
You can cover the lens hood with a white t-shirt using rubberbands, then place a tablet or something similar with a fully white screen. I like using N.I.N.A (open-source) to capture my frames, and it also has a very nice Flat Wizard which makes the whole process much easier.
You can take flats at home after your return from the field, just be very careful not moving the focus-ring by mistake until you actually take the flats.

For easier framing of targets, I would recommend buying this fairly cheap DEC panoramic-head, along with an arca-swiss dovetail (just the plate).
I truly dislike the DEC head that comes with the SkyGuider Pro, because there is movement of the target when you lock down the 2 screws.
This upgrade saves me a LOT of time with framing, and also allows me to do Manual Dithering by slightly moving the target in the frame on both axis every 3 frames or so.

I'm assuming that you are using the counterweight setup with your gear. The dovetail will also open up the option of balancing on both axis.

If you need any further help, don't hesitate to message me.

Hello everybody,

I wanted to test some new gear I got for the Skyguider, and decided to try to take an image of the Dumbbell nebula, the first nebula that I've ever seen with my eyes a long while ago (using a 10" dob at a dark site).

I think it turned out pretty good for a 21min image from a lightpolluted front-yard 😃

Gear:

• Skyguider Pro + Panning Tripod Head (much better than the one that came with the Skyguider)
• Canon T2i, 70-200mm f4 lens
• SVBony CLS clip-in filter

Acquisition:

• 7x180sec (21min) @ iso 400
• 4 darks
• Manual dithering -- I manually moved the RA/DEC by a small amount to create dithering.

Stacked in DSS and processed in Pixinsight.

This was the imaging setup:

And here is the result (cropped in)

On 18/08/2020 at 15:59, feverdreamer1 said:

Wow, I've got a 550D too and this is just mind blowing. I've got the exact same setup as you (except lens heater) and I've also tried to image M31 but at ISO 1600 I had terrible noise. How did you manage to get rid of so much noise?

Also, if you dont mind, could you post a single raw sub? If you dont want to its understandable

Amazing image man, congrats.

Clear skies!

Check your photos' temperature using Dark Master. I've had some raw files that looked extra noisy and I noticed that my camera's chip temperature was over 40c. When it's around 35c, I can get a workable image.

I've attached 2 raw images taken that same night: the first one is at 35c, and the second one is over 40c (same settings otherwise). I'm not sure what caused the temperature spike, but you can see the difference it makes.

Also, in hindsight, I would have lowered the ISO a bit for that image.

_MG_8674.CR2 2020-08-14_01-43-46___150.00s_1.cr2

13 hours ago, Victor Boesen said:

With regards to your 5 minute exposure of Polaris, keep in mind that this (together with the south celestial pole) is the area of the sky where the stars move the least (relative to Earth that is).

That makes sense Thanks for the kind words!

3 minutes ago, TerryMcK said:

Looking good. The stars seem to be pinsharp and round

Thanks! I used a 3d-printed bahtinov mask on the lens-hood to focus. It's not an easy task with a lens focuser, but after some (and some more) fiddling, the center spike was pretty bang in the center.

Hello all,

Me and my brother drove out to a Bortle 4 site in the desert Thursday night for an all-nighter. There was a fair amount of wind and dust, but we tried to position the car in a way to will block some out.

The big surprise of the night was a not-so-small blur we saw in the sky with our eyes. At first we thought it was a small faint cloud with a few stars poking through it at times, but it moved with the stars.
Then we lunched Stellarium on my phone, pointed it at the blur and discovered we're looking at the Pleiades! It was really awesome! 🤩 

The scary surprise of the night was this pretty big, white spider that decided to rest near the Dec release knobs on the mount just as I reached to rotate the camera, but we managed to flick it off with a roll of tissue paper after we freaked out for a bit 😱

Equipment:

• Skyguider Pro + cheap tripod
• Canon T2i / 70-200mm (f4) lens
• 5V USB Dew heater for camera lenses.

Photo Details:

• About 42 minutes of final integration (70% of 25 x 150sec @ iso 3200)
• Unfortunately only 2 dark frames were taken that night before the batteries ran out (we got greedy tried to photograph other targets as well, thinking we'll have time for darks).
• 10 flats / flat darks (taken when we arrived home, after being careful not to disturb the focuser).
• Stacked in DeepSkyStacker
• Processed and cropped in Pixinsight (free trial, but it looks like I'll be buying it when it ends soon)
• Color noise removal in Photoshop
• While my polar alignment was fairly good, there is a bit of drift in a certain direction if I look at the first/last image, which resulted in some 'walking noise' and had to be aggressively removed. 
  Yesterday, I experimented with Sharpcap Pro's polar alignment from my backyard just before clouds rolled in (using the DSLR itself, not a guide-camera). I managed to get 'excellent' alignment and did a 5min exposure on Polaris at 200mm, and the stars looked very round. I'll try it again today and check for drift over time.

Good day and clear nights!

Edit: I think I may have flipped the image in an unnatural way - sorry for any disorientation it might cause hehe 

11 minutes ago, msacco said:

Oh interesting...And does this cheap mount really works well enough for you?

I use a Canon T2i and a 70-200mm (f4) lens, so it works well enough for that, at least. However, I am in constant stress about touching it during a session and I handle the SkyGuider very carefully when moving things.

7 minutes ago, msacco said:

Thanks for the comment, I actually already purchased the INNOREL RT70C as it looks like it should be good enough for my needs, it also comes with an INNOREL B44 ball head which looks pretty good...
What is the exact tripod you're using?

This one - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32623885562.html , it's a tripod my brother had and gave me.

Now that I look at the specs (and price), yours seem to be much sturdier, so I assume it's a better build and probably a better locking mechanism 😀 

Which star tracker are you thinking about getting?

I use a tripod very similar to the one you're considering with my SkyGuider Pro.

It's sturdy enough for the purpose, however, the middle pole can sometimes cause some headaches because it can still spin (although a bit force is required) even when it's locked tightly, which might turn the whole assembly if not handled carefully (at least on my tripod).

I'm considering getting this tripod at some point - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000163721906.html (just the tripod itself), but my current tripod hadn't given me enough headaches yet to actually make the upgrade.

Hello everybody!

Recently I've received my SkyGuider Pro. I'm currently using it with a Canon T2i and a 18-135mm lens.

I've also just received my 2" L-eNhance. I got the 2" version, because in the future I'm planning on getting the ZenithStar 61.

In the meanwhile, I've 3D printed an adapter that screws to the end of the lens where the filter can be screwed into place. I'm not sure that this setup places the filter perfectly parallel to the lens, but it's close.

I decided to put the L-eNhance to a real stress test in my bortle 8-9 zone, in my front-yard which is flooded with street lights, aimed above a building.

I'm very new to deep sky astrophotography, so I'm not sure yet why the stars on the Eagle nebula look weird (that whole specific area didn't turn out too well), and I may not have been in perfect focus overall.

This image was stacked and processed in AstroPixelProcessing (free trial, default values) after an attempt I first made to stack it in DSS and prcoess in photoshop (which resulted in weird "walking noise" and background color gradients).
After integration, I used the "remove light pollution" feature and selected some areas in the background that looked weirdly colored. Then I used TopazDenoiseAI (also free trial for now) to clear some noise remainders.

I'm pretty happy with it considering it's my first try at photographing an actual nebula and my first use of the L-eNhance in general.

Next time I'll try longer exposures or higher ISO, since I noticed (halfway through the sequence) that the histogram in NINA was wayyy to the left.

Any comments/tips on APP or in general are very much welcomed!

Photo Info:

• 29 light frames (90 sec @ 1600iso) - I'm not sure if APP uses all of them, or just some, or where to set it
• 6 dark frames
• no flats because I accidentally shot them at the wrong iso 
• shot at 135mm
• the image is cropped to the center area of the frame

Thank you!

2 hours ago, han59 said:

An RA of 202.367 is in degrees [0..360] while 13.491 is in hours [0..24]

They are the same since 202.367*24/360=13.491

Oh, I understand. Thanks!

I wonder if there's a way to have NINA return the decimal values in degrees instead of hours.

5 minutes ago, newbie alert said:

So from what you're saying I get the gist that your stellarium sync is out..

If you frame a target in NINA,  and get the coordinates then they're spot on.. I know this as I use APT and do exactly that,  so I'd look at how to sync stellarium 

It seems that the issue happens only when I input the RA/DEC in decimal values.

When I input them in Hours/Days, then it seems to work correctly, so I'll just do that.

I'm using a script in Stellarium. Maybe that function doesn't work well with decimals. I'll stick with Hours/Days.

core.moveToRaDec("14.132", "55.177"); // does not work correctly

core.moveToRaDec("13h29m28s", "47d17m03s"); // works correctly

From what I know, there is no built-in option in NINA to send coordinates to Stellarium. There's only an option to receive coordinates from Stellarium.

9 minutes ago, newbie alert said:

Why are you putting in stellarium? Just slew to object and sync to mount.. cut the stellarium faff out of it

I'm using a SkyGuider Pro, so unfortunately I can't, but I do want to use it to make framing easier (and to practice NINA for later on when I'll upgrade to the more serious stuff).
The plan is to aim, solve, check framing in Stellarium, manually move in the RA/DEC, solve again, etc.