soundwave

Update:

There seems to be something weird when using Decimal values.

If I input in Stellarium the coordinates that I get from N.I.N.A like this: "14h07m55s", "55d10m38s" (instead of "14.132","55.177"), then I seem to get to the correct place in the sky.

Hello everybody,

I'm trying to do blind plate-solving in N.I.N.A and then input the resulting coordinates in Stellarium, but I'm getting weird results.

Astrometry.net
When uploading the image to Astrometry.net's website, I get the correct coordinates (202.367, 47.281) 
But when uploading the same image to Astrometry.net using N.I.N.A, I get the wrong coordinates (13.491, 47.281)

ASTAP
When using ASTAP via N.I.N.A, I get similar wrong coordinates (13.491, 47.284)

However, if I go to the Framing assistant and click "Get coordinates from Stellarium" then it gets the correct coordinates without any issue.

Does anyone have any idea what's going on here? 🥴

Thank you!

On 26/06/2020 at 20:43, Ewan said:

This is amazing!

I wonder if there is a way to coat new satellites with a material that reflects light after converting it to a specific wavelength, thus we will be able to filter it out using a theoretical "Satellite Suppression Filter".

Of course, even if there's a way, I highly doubt it will be employed if it's "only" to please astrophotographers.

Thank you all for your comments!

For now, I've marked the bubble's position when the mount is actually leveled. 

Returning it (even just the black part) would be too much hassle indeed, but it would be interesting to see what replies I'll get from iOptron and FLO. 

Other than that, the SkyGuider is functioning very well.

Hi all,

I recently received my iOptron SkyGuider Pro that I ordered from FLO and I just noticed that the bubble-level is not situated correctly.

I believe that I didn't notice it at first because I'm currently using a ballhead, so the mount itself stays polar-aligned, but I suspect it will cause issues when I start using the counterweight.

I have emailed iOptron to ask about it. Should I also email FLO?

Is there a way I can fix it myself? 

Thank you for any help,

itai

Hello everybody!

I've received my order of some Baader Solar Film (which I ordered alongside an iOptron SkyGuider Pro! But that's for another post).

I designed (in Fusion360) and 3D printed a body for the solar film which can be securely fitted onto the dust cap of my SkyWatcher 250p FlexTube (with a DIY light shroud).

The image was taken with a Canon T2i.

• Image #2 is false color
• Image #3 is a zoomed-in area of Image #2

Tomorrow I'll try with a 2X Barlow.

I wonder if I will be able to catch any solar prominence when they happen.

Have a good day/evening!

9 minutes ago, Nerf_Caching said:

With dark frames. It was awkward taking dark frames especially on a sidewalk with people passing by who may have been wondering what I was photographing with the lens cap on!

That's hilarious 😄 
"Should I tell him his lens cap is on?"

Very cool! Is that with or without Dark frames?

Hello everybody.

I've ordered an iOptron SkyGuider Pro as my first step into non-planetary astrophotography. Eagerly waiting its arrival.

I know there is a handset I can buy to control the RA on the SkyGuider Pro, and there are also left/right buttons on the mount itself,
but I was wondering if there is a way to control the RA using a laptop.

I would assume it is theoretically possible, because if I would be using an auto-guider, then it would basically control the RA from a laptop for corrections.

If I somehow got an adapter from that type of connection to USB and plugged it where the handset goes, would I be able to control it using EQMod or something similar?

Thanks!

• Telescope: Manual Dob, Skywatcher 250p Flextube
• Camera: Canon 550D (T2i)

As the ISS passed overhead tonight, I took a video (movie crop mode) with my camera and did my best to manually track it using the finder-scope as it moved up in the sky.
It was easier at first, since the apparent movement was slower, but when it was really high it was really fast (and started to get overexposed).

I used PiPP to extract the frames where the ISS was in-frame during the entire passage. Then I stacked the best 25% frames of the start to almost middle of the pass.

I'm very happy with the result as it is just my 2nd attempt to take a photo of the ISS.

Clear skies to all!

Thank you, all! 😀

I recently got back into Astronomy and planetary astrophotography (now thinking about taking a dive into deep-sky by getting a HEQ5-Pro and Evostar 80ED).

This is my best attempt so far at Jupiter.

It was taken from my front-yard. The seeing conditions weren't ideal, but not the worst.

The black dot on Jupiter is a shadow being cast onto it by Callisto.

Equipment:

• Telescope: Skywatcher 250p FlexTube (manual dob)
• Camera: Canon 550D (T2i)
• 2X Barlow

Process:

1. I took four 20sec videos of Jupiter using Movie Crop Mode (50fps) while trying to keep Jupiter in frame.
2. Using PiPP, I aligned the videos so that Jupiter is actually centered in each frame.
3. Using Registax, I stacked the best 42% of the frames, and played around with the wavelets and RGB balance / align.
4. I did a tiny bit of noise reduction in Photoshop.

Clear skies to all!

I have the manual 250p Flextube. I really enjoy it for visual astronomy.

The flextube makes it very manageable to me (can put it upright in the back seat strapped in with a seatbelt),
and while I do feel the need to collimate it each time I take it out, a laser collimator makes it really fast and easy (2-4min).

Slewing can take a little bit of getting used to.
For example, when the scope is aimed at a low angle, if I move it up a bit and let go, there is a little bit of downwards movements until it fully settles after a sec, so I usually move it just a little bit higher than needed. Small stuff like that.

I also took some really cool images with it (and a DSLR)
Here's Saturn (stacked videos of Saturn drifting in the FOV) and a collage of a lunar eclipse (single shots).

If you have any specific questions, I'll be happy to give my opinions.

All the best!

Thanks!  

+1 on Andy's response.

The forum has already exceeded my expectations. Very nice and helpful (and active, and smart) people.

And I also like the forum's notification system and the look of it all.

I still haven't figured out how can I edit a post I made (if I posted early by mistake, or noticed that choosing a while text color doesn't work well on the mobile site  ). 

I'm guessing that I need to reach some sort of rank for that, but I didn't see any mention of that in the forum's rules or the ranks sticky.

Hopefully I'll be experienced enough soon so I'll also have answers for people instead of only questions