The Admiral

1 hour ago, Vash said:

if you compare RMS radius to that of a very good scope like the FRA400 there is less that 1um difference

Well is the FRA400 a very good scope? I have one and I'm not so sure, though obviously there must be sample to sample variation. You could argue it's as bad as the FRA400! I much preferred the images from my Altair 102 triplet to be honest, but that became too heavy for my back and I passed it on, unfortunately.

Ian

Staggeringly full of "stuff". A great picture of what we don't usually see.

Oh, and welcome to the Forum 😊.

Ian

13 hours ago, Ouroboros said:

I’m now really looking forward to getting to first light imaging with my new ASIair and new AM5 mount.

So long as the ASIAir behaves, they work well together and will deliver. When the skies eventually clear you should get great results. Good luck!

Ian

On 25/03/2023 at 15:58, Elp said:

Another reason I suspect the software was altered for the am5 release

I had the AM5 when the ASIAir was running v1.9, and it was fine. It's when they started to embellish the features offered that things went to pot. But you find that the mini works OK on the latest firmware? It's just such a pity that they didn't stick with v1.9 for the RP powered devices, and at least provide that  official version on their website for future download.

Do the new ASIAir pros still use the RP I wonder?

Ian

27 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

I fell foul of a set of Baader filters

I think it was issues with Baader filters that sent the Lazy Geek to start investigating, IIRC.

Ian

1 hour ago, Mark2022 said:

When you get to the 5th command (starnet++) you will get several security warning stating that Apple cannot verify the developer and thus blocks the execution of the binary and both tensorflow libraries (at least it should).

The experimental version which uses Torch and Open CV instead of the tensorflow libraries is fully signed, so you shouldn't have the issue of Apple blocking installation. "This version contains signed binaries (so there should be no problems installing it) and should be blazingly fast on M1 CPUs". The advantage of using this version I gather is that it runs much faster than the previous version of the Mac CLI.

Ian 

6 hours ago, Leti Theobald said:

with Photometric Calibration, I use it every time. I found it that when it fails is because it pulls the incorrect focal length for my telescope.

I've checked that and it seems to be correct. Generally, I find that it returns "insufficient number of stars" amongst others, which is odd really as the image works with astrometry.net. Ideally, I suppose keeping the star catalogues on your local machine helps, especially with speeding up the process. Again, though, that is described in quite techie language, which I can't follow.

Ian

IIRC that video is OK for the Intel Macs, but the M-series using Apple's chip is a little different, but there are potential significant speed advantages if using the M chip.

At about 19 minutes in on the Nebula Photos video, Nico Carver covers the standard command line tool for MacOS. Unlike the tool for the M chip, with this version it will be necessary to cater for Mac's security features. Hence the extra complication of installation.

Mark, also make sure that you are running the latest version of Starnett; I think it needs versions Beta 2 and later to work with the M-chip CLI tool (https://www.starnetastro.com/experimental/)

Ian

No, I haven't been able to get photometric colour calibration to work either, except for once! I've seen this raised on the forum but the reply was too techie and just not helpful.

I think you are at a great disadvantage not having any experience of any photo processing. Getting to grips with any new software is always going to be a challenge. All you can do is keep practicing. Different softwares have differing methodologies, so it's worth trying a few to see if you are more comfortable working with one over the others. You can always switch later as you gain more experience. Have you looked at StarTools? That's quite different to the rest.

Good luck.

Ian

Are you sure about that? Using my ASIAir plus with the AM5, the way I had to reset the home position was to use the mount's hand controller and set its position through that. Of course, with the EQ6 things might be different, and the latest firmware may be different.

Ian

Looks good, nice and light too. Good for the back 😊.

Presumably it needs to balanced in DEC, unlike mounts with dual harmonic drives? At least it doesn't need a counterweight for smaller scopes.

Ian

I agree, it annoys me too. I did try but couldn't make it work, but couldn't fathom it. BUT, I then found this recent YouTube video from Nebula Photos.

At about 28 minutes in, he talks about using the new command line version for M-chip Apple computers. It's a very clear explanation, though I haven't got around to trying it yet. The best, if not only, description of how to do this I've found.

Let us know how you get on.

Ian

16 hours ago, Elp said:

Wondering if anyone else is using a gem28 or ioptron equivalent with asiair firmware 10.47.

I thought that you had reverted to the earlier version?

Looking on the ZWO discussion forum I see folk are still complaining of problems with the latest firmware. Could this not be the issue here?

16 hours ago, Elp said:

if I've set it up right pointing the scope at polaris the mount shouldn't move and it doesn't.

When I do a goto to home, even if I am already in that position, the mount (AM5) will move a bit and then return to the home position. Or am I missing something here?

Ian

I hadn't realised that we now had our own meteor scatter source. Excellent! Just looked it up at

https://ukmeteorbeacon.org/Home

For those interested, I see that it operates at 50.408MHz.

Thanks for posting.

Ian 

That's a commendably good start, especially given the conditions.

It might be helpful to indicate what gear you used, the filter used, number of subs etc, and what you processed with.

Ian

1 hour ago, AstroGS said:

Median FWMH

Thanks for that. I've not got BlurX but as a matter of interest (sorry to go off-topic), what values were you getting?

Ian

Very nice, detailed rendering in the cropped view. Your ED90 is performing well for you.

May I ask, did you use BlurXterminator on this, and if so, how much difference did it make?

Ian

Is that M31 on the left close to the trees?

Super image, MW arcs are one thing, but capture them with the right scenery and it all pops.

Ian

All good news David. The coffee-tin riser seems to do the business! So I guess you'd reckon the mount handles the Esprit 100 OK?

I see that you are using the ASIAir Mini. How's that working out for you?

Ian

I've just looked through the June edition of Astronomy Now, and I see this image is in PICTURE THIS. Congratulations, and well deserved.

Ian

Brilliant! There is something indefinable about the star trail image that just lifts it above the rest.

Clearly an awful lot of planning and effort has gone into this venture. Hmm, walking on mudflats - you've got to know where you are going!

Enjoyed the Journal video.

Ian

On 20/02/2022 at 21:37, gorann said:

 

Sorry, posted in error.

Ian

Nice detail and star colour. I assume that you used your fast 8" Newtonian for this.

Ian

I set up during a rare clear night opportunity this week, primarily to check on how the re-installed previous ASIAir Pr software, v1.9.1, was behaving. I wanted a target that crossed the meridian at a convenient time, and chose the Leo Triplet. This is the result.

• 47 x 2m subs (~1.6hr) broadband.
• ASKAR FRA400
• ASI 533MC
• ZWO AM5
• ASIAir Pro+
• Processed in APP, finished in Lightroom.

Ian

Ignore me @nfotis, I did mean 2", I'm getting muddled about filter sizes!

Ian