The Admiral

Thanks Olly. I did image the HH and surroundings some years ago, with a Fuji mirrorless camera, and was pleased with that broadband result, except it needed a lot more exposure. I now have a totally different rig and an astro camera, so I'm hoping to better do it justice. I'd want to include NGC2023 too, so it looks like a broadband approach is a priority. I'm not sure how the new rig will withstand Alnitak 🙂, but thanks for the reminder, a few short subs could be taken. It would be good to get NB to blend when the opportunity arises later. Ian

Thanks both. Logistically, doing both may be a bit difficult, given our weather here in the South, so I think I'll start off in broadband and if possible add NB later. At least that way the HH will be fully represented. Ian

The HH is rich in Ha, so it would make sense to image that with NB, but would that not be ideal for the associated Flame nebula, nor for NGC 2023 close by. Any thoughts please? I can image with a dual band filter or in white light, both with a colour camera. Ian

It's nothing new I'm afraid. Cuiv has done measurements on a range of filters and has discovered some are off the mark. See for example, https://youtu.be/VkSvpOLlD2Y and Unless suppliers do independent testing, and rejects those that are out of spec, we will all be none the wiser. Ian

I prefer to use a spirit level across the top of the tripod for levelling, as I don't find the built-in bubbles to be very sensitive. Ian

Come on, give me clue 🙂. Where am I supposed to be looking? Ian

I believe it should. If you try without, star trailing is significant and it wouldn't be able to plate solve. When I first used all-sky PA I couldn't understand why I was getting star trailing, until I realised that tracking was off. I have assumed that pointing East or West, you would not be able get a precise fix because of reduced sensitivity to fix ALT, if you see what I mean. Ian

I haven't really imaged enough with it to truly assess it, not helped by this being my first astro camera. As to format, I wonder if it's more an issue of the grass is always greener 😉. I sort of hanker after something larger, like the ASI2600 (I was using an APS DSLR before), but your full frame sensor works well with 400mm fl. To me, it's not so much the format that's an issue, just real estate 🙂. In that respect, it'd be a good match for the Samyang 135. Whatever, it's really a question of fitting the target within the frame to give a nicely balanced image, and that's certainly possible with a square sensor. Ian

Very nice Adrian. One day I'll get around to this target with the same set-up, but only with an ASI533. Ian

So what was the total time in the end? Ian

Nice one. Pleased that the all-ZWO kit is working well for you. It's nice when things just work! Ian

Thanks, yes, it must have been a trick of the light. Nice neat set up (sans cables 😉). Ian

Intrigued by what looks like a change in design of the base, much smaller than mine. Any chance of a photo in daylight please? Might just be a trick of the light. Ian

Well, I'm not in a position to go along with, or otherwise, the detail of what @powerlord says above, other that to say I agree with his conclusion, but as far as I'm concerned taking pictures of the night sky is what I want to do. I don't want laptops outside, or have to get to grips with a multitude of applications and get them all working seamlessly and harmoniously, I just want it to work. Full stop. If that's your bag, then fine, but don't assume that everyone wants to do the same. If I want to watch TV, I don't want to have to start up a host of different apps just so that I can do it. I just want to switch it on. No difference really, simplicity is the watchword. When I got my AM5 I just went for the AAP. It seemed the obvious choice as being the most likely to work together without issue and the simplest to use. I've already got ZWO cameras so no sweat really. It just works. As others have commented, it's allowed folk to just get on and image, without climbing the unnecessary and daunting hurdles before getting there. And I would class myself as one of those people. Just my two-penny worth. Ian

That's not what I'd call "offline". It's not about checking the system works, just familiarisation. Ian

Hmm, how do you do that then? I find that without an ASIAir or mount around, the app stops at the point where you need to connect. No ASIAir, no connection. So you can't even see the various screens/pages available to have a play with. Or am I missing something? Ian

Don't think that the ASIAir will be imaging straight from the get-go, like all new devices it does take a little while to become familiar with, and as there is no feature to use 'off-line', you end up wasting imaging time just finding out where things are and getting it working as you want. So then you have to check out video 'how-tos', and find that they relate to earlier versions and the screen layouts don't quite match what you have. Sound familiar? But may be that's just me being slow 😉. I've not tried NINA, but what I'm really saying is, the grass on the other side is not always bright green. I believe NINA allows you to 'play' off-line, so take advantage of that, perhaps during your long commutes. Ian

Does it cover full frame? The Sharp star blurb says APS-C https://www.sharpstar-optics.com/index.php/wap/zseries/428.html Looks pretty cool, though of course you can't judge a book by it's cover 🙂. Ian

I have also experienced this and given up. I'm using the AA+ with a ZWO AM5, but really haven't had the chance to work out why: is it the mount or me? I wasn't pointing exactly South, but a bit to the East. I have wondered whether this "crosstalk" was brought about by the mount not being level, but the opportunity to test that theory hasn't come up. I have had a problem to varying degrees aligning most times with this mount. I've also wondered about possible obscuration of the FoV from some positions of the mount rotation during the alignment process (which has occurred with the limited sky views in my garden), or also whether I am seeing a sufficient number of stars. As I say though, I haven't managed to check these things out. I too would be interested in others' views. Ian

Just to whet the appetite, this was taken at Hverir, in the Myvatn Geothermal Area, on Route 1. The thing is, it seems that wherever you look, you are confronted with experiences you've never encountered before. Ian

So sorry to hear of your plight, but if you're up to it there is so much to see in this other worldly place. It is unique. When my wife and I did a tour around Iceland (10 days total) some years ago, half of the people we spoke to said " What on earth do you want to go there for?", and other other half said "Fantastic. I'd love to go!" And how right they were too, an amazing place quite unlike anything we'd ever experienced. We did go in the middle of Summer, not in the cold of Winter though. According to the stats I read that Iceland's circumference is about 3000miles, about 2/3 that of Ireland, so it's a fair distance to cover in 9 days*. I can't add much to what has already been said, but we found Akureyri on the North coast a lovely little town. When we were there they offered whale watching trips, as does Husavik, a bit further around the coast. Might just be a Summer event though. The melted glacier flood plains between Hof and Vik, on the South coast, is a thought provoking drive. You can see remains of previous roads that had been washed away, and the planned renovations to the existing road are I believe on hold until after the next eruption, which they reckon is not far off 😀. Wherever you go, I'm sure that you will be enchanted by what you see. Ian *I have since read that Route 1 is about 820m long, so not so bad. But nevertheless, Iceland is bigger than you might think.

Very nice Göran, it looks like an old master in some ways. Ian

What scope are you using? I've got a compact arrangement so avoid those issues, but I did take the precaution of using riser blocks between scope and dovetail. Isn't it something which would haunt you on other mounts? Given the amount of torque that the mount can muster, any collision would probably cause damage to one thing or another. Unfortunately you can't set limits to the movement. Ian

Indeed that is what soft proofing is. I think what you might be seeing,though, when you change paper is really the result of changes in the paper brightness and colour. This is something that Affinity does take account of apparently. But unless the screen brightness is visually matched to the brightness of the paper under its normal viewing conditions, it cannot be relied on to give a print which isn't too dark or light. Professionals go to significant lengths to achieve this (they need it right every time), but we amateurs have to do the best we can. Just Goggle "my print is too dark" and see. Anyway, the easiest thing will be to run off a print and just check, though it might not be so obvious with astro images rather than 'real world' images. Ian

Interesting, thanks for that. I hadn't realised that access to Epson's paper profiles would not automatically be seen in the Mac. May be it happens with Windows too (?), though I don't recall printing through lightroom itself. As I'm slowly moving over to Mac, this is useful to know. Ian