AKB

I had a very quick go and came up with this. The data are very quantised, which, perhaps, suggests that something is not quite right... ...focus looks pretty good, though. Great start. Tony.

This is the Quad-band. I know what you mean about the star colour, but, for me, the whole point of these filters with an OSC is just get away with”one shot.” Although... perhaps I need a dual rig ...?!

Thanks for the likes. In the end, of course, a mixture is probably best, with a more conventional red/blue palette (thank you SCNR!)

I'm still in the process of commissioning my latest imaging rig: Esprit 120ED ASI294MC Pro camera Avalon M-Uno with new Dual mount head I've also run across two new things recently (new for me, anyway): Altair Triband and Quad-band filters for OSC Starnet++ processing to remove stars I wanted to share the latest results from a combination of all of these. I didn't think I'd have the chance for a while, what with the weather, but, unexpectedly, I got a window last night and captured 20 x 2 minutes before the moon came up, on my benchmark target for this sort of thing, the Eastern Veil. The filter is actually a Dual band filter, but as described on Altair's site: "Quad Band - combines Sii AND Ha into a red zone, and H-beta + Oiii into a green/blue zone. (Recommended for moderate light pollution)." Here are two images: 20 x 2 minute stack with just an arcsinh stretch plus another histogram stretch after colour calibration and background removal, starless version of that image straight out of Starnet++ This is definitely the best image I have to date of the Veil. Not too shoddy for 40 minutes total. Can't wait to try adding some more time to this... (a long while, though, until I attain the sort of result here) https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/342730-eastern-and-western-veils-ngc6960-and-ngc6992 Anyway, here we are. Comments and suggestions welcomed. Tony

This type of error comes up on the forum from time to time. Fairly recent example with suggestions for solutions here: ...basic things to check include time and location settings on all machines involved. Good luck, and let us all know what you find (or if you need more help.) Tony

It works on Macs ?? 😯

That’s a tough question, although I’m surprised nobody has expressed an opinion! I see your scope is F6, but unsure of the chip size of your existing camera. For EEVA, I like to use a Starlight Xpress Lodestar X2, and Ultrastar. These are certainly sensitive, and a FOV calculator will help to assess your opinion. Whilst expensive new, it should be possible to pick up a used one of these within your budget? Tony

Yes, RGGB is correct. But in Nebulosity you don't get a menu which says that. See recent similar query and answer here: The magic X/Y pair to use for this camera is 1/1. Tony ___________________ Edit: The 'sickly blue' that shows initially after debayering can be fixed by selecting the Adjust Color Background (Offset) menu item, which aligns the histograms.

As I mentioned, you'd need something along the lines of one of each: Filter chamber – this is the body of the thing Camera-side adapter – perhaps T2/M42 or M48, or something else, depending on your camera Telescope-side adapter – whatever fits Filter slider – 2", probably Aux filter holder – 1.25" if that's the size filter you were thinking of using

You’re thinking, perhaps of the Baader UFC system... https://www.firstlightoptics.com/baader-filters/baader-ufc-universal-filter-changer-system.html Don't be deceived by the low price, you actually need a base, camera adapter, filter slider, ... to make a functional system. But it is very good.

This looks like great data. Are you just pushing too hard on contrast and saturation? Just taking your JPEG and tweaking a little gives this: ...which may not be the effect you are looking for, but the IFN features compare well with this image: Messier_81_-_82_group, which I understand was up for an APOD!

Thanks, but in fact I got a response from the NINA issues folk: https://bitbucket.org/Isbeorn/nina/issues/344/failure-during-installation-windows-10 ...which is unfortunate, since my not-so-old EAGLE 2 Windows 10 system says: Time, indeed, to check with PrimaLuce Labs.

Perhaps this one? https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/couplings/0814562/

Yes, but be very, very careful how you install it, taking great care to line up the rigid motor coupling with the fine focuser shaft. It can be tricky. This is the downside of a non-flexible connection.

I use a Sesto Senso on an Esprit 120ED, and previously on a Quattro reflector. It works well. However, I think you'll find that Crayford focus slip is not anything to do with how firmly you can hold the focus control, but all about the focuser tube slipping on the control shaft. So a motor, per se, may not help. The ultimate should be a quality rask and pinion, but that costs! Also, I recently noticed that Primaluce Labs now do an integrated motor/focuser, the Essato... https://www.primalucelab.com/astronomy/focusers/esatto-2-robotic-microfocuser.html Tony

Interesting! Some folk swear by adding a filter to the guidescope, to stop IR star bloat or mitigate seeing problems. Sometimes, even, an IR pass, although that does cut down on the available guidestars.

Hmm... Tried that and get Blocking Issues: The .NET Framework 4.7 is not supported on this operating system. This is on an Eagle 2 box running Enterprise Windows.

I really love these images. I've never tried this type of widefield myself, and always wondered how folk achieved great results. I do feel, though, that the answer must be in the processing. I grabbed your image and had a quick go... All I've done here is to create a copy, flatten the background, stretch the image in intensity and saturation, and then mix it back with the original. Being slightly more intelligent and using a mask would no doubt be a benefit (especially for the horrible glow I've made on the horizon.) Hopefully, an expert will be along and tell us really how to do this properly. Tony.

Would like to try this, but getting an error during install. I have no idea what this means: [151C:1510][2019-10-07T11:51:27]i301: Applying execute package: NetFx472Redist, action: Install, path: C:\ProgramData\Package Cache\D3A416DC5FC75758D41B4C0158ACA69270D2A904\redist\NDP472-KB4054530-x86-x64-AllOS-ENU.exe, arguments: '"C:\ProgramData\Package Cache\D3A416DC5FC75758D41B4C0158ACA69270D2A904\redist\NDP472-KB4054530-x86-x64-AllOS-ENU.exe" /q /norestart /ChainingPackage "N.I.N.A. - Nighttime Imaging 'N' Astronomy" /log "C:\Users\PRIMAL~1\AppData\Local\Temp\N.I.N.A._-_Nighttime_Imaging_'N'_Astronomy_20191007115103_002_NetFx472Redist.log.html"' [151C:1510][2019-10-07T11:53:01]e000: Error 0x800713ec: Process returned error: 0x13ec [151C:1510][2019-10-07T11:53:01]e000: Error 0x800713ec: Failed to execute EXE package. [09B8:0C08][2019-10-07T11:53:01]e000: Error 0x800713ec: Failed to configure per-machine EXE package. [09B8:0C08][2019-10-07T11:53:01]i319: Applied execute package: NetFx472Redist, result: 0x800713ec, restart: None [09B8:0C08][2019-10-07T11:53:01]e000: Error 0x800713ec: Failed to execute EXE package. Have left an error report on the NINA site, but I suspect it must be I, rather than they, who needs to fix something.

Surely, for light pollution, you meant to say: ”you just don't see many prosecutions.” 😉

I used Nebulosity a great deal to begin with, and found it a good intro to a number of imaging processes and techinques. Debayering was one of those. The interface panel is a bit odd – rather than giving you options which you might be able to look up for your camera (like RGGB, GBRG, etc.) it presents you with offsets (and the matrix.) My initial advice would be not to try and do everything all at once with the options here. The debayer process itself is fundamentally controlled by the offset and, in reality, given you've selected the RGB matrix option, you only have four X/Y options: 0-0, 0-1, 1-0, 1-1. One of these should get you into the ballpark for RGB-ness. Almost definitely the next step should be to adjust the levels to give a reasonable background – the CTRL-A shortcut to the Adjust Color Background (Offset) menu item will do this. Subsequently, you can stretch and adjust the colour balance with other options. Hope this helps, Tony.

I hate it when newcomers do a better job than I currently can... 😀 You like the 80ED? Thinking of getting one myself. Nice job! Tony

I’m currently using two ASI cameras: a 120M for guiding; a 294MC Pro for imaging. For the PHD guiding I use the native driver, and for imaging in Nebulosity I use the ASCOM one – it just does t seem to work with the native driver. With this arrangement, all seems to work quite happily. I’ve never quite understood SharpCap (does it cope with dithering?) so can’t offer any advice specifically on that. I have recently upgraded everything (ASCOM, PHD, drivers, ...) to the latest versions. Suffice to say that there are enough pieces in an imaging chain to almost guarantee that when a problem occurs it’s going to be a bit of a challenge to isolate. I would certainly start by trying another image capture software, just to see, and swapping to chosen drivers over. You don’t have a realistic alternative for guiding, IMHO. Good luck, and let us know of any progress/solutions. Tony