wimvb

I believe that profiles and such are kept in a small sql database, which can be edited. If you feel like it... Personally I wouldn't bother, and keep the simulators to test new configurations and for troubleshooting.

And a very nice outcome it is.

Of the three options given, #3 any time of day. PS will cost more in the end (you may also need to buy add-ons). GIMP is best bang for buck, but you'll end up because it lacks essential features. Depending on your requirements, of course. PI has all you need, although some things are easier in PS. In all honesty, download the free evaluation versions and test them. Most apps will allow this. Then go for the one you like best and can afford. Consider Astro Pixel Processor and StarTools as well.

... Especially the fov calculator. You will find that the 178 has a small chip and tiny pixels. The light, even from stars, that hit the sensor, will be smeared out over many pixels. Less light per pixel means more noise (lower signal to noise ratio actually). You will almost certainly need to bin those pixels or resample the image. Unless you can image from a high mountain top or a desert, it's better to go for a camera with larger pixels, so you get in the range 0.8 ... 1.2 arcsecs/pixel for galaxies, and maybe even higher for nebulae. For nebulae, you also need a shorter focal length, to get a larger field of view. The alternative is to pair the 178 with a shorter focal length, even for galaxies. But that will make a big dent in your bank account.

Indeed. And that's why the mount is so important, especially with long fl, large aperture reflectors.

https://indilib.org/forum/ekos/2602-simulator-profiles-not-removable.html May be of interest. I don't know the background for this decision. Maybe Ekos needs a profile present at first startup. But you can create a profile that is not called "simulator", and edit that. Eg, "myTestProfile". Just populate that with simulator drivers. It's also possible to mix "real" hardware drivers with simulator drivers for test purposes.

I thought this thread was "Show us your set up in action AT NIGHT".

I haven't measured it yet, but the nights are definitely brighter than mag 18. Only 7 degrees further north, one can enjoy the midnight sun. Except for the summer triangle, there are basically no stars visible, and my scopes lack the focal length for any serious planetary imaging. I tried on Jupiter with my 150pds a few years ago. Never tried solar imaging, though. Up here, summer belongs to mosquitoes and barbeque.

Very nice image & write up. On my screen the background looks a tad green. But that should be easy to fix.

Nice setup, but as @MarkAR noted, the ball head may be a potential cause of flexure. There's only one way to find out: test it. If your imaging scale is high/coarse enough, this may not be an issue.

One more parameter to calculate in: number of subs. At high gain, you lose dynamic range. In order to increase this, you need more subs. Can your computer handle this? With my ASI174MM-Cool, I use low gain (20), low offset (10) and still take more than 100 x 2 mins L-exposures. I also keep gain and temperature constant for all filters (except Ha, which I rarely use). This makes maintaining a dark library much easier.

The polar alignment method used by SharpCap (and Astrotortilla?) needs about 1 degree fov to work reliably. Depending on your guide scope/camera combo, that may be an issue. But you can also use your imaging scope/camera to polar align. PHD also has various polar alignment routines that may be of use.

The simulator profile can not be deleted in Ekos, because it is used for development purposes. "It's a feature, not a bug."

I have only used INDI and Ekos/Kstars. I started with INDI on a raspberry pi, installed from scratch, this was pre-StellarMate. Ran Ekos on my windows laptop. But I found that my wifi wasn't up to the task as I kept losing connections. I upgraded to a Rock64 which had usb3 before the Pi, and ran Ekos/Kstars off that. I believe I was the first person to use a Linux/Rock64 as data capture computer, because I had to ask Patrick Chevalley to fork the Linux version of phd to arm64, and there was no mention of one on any astronomy forums. There were also a lot of bugs in the Rock version of ubuntu. Eventually I ironed out most of the wrinkles with the help of members from the INDI forum. Now I have gone from Ubuntu/mate to Armbian, and replaced the sd card with an emmc module. This has resulted in a substantial increase in speed and stability. I still use windows remote desktop to connect to the sbc, but once I have everything up and running, I can disconnect and use my laptop for other stuff. This winter/spring I have experimented with the scheduler module in Ekos, in order to increase the level of automation. Atm only focusing is not automated, because the mechanical connection between the Pegasus focuscube and the sw focuser keeps slipping. This will be an easy fix during summer recess.

Probably good as a guide cam, but because of the Bayer matrix, not ideal.