wimvb

You're ever so welcome. You've pulled it off very nicely.

Interesting read. In those days, people who built private observatories didn't settle for a simple roll off roof type.

In @kens case, I believe it only installs the indi-asi-power driver, and doesn't upgrade anything.

Does that work with the asiair app?

I think it does. When Atikbase was launched I read (Atik site I think it was) that it was developed in close cooperation with Jases Mutlaq. And it uses mostly open source software (not Ekos Live, I think). Personally, I would get the RPi with Astroberry or INDI/Ekos, and a Pegasus Power box, and just strap one on top of the other. Both seem to be good at what they are designed for.

Do you mean the Atikbase? https://www.firstlightoptics.com/atik-accessories/atikbase-mini-computer-for-astrophotography-capture-control.html not the cheapest version, but at least you don’t have to start tinkering with linux and hardware.

Asiair without the app is just an overpriced raspberry pi. The asiair, if used as intended, is a great gadget afaIk. Just remember that it is sold by a company that sells astroimaging products, and they want to create an integrated imaging suite based on their products. If anyone doesn’t (want to) buy into that philosophy, the asiair may not be the right tool for them.

The main difference between asiair and an indi/ekos based solution such as stellarmate or astroberry, is that you get a one package deal with the asiair. But you’re left at the mercy of one company and what they will support. With the alternative, you may have to do some fiddling, but you have open software with a broad support and a large community. But also no guarantee for a solution if you run into problems.

You might see some slight improvement, but most likely not much. The deBayer interpolation algorithms do a good job in retaining as much detail as possible. Unless you only image planets and galaxies, of course. But for those you’d need a smaller pixel scale and much longer focal length anyway.

The pegasus powerbox and asiair are two entirely different devices. The asiair is a computer, not a bridge between your gear and the laptop. Also, it is blocked for non-zwo cameras (except dslr). If you plan to control everything through ascom from your laptop, the asiair will be useless, and you should go for a pegasus astro or just a powered usb hub

my pleasure. Thank you.

Also bad: good seeing (and excellent guiding), but the worst transparency ever. I am culling exposures for another project atm, and have so far tossed out 50 of 136 exposures due to bad transparency. The images look overexposed, have nice stars, but show no sign of my intended target. I hope that when the skies clear, we will get both seeing and transparency good enough to gather galaxy photons.

That would be an astrophotography killer

Thanks, Göran.

ngc 1275 ngc 3718 ngc 4088 ngc 4216 M94

Nebulae have their charm as well, I think. But I do like these far away islands. They put everything in perspective. I try to capture as much data as possible, so that I can avoid noise reduction during processing. That way it is easier to go deeper. But these projects take time to finish.

Me too. Thanks

This is one of the lesser known galaxy groups. Even Simbad has very limited data on the fainter objects that are visible in the image. The brightest galaxy, and the only one with notable detail, is ngc 2469, a mere 150 Mly distant. Most other galaxies are at a distance of between 370 and 390 Mly from our own Milky Way, a few as far as 600 Mly. To put these distances in some perspective, about 380 milion years ago, when light left these deep sky objects, life on earth decided it was time to leave the seas and start inhabiting dry land. Ngc 2469, right off center, is a Sbc type galaxy with a clear spiral structure, a core that consists of older stars and arms with younger stars. The galaxy has a diameter of about 31 000 ly, much smaller than the Milky Way. Ngc 2488, left off center, is an E-S0 type galaxy, which means that it falls between an elliptic and simple spiral type. This galaxy is about 370 Mly distant and about twice as large as ngc 2469 (although my data indicates that it has a halo which makes it much larger than Simbad's numbers suggest). On the other hand, the needle galaxy at the bottom of the image, ugc 4133 is 390 Mly distant and has a size of 150 000 light years, about 50% larger than our own. This galaxy forms a pair with ugc 4134, 392 Mly distant and 102 000 light years across. Data for this image was collected during a clear spell in February, with my MN190 telescope and ASI294MM camera. I took 157 L exposures and 122 RGB exposures, all 150 seconds. Total integration time just over 11 hours.

Excellent. The outer parts of ngc 2805 are very weak, so well done. Oddly enough I’ve been collecting data for this group too, lately. Clouds put my efforts on hold.

🤔 do you think our wives know each other? I get the same reaction. Although, I tried to explain the concept of flat frames.

I’ve tried this and it doesn’t work. Screws are in the way so the mounted filters won’t fit and vice versa.

Reused box from TS TS 71mm field corrected apo

Just be aware that if you buy qhy, you also decide not to use asiair, since asiair doesn’t have the necessary drivers.

"I froze my butt off for you!" Thank you! Well worth the effort, excellent image.

Thanks for the link. I get my data from simbad. It shows the redshift for galaxies. I then put that in my spreadsheet and get the distance in megaparsec and mega lightyears. astrophysics calculator.xlsx