Dazzyt66

1 hour ago, Avocette said:

To catch enough photons from M81 you will need significantly more time. With your 150 SkyMax Pro with the DSLR mounted, the actual focal length probably measures around 1900mm and the actual (measured) mirror aperture is 140mm, so the focal ratio is f13.5 or so. That means you will need about four times more exposure than what you would with an SW ED80 with its matching focal reducer/field flattener (~f6.5 510/80). I spend no less than an hour on a target like M81 and typically two hours or more with my ED80 and ASI 533MC pro.

Thanks, this does make perfect sense - I realise I will need to do more subs but just wanted an idea of how many more - I didn't want to waste several hours to no avail. very useful.

🙂

I know this isn't what you should be doing with a Mak, but I'm experimenting using Ekos atm and with my move to Ubuntu on my laptop, my HEQ5 permanently setup outside I'm really enjoying the fast setup and am trying to use what Ive got until I can afford an ED frac. So:

I'm using a Canon 1100d unmodded with my 150 pro Mak, Fl 1800. I'm using either ISO 800 or 1600 (I'd read 1600 was optimal for 1100d). I'm unguided so am limiting my exposures to around 60s to be safe (although my polar alignment using Ekos is spot on). Last night I did 40x60s lights of M81 iso1600, with bias, darks and flats. I haven't got much in the way of swirl detail at all (and I'm not expecting miracles) but do I do more subs? Change the ISO? Or just accept that this target isn't achievable? I'm also in bortle 7/8 which I guess isn't helping either? My gut feeling is I should've done more subs at iso800 rather than 1600.

I've had a decent image of the ring nebula in the past using the mak and Canon (just using a camera remote), so I know some DSOs are possible - I just don't want to waste precious clear nights trying to do the impossible! I would like to get a nice image of a whirlpool though!

Oh, and as you can probably tell, I know nowt about photography in general so its all a learning curve atm! 😂

Any help much appreciated!

For me, my ultimate grab and go is my ST80. It’s light (mine travels all over with me - when we can do that again!), no cool down required, fits on pretty much any tripod (I’ve got a lightweight aluminium camera tripod I travel with), they even come with a small desktop eq1 which can be motorised and it’s field of view makes it easy to move around the sky (although I do use a red dot with it too). If you are only doing visual this works well on moon, planets and DSO - and you can spend your remaining £850 on accessories 😀 

Of course, with your budget you could also go for a bigger ST (102 or 120) or the ED80 and still have plenty of change from your £1000 although you’d probably need a more substantial tripod with those.

HTH

24 minutes ago, Dazzyt66 said:

Sounds good! I'm just looking into Python myself in case I decide to do some stuff of my own. Next on my agenda is to build my own auto focuser using the RPI stepper HAT (which means I wont need to go outside at all) - it seems pretty straightforward apart from the fact I want to use it on my MAK 150 - which may take a bit of thinking about from a purely engineering perspective! 🤔

To get back to the original purpose of this thread, my move to Linux Ubuntu has been pretty painless. Works fine with my RPI Astroberry setup which I had working on my Mac previously. For processing I have Siril and Gimp. Planetarium is Kstars (as I only use it for navigation) with Stellarium also running if I want to do more. I also use SkySafari running with Indi/Kstars if I want. I haven’t gone down the route of expensive processing package purchases because, quite honestly, I do the imaging for fun rather than trying to create a masterpiece 😊. Hope this helps any newbies looking to do same and bringing the thread up to date 😊

So, the total cost for this solution is minimal (in Astro terms) even with the hardware and the eqmod cable - and now I’m comfortably using Astroberry I’ll be making a contribution to that too 😊

4 minutes ago, discardedastro said:

Yep - I normally just have KStars sat on the graph view so I can keep an eye on things. Once I've finished writing this Rust INDI lib I'm hacking away at (or give up and fix some of the pure-Python ones) I do want to hook up a watchdog program that can alert me if imaging or the mount stops - I've had one too many kstars crashes on overnight imaging sessions!

Sounds good! I'm just looking into Python myself in case I decide to do some stuff of my own. Next on my agenda is to build my own auto focuser using the RPI stepper HAT (which means I wont need to go outside at all) - it seems pretty straightforward apart from the fact I want to use it on my MAK 150 - which may take a bit of thinking about from a purely engineering perspective! 🤔

2 minutes ago, discardedastro said:

Quite likely, yep. For what it's worth I use KStars on a Pi remotely via VNC and it's plenty quick enough in my experience (I actually run VNC'd into a Pi4 sat in the house which is running KStars, with INDI running on another Pi4 which is strapped to the back of the telescope). This is with everything wired through a good 1Gbps network, though!

I'm pretty sure that is the case from watching a couple of tutorials. It doesn't matter to me really as VNC is plenty quick enough even over the wifi - I only want to plate-solve and then start imaging - its not like I'm stacking live or anything - so once the captures are underway I can just leave it going. Its easy enough the next day to move the captures over through wifi even if it does take a bit longer than wired. Suits me fine and I'm loving it all! 😀

13 minutes ago, discardedastro said:

You should be able to set this up on the imaging sequence by selecting upload to remote only and inputting the path there or in the camera settings under the Options tab, at least on recent-ish KStars. If you've got a reasonably fast (wired) network then you'll likely find it doesn't win you that much performance - I think KStars will still pull the image down from the remote end in order to show it and do any analysis (e.g. HFR for automatic focus triggers), so saving it locally isn't a big overhead.

Yeah, I'm not sure why I'm having a problem, but it occurred to me that even if I save it only on the rpi the FITS image viewer is still gonna get the feed over the connection - which in my case is wifi - so I think having Kstars on the laptop is not going to make any difference (in fact its probably slower) than just using VNC...

10 minutes ago, Stu Todd said:

All good with the Pi4 Dazzy?

I always use Linux and it works great. I don't do the remote stuff though. I'm the berk sat with the laptop watching what's happening for 50 minutes lol

Yeah, its all good! Captured some test images of M81 and M82 the other night no problem - all from the comfort of my kitchen!

4 minutes ago, Stu Todd said:

If you are going Kstars, Linux on your new cheap laptop, go hard. Full BIOS to your Ubuntu / Mint "distro of choice".

Every distro has a "try now" version over Windoze, just accept the full linux version

Happy Days bro

 

Already there fella! Full Ubuntu overwrite. No regrets at all! 😀

22 minutes ago, Stu Todd said:

A worthy "necro thread" revival Dazzy!

I really don't know how people get confused by installing Ubuntu - Kstars etc.

Just have a cheap laptop without Windoze, plus the foresight to have a non windoze environment. 

Linux isn't very different, just less complex!  INDI and KStrars had me 3" Dec and 0.1" RA off PA, no issues, no downloads. 

Indeed! I am finding it quite easy to use! I easily use Kstars/Ekos using the built in VNC 'Reminna' or via firefox no probs, so its all good there. And its really fast!

I am struggling to get kstars to work 'locally' on the laptop but with  indi/ekos remotely on the RPI (astroberry) - I can get them to work the mount and navigate fine (so I must've set it up OK), but I want to just capture images only on the rpi  for speed (and then move them later for processing), but for some reason I'm struggling with this - it always wants to find a folder on the laptop not the rpi and wont let me direct to a folder on the rpi - so I guess I'll need to do some youtubing over the next day or so. 👍

On 02/02/2019 at 14:57, RadekK said:

Welcome all fans of open source astronomy! I have just joined the forum and I'm hoping to bring some valuable input to discussions on linux, raspberry and similar topics.

Clear skies!

Radek Kaczorek
Astroberry Server | NEQ6 | Atik 460EX | Atik EFW2 | ASI 120MM

It may have taken me a while (and I know this thread is a few years old) but having acquired a 2nd laptop solely for Astro I have now installed Ubuntu and am looking forward to integrating it all with my RPI Astroberry setup which I currently use with my MacBook! Hoping that I can do all things Astro on this dedicated laptop 😊🤞

I had an issue with the Synscan app moving mount in wrong direction - I had to reset it. It’s in the alignment menu. Put your mount in home position, go to alignment in the app and hit reset alignment, but I think you said that was greyed out - so I guess it’s not that? I am assuming that your gps is all correct at this point (I never had a problem with the app doing that correctly but it is worth checking) and that you have the app set to EQ mode rather than Alt Az? If you were using it with your other mount you should have changed this?

HTH 😊

Gotta say, I'm totally enjoying a more permanent set-up in the garden now. The other night I managed to use Kstars and Ekos for the first time with my ST80 on HEQ5 - used focus module and then checked PA and then decided to do some initial captures of M81. This was 20 x 30s with bias darks and flats (20 of each). My first real attempt at doing a 'proper' image. Processed in Siril and final touches in Gimp. I gotta say, I am more than happy with this from the ST80 under Bortle 8 skies. Yeah, its a bit rough, but I wanted to just see if I could get it all working OK. I'm so buzzed! Gonna go for more images with my Mak, hopefully tonight and then probably have to work harder at my processing! 😀

It works!!!

Had a few clear night hours through the week to assist me getting it all set up. Last night was pretty clear all night so tried it out properly. To summarise:

RPI 4 (2gb) running Astroberry 

Heq5 mount connected via my new eqomod cable (thanks flo!!)

Canon 1100d unmodded 

for last night I was using my ST80.

It all worked a charm! After start up I got a rough focus through the camera viewfinder and then plate solved vega (offline as I’d downloaded the necessary files in the week) then using the focus in Ekos I got everything set up as good as I would get with the ST80 (manual focus). Back to Polaris to check PA - set that up perfectly using the PA tool in Ekos. 

Then, just to check it was all working I plate solved and imaged M42, M31 and M81. All taken with 10 x 30s lights and darks (I did flats and bias in the week).

I know I’ve got something cos I saw the stretched images were dead centre, so some processing in Siril and Gimp will show me.

All this done wirelessly from my kitchen on my Mac! Superb!!!

😊😊😊

11 hours ago, noah4x4 said:

there are so many variables. But the important thing is to plan remote control rigs holistically, be they cable or wireless connected.  If not it is easy to underestimate

On 24/03/2021 at 21:14, Dazzyt66 said:

You and me both 🤞 although my plan has changed from usb cable to raspberry pi 4 and Astroberry - been Kstars etc all week and it’s great and doing same as apt so getting the pi next week 😊

The plan has defo changed to RPI 4 running Astroberry. No cables required as I’ve linked it all through WiFi and running the software on the RPI so no transfer issues from where the Mount is located. Got an eqmod cable on the way from flo so I won’t need my SynScan app and iPhone and can do it all from my Mac! Lovely jubbly!

On 31/03/2021 at 08:04, astrosathya said:

Background: I flashed a 32GB SD card 1.5 years ago and installed it in my Pi3B. From day 1, the Astroberry was visible as a Wifi Network and I was able to connect to it using my laptop and mobile phone. I have never connected the astroberry to the home wifi.

Yesterday: After a gap of 1.5 years i tried booting it up again and its not visible as a wifi network anymore either in my laptop or my phone. I connected it to my HDTV via HDMI and it works just fine. 

Question: How do i make it work as a wifi network so that i can use it through my laptop wirelessly? I have contacted Radek too, but just in case someone else can give me an answer.

TIA

Do you have a usb keyboard or mouse? If you can see it on the TV you would be able to work the pi with either of those and check that hotspot is enabled? Also, maybe the hotspot is hidden for some reason so try putting in the id and password on a new connection id = astroberry and pw = astroberry?

I don’t think there’s any criticism needed! I’d run naked round Donny if I managed an image like that! 😂💖

24 minutes ago, wimvb said:

+1 for letting someone else process your data. And you can also process other's data. Eg, the IKI observatory data that is published here on sgl. This gives you the opportunity to compare your results to others.

This is good advice. The best thing I did to learn was use other people’s raw data. There’s quite a few available nowadays. You know that there is something of quality there so you can get to grip with whatever packages you like until you have your own methods worked out. I started with DSS, Registax and Gimp (as I want to do it as cheaply as possible 😊). I tried Startools but couldn’t get to grips with it - although it seems very good. I’m now moving to just Siril and Gimp as I’m on a Mac now and taking the same approach - get some raw data and then watch YouTube tutorials on the packages until I find a workflow that I can cope with 😂

You can’t beat at Skywatcher ST80 for portability and it will go on a camera tripod. Mines been all over the world with me in my hand luggage (with a mini camera tripod) and the best view I’ve ever had of Saturn was off a balcony in Morocco! 😊
 

and I think complete with the travel bag and eq1 they retail around £110 - bargain!

I just use a Halfords power pack - they have jump leads with them (which I don’t use) but the one I have has 2 x 12v on front along with a lamp and 300w 240v on the reverse. I think it cost around £50 and I’ve had it for about 5 years with no problems at all with just powering the HEQ5 mount etc. I’ve even used it to power our camping fridge!

42 minutes ago, Avocette said:

The BIG advantage of running everything on the RPi4 is that you only monitor and control the actions from your Mac or PC. This means that at any moment if the WiFi link goes down (it does occasionally happen) the RPi4 carries on regardless, carrying out the jobs it has in its list, and you can just reset the Mac or PC and you’re back connected. In my case I run two astro systems a few metres apart. I have modified the astroberry hotspot SSID names to be able to distinguish between them (AstroberryBlue and AstroberryRed). I set each one up - Polar Align, Focus on a bright star, move to target, ‘capture and solve’ with slew to target to get precisely lined up, and then a test image or two before committing to an hour or two of captures for each kit in turn. Then I monitor from indoors, hopping back and forwards between each WiFi network from time to time to see how things are going. If I feel like doing a bit of live stacking, I use VNC Viewer File Transfer to download some image files from the RPis and run ‘live stacking from folder’ in Sharpcap Pro on my laptop.

I used to do this a lot six months ago because I was running KStars by default in ‘reduced resources mode’ which meant my images were not debayered. However I learnt that an RPi4 is perfectly powerful enough to do the debayering as well and the Fits Viewer auto stretch is much improved these days, so I get a good idea of the incoming images directly without further processing on the laptop.

That’s really useful info! Thanks! 😊

8 hours ago, BCN_Sean said:

Ah man, there's always something to temper it!   I've one permanently connected to a HDMI switch to the side of my monitor, just so much easier to couple it and flick a switch out than fishing round the back of the screen to unplug (and as I've seen smoked graphics cards because of that as well, a switch is definitely a worthwhile security blanket).

As for the WiFi, my Astro is in a bit of a heavier duty radiator case than a FLIRC, and I've not found any issues with it so far.

I’ve just been using vpn/browser access to set it all up via my Mac. Just a dry run with Ekos left to do (I’m going to use it in client/server mode so I do all the big stuff on the Mac) and then  I just need a clear night to try it out...

1 hour ago, rickwayne said:

If you think you might someday put together an autofocuser, the Waveshare Motor HAT board serves as a 12V power converter. It also has two stepper-motor outputs, and there's an INDI driver for autofocusing. 5.5x1.2mm barrel connector, pretty standard in the astro world. My autofocus setup is well under US$100; after the HAT, I needed a stepper motor, a pulley, a toothed drive belt, and a bracket to hold the motor, which I built out of some scrap steel.

Yeah, I am considering that as I do want to do an AF at some point. Thanks for the tip 😊

59 minutes ago, fozzybear said:

mine live in a flirc case and run at low temp  wifi ok as well, some people have commented about low signal but i suppose it depends on your wifi router AP are you powering your Rpi from a genuine PSU or using a buck convertor? if the first make sure it is a genuine PSU as some 3rd party one's don't provide enough power once you get kit connected to it or use a powered hub

Actually I was planning to use a buck converter but for now I’m using a lithium power bank rated at 3.5 amps - seems ok so far. I didn’t know if a buck converter would be good enough as they are pretty cheap - I do eventually want to run it from my 12v power tank which I also use for the mount. I didn’t think a straight cigarette 12v to usb (above 3a obvs) would be good enough either?

2 minutes ago, fozzybear said:

yes @RadekK disabled the Pi account in his build by default. But if i was you i would want to change the PW anyway as you never know for the Astroberry account just peace of mind 

Yeah, that was my thinking too - I never would leave a PW as default 😊