teoria_del_big_bang

Fantastic mosaic, and +1 for the more natural image with stars Steve

well worth the wait 🙂 Steve

Ah glad it is sorted and sounds pretty much like what I thought was happening as I thought plate solving outside the sequencer would not know which frame to centre on. All's well that ends well I suppose and you live and learn and all that 🙂 Steve

Agree it is a great rendition. so many, including mine, look very generic but that has something different about it, well done 🙂 Steve

Must admit I am a bit stumped. Unless something has changed in NINA, unfortunately weather here still not good enough to get out and give it a try otherwise I would be trying it myself for real. Have you got any responses on Discord ? Steve

I hope the mount hub route helps then. Maybe then if it is just one cable it is not stiff enough to make a nice loop and having two or 3 clumped together might be better, Like I say I am lucky and I removed the hub and polarscope rom my IOptron mount so I could pass the two cables right through the middle of the mount, but on my HEQ5 where I did have a few cables I had this loop and so long as I secured one end of the loop to the scope, or saddle of the mount, and the other to the non moving part of the mount, making the loop no bigger than it needed to then the scope could slew to wherever possible and the loop would keep the cables away from anything moving, easier said than done I know and I have seen a lot of threads about cable management due to similar issues you are having. I think one main thing that helped is making the loop start towards the camera end of the scope set up, not hanging down from the middle of the scope itself where the UPB is likely to be mounted but secure the cable(s) so the scope and imaging train (making sure the focusser can move the drawtube in and out, that in itself seems to keep the loop clear of anything it could catch on. Also my scopes are not the size yours is which may not help. Steve

Actually my workflow if doing a mosaic would probably be as follows: pick the target slew to target and track, probably it would guide at that point as well automatically. I might then play about with framing assistant to see how many frames I need and what rotation I would want on the camera but after getting an idea of what I want just go back to one frame for now. At this stage I would just centre on the main nebula, galaxy etc and run auto focus. I might also run a platesolve just to check it all works, just on the single frame. I would rotate camera if I need to, I have a rotator connected to NINA so platesolving on the single frame does the rotation automatically Then use the framing assistant to set the frames for a mosaic and position them where I want them with sufficient overlap. Send the frames to the simple sequencer. Set my imaging required, check all checkboxes in the sequencer I require as in previous post and press run sequence. Steve

Okay I think I am understanding a bit more. So did you do the plate solving before running or passing the frames to the simple sequencer, i.e. use the imaging page to plate solve ? If so and you used the plate solving in the imaging tab I am not sure where it would platesolve to because you have 2 frames and I am not convinced NINA is setup to always assume it is frame 1 you want to centre on so it may well pick a spot in the middle of both frames, or maybe even just use the centre of the original image. It would need to be asked on Discord what the action of NINA would be in that case. What I would do if doing a mosaic is just pass the two frames across to the simple sequencer, where you have previously said that all seems to work correctly and you end up with 2 tabs on the sequencer page for frame 1 and frame 2, then set up your required images, exposures, filters, dither etc, then make sure that in both frame table you select centre and slew checkboxes along with any other things you require such as focussing and just set the sequencer running. I am sure it will work, there is no need to platesolve outside the sequencer. Now I am not 100% about all this but I would say 90% sure as I have used it, albeit not too frequently, and it just works. Steve

Very much same opinion as @geeklee, I prefer the SHO version but if allowed I would submit both as the HOO is a bit more unusual . Steve

That was my point and what I did not totally understand about the OPs setup. Mime is like that , except I have 2 cables as my PC is mounted on the pier / tripod not with the scope so it has one USB 3 cable 2M long (or 3 M not sure now) . I also do not route my mount USB and 12V through the UPB otherwise with the UPB mounted on the scope this adds 2 more cables that have to be in a loop to allow movement. These cables come direct from my PC mounted on the pier / tripod as they then do not have to move. Good luck @StuartT with trying the mounts hub. Steve

If slew and centre are checked in the sequencer then the mount doesn't come into the equation because NINA would just use platesolve and correct the mount position to set the camera in the correct position (unless platesolving fails bit then the sequence should fail and stop). regardless of where the mount thinks it is. Well that's how I perceive it should work Steve

I am still a bit confused, when is the plate solving putting the frame in the wrong position ? IF you frame the image with the framing wizard (just 1 frame not a mosaic), moving the frame to where you want it, and you then send this to the sequencer, I understand that that so far looks correct and you have it in the sequencer (for now let's say using the simple sequencer) and that the coordinates look right - is my understanding correct so far ? Do you then rotate the camera to make it somewhere near same rotation as the frame , or just want the centre of the frame to be in correct position and not bother with the angle of the final image ? So if then you make sure slew + centre are checked in the sequencer and then set the sequencer running (after adding the frames required) does it work correctly and take the images with the centre of the image in the same place as the centre of where you framed it OR does it still take the images in the wrong position with some offset ? So that is not doing any plate solving in the imaging tab, maybe just doing focus to ensure focus is correct before just letting the sequencer go. I just can't see it not working if it has the correct coordinates in the sequencer., so many people use it and do not report any issues. Steve

Another thought is that to the best of my knowledge Nebulosity is no longer supported (correct me if I am wrong) and so it may well be that as @scotty38 suggests any new drivers released may not work with it. Steve

If I had this issue my first step would be to see if the camera is working correctly and so would plug the USB cable from the camera directly to my laptop and install the software supplied by camera manufacturer, Also use a good quality USB cable 3M or less in length (at least this length for initial tests). ZWO ASI Software Then run software, connect the camera in the software and check everything works as it should, including the cooling (need the 12V connecting to use the cooler). Take some images and see if it works okay. For the above you can do that even if camera is not on your scope and during the day. But you will need to attach to scope to take some images, you should then using live view be able to focus the scope, if in daytime could be on some distant object such as some trees in the distance. Basically if you can do that it is not the camera that is an issue. If you can get to prove the camera is working fine (and if it is a new camera chances are it will be ok) then I would be tempted to try the same setup at night and get scope focussed on the stars and try to take some short exposure images just of stars. 10 to 20 seconds should be fine to get images that you can stretch to see all the stars. Again this gives you confidence the camera, and USB cable are working correct. If any problems with any of the above try different USB cables and even a different USB port on laptop. Then I would use your usual capture software and routine but still keep the camera connected directly to laptop with same cable, so the only change is the software that you are using to capture the images and go from there. I do not know what your normal setup is like, USB cable lengths, USB hubs, capture software and routine to capture images etc so as @Craig a says difficult to give further advice but start simple using ZWO software, short (ish) USB cable and if you get it working change things in small steps bit by bit and see where it all goes wrong. Steve

What about downloading some other more popular software to test, such as NINA or APT ? Or maybe first go back to using the native QHY driver and try that with Nebulosity ? Steve

Ha Ha, I was very similar, Vic 20, then C64 and then the Amstrad 128 and I made an extender card with more memory to give me a massive 256 Kb. Steve

I too often struggle with DBE, sometimes I can get it to work a treat yet on other images I struggle. One thing I would do before DBE is crop the original to get rid of the artefacts due to stacking around the edges. This is the original with an auto stretch. Sometimes I get better results (or maybe I just find it easier) using ABE instead, just try ABE even using default parameters works reasonably well on your image, once using Division and then again using Subtraction. This is how it comes out: Could be better but it is better than original I have quickly tried with DBE and not been able to give it much effort as I am busy at moment but this is how I did applying DBE 3 times: Some areas of that better than the ABE version and some not as good but I think if you spend a bit of time carefully placing the boxes and maybe applying DBE a few times you will get there. If nobody else shows us bth how its done by tonight I mat give it another go when I have finished my jobs for the day 🙂 Sometimes I find it easier if you do a boosted auto stretch on the original shows you where to place the boxes a bit easier (click the radioactive button whilst holding shift down). Steve

Can you attach the stacked unstretched image ? Have you calibrated the subs with darks, flats etc ? If you have PI why are you not calibrating and stacking in PI ? Steve

I think that's more like I would do it, maybe I would import form Stellarium or use another image or sky atlas. What I was trying to iterate is to let the sequencer do the slewing and plate solving rather than going to the imaging tab and platesolving from there. Now it maybe that the OP has done that process of plate solving in the imaging tab before and it worked and now it does not, now that maybe something that has changed in NINA. I cannot comment on that as not something I have ever tried to do, personally I just would not know where the plate solving would take its coordinates from to platesolve, and so never tried. But, also there is no real need to do that if it is all set up in the sequencing so long as you select slew and centre in each of the mosaic rames in the sequencer (and rotate if you have a rotator) then that just works. Steve

Me too, especially after looking at it in NINA yesterday. I hope I can do anywhere near as good as this image, it is a great image and seamless. What overlap between the panels did you use ? Steve

I have just plugged everything in and I am not on latest NINA but on version 2.0 HF2 Beta013 but wants to update/ However I also do not have the recentre image button, and maybe it is not required anymore because the coordinates move as the panels are moved about and so when you send the panels of the mosaic to the sequencer the correct coordinates for the shifted panels are sent to the sequencer and so long as slew and centre are ticked in the sequencer (for each mosaic panel) it should work. What is meant to happen in NINA if you elect to do a platesolve then in the imaging tab and not use the sequencer I cannot comment as I have never tried but not sure where it would take its coordinates from and I cannot try it till a clear night. I guess asking on Discord maybe the best way to go but please update this thread with anything you find. Steve

I cant image anything as too cloudy but I can power up my rig and see what I am on. I think this is maybe getting beyond me as I have not really done much at all regarding mosaics but I think when I did it I didn't really do much regarding plate solving whilst in framing assistant and just used it to set the frames I wanted, then (without slewing and centring at that stage) I just sent them to the sequencer and made sure that slew to target and centre were enabled in each of the panels I had elected to use in the sequencer and it just worked when I started the sequencer so it did all the plate solving in the sequencer. But again when initially setting the panels in the framing assistant I am sure I had to click recentre image before sending to sequencer (but I could be wrong). But it is not only mosaics the OP is having issues with so it almost looks like it is the fact he cannot hit recentre image. Steve

Me neither so probably have an update to do, what version are you on ? Steve

Mmmm must admit I thought you had to click recentre image after moving the frame but can't remember for sure now. So is that by adding slew and centre to the sequencer ? Steve

So after this was set in framing wizard what did you do next, send to sequencer or hit slew and recentre ? And how and when did you rotate the camera to get it to be correct rotation to the framing wizard ?