teoria_del_big_bang

1 hour ago, Elp said:

All valid points herein. Based on the equipment you already have a star tracker makes the most sense.

BUT, speaking from experience (as a lot of other people here also do), I have been where you are. I started with a standard digital compact camera with built in lens and a photo tripod. Then the approximate upgrade tree over a few years goes like follows:

1. Star tracker,

2. Telescope grade mount + tripod (EQ3-2 and steel tripod),

3. Motor drives for the EQ3-2,

4. AZGTI,

5. Heavier duty EQ mount + separate tripod,

 

And so on. Now comments as follows:

1. I could now track the stars great, but polar alignment was annoying, finding and framing targets even more so - sold when I got 4.

2. Excellently sturdy, used it once or twice, similar issues to point 1 - sold when I got 4.

3. Never used it in the field - sold when I got 4, do you see a pattern here?

4. Transformed my visual and imaging, it's so good I still use it as my main imaging mount in full autoguided EQ mode (added expense), it is more portable than any other equivalent options out there.

5. Use usually as a second setup, or if it's windy as it's more stable. It is also more future proof than 4 as can carry more payload. 4 is quicker to setup however and easier to take off site as it all fits into one (heavy) bag.

 

So where does this leave you. I suggest you have a long hard think. If you have any astronomy meets locally, I'd suggest you go and see what other people are using, you'll get an immediate reality check with regard to size and costs of setups and speak to those directly whom use it and see their results. Another point to add is most of this is useless if you can't post process your images on computer, around 60-70pc of the total effort I'd say in getting a presentable image is after you've acquired the data, you could argue that if the data is poor so will be the end result, it's true but excellent data and little to no post processing will also present a poor result.

I've done a quick cost exercise online for all the equipment needed for an az-gti setup and the breakdown is appoximately as follows:

AZGTI, plus extension pillar (not needed for a DSLR setup but useful when using scopes), plus tripod (tripod may need replacing at some point) = £345,

EQ Dir cable (needed for the azgti to communicate with a computer controller) = £35,

William Optics EQ wedge = £239 (I have personally owned around 4 different EQ wedges and this is the best relatively affordable one no question),

ASI Air mini = £228,

120MM mini guidecam = £163,

30mm guidescope = £55,

Around a £100 provision for hardware, dovetails, cables etc = £100,

A portable 12v battery = £100,

A DIY counterweight solution = £15 for materials.

Total = £1280 so over budget.

 

Many of us will have bought used, most of mine is. The above you could likely save 30-40% if you're patient (and you need to be patient) and look at all sorts of sources.

An equivalent of the AZGTI is the newer Skywatcher GTI, so you won't need an additional equatorial wedge as in the above.

On AS's website based on the links you've presented the mount which sticks out to me around your budget is the HEQ5 at £1190, again over budget, not portable but it'll last you many years if you're in it for the long term (no extra stuff as detailed above but you can use the in built tracking). THIS ALSO NEEDS TO BE CONSIDERED: whether you'll be doing it for years. This is my round about point going through all this, the other point being to do it well it's not cheap. If you KNOW you'll be doing this for years, consider your upgrade path carefully. Most of us will have bought and sold many times over to get to setups that we "think" are finalised, but in reality there's always the next "upgrade" in sight.

A star tracker will do for now, but I'm telling you it will be replaced long term. Another starter option for you may be the newer cheaper EAA scopes, Dwarflabs Dwarf 2 or ZWO's Seestar, minimal fuss and if you don't like them, relatively easy to sell on.

Wow, some fantastic advice there and I really think very valid for so many who have gone on this same journey. Really good of you @Elp to give such a well thought out reply.
Also may not be exacty what you want to hear.
It is never easy to give advice of what to buy for AP on a tight budget because whilst many great imagers can get good images with what many others consider sub standard equipment (and that includes processing software) there is no doubt that it does make the job harder.
Also what it can tend to do (as Elp says) is that having a tight budget usually, over the years, causes you to spend more as you are forever striving to improve your equipment, but then non of us want to wait till we have the cash to buy the best.

But for what it is worth for me if I was to go back to when I started and I too had a tight budget and already had a DSLR then knowing what I do now (no great experience but I also think I am no novice anymore) I would still be tempted to go the Star Tracker ? Ioptron SkyGuider Pro or the Star Adventurer route for now as mentioned earlier. I think one of these is a big step foreward for you, will allow much longer exposures than you can manage currently, and for me would be a mount worth keeping for future use even after saving up and getting a heavier HEQ5 size mount that allows a decent payload for imaging. Personally I would still use a tracking mount for wideangle stuff maybe as a grab and go lightweight mount to take on travels or remote venues, maybe with dedicated astro camera and lense or small scope (when money allows).

But as said think carefully, it is not easy, and also not easy to send you in the right direction for you for any of us.
I do though wish you well on your journey and if AP is for you then you will get there (in time 🙂 )

Steve

Great image but please correct me if I am wrong but this is the cresent nebula isn't it ?  (NGC 6888) or it looks like it.
To me I thought  IC443 was the jellyfish nebula.

Or is it called different names by different people as I guess they are not official names ?
 

Steve

On 10/06/2023 at 10:42, DaveS said:

The OP should take very much note of what Carole has to say, she's been doing AP for longer than most here, including with DSLRs and her images have won awards on other fora.

I can only reenforce that comment. Carole has taken many great images, and without a lot of the bells and whistles, so for sure knows what whe is talking about. I had some exceptional advice from her when I first started and will be forever grateful (she saved me a lot of wasted cash 🙂 , which for a Yorkshire man is top priority)

Steve

4 hours ago, dk101 said:

good USB cables are a must. Lindy Anthra ones work for me (and they have them in short lengths) and i would recommend them. Before i had these, i would occasionally get data dropouts etc which were annoying.

Exactly the same in my early experience and also use the Lindy Anthra cables whereever I can, I especialy love the short 0.5 ones when they are enough to reach the Pegasus, keeps everything neat and also better for any signals.

Steve

55 minutes ago, Adam J said:

Almost certainly a fan failure, happens quite often, take the back plate off, note the fan model and order a replacement. 

Adam 

Is that specific to Altair or are all astro cameras prone to this failiure ?

Steve

I am not sure about Altair cameras but I am sure that usually the 12V supply is only required for the cooling and the actual operation of the imaging the power is through the USB connection. So I agree with @Ratlet that the 12V supply should be your first thing to look at and make sure it has sufficient capacity for the cooling (usually requires about 2 to 3 A for most cameras).  After that if the fan is not comming on then something is amiss and personally I would contact Altair and maybe look at sending the camera to them.ven if the camera is out of warranty, or you bought 2nd hand they will be your best port of call.

Steve

On 07/04/2023 at 11:53, EchoTango said:

Do you know if the bearings in the NEQ6 are the same as in the EQ6?

Do you think this set will fit the  EQ6?

https://www.bearings-online.co.uk/browse/q-eq6

Hi sorry for delay in reply i have been away working in China and they block so many western websites its not aways possible to log onto SGL.

Anyway because I have ony ever had a HEQ5  I would not like to suggest what size bearing to get for a NEQ6 or EQ6.

I would think if they advertise the set for an EQ6 then they should be the correct bearings, but at £82 without VAT they seem expensive. I bought good quality bearings direct from an on line bearing supplier and I am sure were around the £50 mark including VAT for the lot. Admittedy probably 5 years ago now, and things have gone up a lot in the last year or two so maybe not an outragous price. But at that price it may be worth stripping it down to look at the bearings first, I ordered all the bearings first and when it came to it to be honnest the only ones I really needed to replace were the small ones on the ends of the worm gear shaft, they did need changing bit all the others were absolutely fine, so I just wasted about 40 of that £50.

Sorry I cant help an more than that.

Steve

Welcome Neighbour to SGL 🙂 

Steve

2 hours ago, Starflyer said:

Good afternoon

I'm after some advice on mode, gain and offset.  I've had my QHY 268M for about a year now and shoot only 10 minute narrowband subs, mode 1, gain 56, offset 30 from my Bortle 6 garden, which works well for me.

I'll shortly be heading off to darker skies (Bortle 2) for a long weekend and want to try and image some galaxies in LRGB.  I've had issues in the past with my Atik 460EX blowing out the cores of galaxies and really want to avoid this as it ruins images.

I'm guessing mode 1 isn't the best choice for LRGB unless I go for very short subs, something I want to try and avoid for processing reasons, unless there's overwhelming reasons why I should stick with it.

I'll be shooting at f/4.8 with my CT10 if that makes a difference.

 

Cheers, Ian

I cant really advise as I  too have pretty much used mode 1 gain 56 with offset 25 for most images.

Certainly will need pretty short subs I would think unless very dim targets, please let us know what worked for you on this thread if you could that may help others.
Hope you get some good clear skies on your weekend away 🙂 

Steve

It is a really sad refection on todays society, and in most places and instances you would be fine but I would recommend to try and find one , or two others with similar interests that would be interested in going with you. That is no guarantee but would be much safer. I have not been anywhere remote with my astro gear but have been fishing overnight and sometimes been the only one on the lake in some very remote areas and whilst never come to any harm at all if you feel nervous then it is hard to enjoy your hobby, I always feel a lot better in a small group.

Steve

A lot of likes and comments but many of them not much more than one word and after looking at that superb image for some considerable time I see why, it really does take your breath away and leave you in awe, and almost speechless.

After regaining my breath and power of speech:
How great to see such a wide field image of  a very busy piece of the sky with regions we all know and where there are targets we have all imaged but never really see them in  such context to each other.

A tremendous project, really well done and thank-you so much for sharing with us 🙂 

Steve

That is a really great image 🙂 

Steve

Might not be so easy, but I am no expert.

My thoughts were to maybe setup two profiles one that had your guidescope ccd as the main imaging camera and the guidescope as the imaging scope so all the pixel /  focal length is correct for those and then another main profile setup as normal using the main CCD and main scope and with the guidecam and guidescope as the guiding setup.

There maybe other ways to do this though I am not aware of so maybe worth posing the question on the NINA forum if no other responses here.

Steve

If done correctly then it should reduce backlash.
How much it improves it I would say it depends where most of the backlash is coming from.
Assuming the mount is similar to the mechanics of an HEQ5, which is all I have experience with, then it should remove a lot of the backlash from the gears between the motor and  worm gear shaft (basically the 3 gears the timing belts and pulleys replace) but a lot of the backlash will be between the worm gear and the final gear on the DEC or RA shaft.

This can be reduced by very careful adjustment but takes time and patience as too much adjustment and the gears will bind once per rev of the worm and too little and there will be excessive backlash.
You also will have to just reduce the backlash best you can around this worm as machining errors means there will always be some cyclic backlash as through the 360 degrees the worm rotates it will become tighter at one point and will be loose (and hence have backlash) 180 degrees from this tight point. From what I read it is the luck of the draw if you have a good one with little cyclic backlash or a bad one, the tolerances they work to are just not held close enough to eliminate this completely.

That is my understanding anyway and what I found when I belt modified and tuned my HEQ5.

Steve

Not used this too much but certainly seems that depending on the target you do need to manually set the PSf to get the best out of it. I think some targets do get good results using the auto PSF whilst others do not see much difference apart from star reduction (and not enough experience to say which work well and which don't but seem to be getting a feeling that galaxies work well and maybe some nebulas with a lot of bright filamentary stuff, but this may just be luck that the Auto PSF worked due to actual star sizes and not the actual structure of the DSO / Galaxy, so cannot say this with confidence). So really all I would suggest is same as @Stuart1971 that to be on the safe side just check the PSF first and then enter that manually rather than leaving the quto PSF checked.

Also remember that contrary to some people beliefs this tool does not add things to the image that isn't there already so some targets will get much more out of this tool than others that may not change much at all and pushing it too far will leave artifacts that are not desirable so can only do so much with it.

Steve

3 minutes ago, scotty38 said:

I have a NAS with mirrored drives that I backup data to. I also have a USB drive off the back of the NAS that I use for snapshots of specific data on the NAS. Fingers crossed I need no more than that 🙂

Edit: In fact for my Astro stuff my mini pc in the Obs copies its data to the NAS in the first instance and I use that to transfer to my processing machine. My backups go to a different place on the NAS so in fact I end up with two copies of the source data until I do some pruning.

That's  pretty much identical to my approach.
I find that data transfer directly to and from the NAS is not the fastest but I do not find that an issue .

I use the USB SSD drive to get what data I am working on at the time  and generally let it do that at its own pace, say overnight so no rush. Then when it is all on the USB drive I can use it om any PC I need to for the processing and eventually save the Pixinsight project and any final images back to the NAS drive.

I also like using the NINA app that automatically transfers data over the network in the background so after a session I have the data on the drive that is on the PC running NINA (at the mount) and also a backup copy on both hard drives in the NAS, this background transfer does then not interfere with the imaging time as the slow transfer is done whilst imaging later images.

Seems to work a treat.

Steve

It seems that generally astronomers seem to be self critical  and always striving to improve, whether sketching or imaging.
I am an imager and cannot sketch to save my life but love to look in this section as many of the sketches are amazing.
To me that looks a great sketch and would be more than proud of it.

As an imager I really think @ollypenrice is spot on in that treating it like an imager would treat an image  and at some stage come back to the same targets and try again and hopefully you see improvements in the later sketches just like imagers hope for improvements when they come back and image the same objects. For both better equipment and better seeing may help to improve things but also our own skils will have improved over time.

But I still say that looks a great sketch to me  🙂

Steve

Very nice image 🙂
I personally think  the stars have become a little bloated in the 2nd image but ways and means of reducing them in the processing without changing the galaxies.

Steve

That's a cracking DIY job, as good as anything I have seen 🙂 

Well done 

Steve

@John was this intended as a general, "across the board", question or more aimed at visual ?  I only ask because I think the call for using goto is far more likely to be employed by imagers I think.

I think that the majority of imagers will tend towards goto these days as many use plate solving which goes hand in hand with a goto system. This is certainly the case for myself who generally does AP as often I want a specific framing and rotation (use automatic rotator) if the image I want is nearly filling my FOV, or maybe I am adding to a previous sessions data and again want the framing to be as precise to the original FOV as I can so again platesolving is really just the best way to go. Another call for using platesolvng is that due to my restricted view I may want to image more than one target in a night when the original target goes out of my view and can then just add to the target list in the imaging software. I guess all this automation is maybe a bit lazy compared to how people would have done imaging some years ago, I myself am fairly new to it so seems quite normal.

Any visual I do is really with my very manual Dob and I can understand why so may observers do prefer a manual approach as it is far more interesting and very much part of observing.

Steve

very (VERY) nice image 🙂 

Steve

Fantastic image Olly,  🙂 

Steve

15 hours ago, michael.h.f.wilkinson said:

Great image. If (when ) I buy myself a RASA, I will almost certainly say something like "Now look at what you made me do, Olly!" 😛

But you will also be saying "That's another fine Messier you got me into" 🤣🤣🤣

Steve

50 minutes ago, chubster1302 said:

I think I just stumbled this post, started reading, then started worrying damn, what else do I need, seems to be quite common in this hobby. 🙄😀

Must stop reading.....all my kit should be with me soon, will set it up and THEN ask questions, if need be. 

Cheers Steve....my post wasn't dismissing your advice, just over thinking 👍 

I know exactly what you mean and hope it does all work, but with your setup I am sure it will be fine.

Like I say I had a very similar setup for quite a while. Eventually I did change to a mini PC at the mount and now believe  that for me at least this is the best setup for me now but get going with what you have, you just want to get it all working and getting some images so try not to worry about all the other possible set ups, eventually you may decide to change the way you work but give it time with what you have and enjoy your imaging 🙂 

Steve

3 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

Sorry, I know the question was for you, but wanted to share my thoughts….👍🏻

Am I bovvered ?

Ha Ha not a problem at all and we both gave the same response anyway 🙂 

Steve