Fieldsy

Hi all

What filters would u recommend

Asi 178mm I've tried NB and got very little detail per sub so I jumped over to rgb last night and got very little detail again I'm set for another clr patch tonight and not sure on filter set .

I'm shooting 100 sec subs guiding with dec,ra around .80 error each 160 gain .

You would think someone has  one.

Hi so I'm in dss looking at subs and I've noticed I have 4 files per sub  what one should I click to stack or just take all?

As In pic

_1_thn.jpg

_1_.fit

_thn.jpg

.fit

2 minutes ago, Adreneline said:

Me too! In fact I'm a bit disappointed but there it is. I use an app on my iPad as a light source and found it was best to set an exposure time (e.g. 2 seconds or whatever) on the ASIair and then adjust the screen brightness to get the histogram peak mid-way along the axis. As you recommended I took dark-flats at the same time. Got there in the end but it's not as easy as it is with something like SGPro.

Adrian

I reckon as I’ve done 0.5 ,3 ,10 , and 20 sec flats one set should be ok .

12 minutes ago, Adam J said:

If the ASIAIR displays a histogram then you are looking for the peak to be about half way along the graph. Don't forget to get some dark flats too at the same exposure length. 

I am a bit surprised that it does not have a optimal exposure calculator for FLATS. 

Adam 

Yeah I’ve done darks and bias and done a few flats but I didn’t  use histo as it’s always on auto and I can see my image in pic anyway. So I will stack the flats and see what I get 🤞🏻
 

Hi all

Does anyone have a idea how to get the best flats with asiair ?

Everything I find talks about the adu number .

How would you try and work this out with a mono cam and using NB filters ?

So I have just taken x20 of Ha,Olll,S

0.5, 3, 10, 30 secs subs and then once on dss will work out the better one seems a bit long winded.

Thanks for any advice.

Well I used as an excuse to get a better PA then lol

I noticed the mount was a little unlevel so decide to pa again went well .

Hi all 

I'm in two minds weather to re PA align tonight ,I had a error of 00:00:44 yesterday and tracking was pretty good so should I try to get closer to 00 or stay with what ?

I Took some a few weeks ago but all went massively wrong when i used dss and ended up with just pure white dots on screen so def dss settings a little off lol . Just going to stay on 7538 for now the summer will be a no scope season builders doing extension on house so garden prob a builders yard .

Have purchased a few items star adv pro, asiair pro, zwo eaf, going to mod my 450d . So have plenty to learn and play with . Have been reading a lot on heq5 looks nice just cant warrant another spend , I've got the eq5 to a 100sec expo with nice detail and round stars so looking good.

On 02/05/2020 at 01:20, Adam J said:

It depends on the amount of backlash. Ideally backlash being low you would balance it perfectly to place less preasure on the mating surfaces of the gears and to reduce the load on the motors. However, if as is often the case with budget mounts (think less than 2k) backlash is present in significant quantities then you will want to bias towards east heavy in RA. In Declination it i will depend on how good your Polar alignment is as to if you will and to perfectly balance or not. However in most instances you will not be able to as you will find balance will shift with dec position, in this case and in the expectation that there will be a reasonable amount of backlash on your EQ5 I would recomend that you make the mirror end of you 130PDS very very slightly heavy.

Adam

Hi well I have balanced scope as per your recommendations and its def better 🥳.And 100sec exposure no egg stars 🤩

1 minute ago, david_taurus83 said:

Yes, guiding, but if you remove the EQMod cable from the equation you'll lose mount control - slewing to target, platesolving, etc - from the ASIAIR. The ST4 cable can only be used for guiding via the driver on the camera, if that's my understanding.

What have you plugged into the Air anyway? I only need 4 usb ports and I run an autofocuser?

Zwo 120mini guid, eqmod,178mm,filterwheel and eaf on the way so may have to get usb hub just not sure if doubling up will produce another issue.

9 hours ago, david_taurus83 said:

So ASIAIR wont control the mount? Only imaging?

I thought it would still control it as the image from guide cam is still the same .

Asiair plate solves with main scope definitely.

So the difference between st4 and eqmod/asiair is pulse guiding And that is normally the best guiding ?.

Would that be a correct assumption?

Thanks

4 hours ago, david_taurus83 said:

Not quite sure I understand this? Wont you still need the mount plugged into the ASIAIR for goto? So ST4 will only be an extra cable from the camera to mount?

Doh forgot that one . Ah But i wouldn't need the eqmod I think.?

Hi all when balancing scope are you better off with a completely balanced scope/weights or very slightly scope front end or back end or weight ? .

If that makes sense .

Thanks

I know it’s a old post but

using ASIAIR Eq5 pro should I stay with eqdir  or got to st4 and free up a usb for my EAF ? I know I could use a hub but would rather not and my camera doesn’t have a USB port out.

thanks

Ankle weights have balanced it out perfectly

9 minutes ago, MarkAR said:

All glass is a little different. Baader's are par focal but that just means they are really close but there is still a slight difference in focus. Autofocus steps are incredibly fine so where 100 steps might seem a lot it's only a gnats whisker.

 

Have just checked and focus seems fine with mask so I’ve reduced down to 90 sec subs and after 20 mins it’s still looking good  ,so maybe it was more mount tracking rather than filters ? .

120 sec subs maybe be pushing Eq5 to its max ,shame as the difference in 120-90 subs was very noticeable.

Hi  imaging going well ish so far .

currently imaging 120 subs was going well but noticed the stars got a little elongated when filter changed s-h    (RMS error 1.5-2.2)normal for me  . I’ve never noticed before but shouldn’t the filters have the same focal point?.

thanks Si

2 hours ago, alacant said:

Hi. Did you stretch the image after stacking?

If you like, post -a link to- the image(s) as it came from DSS. Then we may be able to give specific help.

Cheers

I've started again but only a few images at a time with dark and flats  so not waiting about to long will see how I go computer does my nut in .

Thanks

Hi all

Recommendations please

I have data from a bortle 2 sky (kilder obs) from Oct last year I've collected some data the last 2 nights with best guiding ive ever had . The thought of sitting in front of comp to sort images out kills me ,so I just sat down for the last 3 hours going through data and dss to end up with a image with 30 or so stars on and no nebulosity 😡 . I get better images on my asiair tablet 1 90 sec exp than 3 hrs of data with dark/flats.if I go to a colour cam rather than my mono do you get an image without  processing  or is it any easier.

Thanks

What to do if a spider takes up residence in your tube over night ?

14 minutes ago, jgs001 said:

the 70-200 is a beauty, but never used mine for Astro. I picked up a second hand Sigma 150 f/2.8 macro lens, which is what I use. You can use it wide open, without issues (Macro - True macro lenses that is, not a zoom with macro moniker) are designed to have very flat image fields. And, at f/2.8 I've picked up the horse head with an unmodded 450d in 30 minutes of 2 or 3 minute exposures.

If you have an android device, it's also worthwhile looking at DSLR controller, as you can use that to zoom in to 10x on a larger screen than the back of the camera and apply very fine tweaks to focus. If you set the camera to back button focusing, you can then leave the lens in AF mode, and shoot away without issues.

I didn't think Marco would be any good    ( complete novice)  will def look at the 150 as I like the f2.8 over the f4  but I think the L is a better ql glass .is that right ?. About the same cost so what would ppl pick?

Just found a

canon ef 70-200mm f4l is ii usm

Which is a little more zoom than the 135mm