Xsubmariner

A cracking image for your first venture into mono AP. Adding more frames over time will improve the signal and will deliver a great image.

There is a lot to learn when you start AP, so for any beginner I always say “Keep it simple to start with”. Certain hardware choices bring additional learning challenges which complicate the process and slow your progress. Managing initial expectations is important to minimise disappointment and risk of early abandonment. Just remember AP comes with a warning “This hobby can damage your bank balance”. May I suggest the following equipment for consideration given your fund potential; EQ6R is an excellent mount choice that will deliver good guiding with extra weight capacity for equipment upgrades/changes as your imaging requirements evolve. 100mm triplet (wave, photoline are excellent value for money choices). High contrast images with good focal length able to frame many of the popular AP targets, especially when employed with a reasonably priced Reducer. Minimal maintenance and zero re-collimation demand for a well collimated APO. As Padraic said, the new APS-C CMOs colour camera would be an excellent choice you will not regret. These high sensitivity, very low noise colour cameras offer good image framing for many popular AP targets and will deliver frames with good signal data for relatively short exposures 2-5 minutes (well within the capability of most reasonably priced mounts). The latest dual and triband filters will enable imaging to continue during moonlit nights and in areas of light pollution. While Mono camera’s will deliver the best AP images, I believe the added equipment demands/cost and complexity with processing are an unwelcome burden on someone starting AP. The new colour cameras are delivering amazing images that should more than meet the aspirations of someone staring AP.

Hi and welcome to SGL, I am sure you will find many threads on AP to assist.

Nah false story, it’s really a spy satellite checking on what another nation ☺️is up to on the far side of the moon. 😈

Your introduction and list of cameras suggests you are committed to this hobby. I would always advise to future proof your investment where possible and affordable. The 533 sensor is not to everyone’s taste being square and you may decide to change to an APS-C Mono Camera (once reflection resolved) when you will find you need 36mm filters. Might I suggest you future proof your filter/filter wheel choice to 36mm filters. I have a full set of 36mm Astronomik 6nm/ Lrgb filters and they are an excellent product.

I have a mix of QHY and ZWO camera’s, both are very good camera’s that will deliver excellent imagery if used correctly. The old excuse of poor QHY drivers is dead, the new SDK works great on all 4 of my QHY camera’s. My QHY600, and both 268m camera’s are fitted with QHY filter wheels and they work great with the camera direct connection. My ZWO 2600 also works great and I can use it with my Asiair mobile setup along with my 1600. If you are going down the ASIAir route then your choice is limited to the ZWO or DSLR Camera options only. This is the main aspect I don’t like about my ASIair setup. The main difference between the QHY and ZWO 294 camera’s is; The ZWO costs £419 more than the QHY (£1012 Modern Astronomy price inc VAT), so you could buy the QHY filterwheel and have some money left towards the filters. QHY camera’s have engineering support in EU, not just a return to China only option. Though I understand FLO have good support, not sure about after the initial warranty. I have had no problems with my QHY camera’s and with the exception of my ASI071 (freezing problems) my other ZWO Camera’s have worked without fault. On resale values, I believe the camera’s are on par with resale values but one costs £419 more so your loss would be greater. That said the ZWO fan base will probably result in a quicker sale.

Thanks Cantanonia for sharing your file structure.

Hi and welcome to SGL, you will find plenty of AP expertise within the membership.

I concours with Matts response, the added embuggerance of setup and finding guide stars out ways any benefit to guiding setups less than 1000mm. You don’t mention if you are experiencing problems with your current guidescope arrangement.

Fortunate to gain experience in both camps at an early stage, I quickly realised their modus operandi were quite different. As my imaging setups increased I ended up with a mix of CCD and CMOs camera’s across my imaging rigs and mobile system. Today I have only one CCD SX 36 and several latest generation CMOs camera’s, QHY and ZWO. A review of images across various forums would suggest CCD and CMOs (latest Gen) are comparable in ability to deliver quality images. The main driver for me migrating to CMOs is the U.K. weather and general lack of quality skies for imaging. My CCD camera’s with 10-30 min frames produced too many incomplete data sets. In believe CMOs camera’s are just better suited to U.K. imaging.

Thank you guys for your informative replies. Having initially considered saving the calibrated light frames and only processed master images would offer the most efficient data archive option, Lucas has reminded me of the importance of retaining raw frames for scientific purposes (photometry and spectroscopy). In light of the advice you all kindly provided, I have decided to archive; the Raw files, master cal files and final processed Master images. This exercise has also reminded me of the importance for a structured file naming convention that supports not only day to day data storage but includes archiving and data mining in the future. Thanks Martin

Welcome back to the hobby and SGL, someone from your area should get back to you with advise on societies in your vicinity.

Thanks Dave for your informative reply, I agree ditching intermediate files free’s up drive space and reduces demand on archive storage. Any other opinions out there?

Open question to AP astronomers, what data type is best to Archive? Having started my “end-of-year” data clean up I am amazed at the high amount of stored image data. Running 3 systems fitted with new high pixel cameras the scale of the activity is daunting. With each image frame size between 50-117Mb I appear to have about 4TB of data across 3 PC’s that needs management. May I raise the following points for consideration; What data type for archiving: 1. Light and Cal data in their raw state - Highest amount of data to archive. 2. Raw Lights with master Cal frames only - Reduced level of data. 3. Only calibrated ( Pixinsight or other data processing software) master lights - should they be Cal only (set of registered frames) or Cal and integrated ie master Lu, Re, Gr, Bl, Ha, S2, O3. lights. 4. What/any ( Pixinsight or other data processing software) stage processed files ie raw RGB, Lrgb, HSO etc. Any thoughts on this matter is greatly appreciated. Martin

Hi and welcome to SGL from South Wales.

Hi Peter, welcome back to AP. You will find a lot has happened in the world of AP over the last 10 years.

Hi David, you will find plenty of helpful members who are willing to assist you with starting EAA, Astrophotography. Welcome to the forum.

Fully concur with “Skipper Billy” statement, my Mesu mounts performance is similar to the above. Due to flexibility and ease of use, I replaced my perfectly working Paramount MX with a second Mesu. Now no more maintenance, grooming or T-Point remodelling after changes to the setup.

A for me also.

A most enjoyable read with a good babble intro. Great mini observatory that clearly supports you operating mode. Now if your names had been “Bill & Ted” an amazing journey awaits.

Thanks Simmo and Space_d for your kind words. The setup was; CFF160+flattener, QHYFW(Antlia 3nm HSO)/OAG (LoadstarX2), QHY600m and Mesu200. I haven't had the opportunity to try the filters on any bright stars yet.

It was great to see all the wonderful NGC6888 images created for the last FLO imaging competition, so I thought I would share my image captured in Wales. This is my first light image of NGC6888 taken with 3nm Antlia 50mm unmounted Ha,OIII and SII filters. The following frames were taken over 2 nights, 7/8September using the ROR system: 16x10 min Ha, 13x10min OIII and only 5x10min SII (ran out of clear sky) While not intentional, I was excited to see the data also captured the Soap Bubble in the lower right corner. The data was processed using Pixinsight.

Wow, what a disappointing response you received from Avalon. Having owned an M-UNO, I was considering upgrading my current mobile mount (NEQ6) to a Linear at some point. Your experience has focused my thoughts .

2 boxes ordered thanks for the heads up.

QHY quote supply voltages up to 13.8V so I don’t believe yours should have failed with 13.6V. If you are measuring the transformer output voltage direct on the pins, this is under no load condition so the voltage will be its highest. Under load (connected to camera) this voltage will be less. The camera is less than a year old, I would return it for repair before taking it apart. I have the QHY600 and 268M&C camera’s and have experienced the cameras not being recognised when the wrong/incorrect drivers were loaded. So I would investigate the drivers/PC registry further especially as you have fitted a new PC.