masjstovel

@blinkySo this require that i calibrate with BPP and then do the StarAlignment? I cannot do it all in BPP?

Got more problems though. Does anyone have a steplist on which tools in which order they use in processing with PI?
I have alot of noise in my images  when i stretchi think. Only used darks (15 subs). Especially for my narrowband filters, there is noise - and then after a Dynamic Backgroundextraction there is more always. The picture below is R= SII, G=Ha, B=OIII. I like the combination, but the noise is just awful and destroys the picture i think. (Yes the stars are pretty bad too but..) 

@blinky Thanks! Where/how do i disable Compute PSF Fits? 

Ok, thanks! I've been trying alot of different things now, and couldnt get it to work. Same thing in DSS - So i have to lay flat down, cry and realize its the bad focus that does it 😪.

I see, so its like the profile of the "lens" , like "Lens correction" in photoshop? When you take a photo of a bridge from a low standpoint and the bridge pillars points inwards, when they really are vertical? Same but different ?
I tried changing those settings but didnt work. What is RANSAC? Thats displayed in the "Starmatching" tab. 

I found it, its just a different approach. I calibrated only in BatchPreprocessing script, and now ill do the alignment in "StarAlignment" script, which you screenshotted it looks like. Here are the settings. You know what the "Distortion model" could be?

I 

You know where this screenshot is taken from? script that is.
In batch preprocessing there is only a "Registration" and an "Integration" tab in which i can change settings

Lovely! That window is unfamiliar to me - I've used the BatchPreprocessing script? 

3 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

Is there any sort of threshold for star brightness in PI? DSS has that, and if you lower it - it will find more stars, but if you lower it too much it will start mistaking noisy pixels for stars and alignment will fail.

I don't use PI so don't know exact setup of it, but maybe PI help files could provide a clue, or list of stacking options?

We posted simultaneously. Im not steady at all on the technical side on this, but do these settings tell you anything regarding this?

I use these settings for the light frames. tried with percentile clipping as well, and no luck

200sec all of them. Well that could be. But i have tried both Ha and L as reference image. I did it with Ha only now, and 1 of 29 suceeded. All the others got under 6 stars - and got left out...
I do not understand why

And its not 1 particular sub, its different subs between the times i tried - but Ha every time. Thats why I was suspecting the noise

1 hour ago, vlaiv said:

Maybe just do visual examination of particular sub that is causing error?

Second error that shows sometimes is completely unrelated - PI reports that it cannot successfully parse FITS header keyword for SITELAT / SITELONG - which should contain latitude and longitude of your observing site (I'm guessing here but it would not be hard to check those FITS keywords to see what they represent really).

This could be because of either software used for acquisition is not writing proper format for these fields in FITS header, or PI can't interpret what is written according to FITS standard for some reason (not properly implemented in PI or part of specification not implemented at all). In any case, it should make absolutely no difference to stacking result - that is just metadata that you can go without when stacking subs.

As for issues with stars - there could be number of reasons why these are not detected. Could be that there is too much of guiding error and stars are shaped like trails rather than circular - algorithm just does not recognize them, or maybe they are too large to be considered stars (depends on sampling resolution and how much "search area" is configured in PI when detecting stars), or any other number of reasons.

Best thing to do is to first visually inspect said subs to see what the star profiles look like (round or not, etc) and then we can further think what would be good course of action.

Thanks alot @vlaiv! I have checked them, there are not any obvious differences or errors. If i zoom about 200% i can see the focus is worsening from sub 1 to 30, but i would say an neglichable amount (?). That means not visible at 100%, slightly at 150% and "some" at 200%. 

Does DSS stacks get the same result in form of quality? could try that

Tried removing noise from each Ha sub with ACDNR tool - but now i got this:

I also get this sort of error alot, but it doesnt abort the stacking process and the results look fine to me. Is this something i just live with, or? 

Hi, 

I have the ZWO ASI 1600 and did a Ha, LRGB session on the M81 last night. I am new and have only used PI a week, but have stacked successfully on 2 other occations. - following youtubevideos on how to do things.

So i did 30x200s subs with Ha, and 15x200s subs with L, R, G and 15 darks. 

Then when i do batchpreprocessing (first thing i do in PI) i get this error message "4 stars found - need at least six". It varies if its 4 or 3 or 2, but same message.
I've tried BPP several times now and It happens every time on Ha subs, but not the same sub each time - so i ask myself what is different from my Ha and LRGB subs? They are much noisier (why? and are they supposed to be noisy in the pre-editing phase?)

Why is this happening and what do i do? 

 

Yesterdays catch! Experienced some guiding issues in certain positions yesterday. 

The focus has been steady during the shooting yes, but i havent shot with only the narrowbands yet, and i've heard the focus could be different between them.
In the photo I think the focus is "Ok", but not optimal. That is not because it has shifted i think but because its properly done. I used the Focus assistant - Contrast (edge) detection tool, and not the bahtinov. I got a tip on that, and i feel its a more science-based approach, since i get measurements on when the stars are smallest? 

14 hours ago, RolandKol said:

Nice start!

And yes, Autofocus makes life much easier... especially in Mono.

What about your focus tube tilt? have you noticed any while locking the focus?

Thank you! 
You mean if i physically notice the tilt, or if i can see it resulted in the photos? It seems tight. The coma-corrector i bought is not threaded on the telescope side, so i'd have to have the locking screws anyways. 

First result with the ASI1600! Fish head nebula IC 1795 (Yes i will need that autofocuser...)

@RolandKol Speaking about focus. I got my ASI1600 today. And there is talk about this 55mm backfocus, which i dont understand. 55mm from what? I see from the picture of your setup that you have an OAG on. I dont. How would i attach all these rings in the focuser to get the correct "backfocus" ? I saw some drawings on ZWO homepage, but i dont get what is left in the focuser? Do i take away that adaptor which i had to loose and had to tighten which I mentioned earlier in the post, or what do i do?

double-posted, sorry

On 11/10/2019 at 15:49, masjstovel said:

As a bandage on the wound: My friend is 3D-printing a Bahtinov-mask for free ($1800 used - $20 saved :)

Got the 3D-printed Bahtinov mask today. Had to secure myself in both ends so both the flaps and the screw-holes. The flaps fitted perfectly. Now i just have to wait for clear skies to see if it works:)

On 14/10/2019 at 09:35, teoria_del_big_bang said:

All I can add is that this is how I stared off. I did have a little further to walk 10M usb cables used instead of 5 M but I found this method really frustrating and difficult to achieve good focus. I did manage better with 2 people and had my wife shouting out which way to go but it was no easy. But without an auto focuser the only other way is to have the screen next to you whilst you focus. If you have a laptop then this is easily done but if you only have a desktop or tower then this is probably not possible.

I have a laptop yes, so i will take it outdoors while doing this operation with the Bathinov! 
Well my girlfriend is shouting too, but that shouting is not related to focusing. Rather all this gear i've bought after i got her blessing for "buying a small telescope" 6 months ago 😮
 

On 14/10/2019 at 13:24, Rodd said:

I also use a B-mask. Focus with the asi 1600 is easy in focus mode.

Thanks for your reply. What do you mean by the above? focus mode? I'm sorry I havent recieved the camera yet so i dont know. 

I'll post my results when they are not too emberrasing
 

@carastro and @tooth_dr Ah now i understand, you have a computer with the scope which you "mirror" to the computer inside?

5 minutes ago, carastro said:

When I am at astro camp I have electric hook up which is RCD protected.  This runs everything, so you could say similar to what you get from the house.  However outside I like to protect my electrics and I put them all inside a plastic box which keeps the electrics off the ground, and reasonably protected from dew.  

Thans alot @carastro! I like the plastic-box tip, i will arrange something like that as the plugs connecting to the cabledrum is fairly exposed as of now. 
 

9 minutes ago, carastro said:

When I am at home I access the laptop from indoors via Teamviewer.  But at camp I have to operate it next to the mount as I don't have wifi.

I am not familiar with Teamviewer, but i see its some kind of app/program. What do you have connected to the scope to "talk" to the computer inside via Teamviewer?