Paul2019

As you look through the polar scope adjust the latitude either way until you find Polaris. I use a compass to align the mount with magnetic north first and get it within seconds every time

My half hour attempt on ngc6992. 10 x 180s lights 50 x bias 50 x flats staradventurer mini with eos2000d. No filters. no got my self an eq6 if the bloody weather would let me get out with it!

I don’t think an IPad would have the required processing power to process an image. You could pair it with an Asair for capture though. There’s also an iPad/iPhone version of photoshop too

The shades a proto type, I’ve been meaning to reprint them in black for ages! Thanks, I hope it will see me through for a while

Took delivery of this bad boy today and my god it’s bigger than I expected, a lot bigger! Now where’s those clear skies?

Some great advice guys, many thanks. Fingers crossed for some clear skies at some point this week, no doubt I’ll be back at work before that happens mind. Paul

Understood, I think small tracking errors would easily be hidden in this, so they must of been relatively large. Some images had obvious star trailing, odd as on first inspection in APT before running my capture plan they looked ok. It was only when I came to do my calibration frames that I realized a chunk of the lights were unusable. My DSLR has pixels that are 3.71µm, with the Samyang 135 that gives a scale of 5.67"/pixel; obviously massive under sampling here. The only reason that I considered the payload is because I assume (you know what they say about that!) its pushing the max weight of the SAM so my thoughts were that I was being too hasty in my exposure time for my FL? I believe my PA was pretty spot on, well as good as it could be using the polar scope and SAM app. It definitely didn't move from where the app said it should be. I would very much love to hear your thoughts about pixel scale though (another rabbit hole I jumped in!), whilst considering mounts and understanding that a more portable mount will lead to more imaging I am beginning to come to the conclusion that widefield and some slight less widefield DSO is going to be my main imaging. Leading me to consider FL slightly more, looking at the astromony.tools ccd calculators I am of the understanding if I look at less FL; say 250-300mm (after reduction) that I will get better quality images with a smaller pixel scale (2.4µm ASI183) where an equivalent pixel scale to my dslr (3.7µm, ASI1600 would be better suited to FL of 400mm+ (after reduction). That said I haven't considered other factors such as the difference in sensor size, read noise etc. But am I understanding this right? Or have I missed the point entirely? There's so much to consider and I find myself continuously reconsidering my plan on what equipment to get. Thanks Paul

Hi Micheal, No guiding, very basic beginner setup and I completely pushed the mini to its limit. Advertised is 3kg (compared to the standard models 5kg). Approx weight of the gear is 1.6kg with no CW (so very unbalanced). It was my first time with this FL (135mm) and I suspect 90s subs would work perfectly ok? I have been able to manage 300s with my 50mm lens but clearly 180 is definitely out of the range for the 135 on the mini. I have got an Optlong l-enhance for my next session for which I intend to image the same target but will change to iso1600 with 60s subs and see how that changes things. I am however on the prowl for a better mount but I would like portability and g&g capability so I keep chopping and changing what I want. I did intend on getting an eq6-r but when I actually saw how big they are I realised that it wouldn’t get all that much use due to the size. So it’s left me considering the heq5, eqm35 or perhaps one of ioptrons offerings with the HEM27 looking good but then the ZWO offering might be worth the few extra quid. I think I’ve fallen very much into the proverbial rabbit whole!

With the opportunity i recently decided to get out with my gear and see what I could achieve, I'm still new to astrophotography, pixinsight etc. But I feel that this is a pretty good result. Cygnus Loop, 10x 180s, 50 x Bias, 50 x Flats. Processed in Pixinsight. Samyang 135mm, Staradventurer Mini, Canon 2000d I got 2 hours worth of data but had to bin 75% of the lights, due to the star adventurer mini. Hoping to upgrade very very soon, That said with only half hour of data, I'm very very happy with the result I know its far from perfect but feel I'm slowly moving in the right direction. I cant wait for the skies to clear so I can try my new L-enhance filter out before it turns barnards loop time!

Great result

Thanks for the advice, coming from yourself I’ll gladly take it. Looks like I should be buying my wife something nice

Thanks for the reply vlav. Do you think the triplet is the right way to go or should I consider a similar sized doublet and use the savings towards the camera?

Hi all, sorry if I have posted this in the wrong place. I find myself having a bit of a mare trying to chose my first AP scope. Currently I’m having moderate success with my DSLR, 18-55 kit lens and 50mm prime on a star adventurer mini. My main interest is DSO imaging with an emphasis on galaxies and also nebulas of all types. This is where I get stuck, obviously for galaxies I need a long focal length and for nebulas I need something shortish. Is there a middle ground? In terms of mount I have decided on the eq6-r. I will be guiding but I’m undecided on what to get there too and hope to get an ASIAIR when they are available again too. Im also reasonably confident I want to get a 2600mm too but I’m hoping to stick to the DSLR at the moment as mount etc is more important. scope budget is up to £1500 which makes it even harder I think. I would much prefer a refractor and have little interest in a reflector for this. That said I realise something like the EDGE 8 HD would likely be good for galaxies but rubbish for the bigger dso’s. thanks for any help paul

I’m far from experienced but I’m also thinking that there’s no stack. If you click on this bit where I’ve squiggled it will bring you back to the images you added. Then click the “check all” Then “stack checked pictures” Ensure all settings are default and check the “register already registered images” box. Click ok or whatever it says in the bottom right corner. Then your images will be registered and stacked which will bring you back to this screen. Hopefully with an image. If that doesn’t work it could be a focus problem, registration issue etc and DSS might just not be throwing an error. If that’s the case try to reinstall, then move all images to another folder and delete the registration information and try again as above. if you upload your data then I will have a go for you if you like

I always found I couldn’t get on with finderscopes and have had way more luck with red dot finders. sounds like the issues mentioned above could be an issue but also I wanted to mention about observing too as we can define more and more features with observing techniques. Also the moon could be an issue as the light pollution from a high phase moon could be overpowering the subtle details of the planet but then again I would still expect to at least be able to define the rings.

Thanks for your reply, I’ll look at possibly adding some more darks and seeing the results or differences in them. I like pixinsight I think because I’m colourblind so it removes an element of guesswork in that area. Cam isn’t modified and I’m not sure I’ll bother but instead look at upgrading to a dedicated

Got my new camera and lens, Canon 2000d and 50mm f1.8 stm prime. Here's my first images with them, constructive critics welcomed as always. 1hr 40mins exposure, 4 Darks, 20 Bias, 20 Flats. Imaged over two nights. 300s subs. Processed in pixinsight then tweaked in photoshop. This is the full image And this is a crop of the nebula and main area of interest with a further level stretch and contrast curve adjustment. I think the data is good, the stars are roundish but I had to stop the lens down to f5 and theres an obvious lp gradient in there. Possibly a shorter sub time would have been better. Overall I still need to improve my processing but I'm loving pixinsight.

That’s pretty much what I was thinking, although I’m in no rush to get a scope at all and probably will get a redcat at first, having the eq6 will give me some wiggle room if I want a reflector and I am somewhat attracted to the idea of getting an imaging sct for planetary, globs etc

Thanks for getting back to me, From my extremely limited experience of pixinsight I really like it. I just need to do more tutorials and learning on it. Fairly confident it will likely be my next Astro purchase followed by a Samyang 14mm f2.8 for better widefield, then a heq5 or possibly an eq6 to future proof better. To be honest now I have my new camera (2000d) and a decentish prime lens my main focus will be getting more data. Hopefully by winter I’ll have enough for a big mosaic of the Cygnus, Lyra, Hercules region. I’ll have a read up on starnet and see if I can get close to replicating your image. Thanks Paul

Hey, yeah that’s the double at 9 o’clock. Taken in bortle 4 skies in south Devon uk

Wow!!! What did you use to process that? I took it using the canon kit lens 18-55mm mkII. I had to stop it down to F5.6 to combat the coma I got another go the other night but haven’t managed to process it yet but with the iso at 200 the noise is much better I got a pixinsight trial which bought it out pretty nice but only 15mins of lights so I didn’t expect much plus I’m pretty new at processing too. I have my nifty and new body now so just waiting for a clear night to give that a try. Thanks for the image though it’s really encouraged me to keep at it

I’ve got a star adventurer mini, it’s pretty good for DSLR lens combo but not much more. For mY money if I were to buy again I would just save a bit more for a heq5. At least that’s the current plan, then look into scopes etc. I’ve no clue on the Celestron models you mentioned but I’m sure someone with more experience will be by to chime in soon. HTH Paul

Thanks, I don’t know what it is but I’m really not happy with it. I did get out the other evening and tried 200 ISO which was much much better will get it finished and posted today hopefully

Hello again! I found myself with some extra time on my hands and decided to get my old kit out and have a whirl. Looking at all the fab images on here really motivated me to try again after last time with my iffy results I figured I would go back to basics. So on the 26/07 I got out under some awesome skies and had a whirl at some widefield. Aiming at Vega this is what I achieved at 24mm (crop factor 1.6). Canon 400d, kit lens @ 24mm. ISO 800, 4 x 300s Lights & 2 x Darks. No flats, No bias. Using star adventurer mini. I think there's lots to say about it, Firstly soooo much noise, obviously ISO was too high, exposures in the heat with an old crappy sensor are basically the issue here. Secondly I think the SAM did pretty well with the longer exposures Thirdly I think the image is lacking interest? Maybe its the composition and i need to think about compositing my wide fields to make them more interesting. Lastly this was done in SIRIL, I also did some in photoshop and tried astropixel processor but couldn't really get it where I was hoping but being color blind means i find processing really hard and I'm hoping SIRIL will be my savior here lol! So hard lessons from a good night out, I've got a new camera on the way (Canon 2000d) and got myself a nifty fifty to go with it. Longer term I would like to upgrade my mount to a NEQ6 and then consider a scope of sorts further down the line and really see where it all takes me. Next session (tonight?) with the 400d Ill be doing 120s lights and go for a full set of calibration frames and open up the lens to 18mm and see what I can achieve, I would like an awesome milky way widefield before Orion pokes his head out again. But I do think a new camera with a newer sensor with less hot pixels etc will help me progress in the direction I want too. Anyhow, its nice to poke my head in to say hello again!

I put this through gimp, I dont think I can give it much more without over processing it. Any tips?