Swillis

It can be quite bewildering when first starting. I'm not familiar with those scopes but you may find that some are actually the same scope just branded differently. Others will be along shortly to offer advise. It depends on how big your bag is to what you might consider portable! What one person thinks is portable may be very different to others. Probably the best way to asses portability would be to visit a shop if you have one nearby or find a local astro society where you can physically some. Whatever scope you choose, it might be worth factoring in same of your budget for upgrading the eyepieces. The ones which come with them are usually not great. Good luck on your journey Simon

I would turn it off. As you point out it will double exposure time, and you are losing control of the process. It may do something to the images which is not ideal, and you would not be able to retrieve the 'original' non-NR image (if that makes sense?) Try @LandyJon's suggestion of stacking with and without darks and see how much difference it makes.

Hi @Simone_DB, I think the number of questions only goes up I'm afraid! I have something like 6.02214076×10²³ (there is an Italian reference in there for you!) But seriously, I think the encyclopedia you talk about is this forum. So many people are prepared to help. I'm new to this too, but hopefully I can pass on a few of the things I have learnt along the way. 1) yes, these are the images of the object you are interested in. I checked this page https://astrophotography.app/nikon.php and it recommends an ISO of 200. So that's probably a good place to start. Those with experience of your camera may be able to offer advice also. 2) darks are difficult with a DSLR. As you mention the temperature should be matches to the lights. This is almost impossible to achieve without a cooled astro cam. I use a canon and for that it is recommended NOT to use darks as the canons do something in the background to account for dark signal. I don't know about Nikon's but you could try with and without darks and see what the results are like. Or maybe just forget about this but for not and keep it simpler. (one less thing to get the mandolin out for) 3) take flats every session, as dust can move about. I use an LED drawing pad turned down as for it can go and with a few pieces of paper on top. The method you describe is essentially doing the same thing but using a t-shirt instead of the paper, and a different light source. Some people use a cloudy sky, it doesn't matter as long as it is evenly illuminated on you camera sensor. You might need to play with the exposure length a little to get the histogram where you want it. 4) yes, put the cap on, and set the exposure to as short as it can go. Bias frames can be reused. As for software, that's another learning curve. SIRIL is great but it can take a bit of figuring out. Try deep sky stacker to start with. But don't be tempted to play with the curves in it. Just take the autosave file out the end into Photoshop etc... Good luck and keep going. You will get there soon and once you start getting some images it will be worth it. (plus there will be a heap more questions!) Simon

Hi @Simone_DB, Looks like a good start. The blur/trails looks like it is probably due to the camera/scope/tripod being knocked or a gust of wind. Are these single images? You will want to take many many images and stack them in software (eg SIRIL, DSS, or many others, everyone has their own preference). Something else you will want to do in that software is to use calibration frames. Flat frames (short exposures with an evenly illuminated field) will correct for the vignetting and also help to remove the dark patches you observed. These are dust motes on the optics. They are usually not worth cleaning off and are easily dealt with using flats, but the flats need to be taken each session as the dust can move. In addition to the channels suggested above I would add 'nebula photos'. Which has some useful tutorials. But there are so many others there. But this forum is incredibly helpful. Don't be worried to ask a silly question, you won't be the only one who has the same question. Another great source of information is the book 'making every photon count', which is a great introduction to astrophotography. Well worth a read, or two. Welcome to the rabbit hole. Good luck Simon

Depends what Canon you have. This link should help. https://astrophotography.app/EOS.php Simon

@AstroDab3k glad you have made some improvement. It looks like you have also had some very good suggestions above. It sounds like you are doing what I suggested already. Not sure what effect cropping before stacking would have, but could be worth a try if you're still observing issues. When I started I thought they were all important, as everything I read or watched was telling me this, but as several people on this forum have pointed out darks from a Canon DSLR introduces more noise rather than removes it. Apparently they do some magic behind the scenes... I have not tried APP so cannot comment on this but SIRIL has the option to input a value. @alacant has pointed you in the right direction. There is a bit of a learning curve with SIRIL, but well worth it once you get going. There are plenty on here willing to help, and lost of tutorials online. Good luck finding the one which works for you. Please do post your progress. Thanks Simon

Hi, Hi, looks like there is a good amount of data in your image, hopefully something can be rescued. Did you crop the image as a first action before starting to process the image? This removes stacking artefacts which can effect the image processing. Canon DSLRs can suffer from banding, which might be part of the issue with the noise. I'm not familiar with APP but Siril can do banding reduction which may help, but can sometimes introduce other artefacts. What calibration frames did you use? It's recommended with Canon's not to use darks or bias. Subtract 2048 instead of the bias frames. If your in a bottle 4, do you need the filter? Maybe try without and see. I suspect it may not be possible to attach an OAG to a DSLR since most of the back focus distance is taken up by the camera itself. Was there a reason you wanted to go for an OAG rather than regular guide scope. Hope you can figure out the issue Simon

You can upload an image here https://nova.astrometry.net/upload and it will plate solve the image and tell you what you are looking at I tried with your image but got some errors with the file type, but it should work with the jpeg you posted here. Maybe try directly yourself?

@wesdon1 After rereading the astronomiser page I may be wrong. I'm assuming it is the rear filter which has been removed. So if your using a refractor you may need a UV/IR filter. I'd wait for one of the more knowledgeable people on here to come back! 'The front filter remains and blocks the vast majority of the UV and IR light which is not wanted for normal astroimaging because, with refractors, this UV and IR light is not brought to focus at the same point as visible light and causes 'star bloating' where stars appear as larger white discs rather than pinpoints of light' So if your using a refractor you may need a UV/IR filter. I'd wait for one of the more knowledgeable people on here to come back! I have a modded 600d with a samyang 135 which begs the question of should I be using one!??

Which mod is it? For the usual astro-mod (removal of the rear filter only) you should not need a UV/IR filter. But for a full spectrum mod you will need a UV/IR filter Happy to be corrected on this...

Thanks for all the advice. Since I already have the redcat mounting bracket, I have ordered the redcat handle and will just have to deal with the restricted rotation. @Space Oddities my redcat ring appears to hold nice and tightly. To me anyway, but then again I've not tried to see exactly how tight it is 😟 think I'd be a bit worried about this happening... I'm not considering an EAF, yet, but it looks like deep sky dad does a kit for attaching an EAF to the samyang lens https://shop.deepskydad.com/product/samyang-135-wo-redcat-ring-zwo-eaf-dovetail-kit/ Thanks again Simon

Thanks @Chris-h I knew there was an obvious one I'd forgotten. @Elp that would be my main concern too. At least from a sample size of one it sounds like the astrodynium one would likely be a bit more reliable. The fact that FLO stock it is hopefully reassuring as to its quality. But that said I am starting to lean towards the WO handle Thanks both

Hi all, I'm wanting to tap into the wealth of knowledge of everyone in this great thread. What are your experiences with 3d printed mounting brackets? Are some better than others (astrojolo, astrokraken, other?) I have the lens on a canon 600d, and attach this to the mount via the WO redcat ring. I now want to attach my guidescope and had considered the WO handlebar but the 'nose' (where the built-in flash pokes out) would get in the way. Obviously I could just rotate the camera but wanted to see what others experiences are with the 3d printed mounts which could be more suitable options, certainly where rotation is concerned but maybe the WO ring and handle bar is more secure? Thanks Simon

I have a SA2i and have started using plate solving in NINA which even having to make the adjustments manually is so much quicker than 'guessing' where the target is. But this would mean you need to connect the camera upto a laptop/miniPC/ASIair...

Sounds like you've already done it, but getting everything connected and software talking in the daytime is the biggest thing. Getting anything in focus during the daytime is a big help. Just being somewhere in the right region is helpful. I don't remember changing any settings, so assume the defaults worked ok Good luck, hope it all goes well

The S@N magazine podcasts 'radio astronomy' are worth a listen. The interviews are often interesting and the presenters are enthusiastic, particularly the guy who does the star diary.

Yes just give it a go and see what you can get. Post your results and work out where to go from there... Good luck

If you drop the aperture a couple of stops it should improve the CA a bit. It will still be pretty bad though. My version of that lens was quite wobbly and probably had a fair amount of tilt in the optics. As for getting balance, you could try mounting the camera on a dove tail so you can set it further back. You would also need a dovetail clamp on the Dec bracket.

@jfrijhoff it's the Beelink GK mini. Was about to order from FLO but found a second hand one from CEX which was about half the price and good condition. The guide cam (120 mini) is powered through the usb connection to PC but I powered the dew heaters through a battery. As far as checks I got the cameras connected and checked I could take images. What was well worth doing was getting the guide cam in focus during the day so it was somewhere in the right region for when I took it out at night. I had a bit of a play with the simulators just to help learn my way about a bit more. @teoria_del_big_bang I will have to take a look at the advanced sequencer, but I won't be able to make full use of all the features since I have a star adventurer so don't have any goto capability. One of the reasons I got the mini PC was to use plate solving for finding faint targets. M45 didn't require it, but just checked it was all working.

Hi, Finally got a chance last week to get out with my new mini PC using NINA. The long wait was probably quite useful as it meant I had plenty of time to get everything installed, connected and generally learn my way around the software. I have been controlling the mini PC from my phone which has not been as fiddly as I was worried it would be. I got 5 nights of data across 6 nights. The first night had some high cloud about so that didn't make it into the final stack. After the first three nights getting used to the setup and just running the camera through the software I thought I would give guiding a go. I got it all connected up and started guiding through phd2, but it just wasn't working for some reason so I reverted to unguided for that night. On Saturday I gave guiding another go and it all worked out well. Realised I just hadn't given phd2 long enough to calibrate before starting the sequence in NINA🙃 I'm using a star adventurer so only guiding in RA but there is a clear improvement in the consistency of the subs when processing in Siril. The subs on the left are from the night with high cloud, the ones on the right are the guided ones. The final image is below, M45 with Samyang135, 600D on a Star Adventurer 2i. 60sec subs just under 5 hours making the final stack. Processed in Siril I'm happy with how this turned out but I'm going to try and reprocess this and see if I can get anymore out of it (maybe try GHT stretch?). I can certainly see some dust coming out, would longer subs help here? Or just more subs? Or better processing?

That is looking very nice. There was a post recently with a similar issue: Conclusion was microlensing caused by the camera. But there may be something which can be done to post processing.

For me Siril detects that the wrong Bayer patter is selected and corrects to the right one and completes just fine. I guess it must effect the time taken, but not significantly

@wesdon1 if that's the canon 75-300mm lens, there is lots of chromatic aberration which is probably what is making focusing difficult. I started with that lens, but kept at a more modest 160mm ish FL (with a star tracker). If your doing untracked subs then a shorter FL would allow slightly longer exposures. I would recommend taping down the focus and zoom rings as they can slip easily on that lens. As I'm sure you are realising the people on here are very helpful. So no matter how silly your question feels, someone will probably help and it might even be useful for the next person who comes along with the same problem.

Me too! Well done for persevering with DSS. It's a great feeling getting that first image. The stretching tools in DSS are very bad, it would be best to take the output straight into gimp. Siril has some excellent post-processing tools, but is a bit more a steep learning curve to get it to do anything! Welcome to the club, and looking forward to seeing the next one Simon

Hello and welcome. The lenses you have will be ok to start with and enable you to get a feel for the hobby and determine how much you want to invest in the future. I started with a canon 75-300mm zoom lens which is pretty rubbish for AP, but it got me started and allowed me to invest in a star tracker first. I have now invested in a samyang 135mm which is excellent. It is probably the most recommended lens. Alternatives would be to look on eBay for fixed focal length lenses, but it sounds like this can be a bit pot luck. Before the star tracker I built myself a barn door tracker which was fun to build, but took a bit a setting up each night, and reduced my already limited imaging time. If your into DIY its worth a go, there are plenty of guides out there. Simon