AstroMuni

If you are trying to explain the scale of our solar system this short video does it quite well. EDIT: Replaced video with one from YouTube as it has more info.

Its an amazing improvement. Looks like you are enjoying the journey and thats the main thing. 👍 I know someone out there is going to be able to get a better image out of the same data that I have acquired, but I get lots of joy out of the small progresses I have made.

The astro camera market is very low volume and niche, hence the big names would not be interested in this market. And chip manufacturers like Sony are getting their sales anyway without actually manufacturing astro cams.

Good comparison 👍

I will second that. When I started on this journey, the fact that I didnt own a DSLR helped me be less biased to one or the other. Once you realise that the sensor technology is the same in DSLR & Astro cameras & that the sensors in Astro cameras are more sensitive, then it helps in making the decision.

And on mine too, but as I used the quick and dirty technique of trying to bring colour into the OP's image, that was to be expected 🙂

In a nutshell its combining pixels to end up with a fatter pixel size. https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/tutorials/everything-you-need-to-know-about-astrophotography-pixel-binning-the-fundamentals.html As SCNR removes the green cast, in some cases you want the green to remain. So more of personal preference in most cases for me.

At the end of the day, if you are happy with the result then thats it 🙂 But yes, you could get more colour into it ... I played around with your processed image (jpeg) in Mac Preview and here is what I got

In my case I am using the CC with the ASI533 so I have around 50+mm backfocus to play with and push into the ft. I should have read that you are using a DSLR 😞

The OP has beat you to it in the first post 🙂

I use the same and I have pushed the whole assembly into the focuser tube. That way you can make sure that focuser tube does not stick into the OTA. No need to cut the focuser tube etc.

Our impressions of 'what is right' is at a point in time. As more evidence becomes available, our understanding will evolve and may change. Thats life - whether its science or morality and ethics. EDIT: And even history for that matter. Its said that the victors define the history, so do we really know our past?

What is your budget? When I first got into AP, I had the same dilemma - turned out that a few astro cameras were cheaper than a DSLR and thats what I went for. I went for the ASI224mc but these days there are better versions out there that cost less than a DSLR.

My RPi has no issues as its CPU warms up and keeps it frost & dew free

Have you considered adding a long dovetail bar so you could attach the Askar on the top and perhaps attach the guidescope at the bottom. This post may give you more options https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/767238-show-your-guide-scope-mounts/page-4

As you are Windows user, I would recommend using NINA or CCD Ciel. For the planetarium software I would suggest Stellarium or Cartes du Ciel. All these software are free. Get the mount, ASI533 combination working first before adding guidescope etc. Once you have got the hang of driving the mount, image capture & platesolving all working well then you can add the guidescope and PHD2 for guiding. PS: You could use ASTAP or Astrometry.net for platesolving. And you will need a FTDI cable to control your mount from PC. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/astronomy-cables-leads-accessories/lynx-astro-ftdi-eqdir-usb-adapter-for-sky-watcher-eq5-pro-heq5-syntrek-pro-az-eq5-gt-az-eq6-gt-and-eq8-mounts.html

Also look at DSS, Siril (free), Affinity Photo, Photoshop, Startools. Personally I use Siril. I found it easier to capture the images, but the post processing is the difficult bit. Using my data the experts can get much better images 😞

On the 130pds you cant get focus unless you add the extension tube onto the focuser. Not sure if you would have similar situation? Does the OTA come with an extension tube? Check where you get focus using the eyepiece and then you can work out how much to move the focuser inwards (to cover for the distance to sensor on your camera)

Welcome to the AP club, Jim. Have you decided on a software for the post processing of the images?

I use Team Viewer on a phone to connect to my laptop. This way I can view the screen of the laptop while I am changing focus at the scope. BTW, have you tried the Bahtinov mask focus assistant in Ekos, that should help.

The way I went about this is look at the data provided by ZWO on my camera. In your case https://www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo-cameras/zwo-asi-183mc-pro-usb-3-cooled-colour-camera.html the graph says unity gain is at 120 and read noise drops to 2 at 150 gain and dynamic range is 10ish so not too bad - so thats the gain I would aim for. In terms of cooling the dark current drops very well beyond -10 so you could set to that level of cooling. I set my Offset to 70 for my ASI533mc pro in Ekos but cant comment about ASIAir or Sharpcap. Here is a good discussion on this topic of offsets https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/542048-gain-and-offset-settings-for-zwo-cameras/ You could also work it out yourself - once you have your gain and exposure chosen, capture some dark frames with the selected gain/exposure. Adjust the offset to make sure that the peak in the image histogram is clearly separated from the left hand side of the graph. HTH

Its probably the same thing ....but called differently in Siril

Generalised Hyperbolic Transformation aka GHT 🙂 ... Here is a video by the author

If you are a Windows user then Kstars has a limitation when it comes to managing the devices. It uses INDI drivers which work on Linux, Mac or RPi

Your image is good 👍 perhaps if you reduce the black point and stretch using GHT you may get more nebulosity to show up. I have deliberately not increased the black point as the background sky is never really black and in this image there is a lot of nebulous matter out there in the background which would get obliterated. The sensor on my ASI533 is obviously smaller than yours hence the cropped look. Didnt understand what aspect of the diffraction spikes are being made worse by Siril. In my case I know that the vertical ones are spread out due to the vane being a bit bent. Its not easy to fix though 😞 Glad you like my choice of colours...I was debating whether to show off the electric blue and then decided to mute it a bit as that brings out the nebulosity too. Here is the electric blue version