AstroMuni

I know exactly how you feel as I was in same boat during covid when I started my journey into AP 🙂

If you are plate solving you dont need to do the 2/3 star alignment. With every platesolve, the mount model will be updated to make it more accurate.

The ZWO graphs are here https://www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo-cameras/zwo-asi-2600mc-pro-usb-30-cooled-colour-camera.html?_gl=1*1550dz8*_up*MQ..*_ga*NTI0ODU4NTE5LjE3MTE0NjU4NTQ.*_ga_F6VGWQ0MW9*MTcxMTQ2NTg1My4xLjAuMTcxMTQ2NTg1My4wLjAuMA.. As the 2600 also uses the Sony IMX571 its characteristics will be same as Altair's version. The main differences in camera would be primarily in the cooling circuitry and any USB controllers. Here is a discussion on the various brands that use the same chip (albeit its talking about the mono version) https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/866522-what-is-the-real-difference-between-all-the-imx571-cameras/

If you are getting crisp views of features on the moon and stars are pinpoint then I wouldnt worry about collimation. I had a Celestron 130 and yours looks similar, so dont expect crisp views of planets. The edges will be fuzzy - partly because of the the atmospheric effects and the partly due to steadiness of your scope. The focuser is also not the best so its hard to get exact focus.

One way is to look at the graphs provided by the vendor. As the ZWO ASI2600mc is using same IMX571 chip the graphs for this would be similar to the Altair version. These show a significant drop in read noise at Gain 100 when HCG kicks in.

I live in North Hampshire, so a member of the Basingstoke society. We have a few members who also attend the HAG meetings, but I dont think I know anyone from Solent group.

Remind me, whats your equipment at the moment? Looking at your images they are certainly out of focus but at first glance this seems quite similar across the frame.

Check out GraXpert AI too. Sometimes it does a better job at extracting the background as compared to RBF in Siril (btw, RBF is from GraXpert and incorporated into Siril)

Its not just the PA accuracy that influences the image quality. There are other factors like mount stability, guiding, backlash etc.that affect your image. At the end of the day, its what level of quality is good enough (acceptable) for you.

Have you set & saved your coords under the Geographic... option? Once thats done it should grab the right time from your wifi.

Its a good distro and is slowly but surely becoming more main stream. I tried it when it was in its first few releases and faced issues where the updates would break the OS and it had to be reinstalled from scratch. So as compared to Astroberry or Stellarmate its still in its infant stages but fast getting there all thanks to its maintainer...Hats off for his efforts.

You might just get away without one. I need a CC for the ASI533 with 130/650 scope.

As a Mac user you could also try Kstars/Ekos which runs natively on Mac & Linux based devices. This software also provides the tool for PA.

Anyone who can use a phone to respond in forums is still young... ha ha After doing a 2/3 star alignment the synscan app is trying to tell you how far off you are from a perfect polar alignment. If you find you are way off then start the process again (without using the hand controller). I wouldnt worry too much about it if you have visually checked the location of polaris in the clockface. I never get perfect PA and can still manage to get decent images without star trails. So dont worry.

This post may help https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/639135-synscan-goto-alignment-precision/

Sorry, whats this??

@TiffsAndAstro The advice above makes perfect sense to me, but as its causing some confusion in your mind lets keep it simple & try this again from scratch.... - To align your polarscope reticle try this https://www.myastroscience.com/polarscopecalibration - Do NOT use your handcontroller for these steps - Position your mount so that Polaris is visible in your polarscope - Rotate the axis until the clockface is right side up (i.e 12 or 0 is up and 6 is down). Personally I am not fussed about the numbers themselves as long as it resembles a clock (eg. 3 maybe in 6 o'clock position) - Use the al-az knobs, latitude bolt until polaris is in the right position in the clock face. You can get the location from any polar alignment app on your phone - You can now start using the hand controller to do star alignment etc. DO NOT move your mount or adjust any knobs after doing star alignment! Hope this makes sense 🙂

NINA (for windows users) and Ekos (for Mac/Linux/RPi users) Ekos certainly does this.

Looks like you have a similar reticle to mine. If you look closely you will notice 3 circles in the clock face. The years tell you which of the circles to use for aligning Polaris. At the moment its the central ring. I wouldnt worry too much about parallax error. I have been doing polar alignment using the polarscope and my images havent been badly affected using exposure times between 30-60s without guiding. Good luck.

Also play around with this tool https://astronomy.tools/calculators/ccd_suitability to see which camera is best suited for your scope. Assuming you have already purchased this scope, the FL is 750mm so the only variable factor is pixel size. A lot of modern cameras have pixel sizes between 2.9-3.75um and you can see from the calculator that getting a camera with 2.9um is more favourable as you can also bin 2x2. Ultimately I think its your budget that will help decide which camera to go for. I started my AP journey with an ASI224mc.

ttttt = Lots of tomatoes working together? 😉

My understanding is that the telescope/lens will dictate the FoV. The camera sensor can only limit this view (assuming the sensor is not large enough). So in the examples below, for the same scope you could get larger sensor cameras and get more of the object into the view.

Or a focal reducer $$$ 🙂

You could still do that with the images you have gathered, dont have to wait for clear skies 🙂

Thats definitely the situation due to the weather here 😞 and by the time I get to the stage of going out and setting up the scope my planning is out of date ! Technology has helped me a lot in this regard. I have an RPi sitting outside in the cold and I can remain inside the house remotely accessing it. This would not have been easily achievable (say) 10 years ago, if at all.