AstroMuni

I like the image. I tried doing a quick background extraction in Siril and that helps get the balance between the 2 panes. So you might wish to try something similar

You could use Cartes du Ciel instead. Thats less processor intensive.

DSOs with better magnitude appear as fuzzy blobs in binos in my Bortle 6 skies and on a clear night you might just be able to see M31 with the naked eye using averted vision. The Orion Nebula is possibly the only one that you can make out as having some structure. Try this site to simulate what it would look like https://www.stelvision.com/astro/telescope-simulator/

Have you considered using a phone app like SkySafari or SkEye (android only). These can readily tell you what you are looking at. SkEye has a PUSH-TO functionality too so you can attach it to your scope, calibrate and then it will guide you to move your scope to the point you are interested in.

Could you post the steps you followed in Siril please.

Did you manage to get to the bottom of this? What was the spec?

Now that the master has done the work, I wont even try 🙂

Thats a good suggestion and one to keep in mind for next buy. 🙂 Since I have the ASI224 & ASI533 I can get both zoomed in and wider field views on a 130 or 150mm scope. Both cameras have similar pixel size too.

Didnt understand that bit 😞 If you compare a 130/f5 and a 130/f4 then the latter would need less exposure time to get same level of detail, is my understanding. Have I misunderstood what you are saying?

When you add many variables then it makes it harder, but my assumption is that your mount and camera are fixed. So in my case with a pixel size of 3.76 on ASI533 and using the 150/600 quattro I would get 1.29"/px without the CC (@f4) and 1.5"/px with the CC (@f2.5). To get to < 1"/px I would have to go for larger FL scopes. EDIT: with the CC its f3.45

The way I see it is - for a given FOV the best bang for buck is a Newt with the largest aperture that your mount can handle AND if you can get a faster F-ratio then you will need to spend less time imaging! As an example for my HEQ5 Pro you can get a SW Quattro 150 f/4 with a coma corrector that makes it even faster at f2.5 for around £499. If I wanted to get something like this in a refractor with a 150mm aperture, I would need to spend a lot-lot more and the HEQ5 would probably not be capable of taking its weight 🙂

+1 .... for folk like me who can only image during weekends and NOT having an obsy and dont wish to break the bank, thats an important consideration (esp when you live in UK and are at the mercy of the clouds). So the choices for me are large aperture, fast Newts. 🙂

I am sure you can get much better results using the original data. There is a lot more data in there which I can see even in your jpg image. If you dont already, you should try Siril. Lots of great features aimed at Astro imaging and as its an Open source project, more additions being done every couple of months. A lot of folk I know use Siril for the first part and then final touches are added in PS.

Wise decision. Its good to know how the basics work before you take the leap. ....I have the HEQ5 pro as well and started down a similar route to you around 2 years ago. I prefer the warmth of my house 🙂 so embarked on controlling the mount and everything else via an RPi after a while. Good luck.

Thats a great image for just an hours worth. You may wish to remove the green noise to get an image like this. I used your uploaded image and removed green noise using Siril.

@bb453 may I suggest that you do the 3 star alignment with an eyepiece and then attach the camera. That should make life a lot easier. Great image of M31 btw! Is there a reason you dont use a computer to control the mount, camera?

Hi and welcome. If you can let us know what your interests are and what you intend to use the telescope for, then we can provide better guidance. eg. For astronomical observations we are not fussed about whether the object is upright, but for terrestrial viewing you would like to use an erecting eyepiece. Also an equatorial mount such as what you have is more suited for astro viewing as its motion follows the rotation of the stars in the heavens. As to your question on eyepieces most telescopes (such as yours) use 1.25inch eyepieces, so look out for those. HTH. 🙂

Reading this might help understand how the 2/3 star alignment creates a mount model. https://eq-mod.sourceforge.net/testimages/eqmod_3star.html

So now all working I take it? 🙂 Alls well that ends well

Can you post a lsusb -v for the camera part only? Does the listing look something like this? Also try using Firecapture or OACapture to see if they recognise the camera OACapture should show something like this

Try changing the driver to ZWO camera 1 & ZWO Camera 2. I am assuming that you have tried to connect just a single camera (say the 290) and no other devices? EDIT: I just noticed that lsusb doesnt detect the cameras! So something is wrong. Are you using the blue ports for the cameras? Assuming they are having the faster USB3 connection. Reboot the RPi, connect just one camera to USB port and run lsusb. See if it shows up. If it does you can add the 2nd one and check again. So do it in stages

The INDI server is running on the RPi and you are running Kstars on RPi so connection is local. If you were running Kstars on a laptop and connecting to RPi then it would be remote connection. Try removing the tick on Auto Connect and see if it recognises the cameras. The INDI popup should show a tab for each camera

I have an Astromaster 130 which is similar to the 130P. I can get focus with both the ASI224 (12.5mm backfocus) & the ASI533 (6.5mm BF), so it should work for you. I attach using the provided nosepiece.

Just spend on a better mount. Rest will take care of itself. You have managed to get great planetary images, and a 70mm refractor can capture good images of DSOs too (will need more images as compared to using a 130mm). Good luck!

At the end its what you are willing to spend now. The Newts will get you best bang for buck. Based on my experience (see link in my signature), a 130mm scope, good mount (preferably a go-to), a DSLR/planetary camera like ASI224mc, and a computer you can get great images. Most of the software is free!