AstroMuni

3 hours ago, LaurenceT said:

The blue nebulosity is almost absent and I cannot improve it, I'm wondering if this is due to my error in setting the camera gain at zero.

See if there is an option in ASI stack to disable stretching and save the stacked file. Get hold of Siril. It provides the tools to post process (you can also stack with it)

I have done a quick stretch on your image using Siril and you can see that there is nebulosity. So if you start fresh you should be able to get a lot more. Good luck

On 04/02/2024 at 02:57, fievelgp said:

The 2nd image is only my stacked lights.  I removed the green tint in Siril. Other than that, the only thing done in both photo's was stretching since I have no idea what I am doing with image processing yet

Have you done a background extraction? Can you also attach the flats image here so others can comment.

On 03/02/2024 at 10:00, LaurenceT said:

when I open it in gimp or similar for stretching I get a different image that cannot be stretched.

The possibility is - the view in ASIFitsview is showing an auto stretched view so when you open in Gimp its showing the linear view. i.e you would need to stretch quite a bit for the details to start showing up

If that isnt the case ....when you open a FITS file in Gimp it asks for a few parameters. Try setting Pixel value scaling as "By datamin/datamax" and Image composing to "NAXIS=3...."

14 minutes ago, ericrin903 said:

is a star adventurer the "right" equipment if I have to do plate solving or drift alignment?  or should start looking at more robust options?

You can platesolve and drift alignment for PA using the Star adventurer 🙂 To make full use of platesolve (i.e to align to any object) you would need a goto mount.

21 hours ago, Stu Wilson said:

This image is only 5 x 1min subs with darks and NOW FLATS from a ED80pro outfit with Altair 294cProTEC cooled outfit.

Thats really impressive for 5mins. My profile pic is 5mins too (130 Astromaster +ASI224mc) but I can clearly see that yours is a lot better. Look forward to seeing the image with more data 👍

25 minutes ago, ericrin903 said:

Is it possible to polar align my tracker and then carry the rig to a new location

Polar alignment (PA) needs to be done at the location where you are imaging from, so cant be done at a different place and then relocate the kit 😞

Suggest you get the Altitude alignment sorted when you can see Polaris. When you are at the imaging location, do an alignment with a compass and see if you get significant star trails. Note: Your mount will still need to point North (the Polarscope should still be pointed in direction of Polaris)

You are correct that to get accurate PA you would need to Platesolve (you dont need an Astro camera - a DSLR will do). Good luck.

4 hours ago, Monzilla said:

I'd like to be able to see planets in detail and the odd bit of deep space.

If you want to see the planets up close then the Mak is more suited due to its long FL vs the 130PS.

See this comparison using https://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/.

On the right you can see what eyepiece & barlow I have used. Try using the tool with different planets & other objects to see the difference.

Regarding the mount, get the best mount you can afford as that can be your workhorse and carry other scopes that you may decide to buy a few months/years down the line.

On 11/12/2023 at 06:55, Ags said:

To cope with the larger number of stars, I have added some multithreading to my process. There's an old joke about multithreading: A programmer who uses multithreading to solve one problem now problems two has.

Great work to put together all this info into a book.

Is there a reason you are compiling a book instead of releasing an app that can generate these charts?

10 hours ago, uk_friendly_fire said:

You may have experimented with Stellarmate on the RPi off an SDcard or USB stick (which I did more recently and found improved stability) or used the Windows Kstars App.

I have been actively using Kstars/Ekos for a few years now on the RPi with an SDcard; at first using the Astroberry build and more recently the Stellarmate OS build and havent had any major hiccups with upgrades yet (fingers crossed). I have started playing with the Stellarmate App on the ipad & android and it seems to be slowly getting there in terms of user friendliness.

If you are planning to use a PC going forward, have you considered using NINA? It has similar capabilities as Ekos and is built for Windows.

Wow. And put together from a collection of diverse sources too ! (Lum, LRGB, RGB )

15 minutes ago, tomato said:

Why are the CMOS OSC cameras so much better then their CCD counterparts, better QE and lower read noise I suppose?

Its like asking why are smartphones so much better than the PCs of old 🙂

Good work. Quite comprehensive 👍

49 minutes ago, uk_friendly_fire said:

Setting up Stellarmate on my RPi4b was a cinch in comparison. I only departed from it hoping to cache-in more processing power of a Wintel PC.

Ha ha...if you have successfully got Kstars/Ekos working, I would stick with that. Ekos has far more capabilities as compared to the Synscan app. The image capture and management of all devices is done off my RPi4b. I manage it using a VNC connection from my laptop. I do all post processing on my laptop.

On 25/01/2024 at 09:25, Neillo said:

am trying to collimate my new Celestron Astromaster 130EQ

Collimating with a cheshire can be tricky as the focuser tube is quite wobbly on that scope. But thats the way you would need to start. Once you have got a decent collimation you could try and improve this by collimating with a star. When collimating with stars, you would need to get higher power eyepieces than the std ones supplied, so that you can easily see the airy disk.

13 hours ago, PhilB61 said:

Given the accuracy needed for good PA (for astrophotography) I would never do the alignment without the scope and accessories already attached as the chance of sag/settlement or just bumping the mount is too high. Doing it that might be ok for visual use though. Just my opinion others may differ especially if you have a very large or robust mount/tripod combination and a lightweight OTA

Absolutely agree. I personally find it easier to do the initial PA without the weight of additional equipment & counterweights. Final tweaking is done with just the knobs once the equipment has been attached. The lack of good PA results in poor guiding, so for me is a good indicator of PA. I tend to just visually PA using the polarscope and if I find guiding is way off then I resort to using the tool in Ekos.

2 hours ago, Albir phil said:

Need some help camera connected via asiair mini ,no problem however when I try to image in daylight on a distant tree  with 5  , 3 sec or less exposure all I get is whiteout image,I then put scope lens cap on, as expected black image 🤬fast loosing the will . I know some one out there as the answers so any advise please😭

I do have the ASI533 and you would probably need sub second exposures and 0 gain to take images in daylight. I would suggest trying with just the camera inside your house and point it at objects in the room and reduce exposure until you start seeing coloured shadows. You could try using the ASIcap app as it has an Auto exposure button.

16 hours ago, HUNTERSBELT said:

having a 8" reflector for a few years and a skywatcher eq5 pro synscan goto , i decided i want to dip into astrophotography , have 2 diffrent telescopes in basket and trying to decide which would be best

As queried by @Elp why have you disregarded the 8" reflector? What model do you have? The quickest and possibly the least expensive way to start is attach a camera to the 8" and go from there.

On 17/01/2024 at 00:14, engstrom said:

I think I’ve got my HEQ5 pointing in roughly the right direction of Polaris. Looking through the polar scope, am I right in thinking that Polaris is pretty much the only obvious, brightest POI in that region? Seeing’s not great at the moment and I don’t want to sweep using the alignment nuts and knobs as it’d take ages.

Polaris is pretty much the only bright star visible to the naked eye in that region and through the polarscope. So you should be able to find it quite easily in the polarscope. Using the finderscope will not help much as this is not aligned to the mount but to the OTA, and having the additional weight of the scope etc.will make it harder to move the mount.

I just point the mount using my eyes to judge that its roughly in the right direction. I then move the mount by hand to get Polaris in the polarscope. The fine alignment to match the clockface is done using the bolts. Once this is all done, I then attach the OTA, counterweights etc. HTH.

On 21/01/2024 at 12:31, pbmazda32 said:

after the Meridian flip, it refused to turn the mount tracking back on so when the guider was trying to recalibrate, it kept failing because the guide star was moving considerably. I had to restart the imaging sequence to get it going again. I haven't figured this one out and may have to email Stellarmate for some help. Probably some obscure checkbox I missed.

From what you have said it sounds like the Align (platesolve) after MF may have failed hence tracking didnt start. Have you read this https://www.stellarmate.com/support/ekos/mount/meridian-flip.html

May help

On 19/01/2024 at 17:16, cmanley134 said:

I'm using a reducing corrector and want to chop my drawtube.

I wanted to do the same when I purchased my Baader MPCC but then I realised that if I push the CC into the focuser tube, the tube no longer peeps out into the OTA when I achieve focus. So (if you havent already done so) check if this type of arrangement will help.

EDIT: Looks like this is too late now 🙂 so good luck with your setup

On 26/12/2023 at 23:23, Bugdozer said:

Are there any particular objects in the sky that image particularly well in the 700nm infrared range, or thereabouts? 

This article should help https://satakagi.github.io/IR-imaging-of-galaxies-under-light-pollution/

On 04/01/2024 at 13:23, Albir phil said:

Advice please, I have a zwo 533 colour camera if I use a triband filter do I also use a ir/uv cut filter with this camera,if so how, as I understand you should not stack them.Do some triband filters have ir/uv built in 🤔

This one from Antlia seems to have the uv/ir cut built in https://www.firstlightoptics.com/antlia-filters/antlia-triband-rgb-ultra-filter.html. Its on my bucket list to purchase as I have borrowed one in the past from a friend and it gives good results with nebulae & galaxies. I removed my UV/IR cut filter and replaced with the Antlia when I took the images.

See my post on this topic

HTH

On 14/01/2024 at 15:36, Stuart1971 said:

If they opened it up to other cameras, they would possibly sell so many more, but on the flip side they may sell less of there own cameras, so it’s a double edged sword really, my point was I don’t think they can allow other cameras to use the ASIair because of legalities as its using the open source indi software

They are allowing mounts from various vendors, and these use INDI drivers too so would that not breach the legality aspect?

On 07/01/2024 at 14:16, RJC said:

Thanks all!

I have plenty to go at here

I have just, 2 minutes ago, received my Barlow lens so hopefully I can put it to good use when the rest of my kit arrives.

I have a nice and relatively dark South facing garden so I have been observing some of these planets and constellations over the past couple of weeks through my binoculars so I’m excited to get in a little closer!

the weather is looking pretty good for the next week or so in the SW where I’m based, so fingers crossed I can get out there as soon as everything arrives.

Also take a look at the archives from this publication by @BinocularSky - it gives you a month by month list of objects to view https://binocularsky.com/newsletter_archive.php

On 10/12/2023 at 17:37, Bvp1 said:

Same problem here; equip connects optical train button does nothing.

More minor issue (given cannot get app working re above), shame app cant pick-up profiles from desktop / web manager rather having to create new / duplicate ones in app.

Anyone else had this issue?

Thanks

Are you able to post a screenshot?

34 minutes ago, Magnum said:

Only 15 X 3 min so lot of room to improve if I ever get more data on it.

Awesome image esp for just 45mins