AstroMuni

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

8 minutes ago, JoeKitchen said:

Any thoughts?  Any other trackers I should be looking at?  

Is there a budget that you have in mind? For travel, you need a light weight one so I would have said something like the ZWO AM5 would be best (compared to the HEQ5). But for simple star tracking these may suffice https://www.firstlightoptics.com/star-tracker-astronomy-mounts.html. Some of them may even be able to sit on top of your existing tripod.

19 minutes ago, Nika1982 said:

Thank you !!!! I will go with your recommendation and follow your link. It’s exactly what I need just pointed which one will be a good start. Also she do love moon so I’m sure she will be happy with that !!! Anything else would be a bonus. Thank you 😊 

If you havent already, read this https://astrobiscuit.com/best-budget-telescope/

The scope mentioned by @Mal22 is mentioned here 🙂 along with some tips on type of mounting.

Well done. Wish my images were this impressive 😃

On 22/11/2023 at 17:34, ithurtssobadly said:

Ooh.. thanks! should i use osc preprocessing without dbf script?(in siril)

I think the siril scripts primarily cater to deep sky stacking. You might be able to edit them to make them work for planetary but as Elp says its best done manually. Alternately use Autostakkert or other tools to stack and then use Siril to post process.

On 25/11/2023 at 09:30, nitram100 said:

Finding it quite difficult to focus as soon as I touch the focuser, the planet shakes all over the screen.

Suggest focussing on a star first and then move to planet

2 hours ago, Zilvay1 said:

Around a ago year i bought my first telescope and it was a newtonian telescope and it was equipped with an eq2 mount without tracking.

If you let us know the exact model and make (or an image is even better) then we should be able to give you a definite answer. The Skywatcher mounts support Vixen style dovetails so if your scope already comes with one or has provision to add one then you are good to go.

3 hours ago, groberts said:

Just want to check:

1. That the camera only needs to be connected via the USB-C port on the camera to a USB 2.0 port i.e don't use the ethernet cable supplied too?
2. Does this have to be a USB 2.0 port on the ASIair or can it also run through one of the spare USB 2.0 ports I have available on the back of the ASI 294MM Pro imaging camera being used?

1. Only connect via USB port. The ST4 port is an option to control (via the mount auto guide port), but if you are using a software such as PHD2 then USB is the preferred option.

2. I have the 120MM mini and a ASI533mc pro and I connect the USB cable from the 120mini to the spare USB port at the back of the ASI533 (remember to connect the external power cable to main camera otherwise it doesnt always work)

On 19/11/2023 at 18:35, gonzostar said:

If anyone wants ago please. 

You have managed to capture a lovely image. There is a lot of detail in there and I'm sure experts in this group can tease it out.

Here's my quick attempt using Siril.

This is a BOGOF deal for Black Friday. Beautiful !

On 22/11/2023 at 06:14, Simone_DB said:

Added the .fit file!

@alacant your expertise is needed here 🙂