AstroMuni

Have you read this? https://agenaastro.com/zwo-asiair-plus-wi-fi-astrophotography-camera-controller.html Copied the relevant text about downloading, here.....Perhaps the easiest way to export your data from the ASIAIR Plus to a computer is to use a USB-C to USB-A cable to connect it directly. Then, it will show up on your computer as an external drive, and you can drag the files to your computer. Other transfer methods include saving the data to a MicroSD card and then inserting that into your computer's card reader or using a USB flash drive. You can also enable Station Mode in the ASIAIR's WiFi settings and connect it to your home WiFi. You can then download files from the ASIAIR to your computer via the network, though this method takes considerably more time than hardware connections listed above.

Double post 😞 hence deleted content

The website doesnt do justice to the Stellarmate app and I have mentioned this to Jasem. Having seen the ASIAir in action and as a user of Stellarmate I have to say that ASIAir UI is more user friendly but under the core I think Ekos is stronger. And the similarities in the two apps makes you wonder what is the true relationship between the 2 organisations! The Stellarmate app is using the same labeling as Ekos for their parameters (which makes it easier for power users to switch between App & Ekos itself) but on the flip side some of those labels are not the most intuitive. Thats my 2 bits 🙂

As you are more of a Mac user I would suggest going down the Stellarmate OS route. You have a few choices open to you... - run Kstars & INDI on the Mac and connect devices directly to it - run Kstars & INDI on an RPi and connect from the Mac/ipad via VNC or browser - run INDI on RPi and connect from Mac running Kstars - run INDI on RPi and connect via ipad using Stellarmate app Take your pick 🙂

Thats a good start and the moons of Jupiter are showing quite clearly in one of the images. You will need to take a video and stack the images to bring out the bands etc. You have jumped the main hurdle of getting a good focus. 🙂 Make sure your mount is Polar aligned so that tracking will be smooth and you dont end up getting star trails. The HEQ5 is a very capable mount. Good luck.

What you have read is a generic problem. The SW Quattro, PDS series have been specially designed to get around this problem and have shorter distances between primary and the focuser tube.

Reading through your posts, I have built a mental picture of how you wish to work. Correct me if wrong... When you say view it from the laptop I have assumed that you wish to do what many of us do...capture the images and then post process at leisure to bring out the images. There is another way to do it called EEA where you stack the images whilst capturing thus its a bit of both worlds - visual & enhanced without the faff of post processing. - You wish to take the kit to some place other than your garden to do imaging: If so you will need something lighter and easy to carry in car. But you will need battery to power your equipment. - Mount (ideally Go-to, but tracking as a minimum). I have assumed Go-to for the items below. If you just use a hand controller for the mount then you wont need the USB/EQASCOM for mount. - You are more interested in Planetary & Lunar at the moment: you would need scopes with long focal length - eg. SCT/Mak + + planetary camera with high FPS rate (eg. ASI224) + UV/IR cut filter + ADC to improve vision due to atmosphere (optional) - Laptop with software to manage the mount (eg EQASCOM), software like Firecapture or SharpCap to capture the images, Post processing software like Siril, Gimp, Pipp, Autostakkert/ Registax. Note: SharpCap (paid version) allows you to do EAA - Cables: USB3 ideally (min 2 - one for mount & one for camera) + power supply unit etc. to connect to battery. Hope this helps.

Colours have been brought out beautifully for just 3hours. Amazing. What software did you use to process the image?

If your current camera allows ROI image captures, the FPS might be acceptable for planetary.

Thanks. Does this mean that a Newt with a CC could have a similar disadvantage as compared to one without CC?

Could you explain the reasons for this please? I can understand that a 6" would do a better job than a 5" and all that glass wouldnt help either, but is there something I am missing?

I should have mentioned all those too 😞 Those are quite low on the ASI533 and as you say easier to deal with hence I havent found the need to take darks (yet).

Correct. The 20-40 is just to average out the values. And as your camera is same as mine (the ASI533), I dont take any darks as there is no amp glow issues to deal with.

If thats a Celstron Astromaster then its not really suited for AP.

The exposure time for each dark frame needs to match exposure time for each light frame. You will need to stack around 20-40 such dark exposures to get a master dark. Does that make any more sense? 🙂 So if you are taking 30s exposures for lights, you would take darks with same 30s exposure setting. Total number of lights exposures could be many hundreds.

At this rate, the OP will have to go to a 'professional' collimator 😉 Dont scare the OP too much chaps @a6400 I was in similar boat around a year ago and I joined the local astro club. Friendly members have helped me collimate my scope so my suggestion is join club 🙏

Forecast is bleak for my part of the country 😭

I have been using Kstars for over a year and your message prompted me to look around, so I have learnt something new as well 🙂 I agree its going to be tricky sending an alert to laptop, hence posted that link to conversation about connecting to Telegram etc.

Looks like there is an option see https://www.indilib.org/forum/wish-list/7318-ekos-alerts-texts.html

Worth asking in INDI forum. It would be good if you could run a script on job abort like its there for startup and shutdown.

Apologies.. dont know what happened there 😞 Nothing happened when I pressed submit button, but looks like it did do something after all 🙏 Perhaps the fact that I am not too far from reaching that age too LOL

Perhaps its just time to admit that there are (more) things to learn from our younger generation and get on with it 😉 LOL

Perhaps its just time to admit that there are (more) things to learn from our younger generation and get on with it 😉 LOL

Perhaps its just time to admit that there are (more) things to learn from our younger generation and get on with it 😉 LOL

Perhaps its just time to admit that there are (more) things to learn from our younger generation and get on with it 😉