AstroMuni

19 hours ago, Paul M said:

Abandoned Astroberry after 3 months of failure: the RasPi just crashed or hung after taking a single sub. Tried every possible fix...

Its sad that you had a bad experience. I have been using  Astroberry build on RPi4 for a couple of years now with no major issues. Fingers crossed 🙂

NINA is a great software btw. But my point earlier wasnt about Kstars being a very stable software, it was the aspect that the fewer the interacting components the less chances of getting config issues and lower the risk of failure.

As an example when I only had a mount + camera I had fewer issues to deal. Once I got a guide scope, I have to worry about poor guiding too...And then I added the EAF and now more issues - LOL.

13 hours ago, Paul M said:

So now I don't sync the HNSKY "telescope" with APT. I only use it to display the plate solved image frame size, position and orientation - which it does excellently. I can then confirm if the target is in the frame and adjust using APT functions.

And thats the advantage with using a software such as Kstars which comes bundled with planetarium, control of mount, cameras, dome etc., platesolver & guider. There is no reliance of attaching external programs and getting them to all talk together.

54 minutes ago, Swoop1 said:

I don't use NINA or Cartes du Ciel together- I have tried both at different times.

I use two components as follows- I plug the HEQ5PRO mount into my laptop via the handset port using an eqdir cable and fire up either CDC or NINA- both open GSS when I identify a target and ask the softare to slew the scope to it. I guess they use GSS as the ASCOM programme?

Thats odd.

If you had both running at the same time that may account for the conflict. I think NINA is meant to get coords from CDC and pass onto GSS which talks to the mount.  So CDC --> NINA --> GSS --> HEQ5. CDC should NOT be connecting directly to GSS.

This is from NINA manual : Currently N.I.N.A. supports Stellarium, Cartes du Ciel, TheSkyX and HNSKY. The connection allows a one way communication of coordaintes from the planetarium software to N.I.N.A.

Perhaps someone who uses NINA can confirm.

On 08/08/2023 at 15:02, Swoop1 said:

My problem is that there are times when the mount goes off and does its own thing mid way through a run- I will get a number of good frames of the selected target and then frames will show elongated streaks as the mount wander off target.

Could you explain how you have connected 4 components - HEQ5, GSS, NINA & CCD Ciel.

On 06/08/2023 at 20:53, 900SL said:

I'm onto V3 now, a single panel stressed skin ply roof with torsion spring counterbalances each end

Nice one. The bottom right image seems to show the curved roof folded downwards?? I am trying to figure out if I have understood it correctly.

19 hours ago, RyanL said:

I'm starting to realise the fuzzies aren't viable from here so I'm thinking about something suitable for planets etc..from home that's portable enough to take to darker skies.

Suggest you borrow a filter such as Antlia Triband and see if you have more success. I have a few friends who use it for EEVA and visual. I have seen the output of the EEVA and it looks great, so worth a try.

15 hours ago, peter shah said:

Cocooned in a sea of Hydrogen

Wow. Yet another beautiful colourful image from you 🤩

12 hours ago, maw lod qan said:

Was it hundreds or many hundreds of years?

Its undeniable and amazing about what ancient civilizations managed to calculate. Remember that they also didnt have distractions like internet, WA, phones etc. 😉 So while many would have been involved in protecting the group against predators, the 'geeks' of that day must have had more time on their hands.

On 01/08/2023 at 12:56, MartinB said:

"Started" means the first time you managed to have photons from a deep sky object arrive at a camera sensor.

Does this mean planetary imagers qualify as novices too?

23 hours ago, Dimitrisanagn said:

I know that this would be taking away from the joy of the process of finding and observing, but with a rather limited budget of max 200-250 pounds, I'd like to buy what would be the best value for money option for our case.

Have you considered buying binoculars. A 50x10 will show you quite a lot and its a good start for a 6 year old in that they can hold it themselves. At that age they quickly change interests as well, so no point in splashing out unless you are keen to carry on with the hobby all by yourself

11 minutes ago, andrew s said:

PS why do we always look up for signs of intelligent life?

I thinks its the same reason why we look up when we think of God. Our idea of superior is always on a level above 🙂

4 minutes ago, StuartT said:

But I wasn't aware they also recorded what actually happened. This is worth knowing

I am not sure if they do. I was suggesting asking them if they keep the stats 🙂

@StuartT check out the link I provided in my edit. There is an option at the bottom of the page to download the data. Perhaps worth taking a look

38 minutes ago, StuartT said:

I have been trying to get hold of data on how many clear nights different parts of the UK have had over the recent past

Did you check with FLO if they keep stats of Cloud cover as part of ClearOutside?

We are next to the gulf stream on the west, so I suspect the east coast maybe less cloud prone?? Thats just my guess, but as an island we are quite small so may not have much of a difference. Also the weather has been so unpredictable across the world due to global warming etc, that the next decade is probably going to be fluid. I know thats not good news for us astronomers as a whole 😞

EDIT: Here is a link that shows cloud cover over the years worldwide. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/global-maps/MODAL2_M_CLD_FR

So we need to be a lot further south if we need those cloudless skies

13 hours ago, GTom said:

DSO AP with 1500mm FL, F12, on an AZ mount? Because that is what the OP has if I understood correctly...

Its not the optimal choice but will certainly get you decent images. My approach is start with what you have and learn from it. Then you can make the informed choice rather than what a dozen folk have recommended based on their experiences. Its a bit like when folk say you cant get decent images without guiding. Its all in the perception of what is 'acceptable' at a point in time to the person, is it not?

On 21/07/2023 at 11:15, sPhyre91 said:

I started using a telescope a couple years ago with a mak 127 with an alt-az mount GoTo

You should be able to make a start with your existing setup.

Aim for the DSOs that fit into your FOV and learn the techniques of managing your scope & camera with software & understanding post image capture processing. I certainly find that the latter has the steeper learning curve. Using the data I have acquired, friends of mine who have more experience, can get vastly better images. Get a laptop with lots of storage and good processing power (in case you havent already got it). Good luck.

3 hours ago, Dannomiss said:

I have a good few BST StarGuider eyepieces, binoculars etc to lend him to upgrade his eye pieces straight away...

That makes sense. Get him to try out the hobby with bins first and perhaps get him to attend a local astro club. That will inform him of the options and budgets involved

1 hour ago, michael8554 said:

I'm saying a planet on a 6000 x 4000 pixel camera will be a dot.

On a 600 x 400 camera it will "fill the image"

I think I understand what you are saying and my interpretation of what vlaiv is saying is ...If you have a monitor at 600x400 resolution,  the 6k x 4k image at 1:1 would overflow your computer screen and the image of planet would look like the image taken with 600x400 camera viewed at 1:1 as that image too would occupy your full screen. So in effect you are both saying the same thing 🙂

Wow @peter shah amazing colours. You have made the elephant look like a mackaw 🙂

1 hour ago, alacant said:

Love the twentieth century stars, sadly lacking in our effort.

Nice one.

We just need to reduce our stars less using software 😉 and possibly not use the narrowband filters...Otherwise you would get something similar to Yerkes is my guess.

1 hour ago, Rodd said:

Yay--back to bicolor.

That looks good 👍

Heres a helpful post from FLO https://www.firstlightoptics.com/blog/cleaning-a-newtonian-mirror.html

@Rodd why dont you post the stacked fits files for each of Ha, Oiii so others can have a go at it. They should be able to advice you on the PI side. I use Siril and can certainly try that way too.

Yes, you should be able to use de-ionised water. Its purified water - just uses a different process to distillation.

17 hours ago, Rodd said:

Here is the image with a bit more red--I masked out the blue and green regions and used pixel math to add Ha to the Ha regions.  It helps, but still does not seem right

Its looking much better now. What software are you using to integrate?

EDIT: have you equalized the images before combining them?