vineyard

Hello, Here's my clumsy first attempt. I could've cropped it to hide my more obvious incompetencies (some bits quite blown out) but that's no way to learn I took it on an alt-az mount rather than having it tracked. I suspect I could have taken better quality original lights if I'd kept it tracked and then played with gain (& perhaps even focus) etc a bit better on the way in? Cheers all, Vin (PS - the highlight of the night was BV'ing the moon through my 4" TV...just breathtaking)

Thanks alacant - I really appreciate that (how'd you do that magic?). Yes, will do that for the flats (from memory I'd just used B setting to take the flat). And Aramcheck I hope you're right too - I hadn't used the DSLR in so long (smartphones!) that I forgot it was in JPEG mode until afterwards... Cheers & clear skies! Vin

Oops apologies. The unstretched one uploaded as well ("Autosave.tif") - thank you!

So I iterated a bit more and the rings are there in all cases (even stacking lights only...does that mean there's something wrong with the DSLR chip or the lens - its a Sigma EX macro 105mm lens f/2.8 although I was using it at infinity focus). Light frame stack (you mean the .tif file?) also added to the dropbox. Thanks again!

Hello, Thanks for this. I've posted that variation below - the rings aren't as distinct but they're there (as are the dust bunnies...which at least means the flats are removing the bunnies!). I'll iterate on other variations as well. Here are the links to a dropbox folder - I hope those are the master files you meant alacant? https://www.dropbox.com/sh/s5s0ibkhmdqfbnd/AAA6CP4--E6_BG0hMm7XxUAma?dl=0 Thank you! Vin

Hello, As part of my continuing experiments in AP, I tried using an old DSLR (Pentax *istDS, no filters) for wide-field. I took 15x60 sec lights, and also took 60 sec darks, and biases and flats (all at infinity focus and the same f/2.8 as the lights - lens cap on for darks & biases, and a light box for the flats at 1/180s exposure to avoid overexposure). When I stack and process this is what comes out. (PI for the stacking - but the same thing w DSS; these rings emerge when I apply ABE in PI). I foolishly forgot to take the images as RAW (so these are all JPEG lights, darks etc). Did I take my flats & darks & biases wrong, or is this b/c its JPEGs? I like how many stars the image captured, but I wish I knew how to process it so that those wrings don't appear. I will take them as RAWs again in the future, but what else should I do to avoid what I hope is user-error rather than the camera! Thank you, Vin

Thank you both! V helpful. I just ordered the Lynx Astro FTDI cable from FLO David, yes I keep seeing references to VNC viewers but have not been able to make it work. I've downloaded VNC Viewer on my laptop (and an old Android tablet). I guess I need to upload similar software on to the Stellarmate (the old Astroberry configuration had something called X11VNC on it but I couldn't figure out how to see it)? If I were running two Stellarmates on VNC via hotspots, they'd each be on their own wifi networks right? So I'd either have to continually flip between those or somehow get them on to the same network. I tried getting my Stellarmate onto my home guest network using their suggested address, but the browser just stays suspended (so I'm guessing it may still be security certificates problems?). I think if I can get VNC to work on the tablet with a hotspot, that may be the way for my visual go-to. Did you find the RPi on its own could plate solve sufficiently (or did you have to upload more astrometry files)? Since I'd probably just keep it as a hotspot, it wouldn't be able to use the internet solver. Stash, thanks re the chaining - I will read that with interest. Maybe running multiple main cameras is in the upgrade list for Jasem and team 🤞🏽 Cheers

Hello, Here's one from this Monday 2 March. I don't yet know how to draw circles in GIMP (but I've figured out how to add titles ), and was shocked to learn that NGC2459 is the teeny 5-star reverse-S shaped asterism smack in the middle of the picture. The most I've been able to find out about it is here. Something to try again with a bigger scope I think. Cheers, Vin

I think it took one working day for me (but then that might have been b/c a weekend got in the way - it's not too long). Cheers

Hello, After really being impressed by EKOS on my laptop, I tried my luck with an Astroberry loaded on to a RPi3 that a fellow SGLer no longer needed. Tbh I struggled with getting a stable route in to the Astroberry (I think its browser certificates related) and also found the Ubuntu installation difficult to navigate (IT is not my strong point). So I decided to buy the Stellarmate OS licence and flash that (esp as I like EKOS so much, it also felt fair to pay something for it). And so far, fingers crossed, its working a treat - easy to set up hotspot, and I can work from my laptop inside while it does its magic outside. An initial batch of Qs has popped into my head that I'm hoping someone may be able to shed light on pls? Q1. I download images on my laptop but I've notice download speeds start to take longer as the night goes on. So instead I now download on to the remote RPi3 itself for accessing later. Although that's slightly a faff as I have to plug the Pi in w keyboard, monitor etc to transfer to my laptop. I know I can also plug a USB drive into the Stellarmate and download on to that directly - but, then is it ok at the end of the night to just unplug the USB drive after the Pi is powered down (without it being "dismounted" by clicking on an eject button while the Pi is still on, or could the USB be corrupted)? Q2. Can one laptop & EKOS run multiple separate Stellarmates simultaneously? That is, if I were to have two rigs set up (one for imaging and the other for go-to based visual - hence at least two different mounts to be controlled, and two different cameras to be accessed (possible 3 if guiding for imaging)), could all that be run from one laptop at the same time? Q3. I've taken the plunge on an HEQ5 Pro from another fellow SGLer but am going to run it with EKOS instead of using the handset. Can a normal USB to RJ45 cable be used to connect the mount to a laptop or a Stellarmate? I've seen the Lynx Astro EQDIR cable (Ikarus also do one, and I think Shoestring Astronomy also make one in the US), but I'm wondering what the difference is, and whether a normal cable would also do the job? Will stop there - thank you if any one can shed light on these! Vin

Hello, M67 - only 17 lights of 30 sec taken with a Primaluce 72ED with a CLS-CCD filter and ASI178MC. I tried stacking in PI but it kept coming with too many RANSAC errors so I tried it with DSS and that still stacked. Biases & darks applied, but I couldn't apply flats in DSS b/c DSS said they were 8 bit files (vs everything else being 16 bit). Whereas I'm certain they were taken as 16 bits (and in fact I used the flats to stack other 16 bit images earlier in PI...weird). So this image is cropped to avoid the dust bunnies on the side. I also played around a bit with Lightroom. Can't say I'm particularly happy with it, but hey ho. Cheers, Vin

Thanks Alacant - is that NGC2158? I did have a go at that the same night - posted it here & its the same darn wandering hot pixels problem in there...something to address on both those targets next time! Cheers, Vin

Thanks Geof. Had never heard that phrase about walking hot pixels! Yes you're right about the PA - where I took those from I couldn't see Polaris and sky was also restricted for drift alignment so I used the Mount Model tool on EKOS. Have to read up about dithering. Will try the sigma stacking on these lights and see what happens. And thanks too Adrian, that's a good idea - it'll be interesting to see how the two different softwares compare (I'm Mac based but have an emulator b/c AS!3 is so brilliant). Will report back - cheers, Vin

Hello, Here's my first shot at M35. Primaluce 72ED, Astronomik CLS-CCD filter, ASI 178MC, Pixinsight. Only 20 lights of 30 sec. Biases & flats applied. There's definitely some weird things in there (a line of small red dots towards the bottom right hand corner, about an inch or so in from each edge). I don't think its a processing artefact, because it appears in the first integrated image. I tried to upload 16 bit darks but PI is again not letting me do that for some reason (but it does let me load 8 bit darks). I'm thinking it could be hot pixels (?) but wouldn't they be removed by the biases? I tried processing the lights with both 8 bit darks added, and no darks, and the image was better without the 8 bit darks. In both cases that little pattern is there. Does anybody have ideas where that's coming from (or has anyone experienced that before)? Cheers, Vin (PS: that weird motif is best seen by zooming in on the image. And then you can see it appears in other parts of the image too. It seems to already be in the image after integration, but before any other processing is done. Is there such a thing as a stacking artefact - if so, how could I avoid that? Thank you!)

The 2nd image reminds me of a Joshua Tree for some reason! The 3rd image is much more fluid - conjures up the prom rippling away. 👏🏽

Hello, My first Pixinsight tinkering. NGC2158 shot on Sat night: Primaluce 72ED, Astronomik CLS-CCD filter, ASI 178MC, 38 lights of 30sec, flat & bias applied. I tried to upload darks too into PI batch processing but for some reason it wouldn't load them? I had played with the same lights w DSS & GIMP before and there isn't a patch of comparison with PI - wow, this is good software! I'm only upload the JPG for file size - all comments welcome (I think I can spot some artefacts in the image). Cheers, Vin

Hello, A lovely night last night. I took the plunge during the daytime into Stellarmate on a little Rpi3 bought from a fellow SGLer a while back. What a lovely piece of software! Anyway, just a quick note on how great it was being able to use it to look at quite a few clusters last night (many for the first time ever for me) - NGC 2158, NGC 2174, M 35, M 67, M 44 and even a wee bit of time with M 66. Took a few photos with my little Primaluce AIRY72ED which I will try & process (clumsily!) and post some time over the next few days. My over-riding takeaway was just how huge & old the universe is (and of course beautiful). While the lights were being taken, I was able to be indoors and read up on them on Wikipedia - their size, age, distance. Funny to think that every day, while we go about our lives, all that space and light and stuff is all around us...it saw us in, and it'll see us out! Fingers crossed for clear skies tonight too. Cheers all, Vin

That is beautiful. There's an excellent sense of vertigo (as if on a v steep mountain face) when looking at the left hand side in closeup (10 o'clock-ish). Only Q I can come up is that when you zoom in on the big mar (if that's what it's called?), there are little black dots - are those features or is that something on the camera or the processing. It's a beautiful piece - you could sell prints of that!

Hi Waldemar, Thanks for this. Yes a v fair Q. The main use for this (if I go down that route) would be for the Lunt 50 & whole disk viewing, but when thinking about it (b/c it is pricey) I also started wondering about compatibility with the EvoGuide50ED. You're right that once that's focused, you can lock it in (unless you change cameras etc?)...but a project I'm musing about is whether the EvoGuide50ED plus a Starizona EvoFF flattener plus a better focuser would actually be a cheaper wide-field imaging set up than the WO Redcat/Spacecat etc. I'm sure the WO probably has better optics since its a quad Petzval, but I'm not sure my eyes could tell that much of a difference (esp for my limited AP skills!)...and this way there's modularity - a better little solar setup, a decent enough wide-field imaging setup, and an easier to use guidescope setup? And re cost, I see that TS Optics also do a 1.25" focuser for refractors at a much cheaper price point than the Feathertouch or Moonlite (I'm sure not as nice as them but as long as it does the job?). I already have a pre-owned Lunt, and a pre-owned EvoGuide and so the gleam in my eye is whether the Starizona flattener and the [TS Optics] focuser actually gives me a lot of benefits in a number of different ways for not that much cost (probably less than the Feathertouch or Moonlite focuser alone!). Cheers, Vin

Hello, thanks Merlin66 & Rusted - yes its an ASI178MC not a DSLR. Sorry about the file type - I didn't know better at the time back in Jan so I just used ASICAP and since that seemed to automatically save it as PNG I just left it at that. One of the many things I have found confusing about beginning AP is all the medley of different file formats (VHS & Betamax was enough for me) - PNG, TIFF, FITS, JPG, RAW, XCF etc etc! Anyway, now I know better and having also now set up a Windows emulator on my Mac so that I can use AS!3, I've switched to AVI capture (did my first one yesterday w the little Lunt 50). Apologies for all this. Once it stops snowing here and the Sun eventually comes out, I'll try and take an AVI with the modded set up. Cheers!

Hello, Sorry to dust off this thread from 3 years ago, but I was wondering whether these focusers (either the Feathertouch or the Moonlite) would also fit the Evoguide50ED (which also comes with an annoying helical focuser)? Thank you, Vin

Hi Rusted, I'm afraid I cleaned up my hard drive recently to create space, so the original image files of that particular one are somewhere on my external backup (all I have on my laptop of that image now is the jpg). I'm not too sure how to extract only some files from a Time Machine as opposed to restoring the whole thing, and I don't really want to rewind my whole laptop back & lose all the cleaning up I did! However, there was another batch of images I took that morning which I have not yet gotten around to doing anything with. It's of pretty much the same quadrant of the sun, and when I randomly opened one image in LR and ramped up some balance levels, the same prominence does appear. So I can offer up those originals in the dropbox linked below, in case that would be helpful? Its only about 30 PNG files (vs the about 70 I think there were for the image earlier in this thread). I've also included two sub-folders in that dropbox with some darks & biases I took that morning - unfortunately I didn't take any flats b/c I wasn't sure how to do that for an Ha scope 🤔 Cheers! https://www.dropbox.com/sh/s5s0ibkhmdqfbnd/AAA6CP4--E6_BG0hMm7XxUAma?dl=0

Hello, It was such a sunny morning today that I couldn't resist (and therefore apologies to all for hexing the bloomin' clouds in). I noticed a distinct prominence on the "SE" disk (4-5 o'clock when viewed through the EP - so I guess that means SW and 7-8 o'clock in real life?). Quickly put an ASI120MM mini in. I actually took an AVI file this time (but by the time I was going to do the high-gain capture the fluffy stuff was in so I'm still going to have to wait before trying @MalVeauX recommended way for that as per his video). Processed on AS!3 for best 33% of about 330 frames. Then to GIMP to crop & create two layers. One layer left untouched once levels tightened a bit, the other maxed out on the curve to see if anything was caught. Then selection by colour on that layer to extract the disk and the prominence, and then merged back to create a single image. Colourised in GIMP, with a bit more tweaking on the colour & balance in LR. Still v clumsy and not v aesthetic (my sense of colour is idiosyncratic shall we say), but practice is the intention! (I think that orangeish tinge around the edge of the disk & the prom is from my amateurish layering - I suspect I didn't get the layering-transparency and colour-matching right?). Cheers all, Vin (PS - a v weird thing: I tried to use FireCapture for the imaging, but FC wouldn't recognise the ASI120MM mini? So I used ASICAP instead, but has that happened for anyone else before - I have come across some apparently isolated incidents on google...I know the ASI120MM mini does get recognised by EKOS as well, so this seems to be an FC issue?)

That wouldn't surprise me Peter b/c I have no clue on the processing side 😂 ...slowly slowly trying-to-learn by doing (at the v least it passes the time & keeps me away from mischief 😄)

That'd be intriguing. I just panned round the disk taking shots of various bits, and the photos of this section of the disk were the only ones it appeared in (I processed the other sections too just to see if there was anything). I do think I remember seeing the feature in the EP before I put the camera in, but maybe its a fake memory 😂 Re the setting, the camera (ASI178MC) .txt file shows: Bin = 1 Brightness = 10 Capture Area Size = 3096 * 2080 Colour Format = RAW8 Debayer Preview = ON Exposure = 1926us Flip = None Gain = 134 Hardware Bin = OFF High Speed Mode = OFF Mono Bin = OFF Output Format = *.PNG Raw Format = OFF StartX = 0 StartY = 0 The stacking was done with AS!3, and then I was testing out Registax, before playing with layers in GIMP and then Lightroom. I'm afraid I can't remember the various curves & levels settings, b/c I was just going visually off the screen. Looking fwd to finding out more (if you look along the bottom edge, there's also a slightly different textured dimple in the surface - although it is horribly oversharpened as Rusted says, and in less sharpened images its more pleasing to see - could that also be an artefact?) Cheers,