SiD the Turtle

That's such a smart looking solution OP, definitely stealing that as future inspiration as I'd never get a full size shed or dome approved by my other half! Any risk of wind getting under it and blowing it away?

I have two of the indoor cams and they've been solid since I bought them about a year ago. Could be different with the outdoor of course! Not sure if it'll help you at all (not tried it myself) but you can hook up the camera to other applications using the RTSP protocol, but it does shut you out of the main app: https://support.wyze.com/hc/en-us/articles/360026245231-Wyze-Cam-RTSP. Commonly people do this to use Wyze Cams as very cheap CCTV.

Sorry I don't have experience in doing this yet but I did just install a Keter shed myself (not for astro). While strong once the metal frame is in, they are very light. If you used drawer tracks wouldn't you have a weight distribution problem where the weight of the opened roof, however light, tries to pull up the base of the shed opposite? Whereas the support frame's designed to take that weight?

Cheers @Swoop1 and @Franklin I will dig out the wheelbarrow and spade! Beaconsfield, how about yourself?

Hey folks, I wanted to make my astrophotography setup semi-permanent, so thinking of putting a pier in the back garden, mounting my HEQ5 on it, and carry out my scope for each session. I've managed to package up the scope and accessories so I can carry it out as one unit and simply hook up power and data on the mount. Then in some far flung future I can build a shed around it, when money and project manager (partner) approval is given! I'm thinking of getting the 'Altair Skyshed 8 inch Observatory Pier', which is more expensive but has more chance of project manager approval than the more DIY plastic pipe alternatives. Questions: For the concrete base can I just buy a huge amount of postcrete for the job rather than mixing something up? Ultimately it's kind of like a fence post, isn't it? I'm assuming I'd want the base to rise out of the ground enough so that the height of the pier isn't lost by a future shed floor? Though I guess as long as I have roof clearance it doesn't really matter as I'm entirely remote observing- nothing visual. What's best to cover it once it's in place? Thinking a suitable telegizmos cover?

Clearly I need to get more exercise, I find even lifting the HEQ-5 without counterweights heavy enough! Also OP don't get overwhelmed with all the (very good) input in this thread. It's a time consuming, expensive hobby so perhaps start with the scope, the mount and a laptop and work your way up from there.

There are alternatives but for full remote operability you're not going to get much cheaper. The ZWO EAF is also a very decent bit of kit. If you're going DSLR you might argue you can skip it as you can focus at the start of the evening and as long as the sky is behaving you don't need to go out again. However as soon as you go mono it's a must as you'll need to refocus every time you change the filter. Also another vote for using a Raspberry Pi and Astroberry (free) or StellarMate (paid version). The learning curve is pretty much vertical but it's a powerful set of tools.

Thanks @Whistlin Bob, @vlaiv and @Richard_ for the input, all good advice! Firstly here's a raw luminance frame, just resized and stretched, so you can see what I'm capturing: A few responses: Backfocus: I'm already using the guide that Richard mentioned to make sure I have the right backfocus (but I will double check). However the William Optics field flattener is adjustable (https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reducersflatteners/william-optics-adjustable-flattener-for-zs73.html) so wondering if the problem is while I've got it set to 11.4mm on the flattener as the guide suggests, it's not quite there. I'm also conscious that Ekos' plate solver is complaining that while my focal length on paper is 430mm, when solving it thinks it's around 450mm. Is that normal? Obviously the draw tube is out some way. I don't remember it complaining when I had the DSLR hooked up. Focus: I did refocus with the filter changes using Ekos' auto focus routines. I was struggling with this at time, so perhaps my focus was slightly off. I'm used to slightly less blobby stars with my DSLR. Colour: good advice on processing but am I missing something in terms of red balance? I'll take two random examples searching on Astrobin, for pictures taken with OSCs: https://www.astrobin.com/eqy3hx/ https://www.astrobin.com/fub42e/. The overall picture colour is red, which is, from my limited understanding of the science, what you'd expect in 'true' colour, even without Ha data. I'd like to get some Ha data anyway as I have the filters installed and ready to go. Dirt somewhere perhaps causing that line in the centre of the image. I can't find it on the raw subs. I think I'll dismantle the whole image path and just recheck the whole thing to be sure! Gradient: thanks. Didn't think that the flat wouldn't solve for light pollution. Will look at cleaning it up! Thanks again all, will give it another attempt at processing later, with the LVA tutorials in hand, while I wait for a break in the clouds and see what I come up with!

Hi folks, I traded up from a DSLR to a ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro, with ZWO filter wheel, LRBG and SHO filters. After waiting a month finally the sky gave me two nights to image, which despite all my reading up, research and prep was a fun and frustrating first time, making sure the filters were set, focusing correctly and so on. Here's the rig I used and the data I processed: Kit: HEQ5-Pro with Rowan belt mod (PHD2 guiding was thankfully spot-on) Polar aligned using a PoleMaster William Optics ZS73 II APO with field flattener ZAO ASI1600MM-PRO, EFW with 36mm filters, EAF for focusing Running off of Astroberry/Kstars/INDI. Data: Bortle 5 UK edge of suburbia, I think it's closer to a 4 30x180s lum 10x180s RGB (i.e. 30x total) Unity gain, offset 10 20x darks, 20x flats and 60x dark flats (20x per RBG channel), no bias Each channel stacked in DSS, then to PixInsight (I'm very new to it so not an expert at all): EZ stretch, LRGB combine, curves, mask the background and colour saturation, dynamic crop. Here's the result. I'm both chuffed that I can see the Elephant's Trunk, and disappointed that it's nowhere near looking like other images I've seen, even without proper time spent on post-processing: Some thoughts: I don't have enough data yet. I would have though the whole picture would have been a whole lot redder, seeing as I'm using RGB and the luminance and red channels had far more data. I think I have astigmatism somewhere in the setup, look at the stars in the corner. I'm using the field flattener and didn't see this with the DSLR. Maybe my backfocus is wrong. There's a line coming out of either size of the central star. There's still a gradient top left to bottom right, that I thought the flats would have killed. Would appreciate all input and advice on next steps for me, so I'm ready for the next clear night. First I think I need to experiment with the back focus and fix that astigmatism. Cheers!

Cheers vlaiv, did exactly that, no artefacts.

Yeah not intending on doing separate darks, just trying combinations to work out the cause. You're right though about IR, seeing as it's visible on the broad spectrum and red filters. I'm doing it attached to the rig, will try disconnected with a cap on and perhaps covered in something else to minimize light leak.

Hi folks, I picked up an ASI 1600MM-Pro kit, with the electronic filter wheel etc. This is attached to my William Optics ZS73 II which until now has only been used for DSLR. Today I'm building my darks library and noted a weird artefact when stretched. I assume there's something in my image train, but I've never seen it before switching cameras (though maybe I missed it with the DSLR?), and there's nothing occluding the filter wheel as far as I can tell. Any ideas? More visible in the lum and red channels, and not perceptible (to my eyes) in blue, green or narrowband. Tried at ambient temperature and down at -20, same thing. Starts to become visible in any exposure over 15s. All pictures are auto-stretched from PixInsight. Also apart from that do they look otherwise okay? Luminance: Luminance boosted stretch: Red: Green: Blue: SII:

I started my astrophotography journey with upgrading from a Celestron 127 SLT which is a slightly cheaper and smaller scope than the Nexstar 6SE. I paired with a Skywatcher EvoStar 50mm guidescope onto the HEQ5 and took pictures with my DSLR. It worked great! Just worth noting the extremely 'zoom' of the picture can make finding targets difficult, and the slow focal ratio means you need to spend a long time on your targets. For reference, I was doing 3 minute subs on that setup to get M101 to resolve clearly. I moved up to a William Optics refractor which is so much easier to work with and much 'faster' on the focal ratio, but more cash of course. You may find you start tinkering with the Nexstar's OTA and then when you settle in to the hobby and find what you like, then move up to a new scope.

Hmm I had not considered the OSC route. Obviously don't want to open up the whole OSC vs mono debate as that way lies madness but I'm in a bortle 5 and at f5.9. With the DSLR and glow from the town I've struggled with DSOs, I would wonder if a OSC, no matter how good the sensor, isn't going to get me the data a mono will. Happy to be convinced otherwise!

Cheers everyone, really good food for thought. On the 294 I think from the CCD calculator it'd be slightly under-sampling, but not by a great deal. Import duties and VAT would make that bundle a fair bit more expensive unfortunately. But lots more thinking to do!

I've been saving for some time to switch from my DSLR to a dedicated astro camera. Then the ASI 2600MM Pro came out and I decided to keep saving for a lot longer! However, I see that ASI 1600MM Pro is on sale. I could pick up the bundle with the camera, RGB and SHO filters and a ZWO EAF for just north of £1,500. Comparably the 2600MM Pro with the newer EFW, larger filters etc. I believe would come close to £3,500 in comparison, so would be waiting a long while to be able to afford (and justify) the cost. For a relative beginner who's only dabbled in DSLR, would I be right in saying there's plenty of mileage in the 1600MM Pro? I was also tempted to get the newer EFW v2 bundle for forward compatibility but that of course that adds cost. Equipment is a William Options ZS73 with field flattener on an HEQ5-Pro, driven through Astroberry. I think checking the CCD suitability guide this would be a decent match. Obviously only I can decide if I can afford it/if it's worth it, but wanted to make sure I don't get buyers remorse!

Putting in my 2p and advocating the Raspberry Pi route: It's expensive compared to a Pi. It relies on the support of ZWO. If it doesn't work there's no enthusiasts picking through the code, fixing it and releasing a fix for you. (In theory) it will get replaced/fall out of support, like when they replaced the original ASI Air (though to be fair they did a discount deal for those early adopters). It's not extendible. I now have my Pi running my full image capture cycle, running the Polemaster and soon controlling the roof on my shed, weather station and so on. Don't get me wrong- it's a marvellous bit of kit. The Pi has downsides- can be clunky, learning curve is steep, mobile app isn't really an option. But alternative proposition: get a Pi and try Astroberry. If it doesn't work out you're out maybe £50 on the Pi, cables and so on, that you could recycle for one of a thousand other Raspberry Pi projects.

Unmodified DSLR + Bortle class 5 + no real night time + the need to sleep means no chance for a few months. One of the few people celebrating that the solstice is over and the nights will start drawing in again!

Drop the resolution to 640 x 480? In theory that'd reduce the bandwidth requirements.

Thanks all. As ever I'm probably getting my volts, amps and watts muddled but if the old EAF was 12V at 500mA (i.e. 6 watts), to get the same wattage at 5V over USB surely I'd need 1200mA over USB? That's the maximum draw across all ports on the PI (https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/hardware/raspberrypi/power/README.md). The Pegasus power box I'm not sure what the USBs are rated to except the one that can do 3A (that's powering the PI anyway). But maybe I'm worrying about nothing, may take a punt and see what happens, given the feedback here. Plus eventually it'll got into a dedicated ZWO astro cam when they're back in stock which I think have hubs that are better designed for this!

I might have the wrong end of the stick, but now you can only buy ones that take power over USB, probably because it makes more sense for the more common setup of everything going through a laptop. https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/product/eaf-5v

Hi folks, Was about to push buy on a ZWO EAF to move to further automation of my imaging process. I've noticed that they've switched from the usual power adaptor to USB power. My setup uses a Pegasus Pocket Powerbox Advance which delivers multiple power options over the normal power adaptors and 4 USB ports. I think only one of these USB ports can deliver that many volts, and that's powering the Raspberry PI. I don't think I can power the ZWO EAF over USB either on the Powerbox or the Raspberry PI. Any ideas on adaptors or alternatives? Pegasus have a focuser but it's more expensive. Else I might go and find one on the second hand market I guess! Thanks! (Also sorry was not sure what sub-forum to best ask this question!)

Thanks @rnobleeddy @rickwayne @MARS1960 for the input on this topic, lots of food for thought. I want to keep the DSLR for daytime photography too, so I think I'll continue to save towards a full mono setup rather than invest in a LP filter for now!

Hi folks, After some advice on a light pollution filter. I'm in a Bortle 5 and I'm combining a William Optics ZS73 and a Canon 600D unmodified. This winter I've been focusing on the Andromeda galaxy, which I've gotten some decent subs on, but now we're getting to the point where it sets behind the trees too early to get more than a few images. So I'd like to attack 'beginner' nebula targets like Orion and other large-ish targets that suit my scope. Initial results are not super great, and I fear I have more of a problem with light pollution with nebulae than I did with the nice, bright Andromeda galaxy. So I'm looking at what filter to buy to fit this telescope and camera pairing. Any ideas? Some questions to clarify: Most narrow band filters are isolating the wavelengths that are common in nebulae, so am I right there'd be no point using them for galaxies? The Optolong L-enhance and L-extreme seem popular. The former is tri-band, the latter is dual-band. Why would you go for dual over tri? Is it simply more aggressive for high light pollution areas? How do these wavelengths map to a colour camera? Am I going to find, for example, that the images fall mostly to the red end of the spectrum? If I move to a dedicated astro-camera in future, would these be useful for the luminance layer? If so I'll put the money up for a 2 inch now, rather than a 1.25 or clip-in, for future proofing. Cheers!

Hi all, I've been trying to get decent flats and I think I'm failing. Basically my master flat doesn't really clean up the vignetting and dust motes. I've tried both a flat light source (laptop screen showing white, balanced over the lens) and the t-shirt method. The histogram is often off to the right, which doesn't seem to match most of the tutorials online. Setup: Canon 600D unmodified. William Optics ZS73. Controlled through EKOS/Astroberry. Taking FITS files. DSS for stacking, PixInsight for post-processing. Here's the raw, stacked pictures, 23 5 minute subs at ISO800, with just bias frames applied and auto-stretched: You can see pretty clear bright vignettes top and bottom, and a large dust mote above Andromeda here. Here's the same again with the flats applied, just auto-stretched.: So the vignetting is applied, but there's still a large gradient from left to right and the dust mote is still there. And here's the flat, stretched, and then using Pixinsight's contour map script: This contour map seems to pick up the vignetting, but not the dust motes. Any ideas where to start?