Simon Pepper

Hi all im thinking about getting the 2600 mc pro I currently have the redcat and l extreme in the built in imaging train. Will this work? I have read here that the sensor size is too large? thanks

Zooming right in my stars have taken on a square look (facepalm) I’ll process it again and see what went wrong. Likely I had squareness instead of roundness when messing about!!!

Hey KP82, Ha ha you have a very keen eye I was quite heavy on the noise reduction I had awful horizontal banding. I did dither, but I didn't take flats, only darks and Bias. I do have the Astronomy tools plug in but that didnt help with the banding for some reason, but the noise reduction did take most away. I have heard of gradient exterminator and will look into that. The hardest part for me was finding focus having to take 5 min subs just to barely see the diffraction spikes. I have noted exactly where focus is now on the redcat with the filter in. I may adjust it ever so slightly as I still not sure its perfect here? Knowing focus will save so much time though and means I could have gathered more lights.

Hi all, So got another fairly clear night last night (91% Moon) and manged only an hour integration on the Heart Nebula. Using all the tricks and advice here this is what I got. There are some horizontal banding, nut this is down to the 5 minute subs on DSLR. Also there is some vignette, hot pixels and some dodgy coloured stars, however if I was better in post processing in PS I think I could improve it. I am still happy with the image (just dont zoom in too much), so thanks again all this thread really helped and I am sure it will help others that google it and end up here!

Thanks @KP82 and @Lee_P really useful information. I do want a dedicated camera but I know that will be more challenges with that and want to make sure i can get some good images before we blow some more monies down the rabbit hole! I use PS for the images I have got so far on my trusty star tracker, but agree may look to pixinsight in the future. Hopefully next clear night will be another few advances forward again. Clear skies!

This is awesome Lee! I will add the filter back in then. Are 5 minute subs a good starting point or are we talking 6/7 or more? Got a lot to learn with this hobby clearly but going in the right direction!

Here is the tif after using the below options in dss seems rather green now lol. Still I cant complain with the help of you all I have gone from failing to mount working, slewing, guiding and dithering perfectly! Autosave001.tif

Thanks KP82 no I did not do this step, however now completed, but still unable to pull any ha data perhaps I have not got enough integration here or the modded camera isnt sensitive enough. I have the l extreme but decided against that last night as it caused me issues on the last time out. Perhaps this target needs some sort of narrowband to pull out details. @Lee_P more than happy to send you the files I have think its about 1.5gb of lights and darks. I didnt get flats and forgot bias was going to use master bias but they are CR2 format and DSS didnt like to mix. Also as KP82 has mentioned is it possible to go back to RAW CR2 format with ASIAIR or do we have to use fits? Thanks

Hi, I have the same problem here. Put the fits through DSS and they came out greyscale. No idea how to fix this did you find a way? Thanks

Hi all, First clear sky in a while last night. Got out with your advice above and it went well. The EQMOD cable and focusing the guide scope worked a treat I was able to polar align using the ASI air pro and plate solving worked as well so thank for all this. I started with IC1396 as that appeared to be the only DSO I could see from my position. I got a good 2 hours on it (4 min subs stars look good so PA and guiding worked a treat ), BUT.... I put it through DSS then PS and it appears to be grey channel and when I convert to RGB each R G B level is identical it does not look right at all as a result i'm struggling to pull any definition or colour out. I was using my astro modded camera. so would expect it to see some HA... Is this grey channel something ASI air does? I checked I was not shooting in B&W as that would have been a major fail, but pretty sure camera settings look good. I have attached the DSS.tif. Thanks again all. Autosave.tif

@Lee_P I have the Lynx cable plugged in to the hand controller port on HEQ5 pro and then to ASIAIR. Also the cable from ASIAIR to guide camera I have also not connected the ST4 cable from guide camera to mount. Two quick questions... Is that correct? And in the ASIAIR App under telescope or mount which setting should I use? Is it On-Camera-ST4? Thanks

Thanks for all the responses here its been very helpful. I have ordered the EQDIR from FLO, so will remove the hand controller and plug this from the mount to the ASIAIR and try polar aligning and plate solving using that. I have also used Lee_P method of focusing the guide scope on my neighbours point on the roof and unscrewing the front seems to have been the issue so great shout there. I have also ordered a power bank which I will velcro to the other side of the mount and plug in the dew heaters there. Lastly I have removed the lextreme for now as that was clearly adding just another obstacle to my session. Annoyingly in doing so I put my oily thumbprint on it (what an amateur fail) so will have a look here for any recommendations on cleaning that for the next time I add it back in. When the next clear sky I will try again with the knowledge I have gained here and will update you all. Thanks all again for your knowledge and suggestions.

Hi Lee, Pleas see below. The front of mine was not screwed out at all and there is another small extender screw still in the box. I only had the larger of the two adapters screwed on but looks like this. I think my gain was set to 10 but pretty sure I played with those settings.... Thanks

I tied looping the exposures in asiair I think I tried 0.5, 1, 2 and 4 seconds. All I saw was noise and grain cap was off I checked that

Hi lee, Thanks for this and yes I think tenpinmark is on the mark! Dew heater issues he mention is a good shout and this cable you both mentioned I will be sure to google it and speak to FLO. I have a modded 750d andunmodded 800d. The next step for me is a dedicated OSC Zwo but this hiccup has put that on the back foot for now. After all as we know this hobby is not a cheap one so if I mail these issues then I may take the leap. With regards the the filter perhaps I will remove it for now till I become more confident with the other equipment. anyone have any ideas with regards to the guiding and not seeing any stars thanks for all replies on this thread it’s really helping me

I am using the ST4 from guide camera to mount, power to mount obviously and then the hand controller. So no EQDIR not heard of this? I reckon you are right regarding the dew heaters I will stop using them then. Do you have any recommendations for dew heaters as I only have USB powered ones I cant seem to find a female USB to 2.1mm jack for ASIAIR? Please elaborate on EQDIR though this sounds like the way to go. Thanks again

Hi Tenpinmark your last point when i pulled the dew straps out that’s when the cameras came to life so perhaps that was the issue. I will look for converters to utilise the 2.1mm jacks. All your other points I think I am good for they are plugged directly I am using 12v 5amps as per the requirement and prior to skewing so maybe it was the dew heaters! ok how do you polar align with asiair I tried but said something about not connected to mount? I was thinking I would but the ipolar camera for heq 5 by the sounds of it I don’t need to do that? thanks

Hi SGL, Where to start.... Perhaps with the positives.... Like a lot of people got into Astrophotography due to lockdown and got myself a William Optics Redcat and Ipolar star tracker and have been using that for 6 months and got some nice images, so I thought it was time for a step up, however it all went wrong today. Firstly my new equipment: Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro, Optolong L Extreme filter, ASIAIR Pro, William Optics uniguide 32mm and ZWO ASI 120 mini for guiding! Before going out I tried setting it up and managed to get my gear where I thought I needed it, however... Firstly polar aligning was unbelievably difficult (I'm used to ipolar software) like other posts here my polar scope was just a sea of red no stars at all visible. Other posts say to lower the brightness using the hand controller but no where was this function for me. In the end I used a torch to shine through the scope and I think I managed this (no idea if it was Polaris, but did try over min subs so must have been). Anyhow that took the best part of an hour! Secondly couldn't figure out star alignment as I could not see any stars with the filter in, so there was no go to function happening today! Also trying to focus was a nightmare and failed at this. The built in Bhatinov mask was not creating diffraction spikes on 2 minute subs at ISO 6400 have I added the Lenhance to the worng part of imaging train? Thirdly the ASIAIR was unbelievably temperamental constantly losing the camera and guide camera? After another hour I finally managed to get the guide scope looping exposures only to not find a single star I assume this is a focus issue, but I tried moving the camera in and out and after 30 minutes of not seeing a single star a gave up with that as well. Lastly the two dew bands I had plugged into the USB on ASIAIR didn't work at all do I need 2.1mm jack adapters? Overall a real kick in the teeth for me. With the success of my star tracker I thought this new gear would make things easier and more enjoyable, however the difficult level has gone through the roof. Cold and depressed as fisrt clear sky in a month, brand new gear and night totally wasted! Any advice would be much needed. Thanks

Thanks for for this whilst on the subject I have the asi air pro on order also and I am aware these do not come with a lead either. Is there something to use that will incorporate both or will both need separate power cables? Thanks

Hi all, My HEQ5 pro has finally completed and is turning up imminently, however I see this comes with a cigarette type power lead. Can someone assist in letting me know what adapter I need for this if running extension cable to garden or any other better ideas for power if you have any? Thanks

Ok thanks all I reckon this could be an amateur fail in mounting the tripod on less than ideal ground and it’s slipped after alignment. I have seen this before but the above shift is the worst it’s been. I will update the base and give it another crack 👍

Hi all, So just to confirm we think my polar alignment was off and that has caused the image to shift between frames? If guiding will it correct the above issue? Thanks

Hi all. Please see attached out of DSS. You can clearly see the walk I got here last night. Surely if it was bad polar alignment would I not see start trailing worse than I have here? This was 80s subs, 2.10 hours total. Thanks

Hi all thanks for the responses apologies I was a bit vague. I am not guiding (so not dithering learnt something there) just tripod, redcat, dslr on my ipolar skyguider pro. Not out put through DSS yet will do that tomorrow and upload here so you can see. thanks

Hi all. Still learning this hobby and I have another question for the community please. When taking my images I find more often than not that my images between subs are moving in one direction. For example if I start with M31 in the bottom right of frame after 90 minutes of subs it’s moved a good inch to the left of frame. I assume this is not dithering as I think dithering is random and only shifts a few pixels? So my issue must be balance, but when balancing I’m sure it’s balanced (ever so slightly heavier on one side). If anyone can assist I would be grateful. thanks