AstroNebulee

Here is the final image I've had from my dso astrophotography rig, taken last Sunday 7th January in North Cornwall. 1 hour of data before I finally pulled the plug on the show. Also battled with LP from a neighbouring flat in this image. No flats or dark flats, I just couldn't be bothered at the end. Just darks stacked with it. Crudely processed in dss, siril, starnet 2 and photoshop. AzGti 72ed, zwo asi294mc pro. Lee

I cannot afford anymore kit so the power bank option is out the window I'm afraid. I've not bought any astro equipment or accessories in many many many months. I do have lighter tripods but to be honest I have the bug for astronomy back again that has been missing for a long time. I feel free and re-energised now I am doing visual. I'm enjoying looking through my turn left at Orion, Cambridge star atlas and sky and telescope atlas to see what I'd like to try and observe 😊. Also if there is a clear night with odd clouds about I can still observe or take the dslr out Nightscaping and not be thinking I've wasted a night because should of been dso imaging if it is completely clear if that makes sense. Lee

I am quite happy with my ST80, SM90 and maybe back to my 72ed for visual 😊 and I do have some 7x50 bins that come out occasionally, especially looking from my bedroom window at the moon or some asteriums just to have a bit of fun, if I'm not outside. Lee

Thank you so much for your kind words Jim. I'm really humbled to hear that you have enjoyed what I got up to with my AzGti imaging. One of the reasons I probably started up the long AzGti owners thread a while back. I will still get the dslr set up it into the wild for aurora, milky-way or meteors. I have my second AzGti as my visual rig now and it just performs very well. I can go out for a quick hour get my astronomy fix or perusing the heavens and come back in. I'm excited about astronomy again and that feeling has been sorely missed by myself. Clear skies to you and thank you. Lee

Thank you. Nice observing objects with your eyes, yes they aren't like the images you can get but to say oh yes I saw M33, M81&82 or M31 through my 80mm scope and saw faint smudges and bright cores is quite grounding. Also its lovely just to move to scope to anywhere and lose yourself in a cluster or double star. I think I'm learning more about astronomy that I did when I was imaging. For me when I was imaging it was the knowing that I captured those subs from my own imaging area to show my family and friends. I've never bought scope time for data as it didn't appeal to me but I understand how people love to do it this way and whatever way we are all connected by the love for astronomy 😊 Lee

Not what I saw tonight but what I saw over the past 3 evenings. Now I'm back in the visual saddle I was getting back to using my AzGti in az mode with my ST80 with 9x50 fs. Whilst the weather has been freezing it didn't stop me from the freedom of just doing some casual observing. Using synscan pro and finally getting sky safari pro to work together it made it much easier to pick targets out. Using my helios hyperflex 7.2-21.5 mm zoom lens for ease and simplicity. I took in my first taste of visual for a long time and enjoyed seeing favourites M42, M31, M81&82, M33, M34, M45 and the Hyades, starfish and pinwheel cluster. Along with the double cluster in perseus and a lovely double of mintaka and castor. I really enjoyed my sessions and it's brought the excitement of astronomy back to me after imaging. I can't wait to get out on my next sessions. Not an in depth write up but the start of a lovely journey with the eyepiece. Lee

Thank you all for your words of support and encouragement. I could never leave this wonderful hobby of Astronomy I took up in lock down. I'm just pleased there are many aspects of the hobby that can accommodate people eg imaging, visual, scopes, binoculars, eyeballs and everything else that goes with it. As I said I had a wonderful hour last night rediscovering the visual side of things. Even in my ST80 I could make out the fuzzy patches and shapes of M81&82 as I had before. I just use my helios zoom lens which I find adds the simplicity and ease of my enjoyment. @Zermelo yes I agree they are lovely skies here when they want to be and I'll be able to take more advantage of them now as I can do visual in the gaps where I couldn't with imaging. I enjoyed it so much I'm going out again this evening for an hour to tweak sky safari to set up some observing targets and enjoy some beautiful sights to my eyes, even in freezing weather and I can be back in after my fix and not wait out for hours. Thank you all again and I will be knocking on the visual discussion threads very soon. Warmest regards to to you all, what a joyus place to be. Lee

Thank you all for your kind comments. I did enjoy my quick visual session last evening wandering around the sky and it makes me want to go out again. I've even got my old copy of turn left at Orion out to get a plan. This decision has freed me and I'm looking forwards to a brighter part of my astronomy hobby. As I said I'll still do the odd bit of lunar and planetary as it's lma light setup, also do some Nightscapes when I can. I'm just going to enjoy the hobby how I first started, behind the eyepiece. Clear skies friends. Lee

Thank you. That's exactly how it felt tonight being free observing. I've also imaged meteor showers through my window and worked for me too. I'm just rolling it all back to enjoy, simplify my hobby and less pain. Lee

Thanks Paul but I've not the money for a seestar and not convinced on the device image quality from what I had. After going out tonight with my little st80 I really enjoyed it seeing things like M81&82, M42 clusters and doubles with my eyes and no pain. It's where I started and where I see myself now. Cheers Lee

Yes giving up dso astrophotography. As some of you know I live in a 1st floor flat. My set up is just to much for me to carry down 2 flights of stairs involving 3 trips. Even though its an AzGti on 1.75inch tripod it's still heavy and cumbersome enough on its own. Then once I'm outside I have to walk around the flats to the communal area to set up. To power my set up I have to lean out my 1st floor kitchen window to lower the extension lead down the drag around to my rig. And of course repeat in reverse to pack it all up and get indoors. I may be only 50 but my knees have very little cartilage and I have a damaged tendon in the crook of my right arm, so carrying heavy items isn't easy at all and gives me a fair bit of pain when lifting. Also I cannot leave my imaging rig alone so I stay with it (not as easy as having a private garden). Last night I did try to get my rig out and managed it, the setup went perfectly with pa, focus and guiding but I was in pain and just didn't enjoy imaging at all and gave up after 12 subs. I have got to the point of dreading putting the rig out, all the planning and moving that's needed is just to much for me now. Nick on Astro exploring on YouTube put a video out yesterday and said a hobby should be something you enjoy. And I have fallen out of love with dso astrophotography. I will still do lunar and planetary imaging with my second AzGti when I can as its a light in az mode and Skymax 90mm. Also will carry on my dslr milky-way and aurora imaging when possible. So I'm going back to visual astronomy where I started and fell in love with the hobby. I won't sell my set up as I regret everything I've sold before. This may seem silly as it's money sitting there but you never know my situation may change to make dso astrophotography easier for me or more enjoyable. But I can't see it. This isn't loss of mojo, it's just not working for me. Lee

Hi Sorry to ressurect this thread. I should no more about the AzGti but this issue evades me. I was out with my visual set up tonight (giving up dso astrophotography, long story) on my second AzGti mount. I am just using it in left hand az mode with my ST80. I can perform the alignment in the synscan pro app version 2.4.11 easily and connect my mount to sky safari Pro 6 pro and all connects nicely. But I get the same sky safari couldn't align issue. I was using Jupiter as a test and synscan got it bang on but sky safari said Jupiter was more to the left by a fair bit. How can I get sky safari to show the same alignment as synscan does. Its just a lot easier to use sky safari to plan my observing sessions. I am using one android phone to use synscan and sky safari simultaneously. Thank you. Edit.. I did find this on the sky safari forum so will try these suggestions too. But my alignment in synscan was all good. https://support.simulationcurriculum.com/hc/en-us/articles/115008179327-SkySafari-Error-Your-alignment-target-is-too-far-from-the-telescope-s-actual-position- Lee

@Beardy30With your mak you shouldn't need to use the extension with your camera. I use a zwo 120mcs with my Skymax 90mm and only use the nose piece adapter. You will need an extension for the 102 starfield as mentioned in this thread. With North level alignment it's quite essential to have the mount level, pay no attention to the bubble level in the mount it is usually a bit off. Use a small spirit level to level it is best I find. As happy kat suggests do 3 one star alignments is a good shout. The first will be off but roughly there. The second closer and the third usually spot on. Try using the synscan pro app to align and see how you get on with that before using sky safari to control your AzGti. Make sure your finderscope is aligned with your main scope. Are you using an eyepiece to align before inserting your camera? Lee

Thank you that's incredibly kind. Lee

Welcome to the world of the AzGti. You have a amazing images there indeed, well done. You've certainly managed more sessions and some serious integration time than I in the latter half of 2023. Good luck for 2024. Lee

A possibility of observing in your back garden could be asking your local council to fit sheilds to the offending light. Even better if you say that the streetlight shines directly into your child's or your bedroom too, play the wildlife and nature angle too. You never know until you ask the council. Theres lots of this subject on here if you search streetlights. I said to my local council here about shielding two streetlights and within a month they had done so. Another possibility is to put up some sort of makeshift sheild for your garden to block out the streetlight? Would this make a difference? Lee

I saw this thread on here, whether it's any help I'm not sure. You could drop an email to flo or the retailer you bought it from to ask. Edit. Just trawling through the Internet and an idea came. When re reading the link I attached. Can you unscrew the black tube of the polar scope marked in my first image and the screw the remaining part of the polar scope onto the threaded part inside your mount? Lee

Beautiful images Paul. I will look at your video journal shortly. Have a great Christmas and New year to you and your family Paul. Lee

This is an amazing image and congratulations on seeing it through. A testament to your hard work and steadfastness. I'm not a huge fan of the hubble pallette at times but I love how you've blended it with the lrgb and tweaked it. Very warm as you say and pleasing to the eye. I hope your next project turns out as well as this. Lee

Thank you that's very kind of you. Lee

That's another excellent image there. I know I use a zwo 294mc pro which differs to you but I dither 2 pixels after every image, overkill I guess but it works for me and I don't lose to much time. There is a setting in the asiair screen to dither in RA only. Could be worth checking if that's on. Lee

Very good images indeed. I'm really pleased your AzGti performed well for you last night. 😊 What camera were you using and how many pixels did you dither? The asiair should goto and plate solve your target for you I thought. That's what my asiair pro does. Lee

Beautiful shot Paul. I love the depth. You do live in an amazing part of the country. 😊 Lee

No problems at all it's a very apt analogy and description indeed, very helpful too. I thought I controlled the sharpening enough. Clouds landed again so something to try again on the data. Lee

Thank you, I appreciate your feedback. I like the saying about making pizza, which makes sense. I did wonder as I was sharpening Jupiter wether I went too harshly on it but thought by my eye looked on the edge of ok. I'll have another go at it 😊. Lee