AstroNebulee

Yes I agree it's a lot to get my head around at the moment, nina or apt is the way forward for me then, that or an asi air pro but can't do that az my zwo asi120mc-s isnt supported, thank you again for your help

I shall have to try and get my head around apt or nina then to get the dithering sorted with my dslr. No way I can afford a dedicated cooled osc yet anyway, thank you again, thd learning curve just got steeper haha

Thank you for your guidance, So it all boils down to starting to dither really then, am I right in that I can dither in phd2?

Hi I have recently altered my az gti mount to operate in eq mode. I'm using a sw 72 ed ds pro with field flattener and my canon 600d. I have been having so much trouble with horizontal banding in my astrophotography images. They are 180secs long so not a huge long exposure and at 800 iso. I use an all wired connection from my laptop to the az gti mountwith an lynx astro cable to the mount, using synscan for windows , sharpcap for PA and PHD2 for guiding with my zwo asi120mc-s and 30mm zwo guidescope. I take the images onto my sd card and using a intervalometer. I haven't got to grips with apt yet so wanted to keep it simple. I don't dither either, I know I know I should. But I cant seem to get rid of the horizontal banding very easily atall, it could be the sensor temp getting to high as these were taken last week during the summer but wasn't scorchio nights. I leave a 10 sec gap between each sub frame taken, so hopefully enough time for the sensor to cool a bit. The horizontal bands aren't in the dark, flat or bias frames only when the light frames are stacked together in DSS. I'll attach a stacked frame of M31 and a single light frame and dark, bias and flat master frame, so anyone can have a look and see what I mean. I took 10 lights, 5 dark, 20 odd bias and flat for M31. All the calibration frames were taken just after shooting the light frames and all outside so the temp shouldn't change much between the subs. It was only a quick go but even when I was imaging the NA nebula I had the same issue at 180 secs exposure. I have tried the horizontal banding reduction in photoshop with my astro tools set but even after numerous applications of it still no joy. I have read a lot on banding issues with canon dslrs and some people don't have issues. M31 17-7-21 all stack.TIF MasterDark_ISO800_180s.tif MasterFlat_ISO800.tif MasterOffset_ISO800.tif M31 single light frame.tif

I know what you mean, on Wednesday night I got a few hours in practicing my pa in sharcap and guiding with phd2 on my newly modified AzGti mount in EQ mode with my sw 72ed then cloud rolled in around 11.30pm so Thursday night was guaranteed clear skies so out imaging NA nebula until 1.30am then up at 4.30am for work. Last night wasn't so bad out imaging the veil nebula for 1. 5 hours data and a cheeky go at M31 for half hour data back in around 3am. So I can understand and roll on the autumnal nights drawing in but sometimes the extra push of not having clear skies for 4 weeks makes you go crazy things haha, as others have said the end results are so very worth it. Clear skies

Plus 1 for what @wxsatuser says you can add text to your image or create a signature seperatly on a transparent background and save it for further use and then paste into your image which is what I do.

It's a brilliant little observatory and a perfect size for what I'd need. No wonder your so proud of your build I would be. Its a top top build you've created and one using the drawers Loders I've never seen before. Similar to you I've had to carry my set up all being light in one go down 2 flights of stairs from my 1st floor flat and they set up and carry back in one go as can't leave it unattended at any time. Good luck and can't wait for further updates.

Brilliant, I'm going to enjoy watching your observatory build its just a dream for me with no garden and only a communal area to image from. Good lucvk and clear skies.

No, I'd rather go to proper space I think

Very underwhelming

Had it for 4 weeks and counting 😔

Hi and welcome to the best forum, wow they are amazing insges with your 72ed I have that scope also, what was the camera you were using and set up. Enjoy the very friendly atmosphere in here, good luck with your mono set iip when you get the chance to use it, clear skies

Yep can agree with this and know where your coming from with the BBCand licence fee payers would justify a niche programme dedicated to astronomy, look what happened to stargazing live! but they do put some crap on their channels which are niche like the prime time doggy grooming show? For one instance. I rarely watch the tele now and prefer to watch astronomy /astrophotography content online or read astro magazines or when the weather permits actually do some astrophotography /astronomy 😔

I'd say have the mount in the home position and pointing north with the correct lattitude/Dec. Then use the polar clock untility in the Sam console app to place polaris in the correct position, providing your polar clock is calibrate centrally with 0 at the top and 6 at bottom. Then should be ok I'd of thought. Personally I'd attach the polar scope bracket to the wedge somehow (maybe another 3d printing project). I have one of those blue brackets with polar scope hole I bought from Ali express but never used it as always to cloudy and going into guiding now and using sharpcap to pa whenever the skies clear over 3 weeks and counting.

Great idea, you could manufacture these. But think the polar scope bracket could affix to the wedge so it doesn't move during operation when imaging. That's just my personal preference though and may be wrong.

Spot on with everyones comments, let's get some more proper amateur astronomy back on the show, Pete and Paul to form a breakaway programme featuring just this, lets lead the rebellion!

Thanks Olly, a very good informative answer, I really appreciate it, so the first image with the shim under it should be plenty enough with a decent polar alignment then. Wow you get 30 min subs I'd just love to get 5 min subs guided, I'd bd delighted with that as I've only had 30 sec max before without pa and guiding. Just need to clouds to disappear so I can't test it all out. Thank you again.

Just an update to my earlier topic here. I've included some images taken wurh my guidescope and dslr set up. Still not been able to get it out in anger so this is a test through the window. One image shows my dslr screen and the next two images are one as it sits on the findershoe on the scope and the last one shows it with a little bit of a shim on the back end of the shoe and bracket. Is the one with the shim better in anyone's opinion

They are lovely quality, pricey but very much worth it, gone for the 2m power and 5m eqdir as you never know!

A nice lynx astro power cable arrived today from Auntie @FLOordered yesterday, delivered today what perfect service. There was no cloud sticker on this so I hoping the clouds will of gone for this purchase. This will go perfect with my az gti mount and new lynx astro eqdir cable.

Haha, blooming predicted text, I don't even watch emmerdale haha

I'm glad the dongle has worked for you now, it's totally up to you if you want to update the firmware and be interesting to see as malc says but totally up to you 👍

Great image for your first attempts, it's all a big learning curve this processing part, I use registax to sharpen up the image using the wavelet sliders and then use photoshop and change the colour balance to less green or in the levels tab move the right hand arrow I think in a bit more but cant remember, I'm probably getting a bit tecchy there but give registax a go I expect the sharpen will give a slight more definition

I got a new eq dir cable from Flo for my az gti mount in EQ mode and had issues with it connecting to my mount, whsdt I didn't realise is that I needed to download the FTDI drivers from their website so the cable had the correct drivers. "Drivers - FTDI" https://ftdichip.com/drivers/ And click windows driver installer. Then I can connect my Windows synscan software and phd2, not downloaded nina but gave it a test in apt and could contrtol my mount. Still waiting for a clear sky to try pa in sharcap and guiding with phd2 humph been a month now. Also in the synscan Windows app selrct connect settings and set to serial and whatever con port your cable is on, mine is generally com3 bit yours maybe different.

I managed to successfully update my az gti mount via the WiFi on my laptop, by downloading 2 pieces of software and sorted within 10 minutes, hopefully if the op can connect via the laptop then hopefully can do it this way,👍