Snoani

Despite it being very low in the sky from my location currently, I decided to give the Elephant's trunk nebula an early attempt. It is made of of 2.5 hours of each RGB and 6 hours of H-Alpha data taken using a Meade 6000 80mm and ASI 1600MM Pro. I also took 2.5 hours of luminance but when I processed and integrated this I felt it produced a worse image and so I decided to stick with Ha for the luminance layer. I am still learning how to process mono images and had a few attempts at this before settling on this version. I am sure that it can be processed better but I am happy outcome as it is. Feedback is welcome as always.

A quick search makes me think it is a USB Mini-B, something like this. I have one of these, which is really useful due to the length, but I am sure there are cheaper options about.

That s a beautiful image. I bet that you wish you had processed this sooner.

Good evening I have been working on this image for over a month in between other targets and therefore it represents the longest project that I have attempted to date. I came up against significant gradients and so it was a battle to get it to where I have finished, but unfortunately the colours are not entirely flat. I will probably end up having an another attempt in which I manually flatten each of the RGB channels but that being said I am still pleased with this attempt. It was captured using an Meade 6000 80mm APO with 0.80x reducer, ZWO ASI 1600MM Pro, HEQ5 (belt mod) and contains 3h 50m of luminance, around 2h 30m of each RBG. Thanks for looking.

I have been blessed with four nights of cloudless skies over the past week so I have taken advantage of them by capturing M51, despite the blustery conditions. Generally I am very happy considering the size of the scope that I am using to capture this. This is made up 4.5 hours of luminance, 2 hours of Red, 2 hours of green and 2.5 hours of blue. Taken using a Meade 6000 80mm APO, HEQ5 (belt mod), ZWO 1600MM It is 10 months since I purchased my deep sky rig and M51 was one of the first targets that I imaged, albeit with a different scope and using a DSLR, and I have included this image below to highlight the improvements that I have made during that time. I still have a lot to learn but have many years ahead to do so.

This is a beautiful image. Well done. I am generally not a big fan of narrowband, preferring the result of RBG images. However, this one is stunning.

I would personally image filterless. That said, galaxies often do emit at hydrogen alpha wavelengths, which can be merged into RGB images to provide extra detail. Therefore, if you had time, you could also use you L-enhance to capture additional data and merge the red channel (h-alpha) into the RGB fto give them extra impact.

It looks like you have some nice data in H-alpha. I am not an expert on this subject as I am still relatively new to imaging in mono myself but have made some advances in recent weeks. Ifyou did use the H-alpha as the red channel I think you would find that it will make the image too red and in my limited experiments a blend of H-alpha and red will provide you with some of the colour and detail from the H-alpha while also retaining some of the more natural look of red. You may find that you also need some luminance to provide your image with some of the finer details. You can use the H-alpha as a luminance channel but this may washout the colour of your image to make it pink. Experimentation is key and after a couple of months it is only in the last week that I feel that I am beginning to get my head around mono capture and processing. Jem

With the weather forecast looking favourable, I set up on Friday night hoping for a full night of imaging M51. However, despite doing the usual preparation in Stellarium, I somehow neglected to think about where I was setting up my mount in my garden and ended up with a holly tree located right between my scope and M51. Therefore having already polar aligned I decided to switch targets instead of losing valuable imaging time. I did lose just over an hour of light frames due to cloud, but the night was generally successful and what was better is that I was then blessed with an unexpected second full night of clear skies last night, so I was able to add to the data. 93 x 180s Lum, 40 x 180s Red, 40 x 180s Green, 38 x 180s Blue, 24 x 240s H-Alpha, captured using an ASI 1600MM Pro, Meade 6000 80mm, HEQ5 (belt mod), ASIAIR Pro. I think that I may have been able to tease a little more detail out of M81 but I had already blown M82 a little too much so decided to leave it where it is. It is certainly an improvement on my first attempt last year so I am happy. Constructive feedback is always welcome. Jem

I definitely know that feeling. I had a 6 hour clear sky forecasted the other night and imaged enough cloud on 95% of the lights to make me wish I hadn't bothered. I also setup tonight with the forecast being clear and the first 3 hours were cloud. However, I am now imaging crisp skies, so perhaps they are on the way to you.

I cam across this while backing up my images today. It is the earliest DSO attempt that I can find. It was taken in January 2014 using a stock Nikon 7100 mounted on a Meade ETX 80 Go-To scope. The image is made up of 30 x 1.3 second subs, which I have very quickly reprossessed with editing techniques that I have picked up over the last year. All in all, it has turned out far better than I remember, especially considering there is only 39 seconds of data. I have just restacked it to double check the autosave from DSS did relate to the raw data.

Hi Simon I could be wrong but I very much doubt that the wifi adapter will work on the ASI Air Pro because the drivers would be made for Windows or Apple Mac and the ASI Air essentially wouldn't know what to do with it. However, while you are away from home you should be able to connect directly to the ASI Air using your phone or tablet. Once you have set it up for the night using the app and it has started an image run, it will do its thing without needing the controlling device near it. I use mine exclusively in my garden, which the wifi signal from my house doesn't reach well. I therefore use one of these to create a wifi point from the extension lead I have at the base of my tripod and so far it works well. However, I have seen that others buy a wifi signal booster and rather than boosting their wifi signal, they boost the signal of the ASI Air Pro. I guess it depends on your garden and what works for you. In relation to the speed is that 30mbs internet speed or the speed on your internal network? I would be surprised if this wasn't fast enough because everything is happening internally on the ASI Air and the only ongoing interaction between that and your tablet would be during the setup, plate solving and downloading previews of the photos on your device. Jem

I decided to give it a second try. I think I have manage to control the brighter stars better, although I have not completely removed the green from some. It has certainly stopped the light from Alnitak from overpowering the colour in the Flame Nebula. The only thing is that I would like to see the nebula with a touch more red but I have had to sacrifice this to balance the image as a whole.

Thank you both for your comments. It is always appreciated to receive feedback. My scope is actually a Meade 6000 triplet APO (with FPL-53) and a 1600MM Pro and I do seem to suffer with an issue where the colours form some of the brightest stars don't align well. It is not a filter issue because I have noticed the same thing has happened when I was using a DSLR. I wonder therefore if the lenses in the scope are slightly out of alignment. If it is I don't know if there is somewhere that might offer a repair/fine tuning service. I don't have Pixinsight due tot he price of it and I am using a combination of Affinity Photo and an old version of PS for the action sets. I will therefore have a play to see where I can rain in and amend the colour of the brighter stars

I posted a capture of the Horsehead Nebula in the New Year that despite some issues I was really proud of. However, it did come to my attention that it was a touch out of focus. It looked fine to me on screen but less so when I tried to produce a print of it for my wall. Over the last few weeks I have therefore endeavoured to produce a better image of this target and overcome several trials during the process, including an unscheduled rain shower that breached my image train and prevented me from calibrating some of my lights. It is more in focus than my other attempt but I am not sure about the colours. There only a little over 1 hour each of RGB and 1.5 hours of H-Alpha. I have therefore had to work the data quite hard to produce this result and suffer a few restarts in the processing. As always health criticism is welcomed.

It looks a bit grainy to me, I think you should be more aggressive on the dithering.

Sorry, that was my error. Yes, it can be used with DSLR but I haven't myself. I expect that it would function the same, just without the cooling option and ISO instead of gain. I'll take the liberty to answer this as well 😀 I removed the adapter that fits into the finderscope shoe and bolted it to a small dovetail that I connected to the top of my tube rings. This way, most of the cables, which are connected to devices attached to the scope itself, move with he scope and only three cables go to my mount or elsewhere.

I am in awe. I can only hope to produce something of this quality in the future.

After my laptop died a few weeks ago, I decided to plump for an Asiair to replace it and streamline my rig, which it very much has done. I now only have one power cable running to my scope, instead of four power cables and one USB. I've only used it a few time but I can give you experience so far: 1. It doesn't have to be within wifi range but will need to be in range of an ios or android device. I use mine within range of my wifi and so I can control it from anywhere in my house. However, it can be linked directly to your phone or tablet and programmed that way. I believe, but can't be certain, that once you have programmed it and set it on an imaging run, your device doesn't need to stay next to it, but I can not be 100% certain of this. 2. It is very easy to use. I spend a few hours prior to my first image run, connecting the app to the device, getting used the the app, and where everything is in it. I then had it imaging the next night within no time. I think that it is just as easy to setup an image run that using a laptop. The only downside is that you have to be connected to the Asiair to get into the app, so you have to factor this in when setting an image run in advance. That being said, it doesn't take long. 2a. I've not used a Polemaster, only seen it on Youtube, but I think that it is a little bit less work. It is very similar to using Sharpcap, if you have used that polar alignment routine. 3. I don't don't have any experience with Eagle Core. 4. So far I am loving the Asiair Pro. My setup is more streamlined and because I have fixed the unit and wiring around the scope, my physical setup time is now as long as it takes me to level the tripod. I've had good guiding returns and the dithering is working much better than I could ever get it working on my laptop. I would say that I wish that I have bought one earlier, but I think the Asiair was missing a number of features last year, which have only just been added, such as autofocus between filters etc (requires the ZWO EAF). I believe that the next update will be implementing plate solving from a previously taken image. Because it is ZWO, my understanding is that it will only work with other ZWO tech,, such as imaging camera, guide camera, EAF etc, so you will need to consider this if you have any technology from other brands. Jem

If I understand you correctly, I had a similar problem with my scope. I couldn't sit it forward enough to balance it. After many many weeks of considering this and looking at expensive replacement tube rings and the corresponding spacers I ran across a thread with a simple solution. Essentially, I purchased a couple of longer hex bolts and a bag of M6 metal washers from Screwfix and used these as spacers between the dovetail and tube rings. I have had not issues and can now balance without compromising anything.

It is that simple? There is a little more colour in this one, and I have sharpened it a bit, but it doesn't even come close to the ones I see on this forum. Still, that just gives me the motivation to try again and improve.

I didn't setup last night with any intention of capturing the Moon, I was trying (and failed) to have a go at capturing the ISS, however, while I was setup I decided to look to the Moon for the first time in a number of years. I am not an expert on Lunar photography in any way and as I was using a mono camera with RGB filters, which I expect is far from perfect, I stacked 10 images in each channel and combined these into the single colour image below. Unfortunately the blue filter was a little out of focus, but all in all it is an ok image. I was hoping for more colour like some of the others I see on here, and would be interested to know what techniques are used to achieve this.

It is a lovely image. It makes me want to give M42 one last crack for the season.

I have taken delivery of a couple of new toys this week in the form of an auto focuser and ASIAIR Pro and took the opportunity of a few days clear skies to have a play, while also trying to resolve some spacing issues. With the moon increasing in size I decided to focus primarily on H-Alpha filter. I think that these would have been crisper with less of the moon on show but I am still happy with them and look forward to adding some colour data in the future. Horsehead - 29 x 360s light frames in H-Alpha calibrated with darks, flats and dark flats. Lobster Claw Nebula & Bubble Nebula - 45 x 360s light frames in H-Alpha calibrated with darks, flats and dark flats. Bubble Nebula - 294 x 360s light frames calibrated with darks, flats and dark flats. Markarian's Chain - 32 x 180s luminance frames calibrated with darks, flats and dark flats.

In answer to your first question, I would say that they are one of the easier targets to capture, but can be one of the harder to process due to the brightness of the star(s) in the region. The Horsehead and Flame are right next to each other and the entire thing can be imaged with with anything up to 700mm, although I personally think somewhere between 350mm - 480mm can frame the whole thing nicely. What I don't know is whether your DSLR is modified. The hydrogen gas around the horsehead is beautiful if it can be captured.