feverdreamer1

4 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Something to make do with while waiting for an ND filter to artive. 👍🏻

Exactly

13 minutes ago, Ags said:

That's why you want an ND filter to attenuate brightness without reducing aperture.

The Moon is actually as black as a lump of coal, pity the Sun is so bright.

I agree with you, a ND filter would be the way to go, I meant what I said as a very temporary diy solution. 

S

1 minute ago, Ags said:

An aperture mask will reduce resolution.

I'd prefer that to having a blue stain on my eyesight the whole night if I had eyesight problems 

3 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Which is why I sold my contrast booster filter. Just didn’t get on with it.

I think people use it when there is a full moon, some people cant stand the brightness I guess. But they could also use a cardboard on the aperture 🤔🤔

Clear skies,

S

Just now, Arlington1 said:

Thats interesting. How would I do that?

Well, first thing would be to check if adapters for your model have already been designed, check websites like Thingiverse. If they have been made but for similar models, you can tweak them and resize them to fir your camera on free software like Ultimaker Cura. And of course you'll be needing a 3d printer.

4 minutes ago, Arlington1 said:

I have got a smart phone holder. Just cant get on with it!

I have a nice baader Hyperion eye peice and I am thinking of getting the adaptors so I can connect my Canon 70d to it

You can always get the adaptors 3d printed, much cheaper and definitely much more fun!

Those are some great results from a simple smartphone!

Like said, you should get a phone holder if you plan to image with your smartphone.

Also, I recommend you get an app that let's you control things like aperture, shutter speed, ISO... (if your default camera app doesnt allow to control them)

A good (and free) app for Android is one called Camera FV-5 Lite. I use that quite often and it's really good.

Keep those images coming and clear skies!

S

What are you interested in? 

Also, what equipment do you have?

The more details you give us, the better we can answer

(I'm definitely not an advanced user, but can point out a few targets :))

Clear skies,

S

Oh okay thanks!

Reason I asked was that my star adventurer is arriving anytime next month and I was trying to manage my expectations 🤣. 

Thanks and clear skies,

S

Amazing image, really loving the color you've captured with an unmodded camera. Hats off.

What bortle was this taken in?

I'm receiving a star adventurer anytime in August and I'm trying to control my expectations for an unmodded dslr hehe.

Thanks and clear skies,

S

May I ask the LP level where the image was taken?

S

I really like the stars, they give the image a unique touch. Very nice indeed!

S

De otro residente de la península ibérica, ¡bienvenido!

Que tengas cielos despejados,

S

Hi,

After a few years I made my way back into astronomy having recently taken up astrophotography. If what you're going to do is purely visual, with no astrophotography intended (at least deep sky) then you cant go wrong with a dobsonian (clarifier: dobsonian is the mount it is on, the actual scope's name is a reflector, because it reflects the light off mirrors to get to your eyes, different from a refractor, which makes light pass through different lenses to get to your eyepiece) I'd recommend you get a 8 or 10 inch and invest the rest of the money in some good eyepieces. Only downside is having to move the scope manually, but this makes it even more fun, as you will learn the sky very easily! And I'm sure your daughters will enjoy it too. I dont know if you're aware but dobsonian's don't have a GoTo,(which essentially is like an automated finder) so you'll have to learn position of objects through methods like star hopping, which is really fun, also remember:

Less technology = Less problems 

Forgot to mention dobsonian are not famous for their portability, so bear that in mind, but as you mention, if you have dark skies, I reckon this won't be an issue

Anyway, that's my 2 cents on this.

Clear skies,

S

I think I read somewhere that modded isnt really necessary, as neowise doesn't have any Ha.

But not really sure.

S

This forum is really really helpful. There are some very smart people here.

Take it from another begginer.

Have fun!

S

1 hour ago, david_taurus83 said:

It can be done.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/comments/eb04dn/3d_printable_eqsplitring_style_tracking_and_goto/

Wow. That's a whole set of levels above me, but it sure is a challenge and I'll definitely give it a try (sometime in the future, when I get around the 3d printer).

2 hours ago, vlaiv said:

I was thinking about 3D printed star tracker as well - as a project.

Still don't own a 3D printer, but it's on my shopping list (hence all the thinking about possible projects).

Estimating error of such tracker is not easy task. Size of it and how much parts you are going to print as opposed of using pre made metallic parts (such as shafts and bearings) contribute to precision.

Then there is a matter of type of drive used. Are you going for worm arrangement or belt drive? Parts for belt drive are much easier to print on 3D printer.

Let's see what sort of precision in tracking you want in the first place. We start by setting some basic constraints - image sampling rate, max exposure length and acceptable star eccentricity.
You mention 200mm FL and let's take very common pixel size - 4.5um. This gives ~4.6"/px as sampling rate, so let's put our constraint at 4"/px.

We want to be able to do 5min exposure and have our eccentricity less than say 30%? Well if our FWHM is about 6", then we want our error in RA over 5 minutes to be less than 6" * 0.3 = 1.8". Now we hit our first obstacle - we need to calculate what sort of error in mechanical design will give us such periodic error. We also need to know precision in our timing electronics - we need to time steps of motor such that total error over 5 minutes is less than 1.8" (or rather combined with periodic error).

Let's say that we want to have 5 steps per second. What sort of reduction do we need to achieve between motor and RA shaft?

If we use 1.8 degree per step motor (200 steps per revolution) with 16 micro steps and 5 steps per second timing, for 15"/s sidereal rate we have 3"/step or 0.1875"/microstep. That is quite good resolution - HEQ5 for example has 0.143617"/microstep. However, that requires quite large reduction. There is 360 * 60 * 60 = 1296000 arc seconds in full RA revolution, and there is 200 * 16 = 3200 micro steps per RA motor revolution. This means that one motor revolution corresponds to 3200 * 0.1875 = 600 arc seconds. Reduction ratio is therefore 1296000 : 600 = 2160 : 1

This can easily be achieved with one 60:1 reduction followed by one 36:1 reduction.

Belt system does not seem too far fetched for this I would say.

Belt system is what I originally planned to do it with, as it's cheaper and drives better. The calculations you provide are REALLY helpful and will aid me when I make the 3d tracker (if I end up deciding to do so). I will post my results here somewhere so that whenever you do get a printer you can check it out.

S

2 hours ago, happy-kat said:

If you like the idea of a project and are happy with either Arduino or RaspPi could have a go, but I don't think you'd be able to as reliably image beyond 200mm which in it's self is an ask. 

One is a given for the money the other is a project.

I'm thinking of taking the barn door as a project and getting the skywatcher for imaging. If I end up doing this I'll compare them and post my results here

On 09/07/2020 at 01:05, theropod said:

I have the iOptron SkyTracker Pro, and love it. I have mounted my C-90 Mak on it via a ball head, but it isn’t fun. The scope is just a tad heavy, but this doesn’t effect tracking accuracy. The not fun part is getting the target locked into the center of the FOV, and not upsetting polar alignment. It takes two or three adjustments to get the target centered and alignment set. I use a heavy duty transit level tripod made by Bosch modified slightly to lock down the tracker base, and that part is rock steady. I’m not into the DSO/planetary photography side, but have watched Jupiter for hours with this setup. It’s so tough to get things right switching targets isn’t done on a whim. However when I mount my phone to capture meteors I can get 20 minute exposures with nice round stars, but this requires really nailing down that alignment. The little scope and app from iOptron make that fairly easy. The tracker just shifts alignment a little with a load when fiddling with targeting, and needs to be corrected.

I am about to pull the trigger on an iOptron CEM25P, which should turn the whole ordeal into a pleasure. I’ll still use the little tracker, but just to capture meteor falls. I’m sold on iOptron mechanics. My tracker is 4 years old, and the battery can run the mount all night and then some.

Does the iOptron come with the counterweight kit? That is what kind of throws me off the iOptron. Also,does it come with a ball head adapter?

Hi,

I've recently bought an ender 3 3d printer, and have been wondering, can a 3d printed tracker be better than, say a skywatcher star adventurer?

It may seem like a silly question, but I'm pretty new in AP. Also, how big of an error would they give off at say 200mm.

Thanks,

S

Hi Dave,

Sorry I wasn't clear, I'm kinda new to all this, what I meant is DSO like horsehead nebulae, North American nebula, m31...

But now I'm curious... which DSO requires 2500mm of focal length? Sorry if it's a dumb question but it really caught my eye 👀

Thanks,

S

At the risk of this question been asked before I really need opinions from actual users.

So after taking a few static images of the milky way and to be honest, blown away, I decided to take the plunge and get a tracker!. I now for some this might not feel like something "big" but it is actually a big deal to me. It's my first step into proper AP.

After the initial shock I had when looking at the prices, I cooled down and saw that I could get decent trackers for 250  (€) approx. 

But my question is which one to buy. I'm currently aiming at the star adventurer pro pack, but have recently discovered that I could get a skywatcher eq3-2 for 250 (€) too. I'm aiming at some milky way photography too,but mainly wanted to buy it for DSO.

Equipment I already own is: 

-Canon 550D

-EFS 55-250mm lens

-Sturdy tripod

-Ball head

I've also heard about the iOptron but it has similar specs to the star adventurer but the price is way higher.

Thanks in advance, any help is welcomed.

S

16 hours ago, endlessky said:

I was going to suggest DeepSkyStacker, since AutoStakkert! is more for videos, but since you said it doesn't work on your computer... I really don't know what else you could use.

Neowise should be well within the reach of your camera. It doesn't have H-alpha, so it shouldn't matter if your camera is modified or not. Same general tips as for the Milky Way: detach histogram from the left and keep exposure short enough to avoid star trails. Comets don't have the same apparent motion of stars, but for short exposure times it shouldn't matter if you are imaging from a still tripod.

Just realized sunset is behind some mountains... I guess I'll have to wake up early.

Even better, might try and pull off an all-nighter and image the moon too.

Clear skies,

S

By the way, am I crazy if I want to image neowise with an unmodded, untracked DSLR?