SpaceDave

Can anyone describe how they connected their ASIAIR Pro to their SE mount. Cables, setup procedure, etc.

I've had zero luck. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

David

8 hours ago, bf79 said:

Ive still not managed to get mine all connected up as yet. 
Ive now got a wedge and the cables to go from the handset to a USB, and got a guidescope and brackets and an ASI 290MC which i could probably use as a guide camera for now, but not really had a go at connecting everything together. 
 

My handset is the older type connector on the bottom, not the micro USB, so I think I might have to do a firmware update as well. 
 

unfortunately, being in Scotland, I think its about a year since I last had a clear sky

Yeah, I’m having the same problem with the weather! 
 

Good luck connecting it all together!

On 13/03/2021 at 19:24, Al_N said:

Upon further investigation, it seems that INDI can connect to the SE without performing a two star alignment. Guess I'll have to figure out how to get ASTAP plate solving up and running, or I'm still going to have to go through a two star alignment.

I let the mount power up before connecting it to the Raspberry Pi. If you connect to the Rpi (ASIAIR) first, the handset displays an initialization error that only clears when the handset is fully powered down.

Anyway, here are some shots of my INDI driver settings (this is from CCDCiel capture software) On some of the pictures, I've moved the INDI window so that you can see that both camera and mount are connected.

Mount firmware info:

The remaining tabs I have not used.

That’s awesome, Al. Thank you very much. 
I’ll compare this with mine and try your advice when I get a moment! Thanks again.

14 hours ago, Al_N said:

I've had to complete a two star alignment before attempting to connect to the NexStar handset that controls the SE. This was with both Windows/ASCOM and Astroberry/INDI. I use the same INDI driver that you show in your attachment.

Hope you get connected.

edit: this is with a wedge, operating in "Eq North" mode.

 

Al

Thanks for the reply, Al.

I'll give a two star alignment a go next time theres some stars out!

Thanks again.

Dave

1 hour ago, StevieDvd said:

Is there another Celestron choice such as Celestron AX available, if so try that.

Thanks for the reply, StevieDvd. I just tried all the Celestron options and got the same result from them all, unfortunately. “Not found” and “Connect Failed”.

Hello all,

Sorry for jumping in on this post. I’m struggling to use my 6SE with the ASIAIR Pro and was hoping someone could help me.

Anyone know how to successfully connect a Celestron 6SE mount to the ASI Air Pro?

I have connected it from the USB 2.0 port on the ASI Air Pro to the micro USB port on the mount's hand controller. I used a USB 2.0 to Micro USB cable - I've tried two different cables.

When I go into the ASI Air Pro app's mount section, and I try to connect to the mount I get a 'Connect Failed' message (see attached screenshots).

I have updated the firmware on both devices.

Any ideas? Thanks!

Hello all,

Anyone know how to successfully connect a Celestron 6SE mount to the ASI Air Pro?

I have connected it from the USB 2.0 port on the ASI Air Pro to the micro USB port on the mount's hand controller. I used a USB 2.0 to Micro USB cable - I've tried two different cables.

When I go into the ASI Air Pro app's mount section, and I try to connect to the mount I get a 'Connect Failed' message (see attached screenshots).

I have updated the firmware on both devices.

Any ideas?

NGC891 - Galaxy

 Not particularly happy with this image, but I've tried and tried to get more data, but the weather (and full moon) over the last month has be terrible. Clearly very noisy. Still, I love the object.

270 x 20s subs = 1hr30mins - also used darks, flats and biases. ISO 1600.

Celestron 6SE, Canon 600D, Optolong L-Pro LP filter, 0.63 focal reducer.

19 hours ago, Heskyyyyy said:

To those who HAVE the 6.3 reducer, has it made a noticeable difference with exposure time/light gathering ?

 

I have the focal reducer and it has helped with exposure times. I've found I don't have to throw away anywhere near as many subs due to trailing, its more forgiving.

Hello all. I’ve tried a few times in the last month to image Mars but have had very little success. Although a decent size, Mars is very blurry and wobbly. I am fairly new to the hobby, but I would say it appears to be poor seeing conditions. 

I am using a Celestron 6SE and Canon 600D. I have tried 2x and 3x Barlow. I focus using a bahtinov mask (on stars). I used movie crop mode on various ISOs and exposures, stacking at least 3000 frames (keeping the best 1%, 2%, 5%, etc).

Is Mars too far away now? Or am I underestimating how rarely you get a night of good seeing? How do you find out when the best seeing will be?

14 minutes ago, Peter_D said:

Hi, thanks for the comments. SpaceDave  I'm afraid I misled you a bit because my DSLR is the 60D model, not the 6D. Unfortunately, I can't get the settings right now (The ISO was 800 (I think!)). I remember I used a Barlow x2 and the Video Crop mode to record a video. The planetary tracking on the SE was sweet.

 I do remember that around the time of the opposition, I often had to experiment with the camera settings and focus quite a bit.

Mars is a lot smaller now so it might be the case you need to use a x2,5 or x3 Barlow.

Great, thanks! 

Yeah, I may have to wait until Mars comes back around.

On 06/09/2020 at 10:41, Peter_D said:

First time capturing Mars in a month -  I'm getting a bit more surface detail using my Celestron 6SE and Canon Eos 6D. Still not great though. The polar cap is noticeably smaller since last month.

(Time: 04:00 CET, 2000 images, best 15% used)

 

 

Awesome photo, Peter! I have the same setup as you. Can you tell me how much Barlow you used and the settings on the camera, please? Struggling to get a decent shot of Mars.

On 02/01/2021 at 22:58, Stuf1978 said:

Yeah filter removed and no clear glass installed. Can't say I've ever noticed bloated stars (still pretty new to astrophotography). Here's an image taken with my self modded 450d with the L-eNhance clip in filter

 

 

Fantastic image.

On 02/01/2021 at 23:37, AlanP_ said:

Fingers crossed I successfully modify it now!

Hello Alan. I'm in the same boat. Did you get around to removing the filter and how were the results? Thanks.

14 hours ago, happy-kat said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPoJ-lMwctA

at the beginning though make sure to select the right option for your data, e.g whether linear etc.

Awesome. I’ll edit mine using the directions on the video! Thanks. 

29 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

I'll add later a YouTube link to a decent startools m31 process later. Some videos are better than others but I thought this one was good.

Great, thank you.

24 minutes ago, The Admiral said:

By chance a timely post has popped up which I think illustrates how much difference processing can make.

Don't get hung up on the details, but I think the various attempts at processing illustrate the point. It is often said that the various processing applications have a steep learning curve, more so with some applications than others, but it is worth getting to grips with it as it stands you in good stead for the future. StarTools is easier in some sense because it does all the subtle processing behind the scenes which with some applications have to be manually done. It does require a number of somewhat opaque parameters to be set though, but using the default settings does get you a long way.

Good luck, your journey starts here .

Ian

Interesting.
Certainly noticed the steep learning curve with this hobby!

Thanks for the info, I’ll need to put some time aside to practice using these programs

4 hours ago, happy-kat said:

But you could screen grab so you could save that way for the point of comparing various process outputs.

I use DSS only to stack.

Good idea, will do! Thanks.

4 hours ago, The Admiral said:

I've not used SIRIL but DSS (free) is primarily used for calibration and stacking. It can process images, but I don't think many use it for that.

StarTools just processes, it doesn't calibrate or stack. It is very reasonably priced, and all features can be trialed before purchase, except it doesn't save.

Ian

Great, I've downloaded DDS and have a video tutorial too

1 hour ago, happy-kat said:

^ very true I got quite a bit out of my m31 with very little data and using 2" of aperture using DSS and startools.

There might be more in your data that could be extracted, and if there isn't it's fun to try and in this weather any processing is time not wasted.

 

Interesting. I'll take a look at those two softwares. Thanks!

1 hour ago, The Admiral said:

Good work there. I can't help feeling that with about 1½ hours worth of data you ought to be able to get more out of your M31 image, even if taken at f/10, in particular, a bit of colour. What are you using to process your stack with? In my experience as much comes out of processing as it does with data gathering. True, if you don't get good enough data you can never get a good picture, but good processing can make or break a picture.

I've had good success with StarTools. If you can accommodate its workflow, it does seem to get the most out of the data with not a lot of effort.

Ian

Thanks for the advices. I used SIRIL to stack the M31. I am new to astrophotography and it's editing, so I could be making quite a few mistakes during the stacking and editing process. I'll have a go at StarTools. Thanks.

4 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

Love the way the two images show the extremes of DSO sizing. 

When processing be careful of the back point as too dark can clip an image and lose detail.

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind. I seem to move toward darkening the image too much in order to reduce the noise in the black of space.

My attempt at the Andromeda Galaxy and Whirlpool Galaxy. Think I may need more lights and a shorter focal length for Andromeda!

Both images used 350 x 15 second lights, 50 darks, 50 biases, 50 flats. Taken with a 6SE and Canon 600D. Also used a f6.3 focal reducer. 

On 20/01/2021 at 15:39, JonCarleton said:

We had a good night of seeing conditions, so I got some distant targets, Cleopatra's Eye Nebula and Superman Galaxy. Stacked 100 subs @ 20 seconds for each image.

Awesome photos.

3 hours ago, LeeHore7 said:

Beautiful images with no eq Dave, something for me to aspire to with my Skymax 127 and az gti 

Thanks! Good luck