PeterStudz

I guess if using Starsense you’ll need to take your phone out in order to take images? If I think that I’m going to image I’ll sometimes setup the phone in the adaptor + eyepiece attached and ready to use as one unit right the start. Then all I need to do is swap out eyepieces. Saves having to fiddle and attach the phone to adaptor, then adapter/phone to eyepiece… all in the dark. To check tracking you can use the phone attached to an eyepiece/telescope. Then point at a bright star and use the grid in the camera app and watch if it stays more or less still. If the star moves then adjust motor speed. You can also take a 30 sec exposure with the camera, then, If there’s no too minimal star trailing, you are fine. Some time ago I also polar aligned my platform as in the link below. Go to the end of the article. Then marked the position on my patio. The process is a faff so more of a one off. But it can show if you need to adjust, say the south bearing, ever so slightly. Also an activity to do on these far to light summer nights http://www.astrosurf.com/aheijkoop/Equipment/EqPlatfor2.htm

Is this a single shot image? And not a frame from a video. I’ve only managed anything out of Venus via taking video. And have you tried observing Venus during the day? Then I don’t need any filters. And the advantage of daytime is that Venus is obviously higher in the sky so potentially less impact from our atmosphere. When observing during night time it’s certainly very bright and I certainly need a filter. I can see dimming towards the terminator but I haven’t been convinced about any other shading from the clouds on Venus. Sometimes I think that I can see something subtle but far from far from 100% sure it’s real and not just down to the seeing.

This is true and certainly a comment worth making. However, I’ve found and followed discussions like this without myself making a comment and found them very useful. Eg @bosun21 torch suggestion is one I’ve previously discovered on this site and used myself. It’s just one of the things that makes this site so useful and why I keep coming back.

I’m not a fan of the lazy Susan bearing type things. And I tried to find the above wall panel stuff in the UK without luck. But this - stucco embossed aluminium - worked really well for me. Cheap too. I paid £13 for a 50cm (20 inch) square from a local sheet metal supplier. Lager sections are available. And easy to cut with tin snips. Works well for altitude bearing plus Teflon too.

Yes, I use it regularly with my EQ platform. In fact I’ve literally just come in after observing the sun in white light. Then, using my phone with the goto feature in the app PS Align Pro, syncing on the sun, I was able to find Venus in daylight. Of course it’ll work at night just as well and you can use your Dob plus EQ platform in the normal way.

Thanks! Amongst other things I find doing all the processing on the phone a nice challenge. Now it’s summer and taking inspiration from you, I might just give the International Space Station a go. I was literally just outside putting our bunnies to bed and it made a bright pass overhead. And a few days ago, when I was setting up, it unexpectedly came overhead. I didn’t have an eyepiece to hand but I could easily track it in the finder. Maybe it’s giving me a sign! 😃

Definitely worth a go and I’ve found it a lot of fun. Although the app can align without any tracking the whole thing was easier and worked better on the EQ platform. For a start there’s no need to nudge/move back to the target in order to do another capture. As your target stays in the FOV for longer you can take longer exposures. And for some reason the app alignment was more reliable on the platform. So that it can align the app does need some relatively bright stars in your FOV. And I only aligned my platform for visual - level with a spirit level, orientating north with a compass. For editing images I’ve found the app WaveletCam useful plus Lightroom (just the free version). Occasionally SnapSeed too.

@Stu I’ve had it installed since February and only just got around to playing with it. Although that might be partly due to the cloudy nights.

Stu, no problem. In the App Store it looks like this… And I think that this should give you a direct link… https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/astroshader/id6444631986 Hope that helps!

This app gives camera options like ISO and exposure. Of course that’s nothing special and there are a number of apps that do that. But the difference with this one is that it then try’s to align and stack, and live during image capture. i.e. press the shutter button and then aligns and does the stacking. And it’ll work both at the eyepiece and widefield too. Although unguided I’ve found AstroShader a bit hit and miss it does work, especially if your FOV includes some bright starts. For DSO It’s the only app that I’ve found that does any better than Apples stock camera app. Having said that you are at a real advantage if you can capture smartphone DSO images somewhere that’s actually dark. I’m very jealous of anyone in Bortle 4 or below! Then even the stock camera can do surprisingly well.

I captured these at the end of the first night this year where my daughter camped in the garden. We’d looked at M13, M57 & M27 already and my daughter headed off to bed. So, in the early hours I had another go with the AstroShader app (see earlier threads). But this time with the Dob on my DIY EQ platform. Wasn’t long until astro dark was lost so I quickly reeled off some snaps. Using the EQ platform it was obvious that this time there was little if any issues with AstroShaders alignment. I fiddled with some settings not really knowing enough about what I was doing and not enough time to record the details. But here are the results. Considering that I’m in Bortle 7 this is getting there. With the capture of M13 - Hercules Globular Cluster you can see the propeller. The Ring Nebula M57 shows (just) the central star/white dwarf. And M27 - Dumbbell Nebula (first time I’ve tried to capture) shows some of the outer “shell”. All processing + editing on the phone. I’m sure that far better is possible. Skywatcher 200p Dob on DIY EQ platform. BST StarGuider 15mm. iPhone 14 Pro mounted on basic no-brand smartphone adapter. Captured using the live stacking app AstroShader. Edited on the phone in AstroShader, WaveletCam and Lightroom. M13 Hercules Globular Cluster M57 Ring Nebula M27 Dumbbell Nebula

The only galaxies that I’ve been able to see through my 8” Dob in my Bortle 7 back garden are M81 & M82 (you can get them together in the same FOV) and M31 - Andromeda. M81 & M82 are the best as it’s possible to make out some structure without much effort. M31 it’s just the core plus a little extent or “fuzziness”. On a good night I can also just about make out the companion galaxy to M31 which is M32.

Seeing reasonable in Southampton with fair weather clouds coming and going. Although wish that I could star earlier - neighbours trees in the way. SkyWatcher 200p Dob. DIY filter using Baader AstroSolar Safety Film. Starguider 15mm, iPhone 14 Pro held onto the eyepiece using a basic smartphone mount. Single shot Images taken using the stock camera app. Basic editing on the phone crop using the stock camera app plus Lightroom. Closer images zoomed at the eyepiece using the iPhone zoom. I really shouldn’t be so lazy and just change eyepiece! Last image of single sunspot cropped then edited further using the WaveletCam app.

I’m pleased it’s worked for you and thanks for getting back and letting us know. The PushTo feature is brilliant (intuitive too) but is a little hidden in the app. I’m surprised that the developer doesn’t make more if it. I have an 8” Dob and can never see the Whirlpool Galaxy in my Bortle 7 sky. Maybe a very faint smudge just once with adverted vision. However, I know that the app has found it because if I put my phone to the eyepiece and take a 30 sec exposure the Whirlpool Galaxy appears in the shot. Blurred without tracking of course but still unmistakable.

My wife has discovered how good this is at cleaning glasses, mobile phones etc and now I can never find mine!

That’s a nice read… thanks for posting!

Hello George, At the moment the app only allows access to the rear facing cameras. On my iPhone I have 3 rear facing cameras. See under “Camera type”. I’ve only used these cameras even when the phone is on a tripod. The rear facing cameras have the bigger sensors so should be best in low light. I assume you need to use the front facing camera but I haven’t used a Star Adventurer so I don’t know why! If it’s necessary for you then it might be worth contacting the developer. They have been helping people on Cloudy Nights so seem to be receptive to suggestions.

I know what you mean. And while obviously dated it’s full of down to earth information. I think that a lot of modern guides that are aimed at the young (or old for that matter) could learn from it. My daughter has complained about many of the books we’ve bought as being too complicated with far too many flashy astrophotography images. As an example I love this simplified map of the moon. Learn these areas/features first and you’re well on the way to navigating your way around the moon. And this page on double stars.

For some reason, when I was a kid, this past me by even though I had quite a few Ladybird books. But coming across this on eBay for a few quid I just couldn’t resist.

OK, that doesn’t sound right!

Back in February @CraigT82 mentioned a new iOS app for live stacking called AstroShader. See… https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/406419-ios-live-stacking-app-astroshader/ Although unplanned and an after thought, I tried using it a couple of nights ago. I don’t know about you but for me this spring in Southampton has had so many cloudy nights that I’ve hardly been out. But just before bed, noticing that the sky was clear and although a school night I decided to have a ‘short’ (it rarely turns out that way) session on M13, M57 & M27. Bright enough in my light polluted Bortle 7 and one after the other swing their way higher into my “darker” patch of sky late at night & into the early hours. Getting my Skywatcher 200p Dob out to cool I left my EQ platform inside as I wanted to be quick-ish and simple. M13 first which looked OK but I’ve seen it better. Not helped by not quite being high enough and probably not quite completely dark. Then I remember the AstroShader app and decided to give it a go. On M13 I struggled to get the alignment to work. Sometimes it would fail completely (just resulting in a blurred image) or trailing stars. Interestingly, by playing around with camera options, I could get something reasonable in the live view. The image below is a screen snap shot of the front interface. You can clearly make out M13 and if you look closely, the beginnings of the propeller. Remember this is in Bortle 7 and just a screen shot - no image capture, stacking etc. The image on the actual live screen was better. Kind of an EAA or whatever it’s called! Not wanting to faff about trying to get alignment to work I moved onto M57. I haven’t seen that since last year which made it nice. Here I managed to get alignment to work with just slight star trailing and here’s the result. Remember this is untracked and in Bortle 7. For a first attempt with the app, not really knowing what I was doing and (for me) first capture of M57, I think that it shows promise. It’s rather “widefield” but this was only a test. First impressions. The app is good at dealing with light pollution. Something I struggle with when doing single shots. The editing section of the app is useful and decent. I found that I didn’t really need any other editing app. Alignment can be hit and miss. I believe it needs some bright-ish stars in the FOV. However, after I used the app I noticed a “strong” option in the apps alignment settings! Will try that next time. Using my EQ platform I can get up to 30 sec exposures without star trailing. So must try and use the app with that. Skywatcher 200p manual DOB, iPhone 14 Pro with basic no-brand smartphone adapter, BST StarGuider 25mm. All editing on the phone using AstroShader and finished off in LightRoom.

If you want something smaller I can do a swap 😀

Yes, as @neil phillips says it’ll possibly shift a little and that’s not a bad thing - good point. After a while you get familiar with that and know what’s acceptable. When I first had my primary mirror out I put it back in with the clips too loose. After collimating and playing “chase the donut” for a good 45 mins I realised what was going on.

I’ve spend a massive amount of time on the planets before and after. Literally every opportunity (my daughter is a fan). Something I’ve done - flocking and/or the painting - has made a difference. I flocked my OTA 16 months ago. I’ve had the primary out recently. In that time there’s been no shedding of fibres onto my primary. Although I had a dead fly on my primary - very annoying!

The only way to be sure would be to compare the same telescopes (one fully flocked the other not) side by side on the same night. As the cost difference was minimal I decided to do the whole lot. But I also flocked the inside of the draw tube, painted the outside of the draw tube, painted the back & edge of the secondary, replaced bolts & nuts with mat black versions. For DSO I don’t think it makes much if any noticeable improvement. But for bright & low contrast observations like the planets it certainly does. The difference on Jupiter and especially Mars, where you are looking for subtle differences in colour contrast was very obvious. And of course I painted and flocked at the same time so hard to know exactly what’s making the improvements.