PeterStudz

@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.

1 hour ago, Stu said:

@PeterStudz I couldn’t find that app, could you post an image of what it looks like or how to find it. Many thanks 🙏 

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! 

10 hours ago, carastro said:

Amazing on a Smartphone, but l know nothing about the App. 
 

Carole

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

7 minutes ago, cimh said:

Thank you, Ah good so its not me. What about M101 Pinwheel Mag 7.8? Im guessing im Bortle 6 /7 too.  

 

 

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.

13 hours ago, cimh said:

Thank you.  After your recommendation I bought the pro version for my iphone. And it is brilliant. Yes I like star hopping but my skies are not v dark. So for eg the beehive cluster is not visible to the naked eye when I am out around 11pm. I can find it instantly in binoculars but it can take forever with my 6" dobsonian. With align pro it is a piece of cake - First sync to Pollux then it directs me straight to the cluster. Wonderful. Same for the Hercules globular cluster. I've had no luck finding that directly with my scope. But with Align pro I sync on Vega then once again it takes me straight to the cluster using  a 15mm ep. Amazing. So far I've not been able to find the whirlpool galaxy using it. I have only had the scope our 6 or so times so Im new to this. The whirlpool is directly overhead align pro seems to struggle with that (as does my neck using the red dot finder!). Perhaps my scope is not big enough?   

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.

4 hours ago, wookie1965 said:

Got this yesterday and this morning my flocking material from FLO should be here just waiting for the springs then I will flock it. 

Only bought 2 pieces as they are a metre long it won't be far short I am a little worried about the circumference as with both pieces it will only be 90cm I need to measure the inside of the tube. 

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

14 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

There's something magical about that books simplicity that really appeals to me, and I can imagine it being genuinely inspiring to a young mind. I also love that shade of blue, and the starry skies remind me of my childhood, when my friend, also named Michael, and I would play out under such deepening blue skies littered with starlight. We were around 11 years old. Street lights were not as much of a problem as they are today, and either my childhood skies or my childhood eyes were considerably more transparent back then.  I also had my first astro expedition under such a sky when I was six years old. Looking through my bedroom window which faced south, I saw a first quarter Moon, and being aware the Moon was a globe, I had it in mind that if I could stand beneath it, it would look like a Dairylea cheese triangle, so off I went. I've no idea how I sneaked past mum and dad and my older brother, but somehow I found myself walking down back streets for the distance of what must have been half a mile before I realised the Moon was moving with me, and I wasn't getting any closer, so I decided to return home in failure.

I knew even then in 1968 that one day I'd either own a telescope or build a rocket.

 

 

That’s a nice read… thanks for posting!

3 hours ago, Hawksmoor said:

Hi Peter very interesting and have downloaded the App to my phone. I was quite keen to try using it on my Star Adventurer EQ mount to take some widefield shots of the Summer Night Sky but cannot find a way of reversing the camera so that I can lay the phone on its back. Whatever button  I seem to push the camera faces the other way to the screen. I am a family legend at using my iphone as little more than a fancy paperweight, so wonder if I am missing something really simple.  I have been trying out NightCap app and this allows me to reverse the camera. Any help would be appreciated.

Best regards George

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.
 

30 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

I always found the cover drawing to be inspiring and exciting in equal measure.

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.

26 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

This is shifting quite a bit the whole donut out so definitely need something. 

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. 

6 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

Same here 🙄.

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. 

13 minutes ago, Mike Q said:

You can't even really make that comparison because the two scopes arent exactly the same.  If i end up doing it i will probably just paint the area opposite the focuser first and see what that does.  Plus, and this may be a non-issue, i don't like the thought of a fuzzy material possibly shedding onto my primary.  

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! 

42 minutes ago, Mike Q said:

I will be pulling my mirror for cleaning eventually, i may consider flocking it at that time.  I know one guy that has done it, he isnt convinced that doing the whole tube was needed.  

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.

The primary cell of my Skywatcher 8” Dob has rubber grommets in place of springs plus locking screws. I’ve heard a few people moan about these grommets (why aren't they springs, it’s just cheap, that kind of thing) but I haven’t found them to be a problem and they work for me.

But at first I struggled to get these to lock the primary in a satisfactory manner. Then, someone on here, can’t remember who it was, mentioned using the locking screws as fine adjustment just as you are getting to the locking stage. If you aren’t careful locking down the locking screws can move the primary a little which is frustrating.

In order to lock the primary the trick here is to move the locking screws just so they “touch” the primary. Then slightly adjust adjust the associated collimating screw. Go back and forth between each screw until everything is tight, but not too tight. The screws operate together in a kind of push/pull fashion. Once I understood this and got the knack - issues solved.

Now, I check the collimation every session and I last made adjustments over a year ago. But I haven’t needed ti adjust anything at all. Sure, I’m only moving the telescope from house to back garden but the primary is properly locked. And no springs required. Proper springs could be ‘better’ but it works well so why bother.

I also have a small Skywatcher 4.5” reflector. Now this does have springs and (more importantly) proper ‘Bobs Knobs’ type thumb screws on the primary cell. Why the ‘cheap’ small reflector includes these but the 8” doesn’t is a bit of a mystery. Even with the springs I followed the same procedure to lock the primary as I do on the 8”. Last summer I took this telescope on an aircraft to a dark site. After the 4 hrs in a car (2 hours on winding mountain roads), going through customs, 4 hrs in a an aircraft, dragging the case + telescope on cobbled streets, 35 mins in a ferry… I was very surprised to find the collimation hadn’t budged and was still spot on. Same with the return journey where I wasn’t as careful. Of course this is a small telescope with a small mirror but even so.

15 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

Same here - a full sized bearing. That and strengthening the base has given me a scope that is a joy to use. 

I need to flock it too, but the size of the tube is putting me off 

I completely flocked my SkyWatcher 8” Dob. But I would have thought that bigger would be easier. For my 8” I found it a bit “tight”. Flexible wrist are a bonus, but even so I got wrist pain doing it

However, definitely worth the effort and overall it was far easier than I was led to believe! 

1 hour ago, Mr Spock said:

Interesting how people's conditions differ. I never get dew - probably because I'm on a hillside.

I almost always slap a dew shield on anyway. Even without dew it does a grand job of keeping out stray light. And for low contrast work, eg the plants, there’s a slight but significant difference. 

I really should get out to a dark or darker location. The New Forest is on my doorstep and I have tried, just taking binoculars out, to a few. My daughter likes to observe too but with just the two of us  and after a short while she does start to feel uncomfortable in these places. A small group and there wouldn’t be a problem. 

It also reminds me of our holiday in a remote part of Southern Crete. We’d taken a  small telescope and the sky was wonderful  - Bortle 1-2 - with no moon. Although in order to get away from the village lights you needed a 15 min walk into the hills. Again, Alice wasn’t comfortable for any real length of time in total darkness but we managed. 

However, on one evening & as we were getting the telescope ready, there was rifle fire out in the hills. And it was close to where we were staying. Went on for about 1.5 hrs. Needles to say that even when whoever it was finished their shooting we did not go out! 

As a beginner dew issues were something that took me by total surprise. It didn’t seem to be mentioned (might have missed something) in any of the beginner guides and articles that I read and I read a lot. First time I encountered dew I thought it was atmospheric fog

I have reflectors but I’ve found that decent dew shields (unheated) are enough to keep dew at bay - so far - although might have been lucky. And I’ve done all nighters where I’ve left the OTA out all night. 

Prevention is better than cure. The first sign that there could be problems is dew on the finder. I have a finder dew shield but if I leave the viewing/eye end uncapped that can dew up. So always cap when not in use. 

For eyepieces I have a jacket with a large front pocket. There’s enough heat in there to prevent dew on my eyepieces, so when not in use they always go there. 

6 minutes ago, Leo S said:

Not looking even slightly clear here tonight sadly, but I did have a go at the ISS a few nights back (100523 - 03:30 UT) while it was clear.

7D II + EF 800mm - 1/2500s @ 5.6 (ISO 640) - Wimberly gimbal head + Gitzo 1325

Nice capture!

Not looking at all clear tonight here in Southampton. But it is looking clear tomorrow (Saturday night the 13th May) when, as far as I can tell, there should be 4 visible passes. 

I never bother with those Bluetooth things. If you have an Apple Watch like I do then that works very well as a camera remote.

On my iPhone I’ve also got a Voice Control (under Accessibility) setup for my shutter button. Handy as this means you can be completely hands free. There’s details on the internet of how to do it. Like here…

https://youtu.be/rJI38Rmjfc8