Iem1

This is not bad data at all! You should be proud of the image you captured I also had a go at processing it as I have not been able to get out and enjoy the recent clear nights. Take a look at Sirils banding reduction and background extraction tools, they will help clear up the image and deal with gradients pretty effectively!

My first Astro image. And this was after 2-3 nights of failing to manually find Andromeda with my SGP ..and clearly before I knew what back spacing was The same target using the same equipment (SGP, 600D, 430mm APO), about 1 year later.

For under $200 you'll be looking for a used DSLR I'd expect, something like a Canon 600D. Think I got mine for around £300 on ebay, but that was from an actual electronics seller, it also came astro modified and cleaned/checked and I had something replaced (for free) within it when BULB mode stopped working. Private and unmodified should be around the £200 mark I'd imagine. Great way to begin Astrophotography. Best app depends on experience. You can't go wrong with apps like Photoshop(Paid), Siril(free) and GIMP(free). All popular and pretty intuitive, there are a lot of tutorials on YouTube for them aswell. Hope that helps

This is a great site and exactly what I'm after! Trying to wrap my head around the aggression explanation, but the ADU exposure guide is a great point and I'm going to implement it tonight. Since I have had the AAP and my auto guiding set up I am absolutely guilty of neglecting correct exposure in favour of long exposures It's like.. ..take long exposures.

I currently use my phone to run the app, but I like the idea of a dedicated tablet for AP. Could also double as a uniform flat panel, at the moment I use an open word document on my laptop.. the logistics are less than ideal to say the least the guiding it self is generally stable. I think the fact that the imaging equipment is so light compared to what could be it goes a long way to countering the imbalance in DEC (at least I hope!) One thing I have been thinking about (in regards to achieving pin point stars and getting rid of that minute trailing) is perhaps the DSLR it self, the shutter mechanism adding movement? Perhaps I am just approaching the limits of my equipments capabilities. I am reading some conflicting information about calibration steps for my set up with some suggesting ~8000 ms and some suggesting ~400 ms. Its hard to determine what I need to be looking out for. Does anyone have any links to some articles that discuss in depth how guiding works and how the settings of the AAP influence its performance? Looking for material online but struggling.

Second question I have been debating the lowering setting that dictates how stable guiding must return to after dithering in order to continue imaging, its still at a default of 2". I usually sit below 1" total error, on a "bad" night i may hover around 1.00" - 1.40" total error. Is this a factor perhaps? If imaging starts at 2.00" total error could this be introducing a bit of trail into the images perhaps? Should I decrease it and hence wait longer for everything to stabilise? my guiding window for the Eastern veil session; I also need to get a dew heater for the guide scope I think, this night was the first night the stars were barely visible...maybe high altitude clouds, but I think it was dew. This was my PA when i started:

Thank you guys! Some great processes there! I did actually take flats (and bias as standard) but the way I currently image they are sometimes no good. I take all my kit to and from dark sky sites, the EQ6 R Pro is a heavy bit of kit + everything else. So I setup everything and dismantle everything each time I image EXCEPT the actual imaging train (now). I used to do the same with the scope/flattener/camera but recently I have made the effort to leave that assembled and carry it to and from the sites as I am trying to minimise exposure to dust etc So at the moment I take flats using my laptop when I get in, of course, taking the scope out of the cold and into a warm car + the vibrations has the potential to change orientation etc ..I need to purchase a tablet in order to run the AAP and use as a uniform light source so I can take my flats out in the field properly, with correct orientation and temperature (and hence focus) to up my calibration game. Typically speaking, Siril's background extraction is enough to cover my poor flat frames, but not always! I will check sidereal rate later if/when I go out. I thought it was correct but you never know! I am also still aware I am not balanced in DEC still, so that might be an issue. Although, I am barely hitting 5KG/20KG for weight capacity, so I'd have thought a bit of imbalance in DEC would have been manageable, but that could also be a point of inaccuracy. I do love using the AAP though, fantastic bit of kit. One question, do I still need to set my EQ6 R to home position now that the AAP does plate solving? I still do it with my spirit level, but just wondering if that is still a necessary step now I do not use the hand controller? Cheers guys, appreciate all the feedback and time

It's getting there! Trying to up the quality of my images. Think I did well on managing focus last night. Next on the list is a dedicated mono camera set up and possibly auto focus! Really really enjoying using the ASI. Though I am questioning the validity of the PA it says I achieve as even 30 second subs show trail, and with the PA showing as it does a 30 second should be pin point stars at 430mm. Another query to explore. Nothing worse than when all the conditions look set to align for something mundane to put a stop to it and thank you, I look forward to seeing the outcome of your processing! Already significantly better! good job! Mine lacks a bit of punch, I am conscious of it being a short toal integration with a dslr...keeping noise down as much as possible.

Hey folks I was out last night tinkering with back focus trying to resolve some star issues, I think I made progress there. 4 second exposure: Versus a 3 minute long exposure: The stars are definitely not perfect and need work, but they are better than last time and going in the right direction. Now I need to figure out where I am going wrong with guiding as all of my 3 minute exposures showed a bit of trailing, even in the center. That said, I managed a little bit of data on the eastern part of the veil nebula. Not the best image as I was mainly trying to troubleshoot my imaging, perfect conditions last night but there was some sort of event being help for star gazing, so a bit of time lost due to cars and head torches, but was great to see so many people under the stars! x27 3 minute exposures I desperately need to improve my processing skills too found this fairly tough, maintaining the integrity of the subject while reintroducing the (Chunky!) stars. It has lost its sharpness a bit, the starless image was pretty sharp! Here is the original untouched stacked Tif if anyone would like to have a go, it helps a lot to see how others tackle a process. result.tif

I agree. It is hard to pinpoint (pun intended) the exact cause, but i do think it is a number of things. No doubt back spacing is off, just hoping I can rectify the worst of it by making adjustments. I will try my best to solve that first. I have stretched the original file and converted to png and cropped each corner, hopefully make it easier to see. But to me, they look at lot better than the long exposures, which if I am not mistaken is a good sign? Top right Top Left Bottom right Bottom Left

Found a 1 second exposure from a recent night in my recycling bin 1 sec tif.tif Not sure if this was straight after moving, so not sure if it particularly credible

Another recent night (90 seconds I believe) Pillars tif.tif

Thanks for the input guys, I have just been looking at my data from the other night. Unfortunately I do not have any short exposure times saved to compare. So I am not sure how relevant this comparison is; 3 minute untouched exposure NA tif.tif - tif for closer inspection To my eyes these stars are a lot better, still some warping around the edges, but the stars look a lot more uniform in their imperfections I think. Though it could just be a longer exposure with more bloated stars hiding the issue. Only difference with this image would be a change in back spacing and camera orientation.

Agreed, bottom one is stacked and processed and it seems to have helped a bit, but man those stars are terrible no idea why it was such a chore to get decent shaped stars last night...bad night at the office maybe. PA should have been good. I forgot the total error..but "Happy green face" from the plus and close to the next tier of accuracy for the PA, Guiding seemed OK too. Is it normal to have one corner worse than the other? Would this be solved by simply adjusting the spacing or is it indicative of something else perhaps. Concerned that if I adjust for the worst stars the slightly better stars will be thrown out of shape in the process. Or perhaps there is a fine line of balance to be struck somewhere. Definitely noticing the spacing issue more now that I am guiding though. Its like all other boxes are generally ticked in the quality department, so the remaining flaws stand out like a sore thumb. It is no longer masked by the general instability that comes with an unguided sky guider pro for example Can not wait to get a dedicated cooled astro camera next!

Agreed, bottom one is stacked and processed and it seems to have helped a bit, but man those stars are terrible no idea why it was such a chore to get decent shaped stars last night...bad night at the office maybe. PA should have been good. I forgot the total error..but "Happy green face" from the plus and close to the next tier of accuracy for the PA, Guiding seemed OK too. Is it normal to have one corner worse than the other? Would this be solved by simply adjusting the spacing or is it indicative of something else perhaps. Concerned that if I adjust for the worst stars the slightly better stars will be thrown out of shape in the process. Or perhaps there is a fine line of balance to be struck somewhere. Definitely noticing the spacing issue more now that I am guiding though. Its like all other boxes are generally ticked in the quality department, so the remaining flaws stand out like a sore thumb. It is no longer masked by the general instability that comes with an unguided sky guider pro for example Can not wait to get a dedicated cooled astro camera next!

Morning guys, Tried shooting NGC 5906 last night, but the session was cut short due to clouds, managed 30 minutes of useable data. I have been trying to improve overall image quality, and my back spacing is a little off, working on it by testing out in the field. However, when adjusting, I seem to be able to get only some of the outer edges looking ok at any given time. I can never seem to get the stars in all four corners to be round. Here is an untouched 120 second sub from tonight, check out the bottom left corner compared to the top right. None of the stars are perfect, struggled to get pin point stars tonight for some reason, guiding seemed ok to me (< 1.0" total), but to my eyes the edges are behaving differently? Im not sure how well you will be able to see them pasted here, so I will attach the image as a tif below for easier closer inspection too. IMG_6701.tif Final result, x15 120 s subs under a bright moon...Think we are going to need a bigger boat.. Would love a more appropriate galaxy hunting scope in the future!

Sounds really interesting! Here are some untouched stacks, OSC with a 430mm Z73 III and an Astro modded 600D, full of little imperfections (Gradients, noise/walking noise etc). Not sure if it is useful, but might be a good stringent test of handling...less than perfect...data Cygnus Wall stacked tif.tif - Gradient from moon Whirlpool Galaxy.tif - light leak/walking noise Good luck both

Would the minimum move setting be these settings? Still learning about guiding. Will test out increased RA Aggression and see how it fares, thank you for the response

Beautiful! Especially considering the moon & heat How long was each exposure? I found 3 minutes with my 600D was a bit much, washed out and noisy in this heat/moon.

Thanks for the link, that had a ton of useful info in it! Going to try implememt the method of working out ideal exposure times it discusses...only ever used 30 second exposures prior to this, so over exposing as never actually been an issue I don't think Went out last night for another go, targeted the Elephant trunk nebula. The data is not very good, but I think that is due to conditions more than anything. Old DSLR running 3 minute exposures during warm and moonlit nights. Noisy and low dynamic range data, I live and learn. But, here was the guiding graph at various points through the night after some adjustments; I think I will bump dither to 30 pixels next time, apprently that is recommend for DSLR's. Also lowered aggr to 85% and upped calibration steps from 2000 to 8000 for my 120 mini guide scope.

To be honest I don't know what I am looking at really when looking at the graph (that will come as no suprise I'm sure :D) im trying to find somd online material to learn from. Noted. I usually do my PA around 30-60 mins prior to imaging darkness, so never usually rushed doing it. Thank you for the input! I was absolutely amazed at how effortless that whole process was (once I remembered to actually turn it on!) To be honest, and was very pleased with the results, even as a first try! Those 3 minute subs are better than my 30 second unguided subs I think. Difference is huge! I believe that is the case too, I read that a bad PA will have the image rotating around the guide star, sounds like basically the reverse of bad back spacing. Oh no, that's my poor communication sorry. I meant that if I wanted perfect DEC balance I would need to have the dovetail held by only one clamp, which I do not do for the reasons you stated and I am paranoid it would somehow fall. As it stands, I have it properly clamped at the expense of perfect DEC balance, that imbalance isn't crazy, but not ideal. I will get a new bar ASAP to rectify it Cheers Guys

Hey guys, Thought I would start a new thread separate from my thread trouble shooting my guiding issues as to keep it all linear. Equipment used; WO Z73, Canon 600D, EQ6 - R Pro, 120mm Mini Guide camera & Mini guide scope with the ASI air plus. This is my first completed image using my guiding set up and the ASI air, all be it a short total exposure time. x27 3 minute exposures first time imaging/processing in a few months, any feedback welcome. Personally I think the image is too soft, especially when it gets blown up on this forum...Looks ok at arms length on a phone Think I just about got rid of the yellow/green cast. The original tif if anyone wants to have a look/go at processing. result.tif

Here is what a 3 minute sub looked like straight from the camera: I think it looks ok in respect to guiding etc ..Though it looks a touch soft. Not sure if Dew or (more likely) my focusing.

Thank you for info, I forgot to return aggr to a lower setting after I was tinkering with it on the first outing. I think I might have misunderstood the Timeout setting I thought that was time waited after dithering! Mine was set to 60s originally but moved it to 120s thinking it was increasing the time it allowed the guiding to settle back down! Is it normal for the guiding to still be disturbed by the dither (or at least appear to be) well into the next exposure being taken? About halfway through the next 3 minutes image the numbers would begun to stabilise. Here was my dither settings screen; Thank you, it took me about 30 minutes of going 'Too far past it and back again' to achieve before I finally gave up on improving it it was uncommon to go below 0.70 RA, but DEC was pretty stable around 0.35 - 0.40

Second night completed, and I discovered a method that really improved my guiding I think...turning the guiding on. After figuring that out, there was no 10-20 seconds of accuracy before the upwards spiral. as an average I would say i was achieving; RA ~ 0.75" Dec ~ 0.35" My PA Guiding 3 minute sub of the Cygnus Wall Are these values within the realms of what is to be expected for my set up? ( RA ~0.75 & Dec ~ 0.35) Also, I think I might need to adjust my dithering intervals. It was set to a 60 second 'wait' during the dither, but the figures for guiding did not show as settled (back to the average 0.75 etc) until well into the next 3 minute exposure. I'm not sure how "live" the feedback is, but if it's pretty spot on then half my exposure time has been with high values for RA Dec due to the disturbance caused by dithering. I will post one of the actual subs from my laptop in the morning for closer inspection. Any tips/feedback are most welcome as always, cheers guys. Appreciate the guidance (pun intended).