Ags

Cataract surgery. Gets rid of cataracts obviously, but also gets rid of the dark yellow filter all old eyes have.

I have had the AZ-GTi for a few days and I have been very impressed by how stable and accurate it is. I will put it down as one of my more successful astro purchases. I want to try out the mount in roughly EQ mode to reduce field rotation while doing EEA, but for that I will need a counterweight shaft and weight. Can anyone suggest a suitable product I can buy? I did ask Teleskop Service and they said they had nuthin'.

Longer exposures gather more light, but if there is too much light pollution you can't take very long exposures. Also, longer exposures mean you need a better mount and/or guiding.

Do you have a link to this product? I've never seen anything like that before?

Not with refractors - you get a smooth bokeh disc. With a mak you get a shadow of the central obstruction, but I was using a 'frac and the image looked nothing like that.

I get that, but I don't get how the reducer then focused the stars into rings...?

In case somebody comes across this topic by random googling, I will answer my own questions from the experience of a few evenings. ASI178MM is very sensitive, compared to my Canon 1100D. Yes you can bin and live stack (I have used 2x2 and 3x3 binning, the ASI178MM also supports 4x4). 6 megapixels is not too big for live stacking (on my relatively fast laptop: AMD Ryzen 5 2500U). The ST80 cannot be be combined with a 0.5 reducer, it results in an optical mess. The AZ-GTi works brilliantly for this application; in comparison to the Nexstar 4SE I used to have, the AZ GTi keeps targets stationary in the view and goto is reliable and accurate. I am using it in AZ mode so there is a bit of field rotation, but nothing to cause issue with 10 second subs. In terms of image scale and usability, it was definitely worth getting the 9mm diagonal sensor rather than the 6mm alternatives.

I tried the 0.5 reducer with the ST80 last night and all manner of weirdness resulted. Used in the combination of ST80 -- Wratten #8 -- 0.5 Reducer -- ASI178MM, I could just reach focus but had enormous halos around all stars. I tried removing the halos by removing the Wratten #8, but the weirdest thing happened. Without the color filter, the stars no longer came to a focus - instead they focused as thin rings (black in the middle).

Indeed it works perfectly now.

I am using an ST80, AZ-GTi, Berlebach Report, and ASI 178 MM. To control the mount I am just using the synscan Android app, and live stacking is done via SharpCap. I don't want to make things more complicated, but I want add SharpCap plate solving to get targets reliably centered.

61 Cyg was a deliberate choice - I figured the stars were not too bright with very little blue to cause bloat, so I hoped I would be able to capture the pair with a clear separation.

Some more pictures from last night. M92, overlooked because M13 is so close by. 33 4sec fames. M57, I did a 2x digital zoom for this one (37 5sec frames): M27, AZ GTi goto got this one straight on the chip (40 7sec frames): M81 and M82 (not so successful because they were low in the Amsterdam light dome). 35 8sec frames: 61 Cygni (first star to which we measured the distance). 120 500ms frames, much lower gain:

I had some struggles last night with my new AZ GTi not tracking but after a firmware update it tracks beautifully now, and gotos often put the target on the chip. I added a Wratten #8 between the ASI178 and the ST80 to reduce the chromatic abberations and it seemed to help a bit. M13 delivered the fireworks.

I think I have got it working. Reloaded the latest firmware. Not certain, as it is very quiet when tracking. Hopefully I can test under the stars tonight.

I just updated to firmware 3.16 and no improvement. Still not tracking. Tried EQ and AZ mode.

In a nutshell: my AZ-GTi goes to the North America Nebula but does not track the stars. It points there and stands still. Any ideas?

I have been drawn for years, but I have finally arrived! It's an ASI 178MM - I hope it will serve me for EEA, lunar, solar and planetary duties, and in a few months it will snag the DSOs mounted behind some Canon primes! It's clear blue skies right now, I can hardly believe it....

The beginning of a new era for me.

Sharpcap downloaded and I have even done my first session of live stacking - admittedly of my own face using my laptop's webcam, but you've got to start somewhere right? I dropped quite a lot of frames trying to stack at 30fps or whatever 😃 Anyway Sharpcap looks fairly straightforward. @vlaiv I doubt the 0.5 reducer will work in the ST80 but I will see soon enough. It certainly doesn't work with eyepieces in that scope. The reducer does work well enough with eyepieces (for deep sky, not planets) in the Skymax so it might be an option there. On the subject of EOS-ZWO adapters, this looks interesting: https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p10451_Canon-EOS-Objektivadapter-mit-Filterschublade-fuer-Astro-Kameras-ZWO--QHY--ATIK----.html

Aren't those pixels too big for even larger amateur scopes?

I don't have the TS camera lens adapter yet, so that will have to wait, but I hope I can reach focus with my 0.5x reducer and the ST80. It might work OK on the 9mm diagonal chip in the ASI178MM, and that would give F2.5 and 200mm focal length. That would give a 2.1 x 1.4 degree field. It might be nice for some larger nebulae. What software is easiest for live stacking? Do I need to take flats? Sharpcap looks friendly, based on its website alone!

Yeah, just don't want to disappoint my family. I hope they are not expecting Hubble.

I hope it will be fine for EEA. Going to get that working Ok with a little dabble in planetary and lunar with the Skymax 102, then will get the bits for "tiny chip, tiny pixel, tiny lens" plan. I hope to get the North America Nebula done this year.

Just realized I need to buy a UV-IR cut filter... It never ends. I think without the UV-IR cut the ST80 will be a bit blurry!

@Gina what do you use it for? Do you have the cooled or uncooled version?