Freddie

Download Bruce W’s PHD_Dither 1b from the PHD2 website and unzip the files into a folder such as “phd dither” There are a couple of apps that allow you to set things up, the dither script and a pdf file that explains it all.

The trick to get it to work with Artemis is to fire up the sequencer and on the right you will see a “system command” column. In here you write the command to initiate the dither script, so it would be something like C:\phd dither\Dither_script.vbs. You can add a delay between subs in the sequencer (bottom left) to allow things to settle down after the dither before starting the next capture.

There appears to be a reasonable amount of confusion in this post between seeing and transparency. Moisture/mist in the air will reduce transparency but not necessarily seeing. In fact mist holding in the air can actually indicate there could be good seeing as the lower atmosphere will be reasonably stable to allow the mist to hang. Bad seeing is caused by a turbulent atmosphere and is not directly linked to how clear the sky is. Seeing depends on how stable the atmosphere is, transparency depends on how misty/murky the atmosphere is.

Here on SGL under the IKI observatory section!!!!!

15 hours ago, Stuart1971 said:

As I stated above, this is all you need for gradient and vignetting removal it’s  a sulerb PS pluggin...

https://www.prodigitalsoftware.com/AstroFlatPro1_News.html

 

A PS plug in isn't of any relevance when I was specifically talking about AA!!!

37 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

Some kind of gradient removal tool is more or less essential. Astro Pixel Processor has a good one, as does AstroArt. Pixinsight's are also excellent and possibly the best. Even from dark sites colour gradients are a persistent problem. 

I've been using Astronomy Tools (formerly know as Noel's Actions) for years. Very useful.

Olly

Which of the AA gradient tools do you typically use Olly? Any particular ways in which you apply it in AA?

Check your debayer setting as if it is wrong the debayered image will not show the correct colour.

Yes. PHD or something similar for guiding, FireCapture or something similar for lunar.

The USB 3 will be better for lunar imaging as it will give a higher frame rate but will make no difference for guiding so depends how important the price difference is to you given the limited intended use on lunar.

The cam replaces the front (secondary) mirror so a DSLR isn't really suitable.

Nice. When you say “FireCapture recommended settings”  recommended from where?

2 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

However, the old Artemis won't communicate with PHD so, to dither, you'd need a capture software which did. That's the argument against. (I don't know where the new Atik software stands on this. Anybody?)

You can dither using PHD and Artemis by using a script set in Artemis.

The pixels on your new cam are smaller than the 224 so the 5x Barlow may be a little too much for the new cam.

36 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Silly question... but does anyone know if the Baader CCD filters are complemented by a set of CMOS ones?

Stating CCD is just their way of saying for imaging and distinguishing them from visual filters. No need for CMOS specific ones.

Yes, you will need decent seeing to take advantage of the larger aperture but when the seeing is up to it, you will see a very worthwhile improvement.

I think your small 90mm aperture is going to be your biggest issue rather than Barlows or cams.

Yes because as it says, the files you are using are a compressed format.

It’s just an alternative prediction from another data source.

Yes you can.  How you then stack the two sets will depend on the stacking software you are using.

Baader IR pass 685nm

That’s what you would expect!!!   The data is mostly dark so the histo is to the left. You then use levels and curves to stretch the histo to fill across to the right leaving a small gap on the left to avoid clipping the data.

An alt az Mount is absolutely fine for visual and planetary imaging. Eq is only needed for long exposure work.

Did you use the same reference sub for each of the 4 stacks?

You may need to narrow it down a bit and say which apps you are referring to!!

Which country are you in?

Accurate PA is very important for imaging. Close will however do if you are just visual.