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Hi Everyone. The weather gods were smiling on me yesterday and after a cloud interrupted start I managed to achieve something with the new mount - a SkyWatcher AZ-EQ6-GT - order placed on Tuesday and @FLO did an amazing job getting to me Wednesday lunchtime, securely delivered by our resident DPD, ever-happy, driver - a man who clearly loves his job. Spent Wednesday p.m. and all of Thursday refining mounting the RC and trying to organise cables to avoid snagging - I failed on this one, it being fortunate I was standing by the mount when it slewed to NGC 2359 and almost got itself in an awful tangle. Thursday night and with the Moon making itself known it was a case of Ha only. Rather than go for my short focal length Samyang 135mm or 250mm RedCat I decided to go for it and put the 6" RC on the new mount. The RC was fitted with the AstroEssential reducer and the ASIair reported a focal length of 1104 mm. (I have owned the RC for nearly two years but it has seen very little use as I feel it is too much of a load for my CEM25-EC). I also decided it was necessary to get guiding working for the first time with the ASIair using my SW EvoGuide and ASI290MM-mini. Focussing up the RC it was apparent I needed to refine the collimation but that said the focus was better than I expected. Guiding also worked remarkably well with typical guiding of 0.5" rms. First up was NGC 2244, the heart of the Rosette - this is 8 x 300s: I was delighted to split the three stars in the centre of the cluster: Second up I decided to cast caution to the wind and go for Thor's Helmet, NGC 2359 with just 6 x 300s. Guiding was not so good with this target not getting above ~23.6 degrees and barely clearing the house roof next door - fortunately a bungalow. The low elevation and heat haze coming of the neighbouring roof gave rise to quite a lot of noise and poor star shapes but at least I got something! Finally with the skies still clear this is 20 x 300s on the Fish Head Nebula IC 1795. All in all not a bad night! As for the mount, other than a communication glitch between the ASIair app and SkySafari it all worked faultlessly and coped with the 6" RC plus EvoGuide with ease. More time is clearly required to sort the collimation on the RC and refine the guiding but the mount was amazing. Thanks for looking. Adrian

Hi I'm am just trying out my new zwo asi294mc pro with my asiair pro. When trying to image in preview mode on bin 1 l, I get no preview image on screen. If I switch it to bin 2 I get the preview image on screen. When setting a trial autorun it's the same thing on bin 1 no preview image on screen and when on bin 2 I get the preview image. On bin 1 & 2 the images are saved into the autorun folder. I'm wondering do it need to image now in bin 2. My set up is sw 72ed AzGti, asiair pro, guidecam zwo asi120mc-s, main camera zwo asi294mc pro. The asiair pro app updated to the new version 1.8.2-9. 10. I shall have to wait until a clear night and give it a try properly. It maybe to do with the focal length of the main camera scope that needs to plate solve first. Or possibly as I have read that the new updated app and firmware sets the sd card as default storage and not the 64gb USB key as I noticed the storage was only 20gb. The top image is on bin 1 (excuse my mug) Bottom image is bin 2

Just bought 2 Dew Heater Straps from Tim Duke at https://www.dewcontrol.com He is more than happy to build them with ‘bespoke’ cable lengths. These Dew Straps also have excellent reviews... I have a Redcat 51 and Dew Heater cables have caused a constant annoyance by cluttering up my rig... not anymore... Tim took my order for 2 straps with 20cm cables at 1pm and they were delivered the next day. I run them on a Y-Splitter to one of my ASIAR Pro 12v ports and set at 100% they work perfectly, more to the point the are now super-neat... Can’t recommend https://www.dewcontrol.com enough, excellent customer service and a great product

So with the UK weather being abymsal, I spent Sunday afternoon researching and making a video on running Android Apps on Windows 11, without the use of BlueStacks. Namley the ASIAIR Android App and it worked... but there are some hoops to jump through Why ? nothing better to do and whilst Bluestacks might be the preferred way at the moment, I like messing around with tech.

Just delving into mono filter astrophotography and recently got the ASI1600mm EFW set and I am yet to image with it just yet, just sorting out my balancing and dew heaters so it's all ready to go. I image usually with my DSLR from a nearby laptop. So I'm curious, I see some people using a powered USB hub to power all their items but also I've seen lots of people use the ASIAIR pro. Is the ASIAIR for controlling their scope from a Wi-Fi Android device primarily with the ASIAIR App, or can it also act as a glorified USB powered hub for a PC to operate from also? I would like to control my ASI1600mm, EFW, guide scope and dew heater strips from a device with my nearby laptop and maybe the flexibility of taking my setup to a field without worrying about a PC would be nice but not what I'm currently looking for. Or is it basically solely a solution for you to image whilst in a field without a laptop/computer? Basically, do I go power USB hub, or an ASIAIR PRO if that's recommended? Sorry if that's confusing, thanks in advanced for any responses.

I've just managed to get hold of an AsiAir Pro. First impressions are just spot on. I had a little concern when it arrived as I wasn't sure if it would handle a USB hub. Much to my surprise it did! I connected the following to make sure ZWO178mm Main Camera at present ZWO120mm Mini Guide Scope ZWO EAF ZWO EFW Mini Filter Wheel SkyWatcher EQ 35 Pro via USD with Direct PC Connect option using the EQMount INDI driver Powered EQ Mount, EAR via AsiAir Pro All connected successfully. Will keep updating as I start to use

Question, is my pier out of level if I'm trying to PA (with asiair pro) and both directions are moving when I adjust the alt bolts? I can't get the mount polar aligned. Mount neq6 pro Pier mounted on a concrete slab OTA c8 with .63 reducer Camera asi294mc pro Zwo OAG Thanks in advance

Restoring a Backup on a Mac Something else I came across and a chap called Terry on Facebook had a solution. Again, you might already know this, but just in case. Backup You buy a new ASIAIR Pro, you are pretty much advised that one of the first things you should do, is to create a backup of your software(includes your license key) from the supplied SD card. And one of the common methods suggested for Mac users is to use the “Apple Pi Baker” program/application. So, I used the application to create my backup and saved it in a safe place, in fact I made two copies(belt and braces). Then, yesterday, I thought I should really try to restore one of these backups to make sure they actually work, else what is the point of having a backup for that rainy day. And actually, I will keep the original safe and use my copy going forward. Restore So, I inserted a new blank SD card(Fat32) and started the restore process, letting it run its course. Once it had finished, I did a quick eye ball to compare the copy to the original and all the files appeared to be there. I then plugged the restored SD card back into the ASIAIR Pro, but the device would not start/boot up! Just in case, I then reformatted another SD card and tried that one, but still no good. I then created another backup from the original SD card(so all in all I had img and zip versions) and tried to restore them, the same result, fail. On further investigation, it looks like this is fairly common. Terry on ASIAIR Facebook group suggested downloading the file from the ZWO website, but then using your own License file. I then used the ASIAIR PRO link above(from the “How_to_Restore_ASIAIR_OS.pdf” on line doc) to get the file. First, keeping a copy of my zwoair_license safe of course(still on the original SD card). The file is pretty large, unzips to about 31 GB and takes a while to download(9GB zipped) even on cable. I then restored(using Apple Pi Baker) this new downloaded file to my new SD card and once it had completed, I then overwrote(replaced) the existing “zwoair_license” file with my original(my unique supplied copy). Next, I then inserted the new copied/restored SD card into the ASIAIR Pro and it started. Finally, I then connected via the ASIAIR app using my IPhone and was prompted to update the firmware to the latest version which I did. Happy Ending Bingo all good, the original SD card supplied by ZWO stored in a safe place and I am now using this copy going forward.

Hello Everyone, I'm using ASIAIR pro with Nikon D3300 DLSR, everything seems fine no majors issues expect operator error at this point Only question is, why do I only see ISO 100, 200, 400, 800 available in ASIAIR pro (see screen shot)? Does the app limit the ISO because I shouldn't need more than ISO 800 or is there is glitch? Does the DSLR need to be set to a particular setting before connecting to ASIAIR pro? I've asked ZWO the question on their forum, all they said install Beta v1.5 and send log file...done the needful don't see any change in ISO selection and don't know who to transfer the log file. I wondered if anyone using ASIAIR pro and DLSR has come across something similar. ps: Nikon D3300 is one of their tested cameras with ASIAIR Pro (as listed on their website).

Hi, I've just got a asiair pro and an asi294 mc -the're brilliant - Well worth the 4 month wait However ! I'm struggling with transfering files from the memory stick to my computer Through the app on my android everything works fine - but on the computer for every fits file I have an associated jpeg thumbnail file which I have to delete one at a time which is a total pain in the neck How can I stop it generating the wretched things ? Also deep sky stacker insists on turning the fits files into gray scale - I've tried every combination of Bayer pattern there is rggb grbg etc - makes no difference They're definitely colour files when I open them in asicap I can see the colours in the nebula Hope you can help Bob

So after ordering my Asiair Pro and waiting a month for it to come I’ve made the schoolboy error of not understanding how to connecting it up successfully and now I’m left wondering what I need. after 40 minutes trying to polar align I finally got the first plate solve! Then nothing from the mount..... I believe I need a cable to connect the hand controller to the asiair pro. But I can’t find anywhere which one is best to get! Im unsure if I can just use a usb a to usb b cable or if I need a serial to usb or what. Hopefully someone can help!

Hi, Just got an asiair pro and am setting things up. Have updated to the latest firmware. The aap and my ss2k seem to connect OK. However when I issue a goto command to the ss2k, nothing actually happens at the mount. However the 4 directional arrows on the aap ui work fine and do indeed make the mount move. Any clues please? regards Andrew

Looking to picking up an android tablet to use with the unit in the title. I read where the ASIair pro comes with 5g wifi will that be compatible with the 802.11 (2.4 ?) wifi in the tablet I'm looking at? I obviously know little about android os but know I can't afford an ipad and the ASIair pro without having a lot to explain to "she who must be obeyed".

I am considering getting an ASIair Pro. At home I use a 13.6V fixed linear power supply with my kit. Has anyone used the ASIair Pro with a 13.6V input. The manufacturers data only lists 12V and a minimum voltage, no maximum being stated. I don't want to buy it and blow it.