talk to me about software for DSO and planetary you need to have

[oldpink]

with the immanent arrival of my DSLR I decided to put a bigger drive into my laptop
and set it up as a dedicated astro laptop that I can set up with my laptop and use it remotely from my main computer room
so far I have set up a totally clean windows 7 ultimate x64 onto it so no bloat ware or unneeded software to slow it down
Its a dual core Intel with 4gb memory, 5 USB 2 ports, one will have a serial adapter connected for direct control of the scope mount via EQMOD

and allow me to use PHD for tracking via my ASI120MC (that I need to upgrade my spotter scope to use)

so far I have installed my ASI120MC drivers, Stellarium, SmartCap2, Firecapture to handle the ASI120 and planetary stuff

I also plan to get EQMOD, DDS, BYEOS, APT, Alignmaster  to do handle the 600D astro modded cam

I think I will be using a combination of PIPP, Castrator for pre edit then a combination of AS!2, Registax 6 and photoshop CS6 for final editing
that will be done on my PC with a far better Spec (x6 8GB mem and 4Tb dedicated sata2 drive)
all files will be saved locally on the laptop but also mirrored to the main PC via a mapped network drive

I plan to use Stellarium or Cartes de Ciul to control the scope via the RS232 using PHD for the tracking
am I missing something or do you have anything I should add to the install list

I don't mind a few ££ for DDS & APT if it makes life easier

[Sandancer10]

Hi, I think you have just about everything covered in your post however, you could add a Autofocuser if you are planning to do remote AP. I have just added one to my kit and I'm delighted with the result.

I also have used Stellarium for quite awhile now, but I have moved over to CDC as I think it gives much more info and just seems better to operate.

[oldpink]

I have looked at Auto focus esp for planetary work
most of the stuff needed is available off the shelf so as long as the Mrs doesn't find out I'm cool

though I expect it will be more useful for planetary work rather than DSO where focus is important but long exposures work best

got a big learning curve ahead but I love a challenge

I have a great dark sky site in the Galloway forest and I'm looking to buy a caravan to convert to a observatory  and do as many nights as I possibly can
hence the remote setup, In Scotland you want to be warm and view from a comfortable location esp if your there for days on end
and as the caravan I want is tow able we can go anywhere and have some home comforts inc travelling to Europe or further if needed

no doubt I will add to this  as I progress

[Pete Presland]

sounds like you have got it pretty much covered, good luck with your imaging, look forward to seeing the results.

[ollypenrice]

I'm not wild about DSS. Personally I find it hard to control and hard to trouble shoot and it's very slow. I prefer to stack and calibrate in AstroArt 5 using their bad pixel map routine in place of a normal dark.

I'd also recommend Pixinisight which does an excellent job of stacking and calibrating, I'm told by people who know. I don't use it myself at the moment. I'd buy PI anyway because it has certain routines which cannot be matched anywhere else. Its DBE will give stunning gradient removal and near perfect colour balance while SCNR green deals with the ever pesky green noise.  There are alternatives as plug ins for Ps. There's Russ Croman's Gradient Xterminator and Rogelio Bernal Andreo's free Hasta La Vista Green, based on PI's routine. Both really are 'must have' if you don't buy Pixinsight. There are also good Actions packages like Noel Carboni's and Annie's Actions which can be a big help.

It's a one trick Pony but it's a hell of a trick; Registar. I run through it endlessly. It will resize and re-curve images from different cameras, different optics, etc to sit perfectly on top of each other. Great for mosaics, too.

Lots of our guests who see me using just say, 'Right, where's the website, I'll have it!' I should be on comission (but I promise I'm not!  )

Olly

[lensman57]

I'm not wild about DSS. Personally I find it hard to control and hard to trouble shoot and it's very slow. I prefer to stack and calibrate in AstroArt 5 using their bad pixel map routine in place of a normal dark.

I'd also recommend Pixinisight which does an excellent job of stacking and calibrating, I'm told by people who know. I don't use it myself at the moment. I'd buy PI anyway because it has certain routines which cannot be matched anywhere else. Its DBE will give stunning gradient removal and near perfect colour balance while SCNR green deals with the ever pesky green noise.  There are alternatives as plug ins for Ps. There's Russ Croman's Gradient Xterminator and Rogelio Bernal Andreo's free Hasta La Vista Green, based on PI's routine. Both really are 'must have' if you don't buy Pixinsight. There are also good Actions packages like Noel Carboni's and Annie's Actions which can be a big help.

It's a one trick Pony but it's a hell of a trick; Registar. I run through it endlessly. It will resize and re-curve images from different cameras, different optics, etc to sit perfectly on top of each other. Great for mosaics, too.

Lots of our guests who see me using just say, 'Right, where's the website, I'll have it!' I should be on comission (but I promise I'm not!  )

Olly

Hi Olly,

I thnik Pisinsight can handle the ing and registering files from different cameras too. Sorry for digressing from the topic.

Regards,

A.G

[oldpink]

thanks for the heads up on Pixinisight it was one I had overlooked
been looking at some tutorials on line and seems do do the job I will look into it further
though I am trained up on photoshop as I bug tested Adobe software for various releases
we did the Adobe initiation and acquaintance with its features as an induction before we bug tested it

Pixinisight seems to offer the same features but more to the needs of astro photography
so I will definitely add it to my list of programs I need to have