Skywatcher AZ GTI mount owners thread

[AstroNebulee]

3 minutes ago, Olli said:

Just had a quick look on the app and the number is on 5 in the middle. That maybe the issue! Will try when I get home thank you.

That'll be it. Remember the lower the number the finer (slower) the adjustment, the higher the number the courser (faster) the adjustment. 

Cheers 

Lee 

[bomberbaz]

Lee's beat us all to it, it definitely is the speed buttons.

FWIW I used to slew around with 8, 9 zooms along too fast with quite an over run then fine tune at 3.

Also the mount needs final adjustment from two directions which are always always the same way (see note below), the mount itself will tell you this. So it is always a good idea to try to get past your target by around a half degree in the required direction.

NOTE: I can't tell you which exactly as I can't remember but it seems to vary in it's "apparent" direction compared to the handset (phone) depending on which star your aligning on but you will soon get the hang of it. 

[Olli]

Thanks everyone can now control it with the app. Feel a bit silly now but one step closer I guess. Hopefully this will help out a lot with alignment! Thanks again.

[Ags]

I  slew at 8 at night to keep the noise down.

[StevieDvd]

19 minutes ago, Olli said:

Thanks everyone can now control it with the app. Feel a bit silly now but one step closer I guess. Hopefully this will help out a lot with alignment! Thanks again.

T''is what is known as being human.

[Elp]

When you're centering a star you will want to slow it down to 2 or 3, you'll be surprised how much it moves

[AstroNebulee]

On 26/04/2022 at 23:27, AstroNebulee said:

There's a bit of play in RA in the mount now and when I tighten the RA clutch and move the mount there's play and I can hear the spring. 🙁 This was causing some unusual guiding in RA for me so I shall revert back to disengaging the RA spring and meshing the worm and gear back together to stop the play.  So got another job tinkering at the weekend. 

I have now sorted this issue tonight. I've just made sure the spring had pulled the worm into contact with the gear and tightened the spring nut and bolt down so no spring activation now, this was how I had it before. 

(May need to turn the sound up to hear the RA clicking in before video.) 

Edited April 28, 2022 by AstroNebulee
Spelling

[Pile of Jam]

On 18/04/2022 at 12:37, AstroNebulee said:

Glad you got some sort of workflow going
When you are in the AAP after a plate solve to centre of the target can you set the tracking in the AAP to sidereal or am I being stupid (entirely normal) and not possible in the az mode?

Cheers Lee

Hi Lee,

 

I was thinking it was just me! I can't see any setting for tracking when the mount is connected as alt/az wedge.

I've resolved all the problems by buying an eq wedge and updating the firmware. Took advantage of the wonderfully clear skies last night to take the set-up for a spin and it all worked. Polar Alignment, slewing, plate solving, even got auto guiding working (I need a bit of practice to adjust the settings on this) but it was so straight forward and way less painful.

If you've not got a eq wedge, I'd highly recommend it. Way cheaper than an eq mount!

[AstroNebulee]

36 minutes ago, Pile of Jam said:

Hi Lee,

 

I was thinking it was just me! I can't see any setting for tracking when the mount is connected as alt/az wedge.

I've resolved all the problems by buying an eq wedge and updating the firmware. Took advantage of the wonderfully clear skies last night to take the set-up for a spin and it all worked. Polar Alignment, slewing, plate solving, even got auto guiding working (I need a bit of practice to adjust the settings on this) but it was so straight forward and way less painful.

If you've not got a eq wedge, I'd highly recommend it. Way cheaper than an eq mount!

Hi

I'm pleased you got it working well now with your eq wedge and everything worked and you had a great session 👍. 

I do have mine on a WO eq wedge 😊

Regarding the tracking in a mode did the attached screenshot not show on your AAP software. I know mine is in EQ mod mount shown here. 

Cheers 

Lee 

[TerraC]

Building on my system ive now picked up an Asi120mc-s to act with a guide scope and as a planetary cam for my sons dobsonian.  

Which would be best way to attach this to use with Astroberry? Link to the azgti or link to the raspberry pi? 

Ray

 

[AstroNebulee]

20 minutes ago, TerraC said:

Building on my system ive now picked up an Asi120mc-s to act with a guide scope and as a planetary cam for my sons dobsonian.  

Which would be best way to attach this to use with Astroberry? Link to the azgti or link to the raspberry pi? 

Ray

 

I have the same camera acting as my guidecamera with the zwo 30mm f4 guidescope and although I use an asiair pro I connect it to this and an EQ dir cable from AAP to az gti mount. So I'd expect it to be much the same/similarish for you with a raspberry pi to guide. (I don't know much about the raspberry pi but same principle as a AAP) 

👍

Edited May 4, 2022 by AstroNebulee
addition

[RayWUK]

First light with my new ASI533MC Pro and the AZ-GTI, M81/M82 (Bodes Galaxy). 320x30sec subs taken over three nights, guiding mostly around 1-1.5 arcsec. Quite a small target for my focal length (247mm) so cropped in to about 1/3. Just a quick process with APP and StarTools to get something out, im sure it'll clean up a bit with some more work.

Edited May 4, 2022 by RayWUK

[AstroNebulee]

4 minutes ago, RayWUK said:

First light with my new ASI533MC Pro and the AZ-GTI, M81/M82. 240x30sec subs taken over three nights, guiding mostly around 1-1.5 arcsec. Quite a small target for my focal length (247mm) so cropped in to about 1/3. Just a quick process with APP and StarTools to get something out, im sure it'll clean up a bit with some more work.

Fantastic work Ray. Really pleased you've had your first light now and it's a superb image for your efforts 👍, looking forward to what you will achieve with your setup. 

How did you find your experience from pa through to packing up for the sessions. 

Cheers 

Lee 

[bomberbaz]

16 minutes ago, RayWUK said:

First light with my new ASI533MC Pro and the AZ-GTI, M81/M82 (Bodes Galaxy). 320x30sec subs taken over three nights, guiding mostly around 1-1.5 arcsec. Quite a small target for my focal length (247mm) so cropped in to about 1/3. Just a quick process with APP and StarTools to get something out, im sure it'll clean up a bit with some more work.

 

I think that's a pretty decent effort that, slightly overdone maybe but who am I to talk given I haven't managed anything like that good as yet.

Colours in the stars are lively, well done. 

[bomberbaz]

19 minutes ago, RayWUK said:

First light with my new ASI533MC Pro and the AZ-GTI, M81/M82 (Bodes Galaxy). 320x30sec subs taken over three nights, guiding mostly around 1-1.5 arcsec. Quite a small target for my focal length (247mm) so cropped in to about 1/3. Just a quick process with APP and StarTools to get something out, im sure it'll clean up a bit with some more work.

 

Just thought I would add our setups are very similar. Same size main OTA and similar other parts too so that's something for me to aim for.

And so given that's a first effort, it really is very nice indeed. 👍

[RayWUK]

5 minutes ago, AstroNebulee said:

Fantastic work Ray. Really pleased you've had your first light now and it's a superb image for your efforts 👍, looking forward to what you will achieve with your setup. 

How did you find your experience from pa through to packing up for the sessions. 

Cheers 

Lee 

Thanks Lee, yes quite pleased with the first image from this camera. I don't strip down my rig so it sits in the dining room by the patio doors so when i get the chance of a clear night its just a case of picking up the whole rig , through the patio door and onto the patio. I have some marks where to put the legs of the tripod so PA is just a final tweak which is a breeze with the ASIAIR and the WO wedge. Because of the light evenings now its about 10:30 before i venture out which only gives me about an hour of imaging before i call it a night, hence the three nights to get 2.5 hours of imaging. And the ASIAIR takes all the heart ache out of targeting an object. The nice thing with a portable rig like the AZ-GTI, its 'pick up and go'.

[bomberbaz]

13 minutes ago, RayWUK said:

Thanks Lee, yes quite pleased with the first image from this camera. I don't strip down my rig so it sits in the dining room by the patio doors so when i get the chance of a clear night its just a case of picking up the whole rig , through the patio door and onto the patio. I have some marks where to put the legs of the tripod so PA is just a final tweak which is a breeze with the ASIAIR and the WO wedge. Because of the light evenings now its about 10:30 before i venture out which only gives me about an hour of imaging before i call it a night, hence the three nights to get 2.5 hours of imaging. And the ASIAIR takes all the heart ache out of targeting an object. The nice thing with a portable rig like the AZ-GTI, its 'pick up and go'.

What you do above is identical to what I do, in every word, haha, same setup, same procedures, astro twins 😄

[RayWUK]

12 minutes ago, bomberbaz said:

I think that's a pretty decent effort that, slightly overdone maybe but who am I to talk given I haven't managed anything like that good as yet.

Colours in the stars are lively, well done. 

Thanks Steve, i'm hoping that i've got the image capture side more or less sorted now but being as this is a new game for me i expert there to be a few hurdles down the line. So i need to focus more on the image processing side and work out what turns an average image into a great image (or not so average). I guess i need to look at some 'pro' images to see what i need to aim at and work out how to get there. When you say slightly overdone do you mean over stretched?

[LaurenceT]

44 minutes ago, RayWUK said:

First light with my new ASI533MC Pro and the AZ-GTI, M81/M82 (Bodes Galaxy). 320x30sec subs taken over three nights, guiding mostly around 1-1.5 arcsec. Quite a small target for my focal length (247mm) so cropped in to about 1/3. Just a quick process with APP and StarTools to get something out, im sure it'll clean up a bit with some more work.

Excellent image, and like @bomberbaz  pretty similar to my rig in specification. I've yet to make first light, keep tweaking the hardware and looking at Youtube for workflow, but I'd be happy if it is half as good as yours.

[AstroNebulee]

34 minutes ago, RayWUK said:

I don't strip down my rig so it sits in the dining room by the patio doors so when i get the chance of a clear night its just a case of picking up the whole rig , through the patio door and onto the patio. I have some marks where to put the legs of the tripod so PA is just a final tweak which is a breeze with the ASIAIR and the WO wedge.

Similar to how mine is set up, except mines a 72ed, lives attached to the mount and carried down the 2 flights of stairs to imaging area, marks on ground too. Though not much chance of imaging atm with late nights and very early work starts. Roll on nights pulling in haha.

For a first image you should be proud of it, my first were awful compared to yours. 

Once you get into the swing of imaging you can push for longer subs.

Cheers 

Lee 

Edited May 4, 2022 by AstroNebulee

[herne]

29 minutes ago, RayWUK said:

So i need to focus more on the image processing side and work out what turns an average image into a great image (or not so average). I guess i need to look at some 'pro' images to see what i need to aim at and work out how to get there.

There's always room for improvement but unless you are trying to win a competition a great image is only what you consider to be great.  I'd be happy with that as my first light image 👍.

29 minutes ago, RayWUK said:

When you say slightly overdone do you mean over stretched?

I can't speak for baz however to my eye (and remember it's only really your eye which is important) the Cigar is a little washed out and the sky is a bit too black (which is weird to say about deep space haha).  So purely for my tastes it's a little over processed rather than over stretched.  Regardless, it's a very nice image especially bearing in mind the gear you are using is really aimed at wide field targets so really good job 👍👍.

To see what I mean about "too black", here's a recent image of M42 I took (76 x 3min subs) using my Z61 scope and a DSLR - so only slightly larger than your redcat.  I'm not saying my image is better than yours by any means, I'm just offering a comparison of the sky in an image I had handy as I've been working on it recently to show the difference.  (I don't really like the image that much yet as the core is blown out, I need to work on it a bit more).  Again though, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I'm sure others wouldn't like it.

I also need to sort out my dust bunnies.

Edited May 4, 2022 by herne

[RayWUK]

34 minutes ago, AstroNebulee said:

 

Once you get into the swing of imaging you can push for longer subs.

Cheers 

Lee 

I've been watching a youtube video 'Deep Sky Astrophotography with CMOS cameras' by Dr Robin Glover of SharpCap fame.

He suggests (if i've interpreted right) that theres not a lot to be gained by long exposure subs beyond the 'ideal' for your 'Bortle and Light Pollution Rate'. Its all a bit techy but if what he says is true and i've got the right numbers in my spreadsheet, for my setup, my ideal sub is somewhere between 20-50 secs (Bortle 4.5) or 10-30 secs (Bortle 5). Hence my 30sec subs. The downside is the longer processing time due to the number of subs to get a decent total exposure time.

Edited May 4, 2022 by RayWUK

[bomberbaz]

42 minutes ago, RayWUK said:

Thanks Steve, i'm hoping that i've got the image capture side more or less sorted now but being as this is a new game for me i expert there to be a few hurdles down the line. So i need to focus more on the image processing side and work out what turns an average image into a great image (or not so average). I guess i need to look at some 'pro' images to see what i need to aim at and work out how to get there. When you say slightly overdone do you mean over stretched?

Either stretched just a tad too far or maybe over saturated. Still a good effort but I guess it's a common issue trying to tweek out too much from our images. I still do it now but I switch between whatever action I am doing and the previous to see which best suits my eye.

You tube is a great place for tutorials, it's where I keep going and picking up odd tips. I just need more data now. 

[AstroNebulee]

1 hour ago, RayWUK said:

I've been watching a youtube video 'Deep Sky Astrophotography with CMOS cameras' by Robin Glover of SharpCap fame.

He suggests (if i've interpreted right) that theres not a lot to be gained by long exposures beyond the 'ideal' for your 'Bortle and Light Pollution Rate'. Its all a bit techy but if what he says is true and i've got the right numbers in my spreadsheet, for my setup, my ideal sub is somewhere between 20-50 secs (Bortle 4.5) or 10-30 secs (Bortle 5). Hence my 30sec subs. The downside is the longer processing time due to the number of subs to get a decent total exposure time.

Thanks Ray. I'll give it a watch, hopefully my brain can cope haha. I generally just image verything for 180 secs 😬, except M42 where I did 30,60,120 and 180 secs and combined. I am a baffoon though 😁. 

Just watched it now, (scrambled brain anyone, maths always gets me failed my gcse back in the day, but understood what he was saying) I shall have to look on my copy of sharpcap and work mine out but in my rural skies I 'think' I'm in the right area of sub exposure length? Though it looks as though I could use less cooling than my current - 10 degrees. 

Edited May 4, 2022 by AstroNebulee

[Elp]

I think with this mount we're all converging toward similar setups... Might destabilise the quantum continuum if it continues.

Edited May 4, 2022 by Elp