M57 & Live Stacking App - AstroShader

[PeterStudz]

Back in February @CraigT82 mentioned a new iOS app for live stacking called AstroShader. See…

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/406419-ios-live-stacking-app-astroshader/

Although unplanned and an after thought, I tried using it a couple of nights ago. I don’t know about you but for me this spring in Southampton has had so many cloudy nights that I’ve hardly been out. But just before bed, noticing that the sky was clear and although a school night I decided to have a ‘short’ (it rarely turns out that way) session on M13, M57 & M27. Bright enough in my light polluted Bortle 7 and one after the other swing their way higher into my “darker” patch of sky late at night & into the early hours.

Getting my Skywatcher 200p Dob out to cool I left my EQ platform inside as I wanted to be quick-ish and simple. M13 first which looked OK but I’ve seen it better. Not helped by not quite being high enough and probably not quite completely dark. Then I remember the AstroShader app and decided to give it a go. 

On M13 I struggled to get the alignment to work. Sometimes it would fail completely (just resulting in a blurred image) or trailing stars. Interestingly, by playing around with camera options, I could get something reasonable in the live view. The image below is a screen snap shot of the front interface. You can clearly make out M13 and if you look closely, the beginnings of the propeller. Remember this is in Bortle 7 and just a screen shot - no image capture, stacking etc. The image on the actual live screen was better. Kind of an EAA or whatever it’s called!

Not wanting to faff about trying to get alignment to work I moved onto M57. I haven’t seen that since last year which made it nice. Here I managed to get alignment to work with just slight star trailing and here’s the result. Remember this is untracked and in Bortle 7. For a first attempt with the app, not really knowing what I was doing and (for me) first capture of M57, I think that it shows promise. It’s rather “widefield” but this was only a test.

First impressions. The app is good at dealing with light pollution. Something I struggle with when doing single shots. The editing section of the app is useful and decent. I found that I didn’t really need any other editing app. Alignment can be hit and miss. I believe it needs some bright-ish stars in the FOV. However, after I used the app I noticed a “strong” option in the apps alignment settings! Will try that next time. Using my EQ platform I can get up to 30 sec exposures without star trailing. So must try and use the app with that. 

Skywatcher 200p manual DOB, iPhone 14 Pro with basic no-brand smartphone adapter, BST StarGuider 25mm. All editing on the phone using AstroShader and finished off in LightRoom. 

Edited May 18, 2023 by PeterStudz

[Hawksmoor]

Hi Peter very interesting and have downloaded the App to my phone. I was quite keen to try using it on my Star Adventurer EQ mount to take some widefield shots of the Summer Night Sky but cannot find a way of reversing the camera so that I can lay the phone on its back. Whatever button  I seem to push the camera faces the other way to the screen. I am a family legend at using my iphone as little more than a fancy paperweight, so wonder if I am missing something really simple.  I have been trying out NightCap app and this allows me to reverse the camera. Any help would be appreciated.

Best regards George

[bosun21]

2 hours ago, Hawksmoor said:

Comment removed.

Edited May 19, 2023 by bosun21

[PeterStudz]

3 hours ago, Hawksmoor said:

Hi Peter very interesting and have downloaded the App to my phone. I was quite keen to try using it on my Star Adventurer EQ mount to take some widefield shots of the Summer Night Sky but cannot find a way of reversing the camera so that I can lay the phone on its back. Whatever button  I seem to push the camera faces the other way to the screen. I am a family legend at using my iphone as little more than a fancy paperweight, so wonder if I am missing something really simple.  I have been trying out NightCap app and this allows me to reverse the camera. Any help would be appreciated.

Best regards George

Hello George,

At the moment the app only allows access to the rear facing cameras. On my iPhone I have 3 rear facing cameras. See under “Camera type”.

I’ve only used these cameras even when the phone is on a tripod. The rear facing cameras have the bigger sensors so should be best in low light.

I assume you need to use the front facing camera but I haven’t used a Star Adventurer so I don’t know why! If it’s necessary for you then it might be worth contacting the developer. They have been helping people on Cloudy Nights so seem to be receptive to suggestions.
 

[Hawksmoor]

Thank you for your reply which is helpful.  My issue is all about attaching the phone to the Star Adventurer mount.  I have an iPhone clip from a cheap tripod which works well if you can reverse the camera. I will have to improvise. Probably have something in the shed which will work or I could 3d print something. I was just being lazy. Thank you very much for your kind response.

George