I am SO discouraged. I'm trying to learn this using a 8" CPC Deluxe HD scope on a fork mount, and calibration fails every time. The star starts drifting away from the crosshair, and just keeps on going. I let it slew to the recommended position, but there's never any semblance of the two-axis departure and return at 90 degree angles. I'm at an impasse.
In your chart, I am at the stage just before using a scheduler. I think I will go with NINA, thus I would be very interested in how you have setup NINA. Thanks for a very useful video, looking forward to more excellent videos from you.
Alex, another concise, very helpful video. Up until now I've scheduled my sessions just using the SkyX. I have been trying to implement Voyager, but will likely give up on it and use NINA.
The pygmy and the Mojave are two different species. But the pygmy's range is not the same as that of the Mojave. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistrurus_miliarius en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crotalus_scutulatus
I can only agree to what Molly said. Was at my first Starparty beginning of the month south of Berlin and found it awesome. Being in the companie of other astro enthusiasts for four days, combining camping and astro, and enjoying even visual astronomy at the scope of the neighbor, there is just nothing like that for me at home, where I always have to carry my stuff outside of my flat and heave it around the block when I want to hunt for photons :-). I enjoyed every minute of it, despite the heat with almost no shade around, because shade in the day means obstructions at night for astronomers, right ;) Thank you Molly, for this encouraging presentation about all the good stuff to be expected when at star parties 👍
Thank you Jaime for sharing and explaining your various work flows and thank you TAIC for giving such a great platform for our hobby. I myself started with this hobby last November and find that the processing part is providing at least the same joy, if not more, then taking the images in the first place. Now I am at the point to level up and taking the next step, but I have a hugh respect for Pixinsight. And people like you sharing their experiences and tips with the community are a great inspiration to take the next step. So thank you all again.
Oregon Star Party? It is definitely not in top 5, not even in top 20. Here are top 5: Texas, Okea-Tex, Australia, Florida and Eldorado. I could add Grant Canyon, Enchanted Rock in NM and Anza-Borrego SPs.
Better in future to show live action not taking things from your computer. Show us how to start , first steps.Eg. when aply Roi before live stacking I suppose, who you expect tobtell uscsuch things 99 ov your clip is in adjustments. But in the firstvtine one must catch a planet and beginbto have some images to adjust.
Got mine on the front yard - I lose too much sky to trees in my back yard. Always concerned about people messing with my scope - it can be seen by my Ring door cam, so I have a little piece of mind.
This is one of the best videos I’ve ever watched on RU-vid. Lol. I loved the presentation and also really enjoyed your optimistic outlook and detailed thought processes along the way. It’s obvious you have a lot of experience in the technology and imaging sectors. I believe that was the most valuable and intriguing aspect of your work, is that you described your thought processes, hurdles and how you overcome them with even calculated solutions. Awesome, and many many thanks 🙏🏻. You’re like a Jedi to me 😊
How HyperStar works; HyperStar is a sophisticated coma corrector for a f2 reflector scope. The lower f stop comes from removing the SCT's second f5 magnification corrector mirror. f2 mirrors toss light around the outside at an angle to the camera sensor and filter the HyperStar straitens the light and corrects the distortion. Newtonian scopes normally stop at f4 because it takes less to correct however some are cut at f3, you can cut a deep f2 mirror for a Newtonian however finding a way to correct it may not be easy. The Newtonian's advantage over a SCT converted into a reflector is it can be used for direct viewing and you can use a filter wheel. Hyperstar turns one scope into two however it costs about what a second more versitile Newt scope costs and you won't have to fiddle as much.
This is fab and I've learned so much about the Advanced NINA sequencer from you. But allowing myself to willingly sleep whilst my two scopes are active is a big ask for me 😂 Accidentally falling asleep on the sofa - yes like last night to 3am and your AS planning saved my two runs as they carried on. But whether my brain will let me go to sleep naturally ... lol. Great video!
My first time last night, wasn't that good. Every time I tried to do live stacking, Sharp Cap pro told me I was not aligned. But, Saturn was right in the center of the picture. What am I doing wrong? Also, I should have used a barlow lens which I did not use.
I'd wanted to watch live, but my schedule prevented me. Just finished reviewing the video, and I learned a lot, and I'm glad I stayed until the very end when the mushrooms kicked in! ;-D
This is great content. I have installed the plugin and downloaded the scripts. When I try to open Intermediate and Advanced I get "Unable to deserialize json". Any suggestions for what that might be?
Interesting! I live in a tropical country where you can have high intensity rain clouds suddenly in a an otherwise clearsky. This happened to me 2 days ago and I will never juste go to bed during imaging unfortunately 😢
Great overview, thanks. That’s amazing that you’ve got so many rigs running every night! An inspiration to the rest of us. I have a friend who runs 3, all on AM5 strainwave mounts! I’d love to have one rig I could run every night. Unfortunately I only get around 60 clear nights a year, if lucky. This probably says that I should have 5 rigs running on those 60 nights.
When I lived in Ohio, I had about the same, yeah. Having rigs set up all the time means I can take advantage of every clear night, even if it's only clear for half the night. (-Molly)
*All About Dithering in Astrophotography* * *0:00** What is Dithering?* Dithering is slightly shifting the telescope's pointing between exposures. This helps to average out random noise like hot pixels and sensor imperfections during image stacking. * *0:00** Why Dither?* Dithering leads to cleaner, smoother images with less noise and fewer artifacts. It's essential for astrophotography. * *0:00** How Dithering Works:* By moving the target slightly on the sensor between each exposure, fixed pattern noise (like hot pixels) ends up in different locations. When images are stacked, this noise is averaged out, leaving behind a cleaner result. * *12:14** How Much to Dither:* Aim for a dither amount that moves the target by about 10 pixels on your imaging camera sensor. This ensures good noise reduction without excessive image cropping. * *12:14** Dithering Frequency:* You can dither every frame or less often. Experiment to find what works best for your setup and target. More frequent dithering is generally better but can add overhead time. * *13:59** Software for Dithering:* Popular astrophotography software like N.I.N.A. and Sequence Generator Pro (SGP) can automate dithering, often using PHD2 Guiding as the guiding software. * *10:34** Direct Guiding Dithering:* Some mounts and software allow dithering without a separate guide camera and scope, relying on the mount's accuracy. * *13:25** Dithering Doesn't Fix Everything:* Dithering is ineffective against large-scale issues like light leaks or amp glow. It primarily targets small, fixed pattern noise. * *8:43** Natural Mount Dithering Isn't Enough:* Relying on a mount's inherent tracking imperfections for dithering is unreliable and can lead to worse results. * *21:43** Conclusion:* Dithering is a crucial technique in astrophotography. It's relatively easy to implement and provides significant benefits in image quality. Don't hesitate to experiment and find the optimal settings for your equipment. I used gemini-1.5-pro-exp-0801 to summarize the transcript. Cost (if I didn't use the free tier): $0.08 Input tokens: 20147 Output tokens: 883
Last night, I finally spent some time setting up my focus offsets for my Ha filter, and Askar C1 & C2 filters. Got my sequence running on The Crescent Nebula, and went to bed! The next hurdle is finally getting the Target Scheduler figured out and set up. Great presentation, Molly!
You should try the ssag. I have 2. One for my cpc1100hd edge on a wedge with a hyperstar and asi2600mcpro and 1 on my c11 edge on a cgx with a asi2600mcpro. I also go back and forth from f7 to f10. The ssag allows easy guiding 10min + at f7.. my oag is collecting dust..
By SSAG, do you mean Orion StarShoot Auto Guider? It's just a camera, what scope do you use it with? (or are you referring to the StarLock they sell with like the LX850?) I used to use a guide scope for my SCTs but they're bulky and prone to flexure if you use one with enough focal length to guide an SCT. I had a 600mm-FL Celestron I was using for a while with my old C11. My OAG paired with a Lodestar always has guide stars in my C9.25, even at f/10. It works great, I regularly get sub-arcsecond guiding on my C9.25 (when paired with a good mount -- my Sky-Watcher CQ-350 Pro is doing a great job). (-Molly)
Excellent, to the point, clearly said. Approach also should work swell with direct 50 foot USB connects -- computer to outside rigs if one has a permanent setup. My preference. Have done both wireless and wifi, but as some of we comm engineers think, often nothing is better than a direct connect:)
*Summary* * *00:04:42** Rescued Telescope:* Peter acquired a surplus 16" Bower & Chivens Cassegrain reflector from Berea College. This high-end instrument, built in the 1960s, was originally used for astronomical research. * *00:14:35** Rebuilt Telescope:* Peter updated the complex electromechanical drive system of the telescope to a modern system with just one motor and power supply. The mount, in excellent condition, was retained. * *00:21:00** Telescope Challenges:* The telescope posed some challenges: * Small field of view (4 x 6 arc minutes) limits target choices and requires extremely good seeing conditions for optimal use. * Significant focus shift occurs due to its aluminum tube, especially with temperature drops, making refocusing a chore. * *00:24:24** Observatory Setup:* Peter built a dedicated observatory for the telescope. * Tight fit: The mount barely fit in the dome, making it difficult to access for assembly and adjustments. * *00:29:22** Imaging Results:* Deborah used the telescope to take high-resolution images of deep-sky objects, mostly with narrow-band filters. * Challenges: * Limited guiding options * Over-sampled stars leading to issues with image stacking software * Frequent refocusing required * Highlights: Impressive details captured in objects like the Ring Nebula, Blue Snowball Nebula, Eskimo Nebula, Black Eye Galaxy, Crab Nebula, and the Trapezium Cluster. * *00:51:05** Next Steps:* * Improve polar alignment and guide scope setup. * Consider adding a focal reducer for a wider field of view. * Build a 36" telescope with all spherical optics to enable high-end astronomical imaging. I used Google Gemini 1.5 Pro exp 0801 to summarize the transcript. Cost (if I didn't use the free tier): $0.5725 Time: 115.00 seconds I added a 61 second delay to prevent a rate limit of the free tier. Input tokens: 161173 Output tokens: 804
Nothing about the baffle size. This is very critical for what you are expected from a telescope. You can loose 30% of the energy without considering central obstruction.
