Image Capture First attempt

[Tracy]

At capturing Lyra in progress currently.
10x240 captures. Then I got to do some darks and lights now that it's focused also.

 

[OhNo]

Moon at 98% illumination makes it tough to capture but easier to see your gear. Or are you sittin' inside runnin' the show?

 

[Tracy]

Moon at 98% illumination makes it tough to capture but easier to see your gear. Or are you sittin' inside runnin' the show?

Nope outside. It’s the only place I can smoke my pipe. 🙈
It does hook up to my mesh WiFi here at the house so I could run it from any computer inside.
Was going to do just planetary but decided what the heck. Capturing darks right now. Couldn’t do any lights as can’t find a white tshirt to save my soul. They are all color. I’m going to leave all the settings in place and try capturing tomorrow. From what I understand that should work.

20 darks @ 240 seconds to match my light settings should be adequate. Got 50 bias.

I think this app blew it. Not a cloud in the sky. Unless it’s talking about the moon. But with all the clouds we’ve had I had to jump on the first clear night. Next purchase - dew warmers.

 

[Tracy]

Nothing fancy... and I don't know squat about processing.. but this is the basic image with some playing around. I've got LONG way to go. I think there is some decent data there to be pulled out. I can "kinda" see the outlines of the cloudy mass that surrounds the stars in Lyra.
I'm also pretty sure I need to get a powered USB box to put on the setup.... I kept getting DMESG errors of low power from hwmon. I know it had to affect some of the camera performance.

 

[OhNo]

The "Ring Nebula" M57 is in that area. If you save your image as a jpeg you can load it to https://nova.astrometry.ne and it will show you what you've captured. That may be part of it in the upper left edge of M57.

When the new moon comes it might be wise to choose a target with a more vivid appearance. The FOV from your location probably limits what you shoot from town.

 

[Tracy]

Astrometry.net

Yeah.. I have a VERY restricted view from my yard as I have 60-80 foot pines and oaks surrounding us. 😤

 

[OhNo]

Ran your image through astrometry.net.

 

[OhNo]

BTW What camera were you using? Doesn't the ASI 533MM P give you a 3008x3008 Square image? Or did you use your other camera?

 

[Tracy]

Or did you use your other camera?

That was the ASI585MC.... I figured I'd start simple with camera and then move up once I got the focusing and other aspects under control. I mainly bought it for planetary use.... I will probably also pick up a ASI533MC sometimes in the future.

I did have some tracking issues... low voltage on the RPi, but I've got a Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox on order. Debated the bigger one, but basically all you get is 2 more USB ports for $300 more. No thanks, what it comes with an the RPi should be adequate.

 

[OhNo]

If you put in the capture details/image we could probably offer some advice to aide in improving your images. Specifically the camera, scope, exposure, gain and offset. You listed a bit of info but more is better.

The focus seems to be a little soft.

 

[OhNo]

Unity gain for your ASI585MC is 210. Here is a great video to help explain Gain and offset.

 

[Tracy]

If you put in the capture details/image we could probably offer some advice to aide in improving your images. Specifically the camera, scope, exposure, gain and offset. You listed a bit of info but more is better.

The focus seems to be a little soft.

Focus was done with the auto focuser set at 25/1000. I think I will need to play with my reducer/flattener a little more to get a little better setting on it (it's adjustable).... but waiting on the rotator to come in before I do much with it. There were no flats done... have to grab some white t-shirts... didn't realize that we had none at all here at the house.

Camera was the ASI585MC (as I said, targeted at a planetary camera). Sky was a "misty" light cloud cover (VERY noticeable halo around the moon) and dew had formed heavily by 12:15am. And needless to say... moon was bright enough to cast shadows.
Exposure was 10 x 240 seconds lights, 20 x 240 seconds darks, 75 x .0250ms bias, but again, had an issue with low voltage on the RPi. Gain was 100 and offset was 50. I have read that it needs to be higher (around 200-230) but I wanted to play with a lower setting to see if they made much difference with this newer breed of camera.
I've got to get the setup to do a better alignment... I did a 2 point alignment last night... but that was after I put my eyepieces back on so I could get the red-dot aligned..... then went to the camera.

 

[OhNo]

To clarify two alignments need to be done. first is the polar alignment. The next alignment is the star alignment. If you use plate solving a one star alignment is enough.

Your image looks clean sans the black blotch on the upper left side. How is you stack your images? This might help! From my private stock! No audio!!!!



OR Use Deep Sky Stacker, it might be a little lower on the learnin' curve but does a good job. I try to use the least amount of programs possible, that is why I learned to use PixInSight.....

 

[Tracy]

. first is the polar alignment

Polar alignment is done with the polar scope that the EQ-35 is equipped with... done every time it's set up as well as balance verified by both the bubble and another tool I have. The "N" leg points directly north by compass. I then do a two star alignment then use the plate solving in Indi. I haven't done the polar alignment in Stellar Mate since it wants some steps (and apparently views) that I don't have access to where I am setting up at.
I still think some of my issue was the low power warnings that I was getting. Removed the external HD from the mix and those went away.


As for "stacking"... I just threw them at AstroPixelProcessor and started playing...
PixInSight is installed on both my processing machines, as is AstroPixelProcessor and StarTools. That's one of the areas I'm going to have to take a lot of time to learn....
I just threw some stuff at it.... and was playing around.... heck, I was simply happy to have an image with stars on it!!!!!

 

[OhNo]

SM has a PA tool that works well.

Your power issue sounds intriguing. Sounds like the RPi was suffering low voltage. I've never had the issue you described, but I probably have my system wired differently.

 

[Tracy]

Your power issue sounds intriguing. Sounds like the RPi was suffering low voltage. I've never had the issue you described, but I probably have my system wired differently.

The culprit was the external HD... it pulls more power than the RPi can provide.. the ASI585MC is not a powered camera - except through the USB 3.0 bus.
I'm hoping that by getting the new toy, I can continue to keep it hooked up in the USB chain.
I don't have a powered USB hub... so that means that any USB device either has to provide it's own power (like the 533MM Pro) or it's at the mercy of the USB bus limitation.

 

[OhNo]

Told ya to use a powered hub!

 

[Tracy]

Told ya to use a powered hub!

Problem is finding one that runs on a 12v power supply... it's easy as heck to find 'em for 120v AC, but 12v DC is a little harder to come across. The only decent ones I found (that not only "charged" but were actual USB hubs) were about $100 each... and if I'm going to do that, I'll bump in a few more hundred and get something I can control dew heaters with from Stellar Mate!
We do quite a bit of camping in the RV, so frequently I'm not around 120v power... unless I carry my generator with me.

 

[OhNo]

I assumed down your way finding a 12V powered would be easy and cheap! I had a 5V one I mistakenly powered up with 12V. Magic smoke and a trip to Kindersley, I am now all 12V....... The RPi are all 5V though. Mu first gen ASIAAir Pro is 12v, the new ones are 5V.....

 

[Tracy]

I assumed down your way finding a 12V powered would be easy and cheap! I had a 5V one I mistakenly powered up with 12V. Magic smoke and a trip to Kindersley, I am now all 12V....... The RPi are all 5V though. Mu first gen ASIAAir Pro is 12v, the new ones are 5V.....

Yeah...my current box has a USB outlets on it that are limited to the 5v that is standard, and that's what I've powered the RPi from. The Pegasus PowerBox is supposed to have the ability to power the RPi and also the remainder of the also transfer data between the other USB ports. Looks like it will be a nice package... but I was NOT going to fork over another few hundred dollars to get 2 extra USB ports... I can still be researching small 12v powered USB hubs...or even get to the point I use the devices I put in my battery box in a custom printed case.

 

[Tracy]

Well, other than the moon being up and bright it’s been a beatify night. Grabbed some captures of M-15, IC-1294 and the Andomeda galaxy. Also grabbed flats, bias and darks. Now will have to play with the programs to see what I can get out off them. Still using the ASI585MC for this.

 

[Tracy]

Well, other than the moon being up and bright it’s been a beatify night. Grabbed some captures of M-15, IC-1294 and the Andomeda galaxy. Also grabbed flats, bias and darks. Now will have to play with the programs to see what I can get out off them. Still using the ASI585MC for this.

Two of those mentioned I've done captures of tonight... M-15 and Andromeda. I've also grabbed captures of the Pleiades and M-31. Now I just have to figure out how to process them.
I have figured out that the rotator I have coming in is going to be VERY helpful..... if I wanted to get more of the Pleiades I would have to rotate the scope...and using a rotator is easier.

 

[Tracy]

Anybody know what this is?
My first try at Astro Pixel Processor... and not a good one either.

And this was stacked in Astap

M35 first capture - Mono

• Tracy
• September 28, 2022

This is the first captures of the Andromeda Galaxy. My ASI533MM Pro sensor is not large enough...

 

[OhNo]

A wee touch-up in Pix is all ya need. That is great for the near beginning! Well done.

 

[Tracy]

A wee touch-up in Pix is all ya need. That is great for the near beginning! Well done.

Thanks.... was worried that the exposures might have been too long.
there were 6x300 for Luminance, then 3@300 for each other filter (RGB/SII/OIII/HA). Gain was 101 with 50 on offset.

EDIT:

Derp.. still tired... 300 seconds/5 minute exposures.