Greetings, /r/AskAstrophotography! Welcome to our Weekly Ask Anything Thread, also known as WAAT?

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Hey everyone! I'm looking to get my first dedicated planetary camera, and my budget is under $200.

I have a Celestron Super C8 Plus (8-inch SCT, 2000mm focal length), and I'm mainly interested in photographing planets like Jupiter and Saturn. I'd like to get better results than I can with my phone.

I'd appreciate any recommendations or advice. Thanks!

Sorry in advance for my poor gramar, i am not very good with english.

One of my friends has an telescope and really likes taking pictures of planets , the moon and bright messier objects, but finds it difficult to use his phone (iphone 14).He has been looking for a camera but he does not need anything very fancy, his telescope is not that powerfull and it is just a hobby of his and since he has been asking me what to buy and he found this camera. I need help , is this good? Camera ZWO ASI 585 MC Color USB3.0 Senzor D 12.84 mm 2.9 µm . If not, what should i reccomend him? this is his telescope Sky-Watcher SynScan AZ GoTo

Bortle 5 skies

Seestar s50 pro

Roughly 5-6 hours of exposures.(mix of 30 second and 60 second.)

I’m just wondering why I’m not able to get the blue to pop? I’ve tried processing in pixinsight ( still new to the software) with not much luck of pulling the vibrant blues out. is it my processing skills or simply not enough exposure? Or the conditions of when I take the photo? Roughly 3 hours of the data was taken under a bright moon with the Lp filter on. Any input is appreciated thanks.
https://imgur.com/a/bJxxcH0

Not sure if this is the right flair, sorry.
I’ve been going unguided since I started astrophotography, but I’m quickly learning I can’t get what I want without guiding. For some reason I just can’t grasp what it all entails, and I’m hoping for someone to clear it up for me. I guess I have a few main questions: will using a guide camera and dslr work, can I use a color camera for guiding (i am on a budget here), and how does it work to correct tracking errors? TIA.
If it helps here is what I have equipment wise so far- Askar 60F, Canon 1200D, Sky Watcher Star Adventurer 2i/Sky Watcher EQ-AL55i Pro. Looking at svbony 30mm guide scope+camera currently.

My telescope is f3.9, and I'm currently screwing 2" filters into the scope end of my coma corrector. Obviously this isn't ideal in terms of multi filter imaging since it means new flats each change. Prior advice was I needed 36mm unmounted or larger filters. Given the lack of price difference, and my eventual goal of having an aps-c sized camera a 2" wheel seems the right fit. The question is how to connect it right up to my asi 294mc pro. I had tried a 2" filter drawer previously, which screwed into the 11mm spacer in front of the camera, but that vignetted pretty badly. I see zwo offers a 11mm tilt plate, but wouldn't I have the same issue? The real question becomes, what adapter I need to screw the camera directly onto the filter wheel to avoid it?

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some feedback and constructive critique on my current astrophotography setup, processing pipeline, and overall workflow. My main goal is to figure out where the bottlenecks are and how I can get the absolute most out of my gear.

Equipment & Timeline:

* Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro

* Scope: Sky-Watcher 200PDS (200/1000 Newtonian, f/5)

* Started with: Uncooled Sony a6400 (Shot targets like the Crescent and Pelican Nebulae with this setup)

* Current setup upgrade: ToupTek ATR533C (Cooled OSC) + SVBONY 60mm guide scope & SV905C guide camera

* Recent targets :

* Pillars of Creation (66 min total integration)

* Iris Nebula (2h 45m total integration)

Acquisition & Guiding:

* N.I.N.A. for sequencing/imaging

* PHD2 for autoguiding

Siril Preprocessing & Processing Workflow:

I follow a specific manual workflow in Siril where I keep master frames monochrome and calibrate before alignment:

- Background Extraction (Veralux / native)

- Plate Solve & Photometric Color Calibration (PCC)

- SyQon Parallax

- CosmicClarity (Denoise & Sharpness)

- StarNet star removal

- Starless stretch

- Veralux StarComposer

Final Output Step:

Once I get the stretched stacked image in Siril, I export the .fit file, convert it to .jpg using GIMP, and import it into Lightroom Mobile for final touches (slight extra sharpening, light noise reduction, curve tweaks, and color saturation adjustments).

I'd love to hear your thoughts on hardware balance, registration/stacking order, or anything in the editing chain that could be improved, as I see some large differences with my results and with what is available on astrobin and Instagram (I'm shocked by the sharpness in m102 astro’s Rosette Nebula shot).

Edit : here's the link to the 4 mentioned shots : https://imgur.com/a/Fjjtn9R

PS Not me my bros telescope

I have been experimenting with an old drawing tablet I have. Maybe I have to get used to it, but I'm not sure it's better than a mouse for the basic editing I do. For some reason I'm sensing that I need a macro type of keyboard with via software support to make life and image editing better. Or maybe I'm having a mid-life crisis. Anyone doing anything different than clicking a mouse and using a keyboard?

Hi Guys

I am wondering if there are any tried and tested workflows for Pixinsight, which give specific advice depending on what you're focusing on?

I'm definitely improving, but every now and then I'll get something like a cluster which deviates so much from my normal workflow and I just feel like I am back to day 1 of not knowing a thing about processing on Pixinsight.

I have learned mainly from YouTube, where Lukomatico and astrobackyard have been massive helps in me getting better, but I feel like I have taken too many inspirations and techniques that I have overcomplicated my main workflow.

I'll put my standard workflow in the comments, but I am wondering if there are any tutorials which help with specific steps that might be unique to whatever you're processing. I mainly use Seestar s50 pro data, however some of my earlier stacks are s50.

Thanks

Hey everyone!

I’m looking to buy my first serious camera (until now, I’ve used some pretty basic ones), and I’ve narrowed it down to two options: the Sony A7 III and the original Nikon Z6. I’m having a hard time deciding between them since the specs are pretty similar, so I’d love to hear from people who have used either.

I’m interested in a camera that can do general photography (landscapes and travel), but also perform well in astrophotography (milky way pictures and deep sky too).

My idea is to buy a used camera. My ideal budget is around 1300-1500 euros (lens, 20-70mm range, f/2.8 aperture, included in the budget, but I wouldn’t worry too much about the lens because my dilemma is more about the camera). I’ve noticed that the Nikon is usually cheaper, so I would like to know if the A7 III is worth the price difference compared to the Nikon. Maybe I could use the price difference to buy the Nikon and a better lens.

I read about the “star eater” issue on the A7 III and the concentric rings problem with the Nikon Z6. Does anyone know how serious this is in practice?

I’d really appreciate firsthand experience, particularly from anyone who’s used either camera either for general photography or astrophotography. Thanks!

Hi everyone.

I have some experience in Astro, but with an old GTI mount, Rokinon 135mm f2 lens, and a 533mc Pro camera.

Long story short I had to sell that rig about a year ago and have been saving this year to purchase a new rig, but hopefully a better one.

I’d like something like a redcat 51 (ideally a bit more focal length, maybe around 300ish mm) and a 585MC Air, but when I look to buy a mount I’m just always always going over budget to get a decent mount.

It feels like an awkward budget that can’t really get me exactly what I’m looking for.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

When they say “derotated with WInjupos”, for example, are they talking about the rotation of the planet itself or the rotation of our sky? In other words, if im using a well aligned EQ mount is it even necessary?

Hi!

I am new to astrophotography and was wondering which camera I should buy to get some nice pictures. I have only ever taken pictures with my phone so far.
I found the SeeStar camera and the DwarfLab camera - are either of these good for beginners?

Thank you!

Hi everyone

I was hoping if there was someone who has a simple but effective workflow for open and globular clusters in pixinsight as the tutorials on YouTube are quite difficult.

Does anyone know what causes this in my autofocus routines and how to fix it? During the start of the night, my focus is perfect and the autofocus routines stay above 0.9 r^2. later in the night when it focuses again it flattens.

The night of these images I started by imaging the elephant trunk nebula, then later slewed to the rosette nebula which is at the opposite part of the sky, so I assume that is the or a cause. But, why does that happen?

I’m using a ZWO EAF, SVBONY SV555, and ASI585MC PRO

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mO_xCA2uYJgPQEWW3j5i3fuH4xHAuzgr/view?usp=drive_link

I use WBPP for calibration and debayering only, with darks, flats, and dark flats. PSF Signal Weight is the only weighting option checked in WBPP. CosmeticCorrection uses a custom process with Auto Detect enabled, hot pixel correction at sigma 3.0, and cold pixel correction disabled.

I then manually run StarAlignment followed by ImageIntegration:

• Combination: Average
• Normalization: Additive with scaling
• Weights: PSF Signal Weight
• Minimum weight: 0.1
• Rejection algorithm: Generalized Extreme Studentized Deviate (GESD)
• Rejection normalization: Scale + zero offset

I reset ImageIntegration before each run and manually enter those settings. The artifacts are visible in the integrated master, but I haven’t clearly identified them in the individual debayered or registered lights I’ve inspected.

Camera is an ASI294MC Pro

https://imgur.com/a/xlgB7xm

I shoot astrophotography with a Xiaomi 14. When shooting video of the planets, what resolution and framerate is ideal afocally through my eyepiece and telescope?

1080 by 30fps, 1080 by 60fps, 4k by 30, or 4k by 60?

Yes I know, don't use a cellphone but I have done it for a while but just realized I had always used 1080 by 30. And I like using my cellphone.

Hi everyone!! I will be in Iceland next weekend and I am beyond excited. I truthfully don’t know much about photography, but I just came into a Canon Rebel T-6 with a tripod and the 75-300mm and 18-55mm lenses. I also have an iPhone 18pro. I am hoping to take quality pictures of the lights, but would love to know what the best settings would be to accomplish this?? Not looking to spend a ton of money into upgrading equipment at this time. Thanks in advance!!

Hello, I'm an amateur astrophotographer, and I've built my own barn door tracker to support my astrophotography. However, since I live in Indonesia, Polaris isn't visible from my location.

How can I polar align my tracker in the Southern Hemisphere? My second problem is that I live under Bortle 7 sky, so I can't see Sigma Octantis either.

I went out during full moon this morning to mainly get used to my new setup with star adventurer, which still takes me a good 45 mins to setup lol.

After roughly 50mins of integration, the final image looks like this, with an unusual clear spot in the middle. I took flat, dark and bias frames, about 30 each and 20s exposures at ISO1000, F4 200mm canon lens and 5Dmk2.

Is this an effect of pollution or vignetting or stacking issue? I used DSS and used autostretch so you can see clearer.

1 single raw frame and screenshot of stretched image:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1__WRGBDVxNsKPYZ3SiurjYdGk_-v-aa-?usp=sharing

current gear is an 8" f3.9 newtonian and an asi294mcpro. I've been attaching 2" filters to the scope end of my coma corrector, but I want to get into dual narrowband. At f3.9 am I going to be ok using 1.25" filters in a filter wheel?