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I'm sure you find it very helpful for manual focusing! Since I added a zwo EAF to my image train, I've not used a Bahtinov mask much and now just run the autofocus routine in N.I.N.A. Using an electronic focuser is great because you can have it run several different times overnight as needed (conditions may change and affect focus). In addition, you can setup (if using multiple filters) filter offsets and not have to always run a focusing routine when switching filters. Clear skies!

I’m glad you found the video helpful!

I did this using my William Optics Redcat 61, which has a focal length of 300 and a focal ratio of 4.9. I don’t feel I can definitively say that Sharpcap Polar Alignment versus NINA Polar Alignment has better tracking improvement. It might take doing a series of nights of imaging with the same transparency/seeing conditions for each and then comparing the guiding statistics. I didn’t go to those lengths for this video.

You might try running/opening Notepad as Administrator. If you locate the Notepad executable (sometimes found in your Windows\System32 folder) and right click on that file, there should be a menu option to Run As Administrator. Then NotePad will have the need privileges to overwrite the file. I hope that helps!

@@marksastrojourney I figured that part out but now when I make adjustments to the image and reload it in Stellarium it's a purple image with nothing else. Also when exporting newer images the background isn't black like the original export.

I wonder if you might be able to post your issue on Stellarium.org to seek assistance. I didn’t run into this issue. I noticed on their site they now have version 24.3. Maybe, if you haven’t already done so, upgrading to the newer version would resolve the issue.

Thanks for watching Sharon!

thanks for the feedback!

It’s good to hear your input! I never came across that statement on the WO site. It’s good to hear you have a great telescope that gives you great results. It sounds like you either have very good seeing conditions and transparency, or possibly your telescope fully accommodates and corrects for the distortion caused by the atmosphere and other environmental factors. Clear skies!

I wanted to see the statement you cited from Williamoptics.com. So I went there and searched the site and found no occurrences of blurxterminator. Maybe you could post a direct quote from their site so we can see the statement. Thanks!

It makes me feel good the video helped someone! It’s not always clear if content will be helpful or not! I hope your pier setup works out well!

I am using blurxterminator. It’s a great tool! Thanks for watching!

@marksastrojourney thanks for the reply. Look forward to your next videos

Sorry, I didn’t read your first comment properly. Without blurxterminator, the stars are still round. I know some people are against using the tool because it leverages AI. I respect their opinion and feel it’s their right to choose. However, in my case if I’m going to use Pixinsight’s deconvolution utility or I choose to use Blurxterminator, for me it’s very similar. I’m leveraging a process or algorithm that someone else developed just like many other tools for post processing. This way I don’t have to reinvent the wheel, but can use good tools that someone else developed through trial and error. The analogy that seems relevant is: we used to have to get out a paper map to plan the route to drive somewhere in another state. Then came garmin and other carry along GPS devices. Then the GPS was built into our car’s navigation system. Now every smartphone has a navigation app. I personally don’t want to go back to paper maps because it takes more time and now my up close vision is failing. So using these astrophotography post processing tools in a similar way saves us time and effort.

@@marksastrojourney no need to apologise and i appreciate your detailed reply. Im new to the hobby and am far from certain, where, if anywhere to draw the line. Different opinions on this sort of stuff is useful to read :)

wishing you well on the journey with the hobby!

Glad you like them!

Thank you! 😊

Thanks Karen!

Showing class 8-9 on lightpollutiommap.info

Thanks for posting a comment Robert! The building has a series of 6x6" posts down each side attached to the concrete footing with what are called Quick Set brackets. The Quick Set bracket is placed down in the wet concrete and leveled/positioned. The building is very solid and I've never sensed any movement of the building itself. If there ever was an issue, I could adjust the framing around the opening around the pier and create a larger gap. It would be some basic carpentry work. The concrete pillar is never exposed to the wind as it only reaches up through just above the floor. The metal pier is also not in the wind at all as it doesn't reach above the side walls. The telescope when oriented in certain positions may be above the top of the wall and could have some wind hit it. As far as filling the gap between the concrete pier and the surrounding floor: I personally have chosen not to do that. My reasoning is as follows: leaving the gap prevents transference of any floor vibrations to the pier. If I fill the gap in, vibrations created by walking across the floor would transfer to the pier and thus to the telescope. Once I start an imaging session, I usually only go back once or twice to confirm everything is going well before going to bed. But I wouldn't want my walking across the floor to transmit vibrations to the telescope/mount. Clear skies!

Hi Aleixandrus, thanks for sharing your experience with your observatory and the motorized opener! You've provided many good suggestions that could benefit myself and others. Eventually, I hope to address some of the topics you touched on: 1) automation from N.I.N.A. as it's my primary DSO acquisition software; 2) additional sensors for telescope position; 3) power relay as I've also heard of gate openers running without being triggered - possibly due to a thunderstorm or something like that; 4) weather sensor integration to park the scopes and close the roof. I also thought of putting up a checkoff list on the wall by the opener - it's easy to forget something and such a mistake could be costly. I concur with you, the observatory has made a night/day difference in making this hobby much more enjoyable. I used to carry everything in/out to/from my concrete patio (so happy not to be doing that any more)! In addition, the telescope on the pier most times doesn't even need polar alignment adjustments - or it's still between .75 and .5 off. I try to get polar alignment to less than .3 or .25. But as you know it's a very fussy thing to get polar alignment dead on. And now with the opener for the roof, it's even easier - no more pushing the roof open/closed. I'm hoping to post a few more videos soon and wishing you clear skies!

@@marksastrojourney I've probably seen in the forums the same case of the roof opening by itself... it scared the hell out of me! I keep the roof motor off with that smart power outlet until I start a session. The weather sensor is also in my shopping list, but it will take time. I truly recommend the Arduino kit: not expensive, amazing automation potential. Regarding polar alignment... I used to double check it every session but I've relaxed and actually don't care too much. A few day ago I took apart my 90mm quadruplet to remove the minipc I had attached to move it to the concrete pier. I install the OTA again in my EQ6R and, without redo polar alignment, balancing or calibrating PHD2, my guiding is ~0.5"-0.7" consistently (Bortle 5, so-so seeing). To me, polar alignment is definitely important but it doesn't need to be adjusted every single night to sub-arcsec accuracy for low or medium focal lengths. However, I'll probably redo everything a night with very good seeing, otherwise I feel I'll just waste time and I'll probably get worse results.

I've often wondered how important it is with my pier setup and a focal length of 300 to check the polar alignment each session. When I do check it, it's not off by that much. I think that anything that has metal components and is secured in position with tightening knobs, has the potential to shift minutely due to heating/cooling. But it's not likely to move much.

It’s good to hear from you Larry! I hope to publish some imaging session results soon.

if the power fails, there’s a keyed lockout that you open which puts the motor gear in free movement so you can push it closed manually. I’ve had quite a few rainy days and even a storm or two where the rain was blowing sideways, but no leaking issues so far. Thanks for the positive thoughts!

It's good to hear from someone local! I'm glad you enjoyed the Aurora Borealis video too! Regarding the observatory: it's been a game changer for me thus far. There's no comparison between having a permanent pier setup and what I used to have to do: haul all my equipment in and out for each imaging session. Some people expressed doubts/concerns that a concrete pier like I had built for mounting the metal pier could be a stable setup that wouldn't have lots of vibration. However, using the PHD2 Guiding Log Viewer, I'm not seeing such issues. Of course, there are occasional guiding issues related to seeing/transparency/weather. But overall I'm very happy with the performance of the setup. My only regret is that I didn't include a warm room to isolate the computer from the elements. However, the cost of everything now is so high. I don't think I could have paid for anything else. So I took some plastic storage containers and created a table top computer cabinet. At least I don't have to worry about my laptop being out in the elements now. Another dramatic improvement I made to the observatory is that I added a motorized gate opener to open/close the roll off roof. I'll probably do a video on that once I get time.

@@marksastrojourney I've been a member of LAS for months, and although they're quite active, work keeps getting in the way so I still haven't met any local AP folks. I'm having a similar debate regarding a pier as you surely did. My "ideal" spot behind the garage would need to be elevated about 6 ft above ground level for the garage roofline not to be a problem. That'd be a whole lot of concrete in a tall tube to pour, but a steel pier on a concrete footer might have vibration issues. Glad to see your set up with the Sky Shed pier is working well! Gives me some food for thought.... Unfortunately, my observatory will be limited to quite small... think roll-away outhouse size. I won't have working room inside it, so will be running CAT cable to the house instead. But 1000% agree, lugging a full tripod rig in and out every night is for the birds! Can't wait to get something permanent set up.

If you can control it from within your house, that's even better! I hope you can get your project underway soon to make the hobby easier.

the observatory is doing great! I have data captured and some processed, but struggling to put together related videos. Life got very busy and hasn’t let up for a couple months now. I’m hoping things settle down in a week or two so i can get back to producing some regular astro videos. Thanks for asking Larry!

Glad you enjoyed it Albert!

I'm glad you enjoyed it Sharon!

you probably had a better view from there Robin!

Glad you liked it!

I hope you get to feeling better Karen! Here in Southern Indiana, this is the first time I ever paid attention to the rare opportunity to see the Northern Lights. I'm not sure if they've been visible during peak solar cycles previously here or not. If so, I was focused on something else and didn't realize it.

I’m glad you enjoyed it Virginia!

thanks Karen!

I was surprised they were visible this far South!

Thanks for sharing what you have found to work best!

That would more appropriately come from celestron

Agree, there are many other options!

Not a big deal until you try to collimate the telescope.

I'm glad you found something helpful in the video! Clear skies!

Thanks for posting how you attempted to image the mini moon. I'm guessing somebody's going to come up with a good method / equipment combination. Right now for me, I believe the mini moon would be visible to low to the horizon for me to attempt it. I have so many trees around my place - including the neighbors' trees. Please post here again if you are able to image it. Clear skies!

Thanks Albert for contributing some more details to the thread!

I’m glad you enjoyed it, thanks for the feedback!

I guess that’s another good comparison. I was trying to go for objects of a similar size, but your suggestion has merit of course. Thanks for contributing!

I agree with you! Clear skies!

I’m glad to hear that confirmation! I hope a few people who are just getting started can avoid some of the trial and error and grief I went through. Clear skies! One thing I’ve not figured out about RUclips though: it seems like even a good video with helpful information doesn’t get many views. Either there’s been a decline in the hobby or I just haven’t figured out how to package these videos properly.

@@marksastrojourney I believe astrophotography/astronomy is still booming. However, RUclips videos are at the mercy of algorithms influenced by; likes, bells, subscriptions and the phase of the moon when recorded. Apparently.

Yeah, agree it's hard to make any sense of the RUclips algorithm.

does it have the equatorial goto mount with it or just the telescope?

​@@marksastrojourneyjust the telescope i have the mounting brackets but not yhe green attatchment

Do you think you might eventually want to do astrophotography? If so, a would recommend an equatorial goto mount. Which one depends upon your budget of course, but also how much additional accessories/weight you plan to put on your telescope. Such as filter wheel, camera, autofocuses, guide scope, etc.

Thank you for your reply. We are very nature literally just starting out so I will take a look at what is available.

I've seen many positive comments/threads about the new strain wave mounts. There are many people raving about the ZWO Harmonic drive mounts. You might want to check them out! From my own experience trying to use a manually controlled mount initially, I would say that option although low budget would likely discourage you and probably make you give up on the hobby. Personally, I wish someone could have told me early on, don't waste money or time on a low budget manual mount, just go ahead and get a goto German equatorial mount - that way you have something that can track objects in the sky automatically as the earth rotates.

I’ve had some people leave comments on my videos that they’ve had great success with iguider. What happened to me is when I purchased my redcat61 telescope the iguider mounts on the side edge of the vixen saddle. The redcat61 wouldn’t fit on the vixen saddle with the iguider on there. So I setup the w/o mini guide scope with a zwo camera. I discovered as a result that this combination worked quite well. I’m not speaking negatively about iguider, just making the observation that other options may work great also!

I’m happy the video helped you! Clear skies!

that’s a great way to do it! I’ve yet to get a drone myself. Clear skies!

I’m glad you enjoyed them Virginia!

Life got real busy the last several weeks and it’s been difficult to work on any videos. So far things are looking promising! Clear skies!

Thanks for sharing what worked for you as it may help others!

On high point scientific, I see this one for $880 Sky-Watcher Skymax 150 mm Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope OTA And this one for $1,255 Sky-Watcher Evostar PRO 100 mm f/9 ED APO OTA with Aluminum Case The one you mention is 50mm larger primary lens. I’ve never tested that telescope, so unsure which would do better. Perhaps there are some images posted online you could compare. Clear skies!

There might be some variations on which eyepieces are included. When I purchased the telescope, I didn’t see any options to choose different eyepieces. Only the primary lens size was a dropdown list. You might do so searches to confirm. Clear skies!

Thanks

Thanks for watching!

There’s a 4’ x 23” concrete footing, then the concrete block pier above that. I show that in my other videos about the observatory build (3 part series). Clear skies!