How to do a Meridian Flip
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- Опубликовано: 2 авг 2024
- The process of how to do a meridian flip in astrophotography can be quite daunting if you've never done it before. In this video I break down what a meridian flip is, why we do it, and most importantly HOW we do it. I'm using a Sky-Watcher GOTO equatorial mount, with a widefield refractor but the process will be similar on any mount. Carrying out a meridian flip will ensure our imaging equipment doesn't get damaged and allows us to image all night long.
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Let me know what tutorials you would like to see. Comment below!
I would have loved to have seen your to actually do the meridian flip - which is why I watched in the first place! Great explanation but a shame you cut the video off when your rig was about to do it!
Hi. I find your style very easy to follow and would love to see you do a tutorial on NINA. From installation of the software, setting up you equipment and choosing a target all the way to an auto meridian flip... Just when you've got a minute :)
I've been intimidated enough by meridian flips to avoid learning how to do them. This has at least convinced me to give it a shot. Thanks!
Its 1227 and I'm imaging m81 and m82 wondering how to do a meridian flip. Thanks for the tutorial! Greetings from Florida. Feels like the UK (my home country) here tonight brr.
Great educational video, thank you for demonstrating the issue with the scope.
This was very helpful. Thanks for the video. 👍🏼
Wow! Very helpful! In 8 minutes you reduced most of my jitters over the meridician flip. The ASIAIR series has a programmable meridian flip which I had not used because of those jitters. So, thanks much for this info video.
So, really, how do you go about determining if an object will need a flip or not? You said that you used to avoid objects that would pass the meridian. How do you know which ones will? What guide or guides do you use in helping select your astro objects? I have trees, etc. How do i go about deciding ahead of time which objects I can photograph for the evening, taking into account my surroundings, city lights, trees, etc., then considering my telescope, etc. Maybe you could do a tutorial on the process you use-- from square one. Say, start with no idea of what you can or will shoot. Where do you start? A tutorial along those lines would be very helpful for me. Thanks for the great videos!
thanks for this video, it was very useful to me
In my imaging software I have a crosshairs tool that I use to frame my images. Also, with the Skywatcher Evostar 72mm refractor I don't think I would have too much of a problem because I have to move the dovetail north to balance the scope in declination. It sticks out a bit from the saddle plate but it is secure.
Very clear. Thanks.
Great topic and very helpful Nick! I was also intimidated about the process and, like you, narrowed my choices of targets to avoid having to do a meridian flip. I took the dive and found the process to be relatively easy and it really allowed me to shoot many hours longer during our precious nights of clear skies. I haven't figured out why I can't get my Sky Watcher EQ 6R-Pro to do the flip automatically and I find myself having to set my alarm to get up during the night and do the flip manually. I guess I do have peace of mind doing it that way because I'm not sure I could sleep comfortably fully trusting the mount to do the flip before disastrous consequences. Thanks again Nick for great content!
When I get round to automating my flips I’ll let you know if I struggle to get it to work. Totally understand why you would struggle to sleep though, I’d be very nervous too!
Very helpfull , thanks 🤘 i now understand better why this can be necessary and when 😁
I have only been into the hobby for around 5 months and literally only heard the term meridian flip today for the first time in your video.
Paul, you and me both! I've just started looking into astrophotography and came across the astroberry which lead me to this video. Definitely good information to know!
Thank you M8, that is what i was looking fore. Manual flipp, all others are making videos of automated flipp`s. Great stuff, ceep it basic (hehe)
I don't think I've seen much in the way of meridian flip tutorials, so it was a good video idea Nick.
Thanks! I created it for that exact reason, 6 months ago I was looking for this video and couldn’t find it
Very helpful video and advice. What about the camera rotation ? Does this change after a meridian flip?
Is it necessary to keep the same frame rotation after the meridian flip?
Hi Nick. Enjoyed the video and found it useful but is it different with the skywatcher star adventure? Just wondering about this as I have the star adventurer. What's your advice for this if it's different? Clouds ruin alot in astrophotography because you could have everything set up and it's getting dark then you see a cloud then the rest of the clouds come. I would like to take my setup to Spain for better weather and more nights with no clouds as I've been to Spain four times and it's just alot better there! Thanks for sharing and stay safe!
The same principles apply to the Star Adventurer if you're using gear that will hit the tripod legs during the night if left untouched. If you're just using a camera and lens you should be fine.
Nice video, Nick!
A few weeks ago, my camera hit the tripod when I was imaging M57. It didn't do the meridian flip and I thought it's automatic. Am I wrong? Doesn't the EQ3 Pro, the EQ5 and the other goto mounts from SW with the Synscan do an automatic meridian flip?
Thanks Valter. My HEQ5 doesn’t do a flip automatically, they can be programmed to do them automatically if you use image acquisition software though
I'm pretty sure I won't have to do any flipping, but now of course this gives me an excuse to set things up this afternoon to test it out... a fine distraction from work on a Friday :)
Any distraction from work is always welcome 😃
Great video - thanks! It doesn't look like you're autoguiding with that setup, but do you happen to know how to handle an autoguider during the flip? Would it need to be paused or turned off while flipping, then restarted - or just left alone?
I haven’t done a flip with my guiding equipment yet but my assumption is that PHD2 will find the alignment star and start guiding again but I could be wrong!
Thanks I learned something new! Also APT software lets you do Plate Solving free, APT is very low cost for the software, and would very good with Canon DLSR cameras! Like you said takes some time to get all setup.
I use Astroberry for running my imaging rig so I will be using KStars for Plate Solving, when I eventually get round to it 🙂
Hi Nick, thanks for your great tutorials. I have watched your Maridian flip video and have a wee question. I have recently purchased a Skywatcher HEQ5 mount and am about to use it for the first time. When selecting my first target, does this mount know not to hit the legs of your tripod with the scope when slewing to the target? I look forward to any advice you can offer. All the best, Dougie
Hi Dougie. The mount doesn’t know what equipment is mounted on top and so isn’t clever enough not to hit the tripod legs with the equipment. The only time you risk hitting the tripod is if you allow your gear to track quite far past the meridian without carrying out a flip. With it small telescope I can comfortably go more than hour past the meridian without this being an issue but bigger equipment may only be able to go a few minutes past. Hope that helps
That's brilliant Nick, thanks for your speedy reply. I also have a 72ED as well as a 200PDS, and so I'll just need to ensure that the targets I am looking at won't conflict with the mount and 'blow it up' 😁. Should I do a booboo and notice when slewing to a target that the scope is going to hit the mount, is there an 'emergency stop' option on the computer handset, or would I need to manually switch off the mount, and start the alignment process etc again? Hope you can help further. Thanks again for your help, Dougie.
Do you not do a AMF?
Nice video Nick. I suppose even automating this using something like APT I would still need to reorient the camera?
Thanks Ollie! You don’t need to reorient the camera, DSS will recognise the image is flipped and stack it as normal
@@AstroExploring Ah cheers Nick just wanted to make sure. 👍
@@AstroSoundscape no problem! Sorry it took me a while to respond. The comment went into the spam for some reason so I only just saw it
@@AstroExploring All good
Yeah the framing sounds scary. But is this also necessary with the Star Adventurer when only a (zoom) lense is used?
I would say rotate it in RA and find out, with just a camera and lens you may find you don’t need to do this 🙂
Great video
You should try some red-eye removal on your videos
Hi Nick. Just a quick question, do you have to rotate the camera as well as its now 90 degrees out or will tracking sort the upside down pictures out? John.
Sorry ment stacking not tracking!
Hi John, rotating the camera is certainly a good idea, though I sometimes forget to do that and find that DSS is able to adjust for that and stack them anyway
@@AstroExploring I wouldn't rotate the camera. It would disrupt the effectiveness of any flat frames you are taking. You take flat frames to help calibrate for vignetting and dust spots in your image train. If you have dust spots on the camera sensor, they would rotate with the camera, but if they are on a filter, they would remain stationary and you would lose the effectiveness of your flat frames. It's best not to rotate the camera and let your stacking software manage the alignment.
@Ger Dik You're right. That would take care of the flats issue. I have to admit that part of my reasoning is a bit of reluctance to actually touch the setup once I've started an imaging session. The only time I worry about camera rotation is at the very beginning of a session where I'm matching the camera field to a plate solving image. After that I let the mount and my imaging software manage the meridian flip and let my stacking and star alignment software manage re-aligning the images.
Its like naming a clip “ the bicycle kick” , showing the pass to the guy who’s going to scoreand in the second shot showing the kickoff after the bicycle kick goal😬
3:15 - click this over and over and over and over and over
Lose the tripod. Get a pier. You gain more time because there's no legs to hit. You'll eventually hit the pier but it will take longer
lol, just one button on the controller, anyone knowns how to do this on iphone app?